The correction of the orbit of the International Space Station was completed on the second attempt, according to Roscosmos. As a result, the average flight altitude of the ISS increased by 2.8 km.
According to Roskosmos, the ISS orbit was corrected last Sunday. The department clarified that the engines of the Progress M-26M, which carried out the correction, were turned on at 3 hours 30 minutes and worked for 1 thousand 922 seconds.
Recall that this is the second attempt to correct the station's orbit - the previous one, on May 16, ended in failure. TGK Progress M-26M, which was supposed to carry out the correction, refused to obey the command of the MCC.
Ground services issued a command to the cargo spacecraft to conduct a maneuver. However, the Progress engines did not turn on. A source in the rocket and space industry explained that the TGK engines were blocked by the ship's motion control system. "The reasons are being studied by specialists from the FSUE TsNIIMash Flight Control Center," the Roscosmos explained.
On the same day, another space emergency happened: an emergency occurred during the launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket with the MexSat-1 satellite on board.
At the 497th second of the flight, abnormal operation of the engines of the third stage of the launch vehicle was recorded. As explained in Roskosmos, the accident occurred at an altitude of 161 km. The third stage, the upper stage and the spacecraft almost completely burned up in the atmosphere. The causes of the accident will be investigated by an interdepartmental commission created specifically for these purposes.