MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. A train with the Prichal nodal space module arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos said in a statement on Monday.
"Overnight to August 9, 2021, a train with the Prichal nodal module comprising the module and a Progress M-UM cargo spacecraft arrived at the Tyuratam railway station for continuing the assembly and pre-launch preparations at the Baikonur cosmodrome’s technical compound," the statement says.
Now the transport containers have been delivered to the assembly and testing facility of site No. 254, Roscosmos said.
"After that, specialists of the Energia Space Rocket Corporation (part of Roscosmos) will start unloading ground-based testing equipment and the spacecraft together with the module, carry out their primary acceptance inspection and install them on workplaces before launching technological operations in compliance with the schedule of preparations," the statement says.
Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin earlier announced that the launch of the nodal module was scheduled for November 24 this year. The Prichal module will boost the potential for Russian spaceships, including the new Oryol lunar spacecraft to dock with the space station, he explained.
The Prichal nodal module is set to dock to Russia’s Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module that parked at the International Space Station on July 29. The Roscosmos chief earlier told journalists at the Flight Control Center that the state commission would analyze the problems that had emerged during the docking of the Nauka research lab with the ISS and take them into account during the launch of the nodal module in the fall.