The service module Zvezda, the habitable portion of the future International Space Station, will be launched July 12 after a two-year delay, the Russian space agency said Friday.
The date was decided during a Moscow meeting of project leaders from the US, European and and Russian space agencies.
Zvezda, originally scheduled for liftoff in April 1998, should dock with the other orbiting modules of the space station July 22.
The decision to move forward and set a date for the Zvezda launch came as NASA was questioning Russia's dedication to the project, which aims to build by 2004 a space station comprising huge solar arrays, six laboratories and living quarters for a crew of up to seven.
The Russian decision to reactivate the Mir space station has fueled worries that Moscow may not consider the ISS project a priority.
Only two of the ISS's 100 modules have been put in place so far, both going up in November, 1998.
