Published: Feb. 22, 2013 at 1:51 PM<\/p>\n
MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The engines of a Russian space freighter docked with the International Space Station were fired to readjust the station's orbit Friday, officials said. <\/p>\n
\"The space freighter's engines were started as scheduled, at 14:34 Moscow time [5:34 a.m. EST]. As a result of the maneuver, the ISS orbit was raised by approximately 1 kilometer,\" a Roscosmos spokesman told RIA Novosti. <\/p>\n
After the readjustment the space station's mean orbital altitude stood at 254.6 miles, the space agency said. <\/p>\n
Adjustments to the station's orbit are carried out regularly to compensate for Earth's gravity because the space station loses an average 300 feet of altitude each day. <\/p>\n
The adjustments also facilitate the docking and undocking of spacecraft, and are sometimes conducted to dodge space debris. <\/p>\n
Friday's readjustment was to create the best conditions for the undocking of a Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft that will return Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin and U.S. NASA astronaut Kevin Ford to Earth March 15. <\/p>\n
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Space station's orbit is readjusted<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published: Feb. 22, 2013 at 1:51 PM MOSCOW, Feb Continue reading