Space Station Raises Orbit Avoiding Orbital Debris
The Progress 89 thrusters were fired at 2:09 p.m. CST today for 5 minutes, 31 seconds, to raise the orbit of the International Space Station to provide an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that broke up in 2015. The Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) was conducted in coordination with NASA, Roscosmos and the other space station partners.
Without the maneuver, ballistics officials estimated that the fragment could have come within around 2 ? miles of the station.
The maneuver had no impact on station operations and will not affect Thursday's scheduled launch of the Progress 90 cargo craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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