An unmanned
Russian spacecraft docked at the International Space Station (ISS) fired its
engines early Thursday, raising the research platform's orbit in preparation
for a cargo shipment next month.
The
Russian-built Progress
19 cargo ship berthed at the aft end of the station's Zvezda service module
fired its four thrusters during two successive burns to place the ISS in a nearly
circular orbit that reaches 219 statute miles (352 kilometers) above Earth at
its highest point, NASA officials said.
The
Thursday maneuver marked the second time flight controllers attempted to boost
the space station's orbit. The initial attempt
on Oct. 18 EDT failed when the Progress engines unexpectedly cutoff less than
two minutes into the first of two planned 12-minute burns.
Russian
engineers suspected
that a dropout in engine data - which would lead the Progress computer to shut
down the burn automatically - caused the glitch. An Oct. 26 test
firing of two of the Progress' four thrusters went smoothly.
Thursday's
reboost began at 6:23 a.m. EST (1123 GMT) with an engine burn that lasted about
16 minutes and 46 minutes, NASA officials said. A second maneuver of about the
same length occurred at 7:42 a.m. EST (1242 GMT).
The
Progress 19 reboost set the space station in a nearly circular orbit that
ranges between 214 to 219 statute miles (344 to 352 kilometers). The ISS had
previously been flying on a path that varied between 210 and 218 statute miles (337
and 350 kilometers).
Space
station astronauts Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev - the twelfth ISS
crew - will discard the Progress 19 spacecraft on Dec. 20 to make way for a
fresh cargo ship. That new vehicle, Progress 20, is set to launch spaceward
from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 21 and dock at the space station
two days later.
The
astronauts are set to board their Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft on Nov. 18 for a brief
flight outside the ISS to relocate the vehicle from its current berth at the
Russian-built Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya control module.
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