Altitude Of ISS Orbit To Be Increased By About 0.75 Miles On Saturday - Source

The altitude of the International Space Station's (ISS) orbit will be raised by 1.2 kilometers (about 0.75 miles) on Saturday using the engines of Russia's Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft, a source in the space industry told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2019) The altitude of the International Space Station's (ISS) orbit will be raised by 1.2 kilometers (about 0.75 miles) on Saturday using the engines of Russia's Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft, a source in the space industry told Sputnik on Friday.

"The correction of the ISS orbit is planned for March 23. The engines of the Progress MS-10 freighter, which is docked to the Zvezda module, will begin on 17:22 Moscow time [14:22 GMT]. As a result, the altitude of the station's orbit will be increased by 1.2 kilometers," the source said.

The aim of the maneuver is to prepare the station for docking of the Progress MS-11 space freighter, which is expected to depart to the ISS on April 4. This will be the second launch of Progress spacecraft via super fast three-hour two-orbit scheme after the launch of Progress MS-09 in July.

The last correction was carried out on February 26. The height of the ISS was increased by 1.6 kilometers. The aim of the correction was to prepare the station for docking of the Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft, which was launched on March 14.