[6] Rassvet carried externally attached (piggybacking) outfitting equipment for the future Nauka (Multipurpose Laboratory Module-Upgrade).

Delivering Rassvet thus enabled NASA to fulfill its promise to ship 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) to equip the Nauka.

NASA did not need to add another payload flight to accommodate the Nauka outfitting equipment, as it could attach the hardware to the exterior of Rassvet.

The module was designed and built by Energia, from the already-made pressurized hull of the mock-up for dynamic tests of the cancelled Science Power Platform.

[8][9] On 17 December 2009, an Antonov An-124 carrying the Rassvet Module and ground process equipment arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

[11] Engineers at Launch Pad 39A preparing Space Shuttle Atlantis had noticed paint peeling from the Rassvet module.

Although the problem was declared to have no impact on the operation of Rassvet, it posed a potential threat of releasing debris on orbit.