Russian cosmonauts are preparing the ISS for rapid growth – BGR

• Today the Russians are carrying out a spacewalk to prepare for the addition of a new science module to the ISS.
• The module will replace an outdated one and will launch in early 2021.
• This will be the first of several spacewalks to prepare the space station for the arrival of the new module.

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The International Space Station is the only place outside the Earth where humans have maintained a presence for a long and consistent period of time. It has also changed a lot since astronauts started calling it a temporary home. New modules have been added over time, allowing more room for science and, at times, creature comfort.

Today, a pair of Russian cosmonauts will work outside the ISS to prepare it for the addition of a new module. The Russian module of the multipurpose laboratory nicknamed Nauka (“science” in Russian) will be affixed to the large orbiting laboratory and will serve as a new location for researchers to carry out their work.

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Preparations for the upcoming module include inspections of the airlock that will be used to secure the module to the space station as a whole, and just generally to ensure everything looks right on the outside of the spacecraft. Air leaks in the Russian side of the spacecraft have been causing concern in recent months, but now that they seem to have cleared up, Russia is thrilled to install its new module as soon as possible.

The Nauka module will replace the Russian Pirs module, but that old module will not be disabled for some time. The Nauka module is expected to be launched on the ISS in April next year, but before that can happen, cosmonauts will have to perform more spacewalks to “reposition resources” for the new module’s expected arrival, according to CNN.

The International Space Station has been orbiting the Earth for over two decades and had humans occupying it for the vast majority of that time. There have been questions about how vital the space station will continue to be in the future and how long NASA, the European Space Agency, Japan’s JAXA and Russia’s Roscosmos group will continue to see the spacecraft as a useful tool for various research. .

However, over the past couple of years, it has become increasingly clear that the space station will have a new lease on life. The ISS is expected to continue operating at least until the end of the decade, but the space station is likely to live beyond that date. Missions to the Moon and perhaps even Mars could be a top priority for various space agencies at that point, but the ability to conduct research in the ISS microgravity environment appears to be too valuable to give up without having a readily available replacement.