Even if they went all the way up to the ISS's orbit (which would be useless both because it's a test flight and because they would be going the wrong direction), the difference between going in a western or eastern orbit is a ~10% difference in delta-v requirements. Normally that's an enormous difference, but if you can just decrease the size of the test payload at will it shouldn't matter much beyond spending a few thousand dollars more on fuel.
It's not the height that counts, it's the sideways speed. Getting to 250 miles above sea level is relatively easy. Getting to 5 miles a second it far harder.
