Fiery fragments streaked through the sky as Europe's unmanned space cargo vehicle successfully reentered the atmosphere and broke up.

The "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was sent into a death dive on Sept. 29 after completing its mission to deliver food, water, fuel and other supplies to the International Space Station. ATV managers aimed the garbage-filled cargo ship at a corridor in the South Pacific measuring 1,678 miles (2,700 km) long by 124 miles (200 km) wide.

Before the cargo ship began its plunge, the European Space Agency contracted with NASA to lease two specially fitted aircraft, a Gulfstream 5 and a DC-8, to capture the reentry on video (from which this image was taken). The successful completion of the mission may help persuade European governments that they should transform the $300 million (200 million euro) ATV into a vehicle able to return experiments back to Earth.

• Video: ATV's Successful Mission
• Video Player: "Jules" heads to the ISS
• From Earth to the Station: Europe's First Space Cargo Ship

— ESA/NASA and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: ESA/NASA