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Engineers Prep Zvezda for Tuesday Launch
By Anatoly Zak
Staff Writer
posted: 09:23 am ET
09 July 2000
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zvezda_launchpad_000709 BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan -- Cell phones fell silent in the Baikonur area on Sunday, as RKK Energia experts conducted final checks of radio systems aboard the Zvezda module -- a critical element of the International Space Station.Zvezda sits on top of a 130-foot- (40-meter-) tall Proton rocket after its rollout to launch pad Number 23 in Area 81 in Baikonur on Saturday. The long-delayed spacecraft will provide living quarters and propulsion capabilities for the fledgling International Space Station, a multibillion dollar project conducted by the U.S., Russia, members of the European Space Agency, Canada and Brazil. 
SPACE.com presents full coverage of this critical mission to the ISS.
The RKK Energia team on Sunday started numerous tests of the spacecrafts command-and-control systems in preparation for launch, currently scheduled for 1:56:28 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (05:56:28 GMT) on July 12. 
The Zvezda module aboard the Proton booster To avoid interference with the sensitive communications equipment on Zvezda, a relay station providing cell phone service in and around Baikonur was shut down until 7:00 a.m. EDT (11:00 GMT). Additional tests of the Zvezda systems will be conducted Monday, after which the entire prelaunch processing will be transferred to the launch personnel of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, who service two Proton launch complexes in Area 81.
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