MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2021) The testing of the Kurs rendezvous system that the Russian multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) Nauka ("Science") is equipped with has been postponed until July 25, as well as the undocking of the Pirs module, according to a flight control group specialist at the Mission Control Center in Moscow.
Nauka was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on July 21 and is now headed to the International Space Station (ISS).
"... we postponed the Kurs test to July 25, in this regard, the undocking of the Pirs module (from the ISS) was shifted to July 26," the flight control specialist said on Saturday.
The Pirs module will be undocked from the ISS by the Progress MS-16 cargo vehicle ahead of the Nauka docking, planned for July 29.
The Nauka Laboratory Module is a research unit, aimed at expanding the functionality of the Russian segment of the ISS and facilitating the implementation of the Russian program of scientific and applied research and experiments.
The Pirs module was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in 2001 and has been used as an airlock for cosmonaut spacewalks, fuel transport between the Zvezda or Zarya modules and docked vehicles, and an additional docking port for the Soyuz crewed and Progress cargo spacecraft.
