Kristall

Part of the Mir Space Station program

Kristall is the third addition to the Mir core vehicle and is primarily designed to investigate materials processing technologies in the space environment. The module also supports biological, Earth observation and astrophysical research.

Kristall is divided into an instrument/cargo and instrument/docking compartment, with 61 cubic meters of total pressurized volume. The instrument/cargo compartment holds materials processing and biological experiments. The instrument/docking compartment holds other investigations as well as a pair of docking ports. One of these ports was originally intended to support visits by the now cancelled Buran orbiter. This port was used for the first Shuttle/Mir rendezvous in 1995 (STS-71).

The module originally docked with the station on June 10, 1990 at the Mir core module fore axial port. Since then it has been moved several times to accomodate the addition of the Spektr module to the station and to allow rendezvous with the U.S. Shuttle (STS-71) at on of Kristall's docking ports. The module was transferred to its final location at the Mir core module's starboard radial port on July 17, 1995. A special Docking Module was been delivered to the station to accomodate subsequent Shuttle visits.

Spacecraft
Originally equipped wth 2 solar panels (72 sq. m total area) that provided up to 8.4 kW (one moved to Kvant 1 in 1995). Unlike the other solar panels on the Mir Complex, these can be folded or unfolded as a function of electrical power requirements. A 360 A-hr NiCd battery system provides energy storage. 2 3.9 kN main engines (NTO/UDMH) and clusters of 400N attitude control thrusters were used during the original docking process.

Payload
Krater 5, Optizon 1, CSK-1/Kristallizator semiconductor materials processing furnaces

Zona 2/3 materials processing furnaces

Glazar 2 UV telescope - cosmic radiation studies

Priroda 5 Earth resources camera system - consists of 2 KFA-1000 film cameras

Svet plant cultivation unit

Mariya magnetic spectrometer

Marina gamma ray telescope

Buket gamma ray spectrometer

Granar astrophysics spectrometer

Ainur electrophoresis unit

Country of Origin	USSR
Size	13.7 m long x 4.35 m diameter

Launch Facts

Name	Int'l Desig.	Date	Site	Vehicle	Orbit	Mass(kg)
Notes
Kristall	1990-048A	5/31/90	Tyuratam	SL-13	LEO	19640
Mir module; materials processing laboratory