ZVEZDA Russian Service Module

After more than 2 years of technical and financial delays, the Russian Service Module "ZVEZDA" (Star) was finally launched on July 12, 2000 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan via a Proton rocket. The launch costs were partly defrayed by US pizza chain "Pizza Hut", which put a giant advertisement logo on the side of the Proton rocket. This module will become the backbone of the ISS during the initial phases of assembly. It will serve as the station's command center, providing crew quarters, communications, power distribution, data management and the propulsion needed to keep the station at the proper altitude.

Zvezda was launched with many flaws that will require repair in space. NASA said that Zvezda did not meet specifications for noise abatement and micrometeoroid shielding.

In 2002, part of the micrometeoroid shields started to arrive to the station aboard STS-111 and the rest of the shields were brought aboard STS-116 in 2006.

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