NEW YORK, October 31 (Itar-Tass) — The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) may be adjusted in view of a potential threat of collision with a fragment of the American communications satellite Iridium-33, the American space agency NASA reported on Tuesday.
According to NASA, the satrllite's small fragment, an exavt flight path of which is hard to establish so far, is approaching the ISS. As a precautionary measure, the Flight Control Center at Houston, Texas, is preparing for a posisble adjustmentof the ISS orbit may be adjusted if calculations would show that the satellite fragment can pose a hazard to the Station. In that case, an orbit adjusting maneuver would be carried out by means of the propulsion plant of the Progress-48 resupply spacecraft approximately nine hours after another cargo spacecraft, , the Progress-49, docks with the ISS module Star. The docking is planned for for 09:40 EST on Wednesday, theNASA report said.
The Russian resupply spacecraft Progress M-17M9 (or Progress-49 under NASA classification) with supplies for the Station and the crew is to blast off from Baikonur on Wednesday at 11:41, Moscow time.