MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. The Zvezda service module in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) fired its thrusters to avoid the orbital outpost’s collision with space debris, the press office of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos reported on Thursday.
"Today the orbit of the International Space Station was adjusted with the help of the thrusters of the Russian Zvezda service module to avoid potential collision with space debris," Roscosmos said in a statement.
The Zvezda service module fired its thrusters at 6:00 p.m. Moscow time for 21.5 seconds. The maneuver lowered the ISS orbit by 500 meters, it said.
"The orbit’s parameters after the adjustment are as follows: the minimal altitude of 414.37 km and the maximum altitude of 434.59 km," Roscosmos said.
The maneuver conducted by the ISS to avoid potential collision with space debris will have no impact on the docking of the Progress MS-24 resupply ship scheduled for August 25, it said.
"The avoidance maneuver won’t have any impact on the Progress MS-24 cargo craft’s docking with the ISS on Friday," Roscosmos said.
The space station’s orbit has been adjusted 344 times over the entire period of its operation.
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.