VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, December 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Nauka multi-functional laboratory module may be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in early 2021 instead of late 2020 as was initially planned, state space corporation Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday.

"We are planning to dispatch the Nauka multi-functional research laboratory to Baikonur already in early 2020 to start electric tests, check the operation of instruments and make the launch either in late 2020 or in early 2021," the Roscosmos chief stated.

The Roscosmos head earlier informed that the liftoff of the Nauka module was scheduled for November 2020.

The construction of the Nauka module began in 1995. Russia initially planned to launch the Nauka lab to the ISS as a back-up of the Zarya compartment (the station’s first module that continues its flight as part of the orbital outpost) but the blast-off was repeatedly delayed. In 2013, the Nauka module was sent to the Khrunichev Space Center after metal chips were found in its fuel system.

The Nauka multi-functional laboratory module can generate oxygen for six people and regenerate water from the urine. The Nauka will provide a second toilet for Russian cosmonauts (the first is located in the Zvezda module) and a room for the third crewmember. It will also use the European Robotic Arm (ERA) that will help perform some operations without spacewalks. A source in the space industry earlier told TASS that the Nauka module was due to be dispatched to the Baikonur spaceport on January 15, 2020.