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Zvezda Launch

(July 12, 2000) A proton booster lifts off from the Bykanor Cosmodrome carrying the Zvezda, the third element of the International Space Station. This module was the first fully Russian contribution to the International Space Station, and served as a major step towards allowing humans to live in space. It acted as the station’s first living quarters, housing the station’s life support systems, flight control systems, and propulsion systems. It also distributed electrical power throughout the entirety of the young Space Station, and it held the station’s main communications system, which included remote command capabilities for people controlling flight from the ground. Today, Zvezda acts as the center for Russia’s portion of the ISS, and it provides a docking port for various Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, as well as the European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

 

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Credit: NASA/Scott Andrews

Image Number: KSC-00PD-5028

Date: July 12, 2000

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Uploaded on July 12, 2025
Taken on July 12, 2000