MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian mission control adjusted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday night for the receipt of the next Progress resupply spaceship.
"The maneuver should guarantee the best conditions for the station's docking with the resupply vehicle that will head to ISS at the end of January. The orbit was raised with the engines of the Russian Progress spaceship docked with the station. The orbit's altitude was raised 2.5 kilometers on the average," a spokesman for mission control told Interfax.
He said Progress engines were turned on at 10:59 p.m. Moscow time (1859 GMT) and the maneuver lasted for some five minutes. One more reason for altering the orbit several times a year is to take it away from space debris.
Mission control says altitude of the station's orbit declines about 150 meters a day. The station is kept at the altitude of about 400 kilometers above Earth.