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Selected Press Release

November 5, 2009

NASA MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-212

POISK POISED FOR LIVE NASA TV SPACE STATION DOCKING

HOUSTON -- NASA Television will air the docking of the newest Russian
module to the International Space Station starting at 9 a.m. CST Nov.
12.

The Mini Research Module-2, known as "Poisk," which means "explore" in
Russian, will deliver 1,800 pounds of cargo to the station. Poisk is
scheduled to automatically dock to the station's Zvezda Service
Module at 9:44 a.m.

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

The module will 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. Its first use will be as a
docking port during the relocation of a Soyuz crew vehicle in
January.

A companion module, the Mini Research Module-1, will be carried to
orbit on space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission, targeted to launch
in May 2010. That module will be robotically attached to the
station's Zarya module.

For more information about the space station, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/station


For more information about how to access NASA Television, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

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