ISS orbit raised by 1.8 km ahead of new crew's arrival

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) has been raised by 1.8 kilometers as part of preparations for the arrival of the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft in April, the Roscosmos state space corporation said.

"The engines [of the Progress MS-30 resupply spacecraft] were activated at 7:00 p.m. Moscow time. According to preliminary information from the Mission Control Center, they functioned for 533 seconds and increased the station's velocity by 1 m/s," Roscosmos said in a statement.

The ISS's average orbit has been raised by 1.8 kilometers to 417.9 kilometers, it said.

The ISS-bound Soyuz MS-27 is expected to lift off on April 8. The prime crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim.

The 11-strong crew currently working onboard the ISS includes Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Alexander Gorbunov and Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Donald Pettit, Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi.