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ISS orbit to be raised prior to new crew’s arrival

The maneuver is aimed at creating ballistic conditions before the orbiting of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft and the landing of Soyuz MS-19

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. The orbit of the Intrnational Space Station (ISS) will be raised on Friday evening to create proper ballistic conditions for the docking of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft and the departure of Soyuz MS-19, the press service of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos has told TASS.

"A yet another adjustment of the International Space Station’s altitude is scheduled for March 11, 2022," the corporation said.

According to the press service, the maneuver is aimed at creating ballistic conditions before the orbiting of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft (scheduled for March 18) and the landing of Soyuz MS-19 (due on March 30).

Engines of the Progress MS-18 spacecraft will be switched on at 22:35 Moscow time on Friday and will work for 320.07 second, raising the station’s altitude by 850 meters.

The Soyuz MS-21 is scheduled to blast off on March 18, carrying Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov. The Soyuz MS-19 is scheduled to land on March 30, bringing to Earth Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei.

Currently the orbital outpost is crewed by Roscosmos’s Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, NASA’s Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron, and the European Space Agency’s Mattias Maurer.

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