15.1.2005 19:03 MSK Russia raises International Space Station's orbit MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The Russian mission control on Saturday raised the orbit of the International Space Station to enable the ISS to dock with the next supply spaceship on February 28 and as part of "preparations for accepting American shuttles," a mission control duty officer said. The supply ship Progress M51, which is coupled with the ISS, had its engines switched on from 1510 GMT to 1529 GMT to move the orbit up, the officer told Interfax. "According to our information, the orbit has been raised by 8.5 kilometers, however an accurate confirmation will be obtained in several hours' time, after our specialists have done the necessary calculations," the officer said. 2005-01-16 14:56 * RUSSIA * OUTER SPACE * ISS * ORBIT * HEIGHT OF ISS ORBIT INCREASED BY 8.5 KILOMETERS MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - The height of the ISS orbit was increased yesterday approximately by eight and a half kilometers. "The operation went smoothly. The thrusters of the docked Progress cargo transport vehicle worked for a planned time - 1,185 seconds. As a result, the ISS orbit has been increased to scheduled height," Russian Mission Control Center's ballistic department official stated. Usually, the height of the orbit that gets closer to Earth by 100-150 meters every day is changed by 4-5 kilometers in a single operation. This time, the ISS will be "pushed" by eight and a half kilometers, instead. Partially, it will be done to compensate for insufficient "push" made on November 17, 2004. At that time, the ISS failed to reach the planned altitude by 2.7 kilometers due to an error in the fuel supply to the thrusters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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