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European ATV-5 spacecraft helps to adjust ISS orbit

The mean orbit has lowered by approximately 1.2 kilometres

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. The European unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft Georges Lemaitre ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 5 (ATV-5), has lowered the mean orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by approximately 1.2 kilometres, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Wednesday.

"The spaceship’s engines were started at the designated time (21:40 Moscow time) and were running for 288.7 seconds (about five minutes). The station was given an impulse of 0.68 metres per second. After the maneuver, the mean orbit of the International Space Station was lowered by 1.2 kilometres and now is 404.5 kilometres," the spokesman said.

The Georges Lemaitre is scheduled to be undocked from the ISS on February 14 to be sunk in the Pacific. The Georges Lemaitre is the final cargo supply spaceship of the ATV series. The first one, the Jules Verne was launched to the ISS in 2008.

From now on, Russian-made Progress cargo supply spacecraft and spaceships of U.S. private companies - SpaceX’s Dragon and Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus - will be used to deliver cargos to the International Space Station.

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