Russia to lift orbit of int'l space station

A file photo of the International Space Station.

The height of the ISS's orbit will increase by 1,100 meters to about 419.1 km above the Earth.

MOSCOW, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to lift the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday to create "ballistic conditions" for the arrival of a manned spacecraft in October, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said Monday.

The engines of Russia's Progress MS-14 cargo ship docked to the ISS will be switched on at 4:42 p.m. Moscow time (1342 GMT) on Wednesday and will operate for 336.3 seconds, Roscosmos said in a press release.

After that, the height of the ISS's orbit will increase by 1,100 meters to about 419.1 km above the Earth, it said.

Russia plans to launch its Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft in October from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, aiming to send one American and two Russian astronauts to the ISS.  ■