Moscow: The Russian Mission Control has carried out an emergency adjustment of the International Space Station's orbit to avoid its possible collision with a piece of an old Russian launch vehicle.
The orbit was raised by 4.7 km to approximately 387.1 km Thursday. The ISS is now nine kilometres above the 10-cm fragment of the Tsiklone-3 carrier rocket launched in 1991.
"The crew continues to carry out its mission on board the orbital station (ISS) in line with the programme," a mission control official said.
The adjustment cancels the routine one that was scheduled for Oct 6, he added.
The current ISS crew comprises NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
PTI
First Published: Friday, September 30, 2011, 10:25