Russia To Launch MIM1 Module To ISS Next Year

Currently there are 10 modules on the ISS, with the Russian segment consisting of Zvezda service module, Zarya functional cargo module, Pirs docking station and Poisk scientific module.

Russia is scheduled to launch a MIM1 experiment module to the International Space Station (ISS) next year, said the head of Russia's aerospace conglomerate on Monday.

The 7.9-ton module, temporarily named
"Twilight" (Sumerki), had been assembled and is awaiting shipment to the United States in mid-December, said Vitaly Lopota, president of Russia's Energia Aerospace Corporation, in Korolev in the Moscow region.

It will be sent to the ISS by a U.S. space shuttle in May 2010,together with a storage of some 1.4 tons of U.S. cargoes, Lopota added.

It is reported that "Twilight" will be deployed to conduct a series of scientific experiments, especially studies on biotechnology and hylology.

Currently there are 10 modules on the ISS, with the Russian segment consisting of Zvezda service module, Zarya functional cargo module, Pirs docking station and Poisk scientific module.

The Poisk, which will be formally deployed this month, is the first of three components Russia is planning to add to the space station in the next three years.

In keeping with its plans, Russia is scheduled to launch a node module to the ISS in 2012 and another two energy modules in 2014, which will boost the energy supplies of the Russian section of the ISS.