Poisk Poised For Live NASA TV Space Station Docking

HOUSTON, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Television will air the
docking of the newest Russian module to the International Space Station
starting at 9 a.m. CST Nov. 12.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )

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

SOURCE NASA

John Yembrick, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-1100,
john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov, or Kelly Humphries, Johnson Space Center, Houston,
+1-281-483-5111, kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov, both of NASA