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Two docking ports on the control module, or Functional Cargo Block (Russian acronym FGB), are shown in this view as the module is prepared for shipment from its Moscow factory to the launch site in Kazakstan in January 1998. The Functional Cargo Block will be the first component of the International Space Station to be launched, and it will be met in space a few weeks later by the Shuttle Endeavour and a connecting module called Node 1 to begin a five-year assembly sequence for the International Space Station. The control module will be launched on a Russian Proton rocket.