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Space station’s orbit adjusted ahead of Soyuz MS-25 crewed spacecraft launch

According to preliminary data, the average altitude of the station’s orbit was raised by 3.04 km to 418.72 km above the Earth’s surface

MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was adjusted before the launch of the Soyuz MS-25 crewed spacecraft, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Saturday.

"Today the orbit of the International Space Station was adjusted to provide for the launch of the Soyuz MS-25 manned spacecraft and the landing of the Soyuz MS-24 spaceship scheduled for the spring of 2024," Roscosmos said in a\ statement.

According to preliminary data, the average altitude of the station’s orbit was raised by 3.04 km to 418.72 km above the Earth’s surface. The maneuver was performed by firing thrusters of the Progress MS-26 cargo craft docked to the ISS. The thrusters were ignited at 3:21 a.m. Moscow time (12:21 a.m. GMT) for 1,053.12 seconds, Roscosmos specified.

The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is scheduled to blast off on March 21 to deliver the 21st space expedition crew to the orbital outpost. The crew will include Belarusian female cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya while her compatriot Anastasia Lenkova will be her backup.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko who is also a TASS special reporter in space, Nikolay Chub and Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are working aboard the space station.

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