This caught me by surprise -- was there any advance description
that I missed?


Russia's Mission Control starts increasing ISS orbit

MOSCOW, February 22 21:21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Mission Control near
Moscow said Wednesday it had started an operation to widen the International
Space Station's orbit by about three kilometers.

"By starting four [cargo vehicle Progress M-54] engines, which are to
work for 793 seconds, the station will be given an impulse of 1.79 m per
second, which we expect will raise the average orbital altitude of the ISS
by approximately three kilometers," Mission Control said.

The operation began outside the reach of Russian tracking systems, so the
results will only be visible at 9.50 Moscow time (6.50 GMT), a Mission
Control expert said.

The orbit adjustment is needed to prepare the world's sole civilian space
station for docking with the carrier rocket Soyuz TMA-8, which is to be
launched from the Baikonur space station, which Russia leases from the
Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, on March 30.

Soyuz will bring the next crew to the orbital station, with Brazil's
first astronaut, who will spend a week at the ISS.



Russian Mission Control's operation to widen ISS orbit complete

MOSCOW, February 22 21:55 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Mission Control near
Moscow said Wednesday it had completed an operation to widen the
International Space Station's orbit by about three kilometers.

American tracking systems have registered the changes, a Mission Control
expert said, adding that more precise information would be available by 9.50
Moscow time (6.50 GMT).

The orbital adjustment was needed to prepare the world's sole civilian
space station for docking with the carrier rocket Soyuz TMA-8, which is to
be launched from the Baikonur space station which Russia leases from the
Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, on March 30.

Soyuz will bring the next crew to the orbital station, with Brazil's
first astronaut, who will spend a week at the ISS.

To widen the ISS orbit, four engines of Russia's cargo vehicle Progress
M-54 currently docked to the ISS were started at 20.50 Moscow time (5.50
GMT) Wednesday, and worked for the planned 793 seconds.

Attempts to increase the station's orbit have not always been successful.
For example, an operation to raise the ISS' average orbital altitude on
October 19, 2005 failed when the cargo spaceship's engines stalled at the
170th second of the operation.

As a result, the station's orbit was only elevated by 450 meters instead
of the planned 10 km. The stalling was attributed to an electronic engine
control system failure.

Mission Control subsequently tested four of the spaceship's eight
engines, before repeating the operation.

Orbital adjustments are routine operations needed to prepare the orbital
station for receiving Progress cargo ships and manned Soyuz vehicles.