The new Russian Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), also known as Poisk, launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan Tuesday at 9:22 a.m. EST. Thursday at 10:44 a.m., the MRM2 will dock to the space-facing port of the Zvezda service module. Poisk is a Russian term that translates to search, seek and explore.

Poisk will provide an additional docking port for visiting Russian spacecraft. It also will serve as an extra airlock for spacewalkers wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits. Cosmonauts Roman Romanenko and Maxim Suraev were reviewing procedures with ground specialists for entering Poisk after it arrives.

At about the same time Poisk launched, the Expedition 21 crew was performing a Kazbek seat check inside the Soyuz TMA-15 docked to Zarya’s Earth-facing port. Some crew members were also tagging up with specialists on the ground discussing cargo transfers when space shuttle Atlantis arrives at the International Space Station on Nov. 18.

The station crew and flight controllers are still analyzing the operation of the Urine Processing Assembly. Troubleshooting over the weekend allowed the system to run again but it is not up to full functionality yet as flight controllers monitor its activities.

Science continued aboard the orbiting laboratory with blood and urine samples being drawn and stored in the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI), a science freezer that preserves biological samples for study on Earth. Colloid samples were photographed in an experiment that observes their structure over time to prove their use for the manufacture of stronger, more efficient materials on Earth. A Russian Earth-observation experiment that monitors radiation in the ionosphere was also under way.