Soyuz TMA-12M seen from International Space Station. Credits: ESA/NASA

Soyuz TMA-12M seen from International Space Station. Credits: ESA/NASA

Update 3: Today’s thruster firing was  a small one to fine-tune the orbit of the Soyuz and is typical for a 36-orbit flight to the International Space Station. All Soyuz burns are calculated to take every element into account including potential space debris. There was no risk identified to the Soyuz or its crew.

Update 2: Flight dynamics confirm the Soyuz TMA-18M’s new orbit has the Soyuz as planned in an elliptical orbit between 240 km and 293 km above Earth.

Update 1: Commander Sergei Volkov confirmed the burn completed with an increase of speed (called delta-v in engineering terms, or change in velocity) of 1.08 m/s.

Today at 05:40:07 GMT (07:40:07 CEST) the Soyuz TMA-18M will fire its engines for the third time to boost its speed and modify its orbit of Earth.

The spacecraft will execute the burn on its own with commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Andreas Mogensen monitoring its progress. The astronauts will report back to ground control at the next time they have radio contact.

Today’s burn is  a small one to fine-tune the orbit of the Soyuz after yesterday’s thruster firing. Tomorrow the crew will arrive at the International Space Station with docking planned for 07:42 GMT tomorrow.