In accordance with the flight program of the International Space Station on January 21, 2021, specialists from the Russian Mission Control Center TsNIIMash (part of the State Corporation Roscosmos) corrected its orbit. For this, the engines of the Progress MS-14 transport cargo vehicle docked to the Zvezda service module of the ISS Russian segment were automatically switched on at 19:14 Moscow time.
The orbit was corrected in full accordance with the calculated data. The engines of the cargo vehicle operated for 417.5 s, as a result of which the average altitude of the station’s orbit increased by 1.25 km and amounted to 419.79 km. According to the ballistic and navigation support service of the Central Control Center TsNIIMash, the ISS orbit parameters are now:
- Orbital period: 92.91 min;
- Orbital inclination: 51.66 degrees;
- Minimum altitude above the Earth’s surface: 420.09 km;
- maximum height above the Earth’s surface: 436.17 km.
This maneuver was performed to form ballistic conditions before the launch of the Soyuz MS-18 manned vehicle and the landing of the Soyuz MS-17 descent vehicle, which are scheduled for April 2021. The previous correction of the ISS orbit was performed on November 12, 2020 by the engines of the Progress MS-14 cargo vehicle with an increase in the average altitude of the station’s orbit by the same 1.2 kilometers.
Currently, the crew of the 64th long-term expedition, consisting of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, as well as NASA astronauts Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, is working on board the International Space Station .