WASHINGTON: A pair of US astronauts stuck waiting to leave the International Space Station said Wednesday they were confident that the problem-plagued Boeing Starliner they rode up on would soon bring them home, even as significant uncertainties remain.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off on June 5 aboard the brand new spaceship that NASA is hoping to certify to ferry crews to-and-from the orbital outpost.
They docked the following day for what was meant to be roughly a week-long stay, but their return was pushed back because of thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that came to light during the journey.
No date has been set for the return, but NASA officials said Wednesday they were eying “late July.”
Asked during a live press call from the station whether they still had faith in the Starliner team and the spaceship, mission commander Wilmore replied: “We’re absolutely confident.”
“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” added Williams.
She said they were continuing to enjoy their time aboard the ISS, performing tasks like changing out the pump on a machine that processes urine back into drinking water, and carrying out science experiments such as gene sequencing in the microgravity environment.
They have also tested Starliner as a “safe haven” vehicle in case of problems aboard the ISS, and checked out how its life support performs when four people are inside.
Before Wilmore and Williams can come home, however, engineering teams need to run more simulations of similar thrusters and helium seals on the ground, to better understand the root causes of some of the technical issues Starliner experienced — and modify the way it will fly down, if necessary.
It was known there was one helium leak affecting the spaceship before the launch, but more leaks emerged during the flight. Helium, while non-combustible, provides pressure to the propulsion system.
What’s more, some of Starliner’s thrusters that provide fine maneuvering initially failed to kick in during its approach to the station, delaying docking.
Engineers are not sure why the craft’s computer “deselected” these thrusters, though they were able to restart all but one of them.
In a subsequent press call, Boeing executive Mark Nappi told reporters that the “working theory” for the thruster malfunction was overheating due to excessive firing.
Theories on the cause of the helium leaks ranged from debris entering the propulsion system to Boeing possibly installing seals that were undersized for the task.
NASA and Boeing insist Starliner could fly home in case of an emergency, particularly since the problems affected only certain thrusters that control orientation.
They have no concerns over any of the more powerful thrusters responsible for the “deorbit burn” that will bring the spaceship back.
But much remains unclear — including whether the orientation control thrusters that malfunctioned have become degraded, which would make it necessary to rely on other thrusters during descent, NASA official Steve Stich said.
He insisted that NASA wasn’t yet considering bringing Williams and Wilmore back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, in what would amount to a major humiliation for the aerospace giant Boeing, whose reputation has taken a hit in recent years over the safety crisis affecting its commercial jets.
“The prime option today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” said Stich, while conceding that a return flight on a SpaceX spaceship can’t be ruled out.
In 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing were awarded multibillion-dollar contracts by NASA to develop crewed spaceships after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. SpaceX carried out a successful crewed test in 2020 and has flown dozens of people since.
Astronauts stuck on space station ‘confident’ Boeing Starliner will bring them home
https://arab.news/v9zcp
Astronauts stuck on space station ‘confident’ Boeing Starliner will bring them home
- Their return was pushed back because of thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that came to light during the journey
- In 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing were awarded multibillion-dollar contracts by NASA to develop crewed spaceships
Pope Francis’s diverse choices of new cardinals won’t smooth path for successor
- Geographic diversity is important to Francis, an Argentinian born an ocean away from Rome
- Some two dozen cardinals have been the first ever chosen from their home countries
But while Francis, 87, has now named some 80 percent of the prelates who will choose the next pope, those who study the church say his choices — often of low-profile churchmen from distant countries, many of whom barely know each other — are not meant to smooth the way for a preferred heir.
“The idea that the pope is capable of influencing his successor is not real,” said Alberto Melloni, a church historian at the University of Modena-Reggio Emilia. “It is not even his agenda.”
Geographic diversity is important to Francis, an Argentinian born an ocean away from Rome. Among new cardinals that Francis has named over his 11 years as pope, some two dozen have been the first ever chosen from their home countries, which include Haiti, Myanmar, the Central African Republic and Mongolia.
