MOSCOW, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) — The International Space Station (ISS) would adjust its orbit to avoid collision with space debris, Russian federal space agency Roscosmos said Friday.

“The operation will be held at 19:16 Moscow time (1316 GMT),” Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov told reporters.

He described it as a routine operation the Russian Mission Control Center (MCC) had conducted many times.

“The operation to avoid ISS collision with the space garbage is nothing new. It has been worked out several times,” Kuznetsov said.

Earlier Friday, NASA discovered an unidentified piece of metal which could approach dangerously close to the ISS at about 22:00 Moscow time (1800 GMT).

The ISS orbit was lifted one kilometer on Nov.1 to avoid collision with the defunct U.S. satellite Iridium-33 in the previous such case.

According to Roscosmos, the operation will not affect the undocking and landing of the Soyuz TMA-05M manned spacecraft scheduled for Nov. 19, when a crew of Russian, U.S. and Japanese cosmonauts and astronauts complete the 33rd mission.

The spaceship undocking was scheduled at 02:23 Moscow time Monday (22:23 GMT Sunday) and the landing was expected at 05:53 Moscow time (0153 GMT) in Kazakhstan, the MCC said on its website.

The 34th crew of two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut will remain on the station.