14 DAY TRIAL // On Tuesday, following complex maneuvers using the Canadian-built robotic arm aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts managed to attach a new room to the nadir face of the Zarya module on the space facility. The Mini Research Module-1 (MRM-1) was delivered to orbit on Sunday aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, which is currently taking its final planned flight. Now, not 48 hours after the MRM-1 module, also called Rassvet, was attached, astronauts are getting ready to enter it for the first time.
“It's a big piece of Russian hardware. It's about the size of a small Winnebago,” Atlantis mission specialist Piers Sellers said in an interview before take-off. The room was built for a price of $200 million, and it serves a dual function. It will act as both a docking port for Russian Progress and Soyuz capsules, and as a cargo storage room for extra supplied aboard the ISS. According to astronauts, the 19.7-foot (six-meter) -long compartment may additionally be used for conducting minor scientific experiments. But before this can happen, the station crew needs to ensure that everything is running smoothly.
Later today, it will open the hatch between Zarya and Rassvet, and then inspect the sealed connection between the two for any leaks. If everything turns out to be in order, the crew will then proceed with the next phase of its plan, which is to install a new air filter in MRM-1. This will make the air inside breathable, and will connect the module to the rest of the ISS recycling system. Additional work will be conducted on Rassvet after Atlantis leaves, as a lot of chores need to be taken care of first, before the six shuttle astronauts take leave. There are still many supplies, including food, spare parts, and scientific experiments, that need to be unloaded from the orbiter.
Space shuttle Atlantis is currently performing its 32nd flight into space, under the designation STS-132. This is its last mission, according to the new NASA plan of retiring the space shuttles by the end of this year. The orbiter will not be decommissioned upon return, NASA representatives say. Rather, it will be prepared for a potential extra launch in November, as a contingency plan for Endeavor's last planned flight. If something goes wrong during the last shuttle flight ever, Atlantis will be on stand-by to intervene, and rescue the crew on its sister spacecraft, Space reports.