MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Nauka multirole laboratory module will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of next year, an aerospace industry source told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"The module's hull will be transported from the Khrunichev Center to the Energia Corporation in December 2011 for being equipped and sent to the spaceport. The launch is due in December 2012," he said.
The Khrunichev Space Center and Energia are jointly creating Nauka on the basis of the Zarya unit, the first module of the ISS. The takeoff weight of the module is 20.3 tons. It will carry up to three tons of research instruments.
The module will provide space for docking of Soyuz and Progress spaceships, will transit fuel from Progress tanks to ISS tanks and will assist the ISS orientation with its engines.
The module will have space for storing cargo and partial life sustenance support systems. The European robotic arm ERA will be installed in Nauka.
A Proton-M rocket will carry the module to the ISS from Baikonur.