Specialists of the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center will on Wednesday carry out two maneuvers to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station, a spokesman for the center said.
Both readjustments will be made by the European Space Agency’s Edoardo Amaldi Automated Transfer Vehicle 003 (ATV-3) resupply spacecraft, he told RIA Novosti.
The spokesman said the ATV-3 engines will first be switched on at 01:45 p.m. Moscow Time (0945 GMT) and will operate for 384 seconds to raise the station’s average orbit altitude to 414.8 km (257.7 miles).
The second maneuver will start at 05:17 p.m. Moscow Time (1317 GMT) and the engines will be on for 2088.5 seconds to raise the orbit to 420.6 km (261.3 miles).
The regularly planned reboost stopped "prematurely" on August 15 due to a temperature alarm in the vehicle's propulsion system, the ESA said.
The ATV-3, docked at the ISS's Zvezda module, was scheduled to raise the station's orbit by 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles) to an altitude of 414.4 kilometers (257.5 miles), but raised it only by 5.1 km (3.2 miles).
The reboost was intended to ensure the best conditions for the landing of Russia's Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft on its return to Earth, due September 17, and the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the orbital outpost, slated for October 15.
Adjustments to the station's orbit are carried out regularly to compensate for the Earth's gravity and to facilitate the successful docking and undocking of spacecraft.
The next adjustment is due September 12, the Mission Control Center’s spokesman said.
