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Russian Soyuz Vehicle Relocates at the International Space Station
The Russian Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft, with Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg and European Sp...

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Russian Soyuz Vehicle Relocates at the International Space Station - Video

A robotic spacecraft filled with waste from the International Space Station meets its fiery end in a series of newly released photos.

The amazing new images captured by an astronaut onboard the station depict the European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) named the Albert Einstein dramatically disintegrating high above an uninhabited part of the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 2.

After delivering supplies to the space station, ATV cargo ships are designed to break up in Earth's atmosphere. This one was caught in the act by a resident of the orbiting outpost, who snapped pictures of its breakup from above. [Amazing Photos: Europes ATV-4 Cargo Ship Burns Up in Earths Atmosphere]

"Each ATV mission ends with the spacecraft burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere," ESA officials wrote in an image description. "This time, however, the ATV team organized a special departure to gain valuable data on re-entries."

The Albert Einstein undocked with the space station on Oct. 28 and performed maneuvers for five days, bringing it directly below the station. The photo was taken when the robotic craft was about 62 miles (100 kilometers) below the orbiting outpost and heading into its planned dive toward destruction, ESA officials wrote.

This is the first time an ATV re-entry has been captured in an image since 2008 when the first ATV spacecraft, Jules Verne, broke apart, ESA officials said.

The Albert Einstein launched to space atop an Ariane 5 rocket in June of this year and spent about five month docked to the International Space Station. Upon its arrival, the spacecraft delivered about 7 tons of supplies including a 3D printed toolbox and some food requested by Italian crewmember Luca Parmitano.

Parmitano oversaw the unloading of the spacecraft's more than 1,400 items, ESA officials said.

After it was unpacked, the Albert Einstein was then loaded up with about 1.6 tons of space station waste before burning up in the atmosphere.

The Albert Einstein is the fourth of five planned ESA ATVs. The previous three were named after Jules Verne, Johannes Kepler and Edoardo Amaldi. The fifth, expected to launch in 2014, is named for Belgian scientist Georges Lematre.

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Wow! Astronauts Watch Fiery Death of Space Station Cargo Ship (Photos)

It's a busy week in orbit at the International Space Station. With nine astronauts set to crowd the station this week, part of its crew moved a Russian transport vehicle to a different dock to make room for the new arrivals.

Three members of the six-person Expedition 37 climbed into the Soyuz TMA-09 spacecraft Friday to bring the vehicle from the Rassvet cargo and docking module to the Zvezda service module, which has another Russian docking port on the other side of the station. The maneuver began at 4:33 a.m. EDT and lasted 21 minutes.

Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin commanded the vehicle, which also had NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano inside. Three people must go inside the Soyuz during these kinds of transfers because if something goes wrong, NASA wants to preserve the option of making an early return to Earth with a full crew on board. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 37 Mission in Orbit (Gallery)]

The move cleared the way for three new crewmembers to arrive Nov. 7. Soyuz TMA-11M Russian commander Mikhail Tyurin, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will dock at the Rassvet port six hours after launching from Kazakhstan.

Nine people in the space station will make for crowded quarters. According to NASA, this month will mark the first time since October 2009 that so many people were on the station without the presence of a space shuttle. That vehicle used to routinely dump crews of an extra six to seven astronauts on board the station for a few days. Typical space station crew numbers range between three to six people at a time.

Besides carrying the astronauts, the Soyuz will also have the Olympic torch onboard as part of a cosmic torch relay. On Nov. 9, just two days after the torch arrives on station, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy will take it outside the station as part of a spacewalk.

The torch will come back to Earth Nov. 10 when Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano fly home to cap a five-month mission in space.

Coincidentally, Yurchikhin was at the helm the last time a Soyuz moved ports on the station. The June 2010 flight went off flawlessly, but was delayed after a last-minute circuit breaker power failure in one of the space station's solar arrays. NASA usually moves these arrays out of the way to make sure that emissions from the Soyuz's thrusters don't damage the solar panels.

Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker waited an extra orbit (about 90 minutes) inside their Sokol spacesuits. Russian mission controllers invited the crew to take off their gloves if they wanted to get more comfortable, but Yurchikhin said everyone could wait it out.

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There’s a traffic jam at the International Space Station

Three of the six current space station crew members moved a Soyuz spacecraft to a new docking port Friday to make room for another spaceship, which is set to arrive on Thursday with three additional astronauts

It's a busy week in orbit at the International Space Station. With nine astronauts set to crowd the station this week, part of its crew moved a Russian transport vehicle to a different dock to make room for the new arrivals.

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Three members of the six-person Expedition 37 climbed into the Soyuz TMA-09 spacecraft Friday (Nov. 1) to bring the vehicle from the Rassvet cargo and docking module to the Zvezda service module, which has another Russian docking port on the other side of the station. The maneuver began at 4:33 a.m. EDT (0833 GMT) and lasted 21 minutes.

Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin commanded the vehicle, which also had NASA astronautKaren Nybergand European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano inside. Three people must go inside the Soyuz during these kinds of transfers because if something goes wrong, NASA wants to preserve the option of making an early return to Earth with a full crew on board. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 37 Mission in Orbit (Gallery)]

The move cleared the way for three new crewmembers to arrive Nov. 7. Soyuz TMA-11M Russian commander Mikhail Tyurin, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will dock at the Rassvet port six hours after launching from Kazakhstan.

Nine people in the space station will make for crowded quarters. According to NASA, this month will mark the first time since October 2009 that so many people were on the station without the presence of a space shuttle. That vehicle used to routinely dump crews of an extra six to seven astronauts on board the station for a few days. Typical space station crew numbers range between three to six people at a time.

Besides carrying the astronauts, the Soyuz will also have theOlympic torchonboard as part of a cosmic torch relay. On Nov. 9, just two days after the torch arrives on station, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy will take it outside the station as part of a spacewalk.

The torch will come back to Earth Nov. 10 when Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano fly home to cap a five-month mission in space.

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A traffic jam in space? Space station set to host nine astronauts.