Article Posted on : - Mar 24, 2010

MOSCOW (BNS): The International Space Station (ISS) orbital altitude will be raised by 1.7 kilometers (about a mile) on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control orbital altitude has said.

The space station manoeuvre will be carried out with the help of eight boosters on board the Progress M-04M space freighter which is currently docked with the Zvezda module on the ISS, Ria Novosti quoting the spokesman said.

"As a result of the operation...the ISS's orbit will be raised 1.7 kilometers, bringing the space station to an altitude of 348 kilometers (about 216 miles) above the Earth's surface," he said.

The international space station's orbit is changed periodically before the launch of Russian spacecraft and U.S. shuttles to compensate for Earth's gravity and to safeguard successful dockings with the ISS.

The next ISS mission is scheduled to depart for the orbital station on a Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft on April 2.