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Russia’s Progress space freighter helps adjust ISS orbit

The orbit adjustment comes to ensure the conditions for landing of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft that is due on May 14

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Progress M-26M cargo spaceship has adjusted the International Space Station (ISS) orbit by two kilometers (1.2 miles), the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said on Wednesday.

"The correction has been completed," a spokesman said.

The spaceship’s engines worked for 736 seconds giving an impulse of 1.34 metres per second to the station. As a result of the maneuver, the altitude of the ISS orbit was raised by 2.13 kilometers and reaches 400 kilometers on average.

The orbit adjustment comes to ensure the conditions for landing of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft that is due on May 14. Earlier reports said the maneuver could be cancelled or postponed following the accident involving the Progress space freighter.

The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur space center, in Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz carrier rocket. The spacecraft entered an unexpected orbit and communication with it was lost. After several unsuccessful attempts to put it under control, specialists agreed that docking it to the ISS would be impossible.