ISS orbit adjusted in preparation for Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft's arrival

MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) - The engines of the Progress MS-20 cargo spacecraft have been burned to raise the altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) orbit by 1.6 kilometers in preparation for the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft's arrival and the return of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to Earth, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said.

"The engines of the Progress MS-20 cargo spacecraft were burned at 5:57 p.m. Moscow time. They ran for 591.4 seconds and increased the station's velocity by 0.95 m/s," Roscosmos said on Telegram.

Tentative findings indicate that, after the maneuver was completed, the station's average altitude was increased by 1.6 kilometers to 417.13 kilometers.

Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said on January 11 that the state commission decided to launch the Soyuz MS-23 to the ISS on February 20 without a crew and only carrying a shipment of supplies. The spacecraft is to dock with the ISS on February 22.

The MS-23 should be used to return to Earth the Russian-American crew of the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft composed of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio.

The Soyuz MS-22 with a defected radiator would be returned to Earth uncrewed, Borisov said.