Russian Space Center to complete third orbital module

MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti) -The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) has allocated money to the Khrunichev Space Center to complete the construction of a multipurpose research module (MRM) for the International Space Station (ISS), the center's head told RIA Novosti Thursday.

Alexander Medvedev said that the construction of the module was 70% complete. It is scheduled to be launched in 2007. He also said that Roskosmos head Anatoly Pirmenov had approved this timeframe.

Medvedev said his center would work with the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, Russia's leading rocket producer, to complete the project.

"I had a meeting with the new head of Energia, Nikolai Sevastyanov, who I know and had good business relations with in the past," Medvedev said. "No one can complete such complicated projects on their own, and we always solved such problems together in the past."

The MRM, the third Russian module of the ISS, will be put into orbit by a Russian-made Proton launch vehicle.