Bus-sized robot blasts into space

The European Space Agency has 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 double-decker London bus, blasted into the skies aboard a beefed-up Ariane 5 launcher in French Guiana.

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.

Read full story at News.com.au.