The astronauts say being stuck in space is just part of their job
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on International Space Station because of technical issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, said that being stuck in space is “just part of the job”. They added that with more time they could have returned to Earth on the Starliner. “The people at NASA make a lot of things look easy,” they further said.
The Boeing Starliners is returning to an uncertain future
The first test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, ended after seven years. The test flight lasted for eight days and had to be extended when some thrusters failed while the spacecraft was approaching the International Space Station. It’s part of Boeing’s contract with NASA to fly astronauts to and from the ISS.
How to watch a launch
Boeing and NASA have launched a test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is set to begin astronauts’ first flights to and from the International Space Station. The launch was postponed last year after Boeing discovered adhesive tape used on the spacecraft was flammable. The test flight will be the first time Starliner will travel with people on board.
A private company is about to land on the moon
Intuitive Machines’ ‘Odysseus’ lander, the first private spacecraft to land on Moon, touched down at the lunar south pole on Wednesday morning. The mission is a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, which aims to collect important data about the Moon’s surface. Odysseus had launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last week.
Scientists are happy that India has landed on the Moon
ISRO Chairman K Sivan said that the Chandrayaan-3 landing gave him “confidence in setting up missions to the Moon, Mars, Venus, and even asteroids.” He added, “For example, if the spacecraft lands in a crater, on a slope, or the leg of the lander catches on a boulder, the mission could be compromised.”
India and Russia have crashed on the moon
India and China on Thursday successfully landed their lunar lander, Luna-25, on the Moon’s south pole. The spacecraft will help India and China to better understand permanently shadowed lunar craters that contain water deposits. India had launched its first Moon mission in 2009 but the mission ended in failure after it failed to land on the lunar surface.