Moscow. September 3. INTERFAX - Nine spacewalks will be needed for the full launch of the new module of the ISS "Nauka", said Alexander Kaleri, head of the flight and space center of the rocket and space corporation" Energia".
"In order for it to come into operation and work, it is necessary to make nine exits," Kaleri said during the broadcast of Roscosmos on Friday.
According to him, three outputs will be devoted to the integration of the module and the ISS systems, three more will take the installation of the Era manipulator, and during the last three astronauts will install additional equipment with the help of Era.
At the moment, cosmonauts Peter Dubrov and Oleg Novitsky are conducting the first spacewalk dedicated to the integration of the module.
The module docked to the ISS at the end of July. The launch dates of the module were repeatedly postponed. Initially, the launch of the Nauka module was scheduled for 2017, but it was postponed to 2018 due to a blockage in the fuel system. The blockage could cause a breakdown of the ISS propulsion system, so the module was returned to the manufacturer for revision. Later, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the main cause of problems with the fuel system of Nauka was not a blockage, but a marriage.