Watch ATV-5 docking
esa.int
esa.int
They see the budget is better spent on developing new things. Unfortunately it looks like the next Ariane will have all-solid first stage. That means it's very unlikely to ever fly manned.
ESA would have had a relatively good technology base to create manned capsules, but that route was not chosen. The ARD capsule flew a re-entry ages ago and the ATV has been a great success. I guess you can get Soyuz flights relatively cheaply and easily so no need to duplicate that.
ESA is still working with re-entry technology and the small IXV lifting body test vehicle will fly a suborbital test mission this year, launched with Vega. But it's very slow progress.
Quite sad. All the ATV missions have been a success.
Could price be an issue? With competition from Russian Progress and SpaceX Dragon, the margins are quite low for simple cargo missions to low earth orbit.
I watch every space launch and docking stream I possibly can. Being a hard core space geek I would often enjoy some specific camera angles rather than a directed overview that jumps from angle to angle.
I hope that we'll see more streams of this kind.
I work in marine radar, and I see this a lot as people manoeuvre tankers and other vessels weighing 100s of thousands of tonnes. They take things extremely slowly, knowing that time saved by doing things more quickly is as nothing compared with potential losses of getting something wrong. At least in dock there will be people and services that can spring into action and help.
In space, that won't happen.
Interesting that you used a ship analogy. I've heard of claims like "you can't LNG bunker a ship in an hour". But if you operate a fast turnaround ferry on a point to point route, your time table simply gives you no choice. You pay the money and spend the effort to develop a working process, and then you have a fast process.
Pioneering is expensive indeed. And space is a very unforgiving environment.
"Slow" in space is relative and extremely necessary.