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Russia’s largest space laboratory to date was put into orbit on Wednesday, July 21 as part of an International Space Station expansion mission after a 14-year delay.
the Russian Multipurpose Search Module (MLM), also known as Nauka, took off towards the International space station at 10:58 a.m. EDT (14:58 UTC) on top of a Proton-M rocket from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch was long overdue for Nauka, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2007.
“Starting and taking off the engine. A module named Science flies to the International Space Station! NASA commentator Rob Navias said just as the rocket took off from the launch pad, sending the 22 ton (20 ton) Nauka module toward the space station.
Related: The International Space Station: Inside and Out (infographic)
The module, carrying the European Robotic Arm (ERA), a new robotic appendix designed to service the Russian segment of the space station, successfully separated from the launcher 580 seconds after takeoff.
“T + 9: 40 min after takeoff, the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module nominally separated from the 3rd stage of the Proton-M carrier rocket!” Russian space agency Roscosmos confirmed the successful separation in a Tweeter which was then taken offline. “He is now embarking on his 8-day autonomous flight to the ISS.”
Three minutes later, Roscosmos confirmed that Nauka had successfully deployed its solar panels and antennas. The module will now use its own motors to elevate its orbit, Russian news agency TASS reported.
Nauka, which is scheduled to dock at the orbital outpost on July 29, will become the station’s largest Russian component. Over 42 feet (13 meters) long and with a maximum diameter of 14 feet (4.3 meters), the module research houses but also provide an extra bed for a cosmonaut, as well as a toilet, an oxygen regeneration system and materials to recycle the water from the urine.
Before Nauka reaches the space station, cosmonauts will have to remove the Pirs reception module on the station’s Russian-built Zvezda service module to allow Nauka to take its place. This undocking is scheduled for 9:17 a.m. EDT (1:17 p.m. GMT) on Friday, July 23, and you will be able to watch it live thanks to NASA TV.
Cosmonauts began preparing for Pirs’ departure last month during a series of spacewalks. Pirs leaves the space station after nearly 20 years serving as a docking port and airlock for the orbiting laboratory. It will partially burn in the atmosphere but pieces of it will land in the Pacific Ocean about four hours after it leaves the space station, according to TASS.
Nauka, designed in the early 1990s, experienced many obstacles on its way to space. Originally designed as a backup of the station’s first module, Zarya, launched in 1998, Nauka has spent more than two decades waiting on the ground, becoming obsolete.
In 2013, the Khrunichev Space Center, which built Nauka, had to remove metal shavings found in the module’s fuel system, TASS reported. At one point, Roscosmos considered replacing the research module’s aging propellant tanks with those from the Fregat booster. However, later it was decided to send the module to the space station with its original tanks.
Nauka also has an active docking port and airlock, which will be served by the 11m-long European robotic arm, the first robotic operator designed specifically to work on the Russian segment of the space station.
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