MOSCOW, Nov. 26 -- Russian Mission Control says the Zarya ('zah-RYAH') module, which is the first part of the future International Space Station to orbit Earth, has developed 'slight glitches' in its first week of operation. Officials say these problems are 'fixable' and will not cause problems during docking with the U.S.-made Unity node in early December.
One of Zarya's batteries is malfunctioning, an antenna vibrator has failed to unfold and the humidity level on board the module is higher than expected. Yuri Koptev ('YOU-ree KOP-teff'), the head of the Russian Space Agency, was reported as saying the minor problems were not affecting Zarya's flight. Koptev said it was remarkable how trouble-free the operation of Zarya, which means dawn in Russian, was. Zarya, which was launched into orbit last Friday, has responded well to ground controllers' commands to adjust its orbit, and is now in a holding orbit ahead of its planned docking with Unity. Unity will be launched into space on board the space shuttle Endeavour on Dec. 3, and the link-up between the twomodules will take place Dec. 6. The 16-nation space project will take 44 more launches to complete, and will be ready by the year 2004. The station will welcome its first crew starting in the year 2000, and the entire project is estimated to cost almost $40 billion, with the U.S. paying slightly over half of the cost. The new space station is replacing Russia's 12-year-old Mir space station, which is due to be scrapped next year. ---
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