Russian ISS docking to be televised

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it will televise the docking of the newest Russian module to arrive at the International Space Station.

NASA television says it will air next Thursday's docking live beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

The Mini Research Module-2, known as "Poisk," which means "explore" in Russian, will deliver 1,800 pounds of cargo to the station, NASA said. Poisk is to automatically dock to the station's Zvezda Service Module at 10:44 a.m.

"The 8-ton module is scheduled to launch at 9:22 a.m. Nov. 10 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan," NASA said. "The combination docking port and airlock will ride atop a Soyuz booster rocket. The Soyuz launch will not be broadcast on NASA TV."

The space agency said the module is designed to be used as an additional docking port for Russian vehicles, as an airlock for Russian-based spacewalks and as a platform for external science experiments. A companion module, the Mini Research Module-1, will be carried into orbit on space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission, targeted for next May, NASA officials said. That module will be robotically attached to the station's Zarya module.

Information about how to access NASA TV is available at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.