The European Space Agency (ESA) on Sunday carried out the maiden launch of a massive robot freighter designed to rendezvous automatically with the orbital space station.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a nearly 20-tonne payload the size of a London double-decker bus, blasted into the skies aboard a beefed-up Ariane 5 launcher. After being placed in orbit, the cylinder-shaped craft will deploy its solar panels and gently find its way to the International Space Station (ISS) and berth with it. The launch had initially been scheduled for Saturday but was postponed for further checks. The ATV will deliver seven and a half tonnes of food, water, pressurised air, fuel and personal items to the ISS crew.

After docking, the ATV will use its engines to propel the station, which is being gently tugged earthwards by terrestrial gravity and lingering atmospheric molecules, to a safer height in low orbit.

After six months or so, the craft will detach from the ISS. The ATV has cost ESA US $1.96 billion dollars.