Russia's Mission Control raised the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by 3.74 km (2.3 miles), to 346,4 km (215.2 miles), a Mission Control spokesman said on Friday.

"The adjustment was carried out with the help of thrusters of Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler space freighter," the spokesman said.

The operation lasted 897 seconds, or almost 15 minutes.

European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-2), which docked with the ISS on February 24, is scheduled to conduct two more similar operations before undocking from the station on June 21. The adjustments are tentatively scheduled for June 12 and 15.

Corrections to the space station's orbit are conducted periodically before launches of Russian cargo ships and U.S. shuttles to compensate for Earth's gravity and to safeguard successful dockings.

Soyuz-FG rocket for mission to ISS completed
Assemblage of the Russian Soyuz-FG rocket to carry Soyuz TMA-02M manned spacecraft to the International Space Station was completed on Saturday, a RIA Novosti correspondent said.

The mission to the International Space Station is set for June 8. Soyuz TMA-02M will bring new Expedition 28 astronauts to the ISS. The docking is slated for June 10.

Joining Expedition 28 commander Andrey Borisenko and flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan aboard the station next week will be flight engineers Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa.

On early Sunday the rocket will be moved to a launch pad at the Baikonur space center.

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