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
UK must bring sick, injured children from Gaza ‘without delay,’ MPs say
- Remove barriers preventing evacuations immediately, urges group of 96 parliamentarians
- Letter to senior ministers says medical, humanitarian catastrophe reaching ‘horrific proportions’
LONDON: The British government must bring sick and injured Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK “without delay,” a group of MPs has said.
The cross-party group of 96 parliamentarians made the appeal in a letter to senior government ministers, the BBC reported.
Children in the Palestinian enclave are at risk of imminent death, and any barriers preventing their evacuation to Britain must be removed, they said.
Responding to Gaza’s “decimated” healthcare system requires adequate funding and a detailed timeline for child evacuations, the MPs added.
UN children’s charity UNICEF has said that more than 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured since the beginning of the Gaza war in late 2023.
The medical and humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave has reached “horrific proportions,” said the MPs’ letter, which was coordinated by Dr. Simon Opher, a Labour MP and GP.
Signatories to the letter, addressing the health, home, and foreign secretaries, said they were working with Medecins sans Frontieres to expedite the evacuation of injured and ill Palestinian children to Britain.
The children and their families must be allowed to claim asylum after their treatment is completed, the letter said.
The UK Home Office previously said that biometric checks would be carried out before Palestinian children and their carers travel to the UK, a decision that was questioned by the letter’s signatories.
Plans to evacuate seriously ill or injured children from Gaza were being carried out “at pace,” the government said earlier in August.
A spokesperson said: “We are accelerating plans to evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option.”
Several hundred Palestinian children are expected to be evacuated as part of the scheme.
Since late 2023, the UK has channeled funding toward the treatment of injured and seriously ill Palestinians in hospitals across the Middle East.
Liz Harding, of MSF’s UK branch, welcomed the MPs’ letter and called on the government to waive its biometric visa requirement.
Britain must “urgently act on its commitment by creating a dedicated, publicly funded pathway based on clinical need, not bureaucracy,” she added.
Zelensky braces for perilous Trump talks in Washington on Monday
- War in Ukraine at critical diplomatic juncture
- Trump wants rapid peace deal, not ceasefire
- Putin gave no ground at talks in Alaska, Zelensky’s last trip to DC ended in disaster
LONDON/KYIV: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky flies to Washington on Monday under heavy US pressure to agree a swift end to Russia’s war in Ukraine but determined to defend Kyiv’s interests — without sparking a second Oval Office bust-up with Donald Trump.
The US president invited Zelensky to Washington after rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, Kyiv’s arch foe, at a summit in Alaska that shocked many in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands have died since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The Alaska talks failed to produce the ceasefire that Trump sought, and the US leader said on Saturday that he now wanted a rapid, full-fledged peace deal and that Kyiv should accept because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.”
The blunt rhetoric throws the onus squarely back on Zelensky, putting him in a perilous position as he returns to Washington for the first time since his talks with Trump in the Oval Office in February descended into acrimony.
The US president upbraided him in front of world media at the time, saying Zelensky did not “hold the cards” in negotiations and that what he described as Kyiv’s intransigence risked triggering World War Three.
Trump’s pursuit of a quick deal defies intense diplomacy by the European allies and Ukraine to convince him that a ceasefire should come first and not — as sought by the Kremlin — once a settlement is agreed.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that European leaders had also been invited to Monday’s meeting between Trump and Zelensky, though it was unclear who would actually attend.
Trump briefed Zelensky on his talks with Putin during a call on Saturday that lasted more than an hour and a half, the Ukrainian leader said. They were joined after an hour by European and NATO officials, he added.
“The impression is he wants a fast deal at any price,” a source familiar with the conversation said.
The source said Trump told Zelensky that Putin had offered to freeze the front lines elsewhere as part of a deal, if Ukraine fully withdrew its troops from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, something Zelensky said was not possible.
Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff told the Ukrainian leader that Putin had said there could be no ceasefire before that happened, and that the Russian leader could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an agreement.
Kyiv has publicly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognized Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and says the industrial Donetsk region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Reuters by phone that Trump’s emphasis on a deal rather than a ceasefire carried great risks for Ukraine.
“In Putin’s view, a peace agreement means several dangerous things – Ukraine not joining NATO, his absurd demands for denazification and demilitarization, the Russian language and the Russian church,” he said.
Any such deal could be politically explosive inside Ukraine, Merezhko said, adding he was worried that Putin’s ostracism in the West had ended.
