Final preparations are underway in Kazakhstan in central Asia for the launch of the first stage of an international space station. The first stage is named Zarya, the Russian word for dawn. It will provide communications facilities for the station and is scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, central Asia, later this week. Final preparations are underway for the launch which will use a Russian Proton rocket. That is 18 months behind schedule, with the timetable still uncertain.
Delays are mainly the result of Russia's financial woes.
The International Space Station is to replace Russia's Mir station. Recent Science News .