The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment and contained atmospheric and surface research equipment.
Instrument list: These experiments would have been a continuation of the research aboard a top-secret TKS-M module, which docked to Salyut 7 in 1985.
[2] In the mid-1990s with the return of US-Russian cooperation in space, NASA agreed to provide funds to complete the Spektr and Priroda modules in exchange for having 600 to 700 kg of US experiments installed.
The crew had enough time to install a hatch cover and seal the module off to prevent depressurization of the entire Mir station.
[5] An internal spacewalk in the Spektr module in August 1997 by cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov, from Soyuz TM-26, succeeded in restoring these power connections by installing a modified hatch cover to allow the power cables to pass through the hatch when it was in the closed position.