Ariane 5 Rocket

ISS026-E-027287 (16 Feb. 2011) --- The Expedition 26 crew member aboard the International Space Station who snapped this photograph of the Ariane 5 rocket (faint squiggly vertical form in the midst of darkness above the clouds), just after lift off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and the rest of the crew have a special interest in the occurrence. ESA’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, was just a short time earlier (21:50 GMT or 18:50 Kourou time on Feb. 16, 2011) launched toward its approaching low orbit destination and its eventual link-up with the ISS. The unmanned supply ship is planned to deliver critical supplies and reboost the space station during its almost four-month mission.