MOSCOW, July 11./ITAR-TASS/. Specialists of the Russian Mission Control Centre plan an operation for this Friday to raise the orbit of the International Space Station. The manoeuvre will be carried out with Zvezda module engines, an MCC source has told ITAR-TASS.

The manoeuvre was planned for July 17, but then it was decided to conduct it on July 11. The Zvezda engines will be started at 18:53 Moscow time and work for 67 seconds. The station will receive an impulse of 0.95 m/sec, the source said.

The ISS orbit will be raised 1.7 km to an average altitude of 416.7 km.

The operation will be carried out to create optimal conditions for docking of the Russian cargo craft Progress M-24M with the station.

The launch of the Progress is planned for July 24 from Baikonur.