A Dragon just pushed the International Space Station a little farther away from Earth.<\/p>\n
SpaceX\u2019s Dragon<\/a> cargo spacecraft successfully finished a test reboost of the International Space Station<\/a> (ISS) on Wednesday (Sept. 3), according to NASA. The freighter fired two of its Draco engines for 5 minutes and 3 seconds during the maneuver, agency officials wrote in a Wednesday statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ISS orbits roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth<\/a> on average but naturally falls back to our planet due to atmospheric drag. (There isn’t much atmosphere up that high, but the few stray molecules make a difference over time.) Visiting cargo spacecraft therefore take on the job of lifting the orbiting complex higher every few months.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This job has historically been done primarily by Russian Progress spacecraft, but Russia may withdraw from the ISS program<\/a> as soon as 2028. (The ISS is expected to keep operating until late 2030 or early 2031.)<\/p>\n NASA has therefore been asking the current U.S. ISS resupply craft \u2014 SpaceX\u2019s Dragon and Northrop Grumman<\/a>\u2019s Cygnus vehicle \u2014 to perform reboost demonstrations in recent years. SpaceX\u2019s first such test happened on Nov. 8, 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n And on Wednesday, Dragon’s efforts got the station to an orbit of 260.9 by 256.3 miles (419.9 by 412 km), according to NASA.<\/p>\n “The new boost kit in Dragon will help sustain the orbiting lab\u2019s altitude through a series of longer burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025,” agency officials added in the statement.<\/p>\n NASA has said these tests will also be important for another SpaceX job down the road: deorbiting the ISS itself. SpaceX was tasked in July 2024 to bring the ISS down in a controlled fashion when it is time, using a monster Dragon<\/a> to fulfill the duty.<\/p>\n