Russia (bbabo.net), - The orbital altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) has been adjusted. This is necessary to form ballistic conditions before launching the Soyuz MS-21 into orbit and returning the Soyuz MS-19.

According to Roskosmos, the correction was made using the engines of the Progress MS-18 cargo ship. At 04.22 Moscow time they were turned on and worked for a little more than nine minutes. As a result, the average orbit height was increased by 1.3 kilometers to 418.1 kilometers. Another correction of the ISS orbit will be carried out on March 11, RIA Novosti reports.

A crew of three Russians, Oleg Artemiev, Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov, will arrive at the station on March 18 on the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft. And on March 30, Soyuz MS-19 will return Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Petr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hay, from the ISS to Earth.

Earlier it was reported that Russian cosmonauts will conduct a 3D printing experiment on the ISS. It is dedicated to the development of additive technologies for the production of products from polymeric materials in orbit. To do this, in June, a 3D printer will be delivered to the ISS on the Progress MS-20 space truck. The resulting 3D printing samples will be returned to Earth so that scientists can compare them with the same samples made by a ground-based 3D printer. This will allow a comprehensive study of the impact of microgravity on 3D printing.

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