The US space shuttle Endeavour yesterday headed for the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) on a mission to complete work on the Japanese Kibo laboratory.
The six Americans and one Canadian on board Endeavour are scheduled to reach the ISS today, where they will install a platform for astronauts to conduct experiments 350km above Earth’s surface.
The shuttle blasted off on Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center, its sixth bid in recent weeks to reach the ISS after delays caused by weather woes and technical troubles. The aborted attempts left cash-strapped NASA footing US$4.5 million in extra costs.
PHOTO: AFP
Eight minutes after launch the shuttle entered orbit 225km above Earth, and a few moments later the shuttle could be seen separating from the external fuel tank.
NASA said it hoped the launch would help fulfill “Japan’s hope for an out-of-this-world space laboratory,” as the shuttle delivers state-of-the-art equipment to conduct experiments in space.
A NASA official downplayed the potential of damage caused by debris that peeled off from Endeavour’s external fuel tank during liftoff and could be seen hitting the shuttle about two minutes into the flight in images broadcast on NASA TV.
The debris could be ice or foam that broke off from the external fuel tank, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations.
“We had some foam loss events,” Gerstenmaier said. “You can clearly see, on the front part of the orbiter, some white indications where the tiles were dinged.”
“We don’t consider those an issue for us, those are probably coating losses,” he said.
Specialists will scrutinize the images, he said, and later the shuttle will be closely examined by the Endeavour and ISS crews.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion