Hello and welcome to PointOrView. In this video we’re going to be looking at the
successful docking of the new Russian module, Nauka, that linked up to the Russian segment
of the intl space station, replacing the old Pirs module that departed a couple of days ago
after serving Russian astronauts for over 20 year. The Russian-made NAUKA Multipurpose Laboratory
Module was launched atop a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 21.
The uncrewed Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), Nauka, the Russian word for “science,” encountered
some technical problems on the way to orbit. Shortly after the launch, issues began.
An orbit maneuver was delayed for 24-hours due to software issues with the fuel system.
These issues also included the inability to confirm the
deployment of the docking target and antenna. Thanks fully Russian Specialists were able to
troubleshoot most of the problems and developed a backup rendezvous plan.
After completing eight days in free-flight, the 43-foot long, 23 metric ton Nauka module
automatically docked to the port on the Earth-facing side of the Russian segment station,
vacated by the departure of Pirs. Nauka is Russia's first significant
addition to the International Space Station in more than a decade.
Nauka is a sizable module, including crew quarters, an airlock for scientific
experiments, and much more. It is about 20 percent larger
than the biggest Russian segment of the station, the Zvezda service module.
Nauka will serve as a new science facility, docking port,
and spacewalk airlock for future operations. Nauka will support a variety of different
services and functions, once it arrives and is activated and hooked up for full use.
Among other things, Nauka will provide propellant transfer between the Progress vehicles,
the unpiloted cargo ships that will arrive in the months and years to come.
It will also serve as a docking port for piloted Soyuz and unpiloted Progress vehicles.
Nauka will also deliver and operate a European Robotic Arm (ERA)
for external scientific payloads. It will also provide for an additional
crew quarters, an additional toilet, and electron oxygen generation system.
Interestingly, the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS
has officially announced it is pulling out of the International Space Station program in 2025.
The decision was made due to safety concerns over the aging space station structure.
Russia plans to build its own orbital service station but hasn’t undeclared a firm timeline.
For more than 20 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked
on the international space station, testing technologies,
performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth.
And that’s a wrap. Thanks for watching.