DB Salyut designed it on the basis of the transportation supply ship (TSS). Module Crystal was launched from Baikonur on May 23, 1990 by the LV Proton-K. The total length of the module is 11.9 m; maximum diameter 4.3 m; mass at the launch 19500 kg. Module carried 7000 kg of the useful load kg and 2500 kg of the fuel. It has two panels of the solar batteries with the area equal to 72 m² (8.4 kW). They are of a new modification (repeated opening/closing is admissible) and one of them is transferred to the module Kvant. NiCd batteries of capacitance 360 Ah are set up on the module. It was intended for the experiments in the field of isolating new materials in the weightlessness. Besides, it has two additional docking ports for interaction with the reusable ships (Buran, later - Shuttle). It docked to the nose docking port of the core vehicle and by its robot arm redocked to the side port. The composition of the scientific equipment of the module is in the table.