BAIKONUR COSMODROME. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Baikonur Cosmodrome specialists are considering postponement of the launch of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) to the International Space Station (ISS) to a reserve date in March 2019, a cosmodrome source told Interfax.
"The module's launch is currently scheduled for September 2018. However, the possibility and the ballistics of its launch on a reserve date, in March 2019, are being considered and calculated," the source said.
Roscosmos earlier confirmed its plans to launch the Nauka module to the ISS in the first half of 2018.
Rene Pischel, the head of the European Space Agency office in Russia, had said the launch of a module with the European Robotic Arm (ERA) was tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2018.
It was reported earlier that the construction of the Russian segment of the ISS would be completed with putting the Nauka module into operation in 2019. Prior to this, the 'Prichal' Uzlovoy Module should be put into service in 2018 and the Science-Power Module (NEM-1) in 2019.
These modules are to ensure the theoretical possibility of maintaining a Russian orbital station in the event the relevant decisions are made.
The Nauka module's launch was originally slated for the end of 2017 but was then postponed to 2018 because of a blockage discovered in its fuel system.