NASA and SpaceX have successfully raised the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) with a 15-minute burn of the Draco thrusters located in the trunk of the Dragon freighter.
The latest effort came after operators manually aborted a scheduled 19-minute, 22-second burn less than four minutes in when the Draco thruster fuel tanks failed to swap as planned
This time all went well, said NASA, setting the stage for Soyuz crew swap operations later in 2025. The next Soyuz crew is due to launch aboard MS-28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on November 27, 2025. The mission will mark the first flight for NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, and the crew will remain on the ISS until the middle of next year.
The reboost capability is crucial for NASA, reducing US dependence on Russia to maintain the ISS orbit. However, even with SpaceX Dragon freighters equipped to raise the station’s altitude, the US and Russian segments remain inextricably linked. Despite air leaks and aging modules, separating the Russian side isn’t practical — the station’s main computers, supplied by the European Space Agency, are located in the Russian Zvezda module.
While the ISS has many more computers distributed around the complex, replacing all the functionality contained within the Russian segment, including attitude control, would take more than a set of Draco thrusters in the trunk of a Dragon freighter.
The outpost is nearing the end of its days in orbit, and it is debatable whether such an exercise would be worth the effort. Observers have claimed that should problems – such as leaks – in the Russian segment worsen, then hatches could be permanently closed instead.
The ISS is also due for a controlled reentry in 2030, assuming SpaceX can deliver a vehicle capable of the task by 2029. Based on the latest Dragon demonstration, the company appears up to the job and has a good few years left to address any issues that emerged during September’s engine firings. ®
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