The 21 new cardinals announced on Sunday hail from countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Italy, Britain, Serbia, Japan, Indonesia, Canada, Ivory Coast and Algeria. One is a Belgian friar serving as archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan in Iran. Another is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic ministering in Australia.
“It’s more about geography than about theology,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia who has chronicled the Francis papacy. “It’s generally about giving voice to those who are in the peripheries ... more than a particular vision of the Church.”
VEERING FROM TRADITION
Church watchers are sometimes surprised by the pope’s picks of figures who are often little known in Rome or lead relatively small Catholic flocks.
He has also veered from tradition that bishops of historically important cities automatically become cardinals. In the US, for example, he has made the bishop of San Diego a cardinal, but not the archbishop of Los Angeles. In Italy, the archbishop of Bologna but not the archbishop of Milan.
“The message is: ‘I have abolished the right of any diocese to have a cardinal as archbishop,’” said Melloni.
Often the choices appear to be influenced by Francis’ preference for what he has called a Church that is “bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets.”
In 2019, one of Francis’ picks, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, attracted the ire of Italian politicians by climbing down a manhole in Rome to restore electricity to hundreds of homeless people living in an occupied building.
At the pope’s death or resignation, cardinals enter into a secret conclave, where those under the age of 80 vote on the next pope. At least 67 countries now have cardinals who can vote in a conclave, according to Vatican statistics, compared to fewer than 50 countries when Francis was elected in 2013.
Unlike previous popes, Francis has only rarely called the entire College of Cardinals to Rome for consultation. This, coupled with their geographic spread across the globe, means they are often little known to each other. Many have never met face to face.
“The fact that Francis generally avoids convening cardinals in Rome limits the amount of pre-conclave maneuvering,” said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for the Catholic News Service who has reported extensively on three papacies.
“The pope’s biggest influence on a future conclave will be in broadening participation and making the election of a pope a more global event.”
Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Only about 50 climbers worldwide have climbed all mountain peaks above 8,000 meters
- Most climbers assembled at Chinese Himalayas have already summited 13 other highest peaks
Katmandu: A record number of climbers are gathered in Tibet to complete mountaineering’s pinnacle achievement, summiting the world’s tallest 14 peaks.
Only about 50 climbers have climbed all mountain peaks above 8,000 meters (26,250 feet), a feat that took most years, or even decades, to complete.
About 20 are vying for the record books this month, some spurred by a blockbuster Netflix documentary giving the endeavor a wider profile.
Technological advancements have made the feat easier to accomplish.
“We are growing as a community, and we are representing mountaineering all over the world,” Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif, 22, told AFP.
“I think that’s great... they are completing their dream, as I am.”
It took Italian climber Reinhold Messner 16 years from his initial summit to become the first person in the world considered to have climbed all 14 peaks in 1986.
But most of the climbers assembled in the Chinese Himalayas at the base camp of Mount Shisha Pangma only began their attempts within the past few years.
They have already summited the 13 other highest peaks, located in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, straddling Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet and India.
Many have been waiting to scale the 8,027-meter-high (26,335 feet) Tibetan peak since last year, when China closed the mountain to climbers after two American women and their Nepali guides were killed in an avalanche.
The aspirants are a mix of seasoned veterans and rising stars.
Teenage Nepali climber Nima Rinji Sherpa, 18, aims to be the youngest to climb all 14.
Several hope to be the first from their respective countries to accomplish the feat.
Advances in mountaineering technology, weather forecasting and logistical support have made this once-inaccessible goal more achievable — particularly for those who can afford it.
Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, Nepal’s biggest mountaineering expedition company, told AFP that climbers could expect to pay up to $700,000 for full support teams.
But he said the hefty price tag had not dissuaded a growing number of people from pursuing the endeavor.
“They climb one or two, and then the mountains attract them,” he said. “Soon they might decide to climb them all.”
Teams of support crews and helicopters for rapid transportation between base camps have allowed climbers to tackle multiple mountains in a single season.
“It is clear that the pioneers back then, they did much more difficult, dangerous and exceptional ascents,” German mountaineering chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski told AFP.
