Europe's ATV space truck has blasted off from the Kourou base in French Guiana.

欧洲太空运输船ATV已从法属圭亚那库鲁基地起飞升空。

The robotic truck is heading to the International Space Station (ISS) with new supplies of food, water, air, and fuel.

It is also carrying experiments and spares for the high-flying astronaut outpost.

The ship's Ariane 5 carrier rocket left the ground at 04:34 GMT, with the flight to orbit taking 63 minutes.

At 20 tonnes, the ATV is the biggest ship servicing the station now that the US shuttles have been retired¹.

The Ariane placed the Automated² Transfer Vehicle (ATV) at an altitude of about 260km. The freighter will use its own thrusters（推进器） to climb a further 130km to the ISS over the course of the next few days.

"This is the start of a long journey; there will be other critical phases, especially the rendezvous³（约会，会和） [with the ISS] that will take place during the night of the 28th and 29th, Paris time," said European Space Agency (Esa) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain.

This ATV is the third such craft to be sent to the station by Esa, and has been dubbed⁴ Edoardo Amaldi in honour of the 20th Century Italian physicist⁵ (a co-discoverer of slow neutrons⁶, which made possible nuclear power).

Two previous vehicles have been flown, in 2008 and 2011.