Zarya (Russian: dawn), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB (from the Russian, Funktsionalno-gruzovoy blok or ), was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. Zarya was launched on November 20, 1998 on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 in Kazakhstan to a 400 km high orbit with a designed lifetime of at least 15 years. Read more