“Now it is possible to do them within three months. The logistics are so world-class now.”
British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja famously completed the 14 peaks in just over six months in 2019, shattering the previous record of seven years.
His efforts were chronicled in a Netflix documentary, inspiring a new wave of athletes to try and eclipse his speed run.
Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjen Lama Sherpa — the latter who died attempting to summit Shisha Pangma last year — now hold the record.
They climbed the giant mountains in 92 days, ending in July 2023.
The pair also reached the “true summits” of all the mountains, which many previous climbers had missed.
This month, at least six have already completed the feat after summiting Shisha Pangma, including the first Japanese, Pakistani and female American climbers.
They also included Nirmal Purja again, who this time said he was climbing all 14 without supplementary oxygen.
The trend toward speed has not always been welcomed by the mountaineering fraternity.
Veteran climbers have criticized Purja and Harila for using helicopters, pre-prepared routes and support teams.
Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, who is aiming to become the first woman from Nepal to summit all 14 peaks, said the style of ascent dictated how much it was valued by other alpinists.
“Some climb 14 peaks... and maybe even have climbed Everest several times, but some don’t have the capacity to climb without support,” she told AFP.
But Russian climber Alina Pekova, also attempting the Tibetan summit to finish her 14-peak climb, said that speed ascents were an endurance test.
“If you can climb it a fast way, why not try?” she told AFP. “That’s another challenge.”
US Supreme Court to hear ‘ghost guns’ regulation case
- The ATF rule also requires commercial sellers of what are known as “buy-build-shoot” kits to be licensed and maintain records
Gun manufacturers and owners are objecting to a 2022 rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that requires ghost guns, like other firearms, to have serial numbers and for purchasers to undergo background checks.
The ATF rule also requires commercial sellers of what are known as “buy-build-shoot” kits to be licensed and maintain records.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended the rule under the Gun Control Act of 1968, saying it makes it “harder for criminals and other prohibited persons to obtain untraceable guns.”
According to ATF figures, nearly 20,000 ghost guns were recovered at crime scenes in the United States in 2021, a tenfold increase from 2016.
Ghost guns, some of which include parts made by 3D printers, are sold online or in stores in kits that can be assembled at home.
Gunmakers and gun rights groups challenged the ATF rule. A federal judge in Texas ruled that the bureau had exceeded its authority and that such regulation is up to Congress.
The Biden administration appealed to the US Supreme Court after the district court ruling was upheld by a conservative-dominated appeals court panel.
The Supreme Court, by a slim 5-4 vote, stayed the order of the lower courts striking down the ATF rule pending Tuesday’s oral arguments in the case.
In their brief to the Supreme Court, the gun rights groups said “an incomplete collection of parts is not a ‘weapon’” and ghost gun kits should not be considered “firearms” under the Gun Control Act.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, in her brief, said ghost gun manufacturers are seeking to get around the ATF rule using “trivial evasion” and included an analogy to the Swedish home goods giant IKEA.
“If a State placed a tax on the sale of tables, chairs, couches, and bookshelves, IKEA could not avoid paying by insisting that it does not sell any of those items and instead sells ‘furniture parts kits’ that must be assembled by the purchaser,” Prelogar wrote.
“So too with guns: A company in the business of selling kits that can be assembled into working firearms in minutes... is in the business of selling firearms.”
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a decision in the case before the end of June 2025.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to speed up becoming a nuclear superpower
- North Korea has for decades pursued a nuclear weapons program and is believed to have enough fissile materials to build dozens of the weapons
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will speed up steps toward becoming a military superpower with nuclear weapons and would not rule out using them if it came under enemy attack, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday.
Kim mentioned South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol by name for the second time in a week in denouncing Seoul for colluding with Washington to destabilize the region to gloss over the fact it does not even have proper strategic weapons.
“Yoon Suk Yeol made some tasteless and vulgar comment about the end of the Republic in his speech, and it shows he is totally consumed by his blind faith in his master’s strength,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying, referring to the South’s alliance with the US
“To be honest, we have absolutely no intention of attacking South Korea,” he said in the speech at the Kim Jong Un National Defense University, a training ground for elite military specialists.
