Russia has launched the Nauka, the biggest space laboratory launched by Russia till date. It was sent from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to reach the International Space Station.
Context
Russia has launched the Nauka, the biggest space laboratory launched by Russia till date. It was sent from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to reach the International Space Station.
About the Nauka Module
- Nauka means "science" in Russian.
- It will replace the Pirs, a Russian module on the International Space Station (ISS) that was used as a docking port for spacecraft and as a door for cosmonauts to go out on spacewalks.
- Nauka will be attached to the critical Zvezda module, which provides all of the space station’s life support systems and serves as the structural and functional center of the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS).
- Nauka is 42 feet long and weighs 20 tonnes.
- It was supposed to be launched as early as 2007, as per the ISS’s original plan. However, due to technical issues, the launch kept getting postponed.
Function
- It will serve as Russia’s main research facility on ISS.
- The module will bring the oxygen generator, a spare bed, another toilet, and a robotic cargo crane built by the European Space Agency (ESA).
International Space Station
- A space station is essentially a large spacecraft that remains in low-earth orbit for extended periods.
- It is like a large laboratory in space and allows astronauts to come aboard and stay for weeks or months to carry out experiments in microgravity.
- The ISS has been in space since 1998 and has been known for the exemplary cooperation between the five participating space agencies that run it: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
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