Russia will launch new multi-functional laboratory module Nauka (Science) for the International Space Station (ISS) next April, the head of the country's Roscosmos State Space Corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st July, 2020) Russia will launch new multi-functional laboratory module Nauka (Science) for the International Space Station (ISS) next April, the head of the country's Roscosmos State Space Corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Friday.
"We are planning to proceed with the launch in April next year," Rogozin told reporters.
Roman Khokhlov, the deputy director for production at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, said that the module would be sent from Moscow to the Baikonur spaceport on August 6, while the launch preparations would take nine months.
The production of Nauka module started in 1995 as a backup for the first ISS module, Zarya. In 2004, it was decided to lower the costs of making a new module for the Russian part of the station by repurposing the backup. The module was originally scheduled to go into orbit in 2007, but the launch has been postponed multiple times for various reasons.
