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Boeing and NASA have agreed to keep astronauts off the company's next Starliner flight and instead perform a trial run with cargo to prove its safety. Monday's announcement comes eight months after the first and only Starliner crew returned to Earth aboard SpaceX after a prolonged mission. Although NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams managed to dock Starliner to the International Space Station in 2024, the capsule had so many problems that NASA ordered it to come back empty, leaving the astronauts stuck there for more than nine months. Engineers have since been poring over the thruster and other issues that plagued the Starliner capsule. Its next cargo run to the space station will occur no earlier than April, pending additional tests and certification. Boeing said in a statement that it remains committed to the Starliner program with safety the highest priority. NASA is also slashing the planned number of Starliner flights, from six to four. If the cargo mission goes
Japan's space agency on Sunday successfully launched its new flagship H3 rocket carrying an unmanned cargo spacecraft for its first mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the HTV-X1 spacecraft successfully lifted off atop the No. 7 H3 rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The spacecraft was separated and placed into a planned orbit, JAXA said. If everything goes smoothly, it is expected to arrive at the ISS in a few days to deliver supplies. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently at the ISS, is set to catch the craft with a robot arm in the early hours of Thursday. The HTV-X is the successor to JAXA's unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle known as Kounotori, or stork in Japanese, which flew nine missions to the ISS between 2009 and 2020. The new freighter can carry a bigger payload and supply power during flight, enabling transport of cells and other lab samples that requires storage in low ..
A supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday after a day's delay due to a premature engine shutdown. Astronauts used the space station's robot arm to pluck Northrop Grumman's Cygnus capsule from orbit as they soared over Africa. The 5,000-kilogram shipment should have reached the space station Wednesday, three days after blasting off from Florida. But when the capsule tried to climb higher, its main engine shut down too soon. Engineers traced the problem to an overly conservative software setting. This is the first flight of the extra-large version of the Cygnus, which is packed with food, science experiments and equipment for the space station's toilet and other systems. NASA holds contracts with Northrop Grumman as well as SpaceX to keep the orbiting lab well stocked. Russia also sends supplies, and Japan is about to resume deliveries as well. Northrop Grumman named its latest capsule the S S Willie McCool after the pilot of the doomed 2003 flight of space
IAF's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla grew as a "shy and reserved" person, hearing stories of the 1984 spaceflight of Rakesh Sharma in his childhood days. On Sunday, Shukla, India's second astronaut to travel to space after Sharma, was signing autographs for school students and obliging fellow air warriors queuing up to get clicked with him. Life, like his recent space sojourn in a spacecraft orbit, has indeed come full circle for Shukla. The occasion was the felicitation of Shukla and three other chosen Gaganyaan astronauts by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Air Force Auditorium in Subroto Park here. During the event, Shukla, who goes by the callsign 'Shux', shared his journey of joining the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the experiences and challenges he faced while being part of the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). "I grew up as a shy and reserved person. We used to hear stories of the spaceflight of Rakesh Sharma in our childhood days," he said. Shu
Former Union Minister and Hamirpur MP Anurag Singh Thakur on Saturday said that India aims to establish its own space station by 2035 and achieve the target of an Indian-crewed lunar landing by 2040. Interacting with students at the PM Shri Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Una on National Space Day, Thakur highlighted India's growing strides in the space sector. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made a big leap in space sector. On this very day in 2023, our country achieved success in the Chandrayaan Mission 3. On this day, India became the fourth country to land on Moon and the first country to land near the Moon's southern pole, joining the group of leading space nations," he said. The MP said this was the result of tireless work by the country's great and diligent scientists. "Behind those scientists, Prime Minister Modi stands firmly as a visionary leader who embraces them during mission failures and pats their backs on successes," he said. "In 2014,
Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India in the early hours of Sunday after his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, who has been in the US training for the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS over the past year, was welcomed at the airport by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan. Shukla's backup astronaut, Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, also returned to the homeland. Shukla is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and travel to his hometown, Lucknow, shortly. He is also expected to return to the capital to participate in the National Space Day celebrations on 2223 August. India's space glory touches Indian soil... as the iconic son of Mother India, #Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla, lands in Delhi in the early hours of this morning. Accompanying him, another equally accomplished Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, one of the astronauts selected for India's first human mission Gaganyaan, who
India looks full of ambition, fearless, confident and full of pride from space, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla said on Sunday. "Even today, Bharat looks 'saare jahan se accha' from above," Shukla said reprising the iconic words of India's first astronaut Rakesh Sharma in 1984. Shukla was speaking at a farewell ceremony for Axiom-4 mission astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) who are set to begin their return journey to Earth on Monday. "It almost seems magical to me... It has been a fantastic journey for me," Shukla said of his stay at the ISS which began on June 26. The Indian astronaut said he was taking with him a lot of memories and learning that he will share with his countrymen. The Axiom-4 mission undocks from the ISS on Monday and is expected to splash down off the California coast on Tuesday.