Connect with us

CBS News

NASA and SpaceX gear up for launch of 4 to International Space Station

Avatar

Published

on


Keeping tabs on uncertain weather, mission managers decided Saturday to press ahead with an attempt to launch three astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on a flight to the International Space Station.

Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin planned to strap into their Crew Dragon spacecraft around 9 p.m. EST to await launch from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:16 p.m. EST.

022824-padview.jpg
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft stand poised atop pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this week awaiting launch on a mission to deliver three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station.

SpaceX


If all goes well, the rocket’s reusable first stage, making its maiden flight, will fly itself back to landing at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after boosting the upper stage and Crew Dragon out of the lower atmosphere. The Crew Dragon is expected to be released to fly on its own 12 minutes after liftoff.

NASA and SpaceX originally targeted launch for early Friday, but high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean, where the crew might have to splash down in an abort, prompted a two-day delay. Offshore conditions were still marginal Saturday, sources said, but mission managers opted to press ahead with the countdown.

Assuming an on-time launch, the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” is expected to catch up with the space station Sunday, moving in from behind and below. After looping up to a point directly in front of the outpost, Endeavour will press in for an autonomous docking at the lab’s forward port at 2:15 p.m.

crew-cabin-candid.jpg
The Crew 8 astronauts during training in a Crew Dragon simulator (left to right): Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, co-pilot Michael Barratt, commander Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps. Barratt is making his third trip to space while his crewmates are making their first.

SpaceX/NASA


Standing by to welcome Crew 8 aboard will be Soyuz crewmates Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, who were launched to the station last September.

Also on board: Crew 7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japanese flier Satoshi Furukawa and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, launched from the Kennedy Space Center last August. Winding up a 198-day mission, they’re being replaced by Crew 8.

After Moghbeli and her crewmates depart on March 10, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos plans to launch veteran cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, Belarus guest flier Marina Vasilevskaya and NASA veteran Tracy Dyson on March 21 aboard the Soyuz MS-25/71S ferry ship.

The goal of the mission is to ferry Dyson to the station for a six-month stay and to deliver a fresh Soyuz for Kononenko and Chub, who are midway through a yearlong stay in space.

Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will return to Earth April 2, along with NASA’s O’Hara, using the Soyuz MS-24/70S spacecraft that carried Kononenko, Chub and O’Hara to the station last September.

Dyson will return to Earth in September, joining Kononenko and Chub aboard the Soyuz MS-25/71S spacecraft delivered by Novitskiy. Including four earlier flights, Kononenko will have logged more than 1,100 days in orbit overall, setting a new world record for most time in space.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

CBS News

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales claims his car was fired upon in attempted assassination

Avatar

Published

on


Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured and there was no immediate confirmation of the attack from authorities.

Morales alleged the shots were fired while he was being driven in Bolivia’s coca leaf-growing region of Chapare, the ex-president’s rural stronghold whose residents have blockaded the country’s main east-west highway for the past two weeks.

The roadblocks — protesting what Morales’ supporters decry as President Luis Arce’s attempts to sabotage his former mentor and bitter political rival — have isolated cities and disrupted food and fuel supplies.

Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, emerged unscathed from the alleged attack Sunday, appearing on his weekly radio show in his usual calm manner to recount what happened.

He told the radio host that as he was leaving home for the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots at his car, wounding his driver.

Morales was quick to blame his successor, President Arce, with whom he is fighting to be the candidate of governing socialist party in next year’s presidential election. He claimed that Arce’s government resorted to physical force having been unable to defeat him politically.

Bolivia Morales
Former President Evo Morales speaks to supporters after marching to La Paz, Bolivia, to protest current President Luis Arce, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.

Juan Karita / AP


“Arce is going to go down as the worst president in history,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”

Officials in Arce’s government did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Cellphone video circulating online shows Morales’ driver bleeding from the back of his head. Morales can be seen in the passenger’s seat holding a phone to his ear as the vehicle swerves and a woman’s voice shrieks “Duck!”

The footage shows the car’s front windshield cracked by at least three bullets and its rear windshield shattered. Morales can be heard saying, “Papacho has been shot in the head,” apparently referring to his driver.

“They are shooting at us,” Morales continues on the phone. “They shot the tire of the car and it stopped on the road.”

Morales’ claim deepens political tensions in Bolivia at a volatile moment for the cash-strapped Andean nation of 12 million.

In June, there was an apparent attempted coup by a rogue military general leading a rebellion, where armored vehicles and troops marched to the presidential palace and tried to force their way into the building. The rebellion retreated after Arce confronted the general, bringing the alleged coup attempt to a head, and ordered him to stand down. The general and other senior officers were later arrested.


Apparent military coup fails in Bolivia

04:28

Then, last month, Morales led a massive march against the government’s mismanagement of the economy that quickly devolved into street clashes with pro-government mobs. Imported goods are scarce and prices are rising. Drivers wait for hours to fill up at gas stations. The gap between the official and black-market exchange rates is widening.

Earlier this month, the feud between Morales and Arce moved to the courts as Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape.

Morales has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated and refused to testify in the case. Since reports surfaced of a possible arrest warrant against him, the ex-president has been holed up in the Chapare region, in central Bolivia, where supportive coca growers have kept vigilant watch to protect him from arrest.

President Arce accuses Morales of trying to undermine his administration to advance his own ambitions.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 27, 2024

Avatar

Published

on


Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 27, 2024 – CBS News


Watch CBS News



This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance discusses Russian disinformation campaigns and the Trump-Vance ticket’s “women problem.” Plus, former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney joins.

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

Full interview: GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance

Avatar

Published

on


Full interview: GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance – CBS News


Watch CBS News



Watch Margaret Brennan’s full interview with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a portion of which aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Oct. 27, 2024.

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024 Breaking MN

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.