Nauka (ISS module)

Nauka (Russian: Нау́ка; lit. Science), also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), (Russian: Многофункциональный лабораторный модуль, or МЛМ), is a component of the International Space Station (ISS) which has not yet been launched into space. The MLM is funded by the Roscosmos State Corporation. In the original ISS plans, Nauka was to use the location of the Docking and Stowage Module. Later, the DSM was moved to Zarya's nadir port and named Rassvet. Planners anticipate Nauka will dock at Zvezda's nadir port, replacing Pirs.

The launch of Nauka, initially planned for 2007, has been repeatedly delayed. During 2013, the launch was re-scheduled to April 2014 and then to June 2014; NASA documents at that time indicated that the module would not fly before November 2015. In April 2014 it emerged that the target date for launch was postponed to February 2017, as it became necessary to manufacture a new propulsion system for the module. As of November 2016^[update] the tentative launch date has slipped to mid-2018, aboard a Proton M rocket.

In the 1990s, plans for the Russian segment of the ISS included several research modules that were intended to be adjunct to Zarya and Zvezda. In these earlier plans, the now-cancelled complex of the Universal Docking Module (UDM) and the two newly developed Russian Research Modules were to be attached Zvezda's nadir port – the UDM was to be based on the Functional Cargo Block FGB-2. The FGB-2 was originally build as a backup for the original launch of the Zarya (FGB) module – FGB-2's construction had been halted at 70-percent completeness in the late 1990s.

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