Apr 23 1996
From The Space Library
Russia successfully launched the 21-ton (19,000-kilogram or 19-tonne) Priroda module, the last major component of the aging Mir space station, aboard a robotic rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian scientists designed the Priroda module primarily as a laboratory for observing Earth. The module also contained equipment for NASA astronaut Shannon W. Lucid's stay aboard the station. NASA officials at JSC monitored the launch. Priroda carried a magnetically levitated experiment platform, a spectrometer, and a "glove box," allowing astronauts to handle potentially hazardous material. The module was the sixth major portion of the Mir complex launched by Russia since the Soviet Union began the project in 1986. Budget shortfalls in the Russian space program had caused some concern that the final module might not reach Mir as planned.
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