Zvezda (
star in
Russian) is the third
module to join the
International Space Station in orbit. It contains the living quarters for the permanent crew, as well as
lifesupport and station control systems. It was launched from
Baikonur Kosmodrome in
Kazakhstan at 10:56:36 (05:56:36 in
Experience2 server time) on 7/12/00 atop a
Proton booster. 14 minutes and 20 seconds into the flight, confirmation was received that the
Zvezda spacecraft had separated successfully from the
Proton rocket, and had completed deploying its
solar arrays as well as its
telemetry and
data antennae. At that point,
Zvezda officially was a
successful launch. Hooray!
This module will join the Unity and Zarya modules, which are already in orbit and have been awaiting it. Due to unexpected delays, the batteries and supplies in the Zarya module (the temporary station control module) were replaced by U.S. Space Shuttle.