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ISS orbit raised ahead of launching Soyuz manned spacecraft

As preliminary data suggest, the ISS orbit was raised by 2.3 km to 416.43 km above the Earth’s surface

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was raised ahead of launching the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft and the landing of the Soyuz MS-26, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos said.

"Today, the orbit of the International Space Station has been adjusted to provide for launching the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft and the landing of the Soyuz MS-26 spaceship slated for spring 2025," Roscosmos said in a statement.

As preliminary data suggest, the ISS orbit was raised by 2.3 km to 416.43 km above the Earth’s surface. The maneuver was performed by firing the thrusters of the docked Progress MS-28 resupply ship at 4:10 a.m. Moscow time (1:10 a.m. GMT) for 811.3 seconds, the agency specified.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner who is also a TASS special reporter in space, Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Gorbunov, NASA astronauts Donald Pettit and Nick Hague and their crew mates Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams who arrived at the orbital outpost on the first Boeing Starliner crewed flight are working aboard the ISS.

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