GRAVITY UNWELL

International Space Station orbit correction fails

An attempt by scientists to raise the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by 10 kilometres failed on Wednesday, Russian space officials said.
A number of the engines of the Progress M-54 cargo ship, which was supposed to lift the ISS, shut down shortly after the start of the manoeuvre, an official at Russia's mission control centre was quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying.
"At roughly the 170th second of the operation, several engines shut down by themselves... the orbit correction was suspended and experts are now examining the reasons," the official said.

China's spacecraft orbit 'slips' (14 October 2005)

China's Shenzhou VI spacecraft is not orbiting exactly as planned and will have to be restored to its original trajectory, state-run media say.
The "orbit maintenance operation" would take place early on Friday morning, said official news agency Xinhua.
Shenzhou VI, has two astronauts on board, and is China's longest manned space flight.
Xinhua quoted experts as saying the procedure to fix the craft's orbit would be a "normal technical operation".
Nonetheless, the agency said, experts were urging all scientific and technological staff to be "cautious".
The craft had deviated from its planned trajectory because of resistance from the Earth's atmosphere.
The adjustment, which was carried out by firing the craft's thrusters, altered the spacecraft's altitude by 800m, the People's Daily said.

[Separately, an official with Russia's Roskosmos space agency said scientists had lost control of Russia's new earth-monitoring satellite, the Monitor-E, intended for research purposes including mapping and monitoring pollution.]