The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was lowered - it was adjusted for the first manned launch in 2022, the state corporation Roscosmos reported on Twitter.

“The altitude of the ISS orbit was reduced by about 1.8 km to start preparations for the launch of the Soyuz MS-21 manned spacecraft,” the message says.

The engines of the Progress MS-18 cargo vehicle were turned on at 04.18 Moscow time and ran for 539.4 seconds.

The nearest manned launch of Soyuz MS-21 is scheduled for spring 2021.

Earlier, Roscosmos and NASA agreed on cross-flights to the ISS.

According to Joel Montalbano, NASA Program Manager for the ISS, the Russian cosmonaut will join the crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the American astronaut is expected to go into space on the Soyuz spacecraft. There is a corresponding intergovernmental agreement, NASA is awaiting its approval by the Russian authorities.

Meanwhile, Russian cosmonauts in the United States are already undergoing flight training.

bbabo.Net