MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The ATV-2 Johannes Kepler European space freighter will lift the International Space Station (ISS) in the small morning hours of Friday, Russian mission control center spokesman Valery Lyndin told Interfax-AVN.
"Engines of the Johannes Kepler, which is latched on the Russian Zvezda module, will turn on at 2:30 a.m. Moscow time on Friday. The engines will run for about 15 minutes," he said.
As a result, the ISS speed will grow by 2.2 meters per second, while the average orbit will be increased by 3.74 kilometers to 346.4 kilometers.
The Johannes Kepler will make four more corrections of the ISS orbit in June. "Two maneuvers will happen on June 12 at an interval of four hours. There will be another two on June 15 with the same interval," he said.
After that the ISS speed will increase by 22 meters per second, while the average altitude will increase by 37.4 kilometers to 280 kilometers.
The 38th crew of commander Andrei Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyayev and Roland Garan is operating the ISS at the moment.