A Soyuz rocket carrying the Poisk module is on its way to the International Space Station. The launch occurred at 7:22 AM Phoenix time this morning. Poisk, which means “explore” in Russian, is 8 feet wide and more than 13 feet long. It will be the first major Russian addition to the station since the Pirs docking compartment was launched in 2001. Poisk is nearly identical to Pirs. Poisk weighs more than 8,000 pounds and will be docked to the zenith docking port of the transfer section of the Zvezda service module. About 1,800 pounds of cargo is loaded into Poisk’s pressurized compartment for delivery to the space station.
Poisk was built by the Russian aerospace company Energia. It will also be used as an airlock by Russian space-walkers and a mounting platform for external science experiments. The module has two egress hatches and about 500 cubic feet of internal volume for storage and spacewalk preps.
T Minus 1 Minute |
Ignition |
Ascent |
Climb Out |
Image Credits: Screen shots from live coverage at tv-tsenki
For more images of Soyuz and Baikonur, see the Expedition 21 Launch.
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