| Berthed opposite Kvant-2 in June 1990, Kristall weighs 19.6 tons and carries two stowable solar arrays, science and technology equipment, and a docking port equipped with a special androgynous docking mechanism designed to receive heavy (up to about 100 tons) spacecraft equipped with the same kind of docking unit. | |
Like Kvant-2, it was initially docked at the axial port, but was later moved to an radial port. It would be impractical to leave Krystall in the longitudinal axis position because the longitudinal dock is used by the Russian vehicles Progress-M and Soyuz-TM.
The androgynous unit was originally developed for the Russian Buran Shuttle program. Atlantis used the androgynous docking unit on Kristall during mission STS-71.
| Module | Mass (Kg) |
Length (m) |
Max. Diameter (m) |
Pressurized Volume (Cubic Meters) |
No. of Solar Arrays/Area (Square Meters) |
Power Output (KW) |
Function |
| Kristall | 19,640 | 11.9 | 4.35 | 60.8 | 2/70 | 5.5 - 8.4 | Materials production & remote sensing, docking node |
The purpose of the
Kristall module is to develop biological and materials production
technologies in the space environment. One component of the
Kristall is a radial docking port. Originally designed as a
potential means of docking the Russian Buran reusable shuttle
orbiter, this port is now attached to the Docking
Module.