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Iss Safe Despite Failed Attempt to Correct Its Orbit

Posted on: Thursday, 20 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - The failed attempt to correct the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on October 19 did not affect the station's safety, says a report posted on the Russian Federal Space Agency website on Thursday.

"The average height of the orbit is 347 kilometers. The failed correction of the orbit did not affect the safety of the ISS's crew or the station," the agency said.

It was planned to correct the station's orbit with the help of the docked Progress M-55 spacecraft's engines, the agency said.

Mission control ordered the Progress engines fired at 1:09 a.m. Moscow time on October 19. The engines were expected to operate for 700 seconds, but they automatically shut down after 77 seconds. Experts are trying to find out why this occurred, the agency said.

"It is possible to correct the ISS orbit with the help of other engines on the Progress M-55 and the ISS Russian module. The manner and time of the orbit correction will be chosen after analysis of this failure is complete," the agency said.

The ISS's orbit is corrected from time to time, and it was planned to lift the station by ten kilometers on October 10. The Progress's engines were expected to fire twice for a total of 25 minutes.

Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English

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