The height of the ISS orbit was raised by 1.3 km before the arrival of Soyuz MS-21 and Soyuz MS-19 in March
The height of the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was adjusted before the arrival of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft and the return of the Soyuz MS-19, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Roscosmos.
It is noted that the height of the ISS orbit was raised by 1.3 kilometers to form ballistic conditions before the spacecraft flights — in particular, before the launch of the Soyuz MS-21 into orbit on March 18 and the landing of the Soyuz MS-19 descent on March 30. It is assumed that an additional correction of the ISS orbit is expected on March 11.
The engines of the Progress MS-18 cargo ship turned on at 04:22 Moscow time and worked for about nine minutes. The average altitude of the ISS orbit has reached 418.1 kilometers.
Earlier, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin warned about the consequences of the US blocking cooperation with Russia on the ISS. In his opinion, such a measure threatens the uncontrolled descent of the ISS from orbit and falling on the USA, Canada, India or China.
