Credits: ROSCOSMOS
ISS orbit to be boosted prior to the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft arrival
The Progress MS-14 to boost the International Space Station orbit on March 12, 2021 by 450 meters prior to the ISS-65 long-term expedition crew arrival this April.
According to the TsNIIMash Mission Control Center (part of Roscosmos), at 19:09 UTC, the Progress MS-14 engines will be switched on for 144 seconds.
The station mean orbit will reach about 419.7 kilometers above Earth’s surface.
The previous ISS orbit correction was conducted on January 21, 2021 with the same Progress spacecraft increasing the station mean orbit by 1.25 kilometers. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Soyuz MS-18 crewed spacecraft is to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 9.
Currently, the 64th long-term expedition crew is working on board the International Space Station. The crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, as well as NASA astronauts Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi.