European cargo freighter lifts ISS orbit successfully

The European cargo freighter ATV-4 (Albert Einstein) has lifted the International Space Station (ISS) successfully, creating the working orbit, the Russian space agency Roscosmos told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. “The engines of the cargo freighter were activated at 23:22 Moscow time (19:22 GMT) and have been running for 815 seconds,” Roscosmos said. “The altitude of the orbital station increased by about 3,400 kilometres and the average ISS altitude makes 418.2 kilometres now,” Roscosmos noted. The manoeuvres to adjust the ISS orbit are usually made to put the station on the required orbit for the docking with a cargo or piloted spacecraft and provide conditions for a successful landing as well as deviation from the space garbage. The ISS orbit’s altitude goes down by 150-200 kilometres daily under the impact of the force of gravity and other factors.