Russia's fourth International Space Station module, Mini-Research Module 2, also known as Poisk, docked with the ISS's Zvezda zenith docking port on 12 November at 15:44 GMT.
Launched by a Samara Space Center Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome's launch pad 1 on 10 November at 20:22 local time, Poisk will serve as an additional docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and as an airlock for spacewalks.
The module will also provide extra space for scientific experiments and power-supply outlets and data-transmission interfaces for two external scientific payloads to be developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The mass of Poisk is 4,000kg (8,800lb), it has a diameter of 2.6m (8.52ft) and length of 4.6m, providing 12.5m3 (440ft3) of internal volume. Upon its arrival Poisk delivered over 750kg of cargo including food rations, Russian segment systems' equipment, medical support aids, flight documentation and parcels for the six crew.
Poisk reached the ISS using an Energia Progress propulsion module. The Russian Federation's Federal Space Agency says: "In December [the propulsion module] will be separated to release Poisk's passive docking port. In January during extra-vehicular activity operations, the crew will lay cable lines between the module and the station."
The other three Russian segment modules are the functional cargo block Zarya, the service module Zvezda and docking compartment module Pirs. MRM-2 will be joined by MRM-1 next May when NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis will deliver it on its final mission. Russia plans many more modules that will bring the number to nine after 2015.
Source: Flight International
