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MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian cargo ship carrying a new docking module successfully docked with the International Space Station on Friday after a two-day space flight.
The new spherical module, called Prichal (Pier), docked with the orbiting outpost at 18:19 Moscow time (1519 GMT). It has six docking ports and will allow for potential future expansion of the Russian segment of the station.
The module is docked in the docking port of the new Russian Nauka (Science) laboratory module.
On Wednesday, a Soyuz rocket carrying Prichal’s Progress cargo ship took off from the Russian launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After entering space, the module cargo ship entered orbit.
Progress is also delivering 700 kilos of miscellaneous cargo to the space station and is expected to leave the station on December 22.
The first Soyuz spacecraft is expected to dock on the new module on March 18, 2022 with a crew of three cosmonauts: Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov.
Earlier this week, the Russian crew at the station began training for the module’s arrival, simulating the use of manual controls in case the automatic docking system fails.
The space station is currently operated by NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei; Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.
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