Russia: The laboratory module Nauka will be launched towards the International Space Station in November 2019, the CEO of ROSCOSMOS Dmitry Rogozin has said. The module will be sent to the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan by the end of December this year or in early January 2019.
ROSCOSMOS specialists have inspected the module’s condition at the M.V. Khrunichev State Research and Production Center.
“The work has been organized properly. We believe that if no disruptions occur, we will dispatch the module to Baikonur in December this year or January next year,” Rogozin said.
Work on Nauka Module started in 1995. Originally it was to be used at the ISS as a stand-by substitute for Zarya. The launch was repeatedly postponed.
Nauka’s launch mass exceeds 20 tonnes. It can accommodate up to three tonnes of research equipment. The module is equipped with a docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. Its other functions are to pump fuel from Progress spacecraft’s tanks to the ISS, participate in the station’s attitude control and generate oxygen for six crew.
