Spaceflight

Russia's Federal Space Agency has placed an order with Energia for a Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) for the International Space Station (ISS), which will include European Space Agency equipment.

To be launched in 2009, the MLM will be docked with the Russian segment of the ISS and used for scientific research.

The module will contain special purpose workstations, replaceable payloads and an ESA-provided manipulator and multifunction computer.

"MLM is developed using experience gained with Mir, the ISS Russian segment and its service module Zvezda," says Energia. The company is the prime contractor for the ISS's Russian segment, while Boeing is the prime contractor the ISS's US segment. Energia subcontractors on the MLM include Khrunichev and Zvezda.

The MLM replaces Russia's science power platform, which was dropped from a previous ISS configuration after the March heads of agencies meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.