Crucial Russian module for space station set for July launch

MOSCOW - A critical Russian-built segment of the International Space Station has passed all tests in plenty of time for its July launch, the Russian space agency said Wednesday.

Launch of the Zvezda (Star) module, which is intended to house the station's crew, has been delayed for more than two years.

First, the government was short of funds to build it. Then, Proton booster rockets, the model that will carry Zvezda into orbit, crashed in launches twice last year.

Now, officials say, those problems have been resolved.

''The Zvezda module has undergone all tests twice without a hitch,'' Russian Air and Space Agency spokesman Konstantin Kreidenko said.

Kreidenko said the module's launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakstan is tentatively set for July 12. Before then, Russia will carry out several more launches of the Proton booster rocket, he said. Several Proton launches have been carried out successfully this year.

The station's first components were launched in November and December 1998, and U.S. space shuttle crews have visited. But the first permanent crew must wait until after Zvezda is in orbit.

The postponement of Zvezda's launch has caused costly delays in the entire 16-nation station project, vexing NASA. The U.S. space agency had invited Russia into the station program in 1993 in hopes of saving time and money, but Russian delays are estimated to have cost NASA as much as $3 billion.

Russia has also irritated NASA by keeping its aging Mir space station aloft. U.S. officials want Russia to dump Mir and concentrate its strained resources on the new station.

The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth this week after a repair mission to the international space station. The crew replaced four depleted batteries and did other essential work to resuscitate the craft, which was not designed to fly so long without a crew.

Kreidenko said the first permanent crew is likely to blast off for the station in October.

Even before going into space, Zvezda has already been given bad marks from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. The GAO warned in March that the station crews will face increased risk and noise because of Russia's failure to meet NASA safety standards. It also said that the module doesn't offer strong enough protection against collisions with space junk and its equipment will fail if the cabin pressure its lost, jeopardizing the entire station.

NASA said it knows about the problems and promised they would be resolved in orbit.