A Russian
rocket launched into space Tuesday carrying a brand-new docking port for the
International Space Station.
The Soyuz
rocket blasted off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan with the unmanned Mini-Research Module 2, a new multipurpose room
for the space station that can serve as a docking port, storage closet or an
airlock for Russian spacewalks.
"It's very
important right now," said Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suarev, who currently lives
on the space station, before he left Earth. "This is additional space to store
equipment and other things that are on board the station, but the primary
objective is for us to use the module for extravehicular activity."
The module,
called Poisk (Russian for "Explore"), launched at 9:22 a.m. EST (1422 GMT)
though it was late Tuesday night local time at the cosmodrome. It is due to dock
at the space station Thursday at about 10:43 a.m. EST (1543 GMT).
Poisk is
Russia's first
new addition to the station since 2001, when the country's Federal Space
Agency launched the Pirs docking compartment — a room similar to Poisk that is
attached to the outpost's bottom, Earth-facing side.
The module
is just over 13 feet (4 meters) long, about 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide and weighs
about 8,000 pounds (17,636 kg). It is shaped like a rounded-off barrel and has
about 380 cubic feet (10.7 cubic meters) of actual living space inside. The
station room launched with about 2,204 pounds (1,000 kg) of cargo, about 1,764
pounds (800 kg) of which is made up of Russian Orlan spacesuits and life
support gear.
Space
station managers and astronauts have said Poisk is vital because it will add a
fourth docking port for visiting Russian spacecraft like Soyuz crew vehicles
and unmanned Progress cargo ships. The module is due to dock autonomously to a
point on top of the space station.
The station
currently has three berths on its Russian segment — two on the bottom and one
at the aft. Today, all of them are taken by two Soyuz spacecraft (lifeboats for
the station's six-person crew) and an unmanned cargo ship.
"With six
crewmembers on board, you have to permanently have two Soyuz docked," said Kirk
Shireman, NASA's deputy station program manager. That means a third docking
port is be required during crew changes, and yet another for the cargo ship, he
added.
So the fourth
docking port will add some flexibility for cargo and crew scheduling since it will
ease traffic and spacecraft parking concerns at the station, Shireman told
SPACE.com. The station also has an American-built docking port at the front for
visiting space shuttles.
NASA
officials did not have information from Russia's Federal Space Agency on the
estimated cost for Poisk, Shireman said.
The $100
billion space station has been under construction since 1998 and is home to
six people: two Russians, two Americans and one astronaut each from Canada and
Belgium. It is the product of cooperation among 16 different countries.
The rocket
carrying Poisk launched just six days ahead of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis,
which is slated to lift off Monday from Florida to deliver a giant load of
spare parts to the space station. A Soyuz spacecraft is also expected to depart
the station in a few weeks to return three astronauts back to Earth.
"It's a
very busy time," Shireman said.
SPACE.com
will provide live coverage of the Poisk docking port's arrival at the
International Space Station on Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. EST. Click here
for space station mission updates and a link to NASA's live TV broadcast.
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