Orbital adjustment for ISS rescheduled

Another attempt to adjust the orbit of the International Space Station will be carried out Wednesday, a week after a failed first try, officials said. The European Space Agency said its "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 stopped its first attempt "prematurely" when the vehicle's propulsion system reported a temperature alarm, RIA Novosti reported. The ATV-3, connected to the ISS's Zveda Module, had been scheduled to lift the station's orbit almost 5 miles to 258 miles. "It has been jointly agreed with the ISS control centers to perform the remainder of [Wednesday's] re-boost during the next scheduled re-boost slot, set for 22 August," ESA's Jean-Michel Bois, head of Mission Operations at ATV-Control Center, said. The orbital readjustment was to prepare for the departure of Russia's Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft to return to Earth and for the subsequent docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the orbiting laboratory set for October 15. Such adjustments, to accommodate the docking and undocking of spacecraft and to compensate for the effects of Earth's gravity, are conducted regularly, officials said.