After almost 15 years of delays and technical problems, the new Russian space laboratory Nauka was today attached to International Space Station (ISS), as announced by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
“The contact of the versatile Nauka laboratory with the ISS Zvezda platform has been confirmed,” the service said on Twitter.
“We have contact!” wrote for his part the director of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, welcoming the first attachment of a Russian space laboratory to the ISS after 11 years.
In its announcement, the service clarified that based on the telemetry data and the reports of the ISS crew, the systems are operating normally. However, in order for the Nauka station to become fully operational, it will take several months and several space “walks” to take place.
The science lab was flown to the ISS by a Proton-M rocket launched July 21 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The operation was monitored anxiously by the European Space Agency, as Nauka is carrying, among other things, its own equipment, the ERA robotic arm that will then be placed in its outer part.
Nauka (meaning “science” in Russian) is basically a laboratory boat but can also be used to store cargo, but also to produce water and oxygen. It weighs 20 tons and has a capacity of 70 cubic meters. Its assembly began in the 1990s but its launch, originally scheduled for 2007, has been delayed several times. Like other Russian space programs, it faced technical, bureaucratic and financial problems.
Nauka replaces the Pirs which was detached from the ISS on Monday and burned as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, over the Pacific Ocean. The Pris was tied to the ISS in 2011 and was to be used for only five years, but due to delays with Nauka, Roscosmos was forced to extend its lifespan.
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