ISS' ORBIT RAISED BY 4 KILOMETRES

MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - The orbit of the International Space Station has been raised by approximately 4 km, said the specialist on duty in the Flight Control Centre. "The operation, which began at 4:32 a.m. Moscow time, passed off as planned," he said. "The flight orbit has been raised by approximately 4 km."

The planned correction of the ISS' orbit was attained with the help of the boosters of the Progress M-50 cargo ship linked up with the station. During the previous orbit correction on August 20, scientists held an experiment designed to re-calculate the ISS mass. Mathematicians from the Energiya Space Corporation promised to give the precise figure in two months.

"The ballistics experts of the Flight Control Center have done their bit and now is the turn of the Energiya mathematicians, who will create methods of calculating the ISS weight and publish their conclusions in a special report roughly two months from now," said the official of the Flight Control Centre. According to her, it is clear already now that the corrected figure would not differ much from the estimated 183 tons.