# sm300a Zarya-ISS model signed by cosmonaut S.Krikalev

14` hand made metal model of Khrunichev space center, wich originaly built this First block of International Space Station.
Model came from collection of famous Soviet/Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and shared during Sergei`s visit in my California house first week of February 2005.
Wooden base of model signed by Sergei Krikalev.One of the pictures depicts him with Zarya. Zarya launched 20 november 1998 from cosmodrome Baikonur by a 3-stage Proton rocket.Weight of Zarya- 44000lbs.Zarya control module of ISS also known by a technical term Functional Cargo Block and the Russian acronym FGB. The module was named Zarya, meaning `sunrise`, in tribute to the new beginning in space that will be ushered in by the its launch as the first component of ISS.The module founded by USA but built and launched by Russia, also a symbilic of the dawn of a new era of joint space flight between all of station`s international partners. In orbite this module sees 16 new sunrises every 24 hours, one of each revolution of Earth.On the ground, its launch is a dawn of a new era of a human spaceflight.