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Space station's orbit raised by 790 meters ahead of Soyuz spacecraft launch

The maneuver was conducted with the help of the thrusters of the Progress MS-22 resupply ship

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was adjusted to create ballistic conditions for the launch of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft and the return of the Soyuz MS-23 spaceship to Earth, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Thursday.

"Today the orbit of the International Space Station was adjusted to provide for the launch of the Soyuz MS-24 manned spacecraft and the landing of the Soyuz MS-23," the federal space agency said in a statement.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft is scheduled for September 15, Roscosmos said.

According to preliminary data, "the station’s average orbital altitude was raised by 790 meters to 417.1 km." The maneuver was conducted with the help of the thrusters of the Progress MS-22 resupply ship. The thrusters were switched on at 3:02 p.m. Moscow time for 301.9 seconds, the space agency specified.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin who is also a TASS special reporter in space and Andrey Fedyayev, NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi are working aboard the orbital outpost.