Zarya

The Zarya Control Module, also known by the technical term Functional Cargo Block and the Russian acronym FGB, was the first component launched for the International Space Station. This module was designed to provide the station's initial propulsion and power. The 19,323 kilogram pressurized module was launched on a Russian Proton rocket in November 1998. The U.S.-funded and Russian-built Zarya, which means "Sunrise" when translated into English, is a U.S. component of the station, although it was built and launched by Russia. The module was built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, which is also known as KhSC, in Moscow under a subcontract to The Boeing Company for NASA. Only weeks after Zarya reached orbit, Space Shuttle Endeavour made a rendezvous and attached a U.S.-built connecting module called Node 1, or Unity. The Zarya Module provided orientation control, communications and electrical power attached to the passive Node 1 while the station awaited launch of the third component, a Russian-provided crew living quarters and early station core known as the Zvezda Service Service Module. The Service Module enhanced or replaced many functions of Zarya. The Zarya module is now used primarily for its storage capacity and external fuel tanks.