Page 2 - Astronauts

Canada's first astronaut, former Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, dies at 76

The government has eased contiguous land area norms for special economic zones (SEZs) which want to engage exclusively in the manufacturing of semiconductors or electronic components, according to a notification, "Where a Special Economic Zone is exclusively set up for the manufacturing of semiconductors or electronic components, the contiguous land area shall be ten hectares or more," the commerce ministry's notification has said. Earlier, this was 50 hectares. It added that for the purposes of this provision, the electronic components would include display module sub-assembly, camera module sub-assembly, battery sub-assembly, various types of other module sub-assemblies, printed circuit board, Li-ion cells for batteries, mobile and information technology hardware components, hearables and wearables. The notification also said that the Board of Approval (highest decision-making body for SEZs) can relax the condition of encumbrance-free area, in cases where the area is mortgaged or

No more rockets? Space elevator may soon carry astronauts to the Moon

A revolutionary study suggests a lunar space elevator built with current materials, potentially transforming the future of human space travel

Axiom 4 mission: India returns to space with IAF pilot Shubhanshu Shukla

IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will pilot Axiom 4 to the ISS, marking India's first human spaceflight since 1984 and a milestone in US-India cooperation and ISRO's Gaganyaan preparations

Indian astronaut set to travel to International Space Station on May 29

Axiom Space will launch its fourth mission to the International Space Station, carrying Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three others, from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on May 29. The announcement was made by the Axiom Space at a virtual press conference on Tuesday. Shukla's travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight onboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. Besides Shukla, the Ax-4 crew includes members from Poland and Hungary, marking each nation's first mission to the International Space Station in history and the second government-sponsored human spaceflight mission in over 40 years. Slawosz Uznanski, European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut, will be the second Polish astronaut since 1978. Tibor Kapu will be the second national Hungarian astronaut since 1980. Peggy Whitson will command her second commercial human spaceflight mission, adding to her standing record for the longest cumulative time in space by an American

Space made me feel decades younger, says 70-year-old NASA astronaut

NASA's oldest full-time astronaut, Don Pettit, returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule after spending 220 days on the International Space Station

Nasa's oldest astronaut marks 70th birthday after returning from space

Nasa officials at the landing site reported that Don Pettit is in good condition and is undergoing routine medical checks

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla set for space travel next month: Jitendra Singh

Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to travel to the International Space Station next month as part of an Axiom-4 mission, four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight onboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday. Singh made the remarks after reviewing the work of the Department of Space and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here. "Group Captain Shukla's journey is more than just a flight it's a signal that India is stepping boldly into a new era of space exploration," Singh said. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan made a presentation on various upcoming space missions. ISRO is set to launch the NISAR satellite developed jointly with NASA in June on board the GSLV-Mark 2 rocket, Singh said, adding that in July the space agency will put in orbit BlueBird Block-2 satellites of US-based AST SpaceMobile Inc. using the heavy-lift LVM-3 rocket. Singh said Group Captain Shukla's mission, scheduled for May, marks a milestone in India

Katy Perry among 6 women heading to space: Details of Blue Origin's mission

Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, and four other women are set to make history as part of Blue Origin's all-female crew for a suborbital space mission, launching on Monday from Texas

Why Sunita Williams may have returned taller from space after 288-day stay

From puffy face, fragile skin, to muscle and bone loss - what happens to the human body in space? Here's all we know

Sunita Williams' return highlights: Astronauts finally on Earth; 'Crew doing great,' says Nasa

Sunita Williams-Butch Wilmore return LIVE updates: Catch all the latest news on Nasa astronaut Sunita William's return here

Sunita Williams' homecoming: How do astronauts survive a fiery re-entry?

With Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore set to return to Earth after nearly nine months in space, let's look at how the astronauts' return takes place

Remembering Kalpana Chawla: 11 lesser-known facts about the space pioneer

Born in Karnal, Haryana, Kalpana was the first Indian woman who went to space. In her memory, the first Indian water satellite was named 'Kalpana 1.' Here are 11 lesser-known facts about her

Dizziness, baby feet: Challenges astronauts face upon return to earth

It may be fun to watch astronauts float around inside the International Space Station, but the absence of gravity has its effects on long-duration space travellers, who experience dizziness, nausea and an unstable gait when they return to earth. NASA astronauts Sunita Willams and Butch Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday onboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. For Williams and Wilmore, test pilots for Boeing's new Starliner capsule, the eight-day mission stretched to more than nine months as a series of helium leaks and thruster failures deemed their spacecraft unsafe and had to return empty in September. Astronauts who have travelled on space missions earlier have reported facing difficulty in walking, having bad eyesight, dizziness, and a condition called baby feet where space travellers lose the thick part of the skin on the soles that become soft like a baby's. "Once the astronaut returns to Earth, they are immediately for

SpaceX Dragon docks with ISS to bring back stranded Nasa astronauts

After SpaceX Dragon's link-up to the forward facing port of the station's Harmony module, the crew members aboard Dragon and the space station will start conducting standard leak checks

Nasa's stuck astronauts welcome newly arrived replacements to space station

Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA's two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers representing the US, Japan and Russia will spend the next few days learning the station's ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Indian-American Sunita Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June. Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched on Boeing's first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month. The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that NASA insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift. Their ride arrived in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements' brand new capsule needed extens

SpaceX, Nasa launch mission to bring back Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore

Mission also launched four crew members to ISS: Nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov

Nasa's 2 stranded astronauts nearing return after 9 months in space

NASA's two stuck astronauts are just a few weeks away from finally returning to Earth after nine months in space. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have to wait until their replacements arrive at the International Space Station next week before they can check out later this month. They'll be joined on their SpaceX ride home by two astronauts who launched by themselves in September alongside two empty seats. During a news conference Tuesday, Wilmore said that while politics is part of life, it did not play into his and Williams' return, moved up a couple weeks thanks to a change in SpaceX capsules. President Donald Trump and SpaceX's Elon Musk said at the end of January that they wanted to accelerate the astronauts' return, blaming the previous administration. But Williams, in response to a question, did take issue with Musk's recent call to dump the space station in two years, rather than waiting until NASA's projected deorbit in 2031. She noted all the scientific research being ...

Explained: Musk argues with European astronaut over Sunita Williams' return

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were initially sent to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 on a short eight-day mission. However, their return has been repeatedly pushed back

Stranded in space: Updates on Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore's Earth return

Nasa recently confirmed the news that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore who are stranded in space for nine months are likely to return to Earth in mid-March

Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore may return to Earth sooner under new plan

NASA's two stuck astronauts may come back to Earth a little sooner than planned. The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or April. That will shave at least a couple weeks off their prolonged stay at the International Space Station, which hit the eight-month mark last week. Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges, NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement. The test pilots should have returned in June on Boeing's Starliner capsule after what should have been a weeklong flight demo. But the capsule had so much trouble getting to the space station that NASA decided to bring it back empty and reassigned the pair to SpaceX. Then SpaceX delayed the launch of their replacements on a brand new capsule that needed more prepping, which added more time to Wilmore and Williams' mission. With even more work s