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Russia’s Progress MS-22 resupply ship takes ISS away from space junk — Roscosmos

"As a result, the ISS average orbital altitude totaled 419 km above the Earth’s surface," it said

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Progress MS-22 resupply ship fired its thrusters to help the International Space Station (ISS) avoid collision with space junk, Roscosmos announced on Tuesday.

"For the second time over the month, the Progress MS-22 resupply ship took the ISS away from collision with space junk," the statement reads.

The Progress MS-22 cargo craft fired its thrusters at 2:54 p.m. Moscow time for 135 seconds, giving a 0.3 m/s impulse, Roscosmos specified.

"As a result, the ISS average orbital altitude totaled 419 km above the Earth’s surface," it said.

The ISS orbit was last adjusted on March 6. As TASS special reporter in space, Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin reported, the space station would have approached space junk, had it not performed the avoidance maneuver.

Adviser to the chief executive of TsNIImash (the Roscosmos lead research institute) Maksim Penkov earlier told TASS that the Automated Warning System of Hazardous Situations in Near-Earth Space registered over 16,000 near misses of the ISS and Russian spacecraft with hazardous objects in orbit in 2022. He specified that the ISS performed five maneuvers based on the system’s data to avoid collision with space junk, which prevented the loss of the unique space station.