MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The International Space Station orbit was altered in order to avoid collision with space debris, Roscosmos said in a statement Wednesday.

"Russia’s Progress spacecraft moved the ISS away from space debris. Engines of the Progress MS-20 cargo spacecraft were engaged at 16:42 Moscow time: they worked for 620.6 second, providing a 1 m/s impulse, resulting in the station’s orbit altitude changed to 417.97 km," the statement says.

According to Roscosmos, the ISS orbit has been altered for 330 times during its operation, with 179 corrections performed via Russia’s Progress spacecraft.

Previously, TASS special reporter, cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin said that a spacewalk under the US program was cancelled due to a space debris collision threat.

The current ISS crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Anna Kikina, as well as NASA astronauts Josh Cassada, Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata.