Space Station Links Up With Russian Module

K O R O L Y O V, Russia, July 26, 2000 -- Opening what exultant space officialscalled a new era in space, the long-delayed international spacestation linked up smoothly today with the Russian-made Zvezdacontrol module.

The crucial module will allow the first crew to start living andworking in the station this autumn. It also will provide steeringcontrols, as well as adjusting the station’s orbit and distributingelectricity.

Russian space officials, including several cosmonauts, anxiouslymonitored the automatic docking on a large screen at MissionControl in Korolyov, just outside Moscow. Applause rippled throughthe hall once the linkup was achieved, and beamingtechnicians shook hands all around and gave each other thumbs-upsigns.

‘Astonishing Achievement’

“Speaking from the NASA side, this is an astonishingachievement, something we’ve been waiting for quite some time,”said Robert Castle, a NASA liaison at Russian Mission Control.“This is the beginning of a new era in space.”

The international space station is running two years behindschedule, and already has gone $3 billion over budget because ofproblems on the Russian side that raised questions about Moscow’sreliability as a partner. Zvezda was the first module to be builtsolely by the Russians.

Russian space officials tried to put that all behind them today.

“I want to wish you all that we will see such events happenagain without any more delays,” said Yuri Semyonov, head of thestate RKK Energiya company, which built the module.

Russian Aerospace Agency chief Yuri Koptev used the occasion topress for more state funding, noting that the government hadprovided only about 30 percent of the money needed for each launch.

“This event shows that Russia is still strong and developing asa superpower and the government should support us,” he said atKorolyov.

‘We Can Work Together’

He also saluted his NASA colleagues and expressed hope that thetwo space agencies would continue to cooperate. The successfullinkup “is yet more proof that we can work together,” he toldNASA administrator Daniel Goldin over a speakerphone.

The linkup was completed two weeks after the unmanned Zvezda waslaunched into orbit from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the CentralAsian nation of Kazakstan. Over the weekend, space controllersfired the Zvezda’s jets several times to bring the module into astationary orbit and aligned the rest of the station for a smoothapproach.

Although the docking should have been a routine procedure,Russia was taking extra precautions with Zvezda, which means“star” in Russian.

Two cosmonauts were standing by at Baikonur to fly to thestation and dock manually if the automatic system had failed. Butthe system the cosmonauts would have used was the one used in a1997 test aboard the Mir space station, when a cargo ship wentastray and collided with the orbiter, puncturing the hull andseverely damaging the prestige of Russia’s space industry.

Yet the cosmonauts didn’t have to go anywhere today.Technicians confirmed that the components had locked togethersuccessfully before the space station passed outside radio contactwith Mission Control in Korolyov.

Shortly after docking, Zvezda’s solar arrays were to begintracking the sun. Within a few days, its computers will take fullcontrol of maintaining the station’s orbit.

Crew to Arrive in October

The first crew is set to arrive at the international spacestation in October. But the space laboratory, a massive 16-nationproject headed by the United States, will not be complete foranother five years, after more than 40 space flights.

Some members of the U.S. Congress have questioned whether tofund NASA’s spending projections on the $60 billion project,particularly after the failed launches of two Mars missions lastyear. But they expressed cautious optimism about the Zvezda launch.

As the station expands, many of the module’s functions will betaken over by other components, but Zvezda will remain the heart ofthe Russian segments. Once the ISS is complete, it will weigh aboutone million pounds and have six laboratories.