“Every time I stated our position on the use of military force, I clearly and consistently used the qualification ‘if.’ If the enemies try to use force against our country, the Republic’s military will use all offensive power without hesitation. This does not preclude the use of nuclear weapons.”
“Our footsteps toward becoming a military superpower and a nuclear power will accelerate,” he added.
North Korea has for decades pursued a nuclear weapons program and is believed to have enough fissile materials to build dozens of the weapons. It has conducted six underground nuclear detonation tests.
Last week, South Korea marked an annual armed forces day with a large military parade showcasing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a massive warhead and featuring a flypast of a US strategic bomber.
In his address that day, Yoon warned the North against using nuclear weapons. “That day will see the end of the North Korean regime.”
North Korea may be building a new submarine, the South Korean defense ministry said citing intelligence indications in a report to a member of parliament. In January, Kim reportedly ordered a nuclear submarine to be built.
The construction was at an early stage and it was not clear if the vessel was a nuclear-powered submarine, said the report.
North Korea is also working on a submarine drone that could be developed to carry nuclear weapons, possibly with the help of Russia, it said.
KCNA said Kim made his “military superpower” remarks on Monday, the same day the North has said its Supreme People’s Assembly would meet to discuss amending the country’s constitution. The news agency has made no mention of the assembly’s deliberations since Monday.
The session is being closely watched because of the likelihood it would approve a constitutional amendment to reflect Kim’s statement that unification is no longer possible and the South was a separate country and “a principal enemy.”
Such a move would formalize Kim’s break with decades-old goal espoused by both countries of national unification and attempts to improve ties, including a 2018 summit where their leaders declared there will be no more war and a new era of peace has opened.
In a separate report, KCNA said Kim sent a birthday message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him his “closest Comrade and saying “strategic and cooperative relations” between the two countries will be raised to a new level.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said “there was a high possibility” North Korea could deploy troops to help Russia in the war with Ukraine.
Kim also told a parliament hearing news reports of North Korean military officers having been killed in a Ukrainian strike in Russian-occupied territory were likely true.
Kim Jong Un and Putin in June adopted on a comprehensive strategic partnership that includes mutual defense pact.
The two countries have denied accusations by US and South Korean officials the North was supplying arms to Russia.
Philippines’ Marcos signs law to revitalize country’s defense industry
- The Philippines has a relatively small defense industry capable of producing small arms and ammunition
- But it has yet to achieve large-scale production of advanced military systems such as fighter jets
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed into law a bill on Tuesday that aims to develop the country’s defense industry to reduce its reliance on imported sources and create equipment tailored to its security challenges.
“It’s a logical move forward for a country that finds itself at the fulcrum of geopolitical shifts and volatilities. At its core this act is about cultivating a robust and sustainable national defense industry,” Marcos said after signing the bill.
To promote and encourage investments in the country’s defense technology and production, the new self-reliant defense law will offer fiscal incentives ranging from tax breaks and government-backed financing, Marcos said.
“We will prioritize R&D to develop systems that meet our unique requirements to stay ahead of evolving threats, particularly asymmetrical threats that traditional systems may not be completely equipped to address,” Marcos said.
The new law, Marcos added, will also prioritize the production of critical defense materiel in the country, from small arms and tactical vehicles to more sophisticated systems.
“It establishes a structured approach to defensive development, starting with research and production capabilities that align our defense sector with our strategic objectives,” Marcos said.
The law is expected to complement government efforts to modernize its military, as it would help ensure that the Philippines can manufacture, maintain and upgrade military equipment.
The Philippines has a relatively small defense industry capable of producing small arms and ammunition, but it has yet to achieve large-scale production of advanced military systems such as fighter jets.
It is embarking on the latest phase of a multi-billion-dollar effort to modernize its military at a time of rising tension in the South China Sea.
It has allocated $35 billion for the buildup, spread over the next decade, as it has faced off with China in sea and air confrontations over contested areas of the busy waterway.
