The Russian Flight Control Center has conducted a successful manoeuvre to adjust the ISS orbit overnight to Sunday, a source in the ballistics group of the Russian Flight Control Center told Itar-Tass on Sunday. "The engines of the cargo spaceship Progress M-55 docked to the Pirs docking compartment were switched on at 01.22 Moscow time and have been activated for about 522 seconds. For this time the ISS orbit was raised by about 1.5 kilometers," the source said.
This is an extraordinary manoeuvre to adjust the ISS orbit, the source emphasised. The Progress engines were used for the first time. The Progress is docked to the Pirs nadir docking port. Russian cargo spaceships are usually used as "a tugboat" and are docked to the Zarya nadir docking port. The cargo spaceship Progress M-54 is now docked to the Zarya nadir port.
According to leading specialist of the Flight Control Center Viktor Blagov, during the testing manoeuvre specialists are examining the possibilities of the use of the cargo spaceship docked to the Pirs docking compartment to solve three tasks ¿ "the ISS orbit adjustment, roll orientation and the escape from space waste."
"This test for ballisticians is like a training for firefighters," chief ballistician of the Flight Control Center Nikolai Ivanov said. It may happen that the ISS orbit should be urgently changed, for instance, to escape space waste or another spacecraft. He recalled that the ISS escaped space waste and other spacecraft six times for five years of the ISS manned mission.
The conclusions will be drawn on the possibilities of manoeuvres after the analysis of the information received after the testing manoeuvre, the source remarked.
