On Dec. 29, SpaceX’s Dragon fired its thrusters for more than 19 minutes, boosting the International Space Station’s orbit.

The two Draco engines, which are located in the spacecraft’s trunk and use an independent propellant system, increased the station’s altitude by 1.6 miles at apogee, or highest point of station’s orbit, and 1.9 miles at perigee, or low point of station’s orbit, placing the station in an orbit of 263.5 x 257.8 miles.  

This Dragon spacecraft, which is supporting SpaceX’s 33rd commercial resupply mission for NASA, arrived at the orbital complex on Aug. 25 and previously performed four reboosts of the station on Sept. 3, Sept. 26, and Oct. 14, and Nov. 7. One additional reboost is planned in mid-January before Dragon returns to Earth with critical research and cargo and splashes down off the coast of California. 

Quelle: NASA