Russia's Progress space freighter diverts ISS from space debris

MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - The engines of the Progress MS-20 cargo spacecraft have corrected the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) to evade space debris, Roscosmos said on Wednesday.

"At 4:42 p.m. Moscow time, the engines of the Progress MS-20 cargo spacecraft were turned on, they operated for 620.6 seconds, and produced a thrust of one meter per second," the state corporation's Telegram channel said.

The space station's average orbital altitude reached 417.97 kilometers after that, Roscosmos said.

"During the entire flight of the station, 330 corrections of its orbit altitude have been made, including 179 with the assistance of the engines of Russian Progress [spacecraft]," the statement said.

Meanwhile, NASA astronauts cancelled a spacewalk scheduled for Wednesday because of the danger of collision with space debris, NASA said.

Astronauts Francisco Rubio and Josh Cassada were to install a new solar panel on the outside of the ISS to increase the station's power supply.

While the astronauts were preparing for a spacewalk, "updated tracking data on a fragment of Russian Fregat-SB upper stage debris showed a close approach to station," NASA said.

The fragment might pass closer than 400 meters from the station unless an evasive maneuver was performed, it said.

Based on this data, the mission control in Houston told the astronauts to abort their spacewalk preparations.

NASA said the station's crew was not in any immediate danger.