New fuel arrives to boost space station's orbit

An unmanned cargo spacecraft carrying fuel, oxygen and supplies has docked at the International Space Station.

The European Space Agency's "Johannes Kepler" Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 (ATV-2) docked successfully at 10:59 a.m. ET on Thursday, NASA reported.

The space shuttle Discovery was scheduled to launch at 4:50 p.m. ET on Thursday as well from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and, if all goes according to plan, would reach the ISS on Saturday.

Some of the fuel carried by ATV-2 is being used to lift the height of the space station's orbit by 1.1 kilometres. The re-boost is scheduled for 5:33 a.m. ET Friday, NASA said.

The operation is needed because the station tends to fall toward Earth over time.

ATV-2 blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana, on Feb.16 atop an Ariane 5 rocket and spent eight days travelling to the space station.