Pirs

Pirs
	The Pirs module, docked on the Zvezda module
Space station:	International space station
Start date:	September 14, 2001
Launcher:	Soyuz U
Coupling:	September 16, 2001
Dimensions:	3,676 kg
Length:	4.05 m
Diameter:	2.55 m
Volume:	13 m³
	Adjacent modules

Pirs ( Russian Пирс for pier ) or Docking Compartment 1 (Russian Стыковочный Отсек 1 , pronounced as Stykowotschny Otsek ), manufacturer designation 240ГК №1Л , is a Russian docking and exit module of the International Space Station (ISS) and also the third Russian module of the station.

The production of the module began in 1998 at RKK Energija . At the end of 2000 it was completed and sent to Baikonur to prepare for launch . The launch took place on September 14, 2001 with a Soyuz U launcher. A modified Progress transport ship was used to transport the module to the space station , with Pirs taking over the place of the GO cargo section and the OKD tank section. Only the PAO service section with the engines and supply systems remained from the actual progress. About 25 hours after the start docked the transport ship fully automatically at the bottom docking port of Zvezda to. After docking with the ISS, the service section of the Progress freighter was disconnected and burned up in the atmosphere.

The modified Progress spaceship with the Pirs module shortly before docking with the ISS. You can see the active coupling nozzle with which the module couples to the station.

The design by Pirs is based on an SO docking module designed in the 1980s for the Buran space shuttle, to which the space shuttle should be able to dock with a space station. A similar docking module of a somewhat simpler design was used to couple the space shuttles to the Mir space station .

Pirs is 4.05 m long (with coupling units 4.91 m), has a maximum diameter of 2.55 m and a weight of 3,676 kg with the loads supplied and elements to be installed later (empty weight 2,882 kg). The module provides about 13 cubic meters of pressurized space, mainly for equipment that is needed when exiting. For this purpose, there are two opposite hatches with a diameter of one meter each, which are suitable for the exit of two cosmonauts in Orlan-M spacesuits . Both hatches are equivalent and can be used depending on which side is more convenient to exit. The hatches open inwards and are designed for 120 opening and closing operations. Each hatch has a circular window that is 228mm in diameter.

Pirs has fuel lines to transport the fuel delivered by Progress freighters to the Zarya and Zvezda modules. Until 2012, the two Strela cranes were attached to the outside of the module , which supported the space travelers in their spacecraft operations.

Pirs has two coupling nozzles: an active coupling nozzle of the type "SSWP-M 8000" at the end of the module that is docked to the ISS, as well as a passive coupling nozzle of the type "SSWP G4000" at the opposite end, on which space transporters can dock . Pirs acts as an adapter, so to speak, and thus offers, in addition to Sarja- Nadir and the rear docking connector of the Zvezda module, a third option for coupling Soyuz spaceships and Progress freighters. Before Pirs was docked, only two supply ships with Russian docking adapters could be docked at the station.

The useful life of Pirs was originally set at five years, i.e. until September 2006. Afterwards the exchange should take place with an identical module (SO-2 or DC-2). Due to delays in the Russian space program, Pirs is still in operation to this day. On November 12, 2009, the exchange module , now known as Poisk , reached the station. Poisk was attached to the unused coupling port opposite, so that Pirs remains in space and can also be used. It was planned that Pirs would be detached from the station complex with a Progress space freighter in 2017 and brought to the earth's atmosphere to burn up. This was supposed to clear the connector for the Russian Nauka research module . Since the start of Nauka is delayed again and again, it is also still unclear how long Pirs will remain at the ISS.

Web links

Commons : Pirs - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Stephen Clark: Poisk module adds room to International Space Station. spaceflightnow.com, November 12, 2009, accessed November 12, 2009 .
^ Anatoly Zak: Russian engineers tackle problems with the MLM Nauka module. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (English): "The Pirs module would then be deorbited and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean along with Progress MS-06."

[1] Stephen Clark: Poisk module adds room to International Space Station. spaceflightnow.com, November 12, 2009, accessed November 12, 2009 .

[2] Anatoly Zak: Russian engineers tackle problems with the MLM Nauka module. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (English): "The Pirs module would then be deorbited and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean along with Progress MS-06."