KOROLEV, Moscow region. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian and U.S. mission control centers agreed the time for lifting the International Space Station in orbit, Valery Lyndin, the press secretary of the Russian Mission Control, told Interfax-AVN.
"The operation is slated for tonight, for 3:30 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday (0030GMT) to be more exact," he said.
The propulsion pulse for the ISS will be provided by the eight docking and control engines of the Russian Progress M-60 supply ship, the engines will work for about two and a half minutes to lift the ISS 800 meters up.
Other flight parameters will also be adjusted so that the Atlantis space shuttle, to be launched on June 9, could enjoy easy approach, he said.
The current position of the ISS in orbit allows shuttle to be launched within a four-day window starting from June 8. Lifting the station up will expand the launch window to six days.
This is very important because shuttle launches are often delayed because of adverse weather or other reasons. For instance, the next shuttle was to have flown in March, but the launch was shifted to June because of the fuel tank damaged by hail.
The lifting operation will be performed automatically without the crew involved.
The ISS is now home to Russian-American Expedition 15 that includes Fedor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov from Russia, and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams.
The ISS is orbiting the Earth at the altitude of 330-360 km. It is lifted from time to time to keep the station in the designated orbit. Such lift ups are planned operations that are performed four or five times a year, when necessary. Depending on the flight conditions the ISS is descending at a rate of 50-150 meters per day.
The Mission Control spokesman said that the ISS may be lifted to 390-400 km, and the station would not be descending in this case, so periodical lift-ups will no longer be needed, but in that case U.S. space shuttles with astronauts and cargoes will not be able to reach it.