Jules Verne spacecraft burns up as planned: European Space Agency

A European spacecraft packed with garbage from the International Space Station burst into flames during a controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on Monday.

The planned burn followed the craft's six-month mission to the space station to provide the crew there with a fresh shipment of food, fuel and supplies. The crew reloaded the freighter with 2.5 tonnes of garbage before launching it back into space.

The freighter is dubbed "Jules Verne" in honour of the visionary 19th century French science fiction writer. It is the first of a new fleet of unmanned cargo spacecraft built for the European Space Agency.

Scientists had predicted most of the freighter and its garbage would burn up during reentry, with the remaining bits landing in an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean.

Photos from the European and U.S. space agencies show the Jules Verne entered the upper atmosphere at 9:31 a.m. ET, and burned up shortly after re-entry. The remaining fragments fell into the Pacific as planned, said the European Space Agency. 

The Jules Verne is the fourth type of spacecraft to visit the station, joining the U.S. shuttles, Russian manned Soyuz rocket and unmanned Progress vehicle.

The freighter, about the size of a double-decker bus, was designed to carry three times the cargo of the Progress vehicles. Such cargo ships are expected to take on added importance once NASA discontinues the space shuttle program in 2010.