The first extended mission to the international space station will be launched “no earlier than October 30, as this was planned earlier,” the head of the Russian Aerospace Agency said Wednesday.
Yuri Koptev was speaking at a news conference at Russian mission control after the successful docking of the Zvezda service module with the ISS at 4:44 a.m. Wednesday morning, Moscow time.
Officials at the news conference said this docking was an event that far surpasses in scale the docking of the Soyuz and Apollo twenty years earlier, as the Soviet and American ships were linked for only a few days and this was more of a political event than a technical achievement for the two Cold War rivals. Work on the ISS, meanwhile, will take at least 15 years and include at least 16 countries, Koptev said.
Mission control officials see the docking of the Zvezda with the Zarya-Unity tandem as a key turning point in the creation of the ISS, as now scientists, astronauts and “even journalists, if they find the money” can be sent to live on the station.
Officials complained that the government provides just 30% of the funding for this program. “Foreigners are surprised at how Russians manage to carry out such a large and expensive program without money,” Koptev said.
After Wednesday morning’s docking, Zvezda took over all of the control and orbit-correction functions for the ISS. Many of the onboard systems of the Zarya module that piloted the Zarya-Unity tandem were shut off, and the module, the station’s first component, became a storage space for fuel and equipment.
In three weeks the first Progress cargo ship will automatically dock with the station and temporarily take over orbit control. Excess fuel will be pumped to the Zarya module along fuel lines laid through Zvezda.
Zvezda Docks With ISS
Korolev – July 26, 2000 – In a flawless docking, Russian ISS Mission Control in Korolev successfully oversaw the automated docking of the International Space Station with it newest module the Zvezda service module. Docking was at 8:45pm EDT July 25, (0045GMT July 26).
