MIK OK/MIK 254

Now operated by RKK Energiya, the MIK OK Buran processing building has once again become a very active facility, processing hardware for both manned and unmanned programs. The dilapidated building was even given a fresh coat of paint in 2004, making it look as good as new, at least from a distance.

In the early 1990s, bay 104, where orbiters used to undergo electrical tests, was modified to enable final launch preparations of Proton-launched space station modules, which before that used to be processed in the Proton area of the cosmodrome. The first module to be processed here was Mir’s Spektr module in 1995, followed later by Priroda and the Russian ISS modules Zarya and Zvezda. At least one more Russian ISS module, the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (the original Zarya back-up vehicle), will pass through the MIK OK before its expected launch in 2009. After processing is completed, the modules are trans­ported to the MIK 92A-50 Proton assembly building for integration with the launch vehicle.

Bay 104 now also houses the processing area for Soyuz and Progress vehicles, which used to be situated in the old MIK-2A assembly building in the center of the cosmodrome. This is where the vehicles are placed after arriving from RKK Energiya for final outfitting and testing. Four vehicles can be prepared here simultaneously. Less than two weeks before a Soyuz launch, the prime and back-up crews go to bay 104 to perform fit checks aboard the spacecraft, giving them a chance to see how the flight vehicle is configured. Once tests are completed, the spacecraft are sent to Site 31 of the cosmodrome for fueling and then return to the MIK OK for installation of the launch vehicle adapter and payload shroud. Next the combination is moved to the nearby MIK RN low bay 1 for mating with the Soyuz launch vehicle. The first vehicles to undergo launch preparations in Bay 104 were Progress M-40 and Soyuz TM-29 in late 1998. Also used for Soyuz/Progress preparations are bays 103 and 105. Bay 105 continues to serve as an anechoic chamber for compatibility tests of radio systems, and bay 103, the former Buran assembly bay, now houses a vacuum chamber.

Finally, bay 103 and bay 102 (the former a thermal protection system bay) are used to prepare RKK Energiya’s Blok-DM upper stages and Yamal communications satellites. Iridium satellites were processed here as well [80].