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ISS orbit adjusted to avoid space garbage

The operation had been carried out at the request of US colleagues from NASA

© EPA/NASA HANDOUT

MOSCOW, March 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Mission Control Center corrected on Monday the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) because of a space junk threat.

Progress M-22M cargo craft engines were used to raise the ISS orbit, sources from the center’s press service told Tass on Monday.

“Progress M-22M engines were switched on at 05:37 Moscow time and were running for 429 seconds,” the sources said. The engines provided a boost of 0.5 meters a second to the ISS and the orbit was raised by 0.9 kilometers to 414.65 kilometers.

The ISS parameters after the maneuver are as follows: the minimum altitude is 413.68 kilometers, while the maximum altitude is 430.81 kilometers.

The operation to avoid space garbage had been carried out at the request of US colleagues from NASA, the sources said.

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