SECURITY GUARANTEES
Avoiding a repeat of the Oval Office row is critical for Zelensky to preserve relations with the US, which still provides military assistance and is the key source of intelligence on Russia’s military activity.
For Ukraine, robust guarantees to prevent any future Russian invasion are fundamental to any serious settlement.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Trump and the European leaders discussed potential security guarantees for Ukraine similar to the transatlantic NATO alliance’s mutual support pledge during their call. It says, in effect, that an attack on one is treated as an attack on all.
One of the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said European leaders were seeking details on what kind of US role was envisaged.
Zelensky has repeatedly said a trilateral meeting with the Russian and US leaders is crucial to finding a way to end the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.
Trump this week voiced the idea of such a meeting, saying it could happen if his talks in Alaska with Putin were successful.
“Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,” Zelensky wrote on social media on Saturday. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told the Russian state news agency TASS a three-way summit had not been discussed in Alaska.
No more ‘acting’: Taliban mark fourth year in power by dropping interim titles
- Taliban formed a caretaker administration following 2021 takeover
- Announcement indicates ‘no hope for major change’ in current form of government
KABUL: Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has ordered his ministers to remove the “acting” designation from their titles, a move experts say indicates the establishment of a permanent Afghan government.
Weeks after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group formed a caretaker government consisting almost entirely of senior figures and without female representation, which has remained in place ever since.
As Afghanistan marks the fourth anniversary on Friday since the Taliban takeover of the country, the group’s reclusive chief, who rules largely from Kandahar, told his officials to stop using “caretaker” in their roles.
“All ministers and the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate should not use the word caretaker in their titles,” Akhundzada said in a statement.
When the Taliban first announced a caretaker administration it was framed as a temporary set-up before the country established an official and inclusive government that included women and members of Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic groups.
Afghans were expecting a voting system to establish a permanent government that would include their voices, whether it was in the form of elections or a “loya jirga,” a grand assembly traditionally held to reach a consensus on important political issues.
“But now that the supreme leader (has) instructed that the current government is official, from a legal perspective the supreme leader’s decree constitutes a law for the Taliban government, replacing the constitution,” Abdul Saboor Mubariz, board member of the Center for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul, told Arab News.
“The political implication of this decision could be that there is no hope for major change in the present form of government.”
The initial announcement of a caretaker government, he added, was in the hope of gaining official recognition by the international community.
With the exception of Russia in July, no other nation has formally recognized Taliban rule since the group seized power in 2021.
“But now they (have) realized that no big progress has been made in that regard so they want to make the current government permanent,” Mubariz said.
Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, a political science professor at Salam University in Kabul, said the removal of “caretaker” in ministerial titles could mean higher authority for Taliban officials.
“(It’s) something positive. The ministries in Kabul need to have (a) free hand and more authority in their relevant tasks considering the expertise required for each sector,” he told Arab News.
The Taliban also used the term initially to mean that “the ministers were only temporary and that the actual authority was only with the supreme leader in Kandahar,” Nawidy added.
“It also has another message to the executive officials: that no one should be above obeying and all decrees of the leader must be implemented without any questions,” he said.
“The new announcement is an indication that the Islamic Emirate wants to show that the government is fully established.”
Body of Chinese climber killed during K2 summit descent retrieved by rescue team
- Guan Jing was hit by falling rocks while descending the mountain after a successful summit
- Her body has been flown to Skardu and will be sent to Islamabad after official coordination
GILGIT, Pakistan: A rescue team from Pakistan and Nepal has retrieved the body of a Chinese climber who was killed on K2, the world’s second-highest peak in northern Pakistan, a regional government spokesman said Saturday.
Faizullah Faraq, spokesman for the Gilgit-Baltistan government, said the body of Guan Jing was airlifted by an army helicopter from K2’s base camp after a team of mountaineers brought it down.
Jing died Tuesday after being struck by falling rocks during her descent, a day after she had reached the summit with a group of fellow climbers.
Faraq said her body was taken to a hospital in Skardu city and would be sent to Islamabad after coordination with her family and Chinese officials.
Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Pakistan Alpine Club, said the body was retrieved after days-long efforts, during which one of the rescuers was injured and airlifted by a helicopter.
K2, which rises 8,611 meters (28,251 feet) above sea level, is considered one of the world’s most difficult and dangerous peaks to climb.
Jing’s death comes more than two weeks after German mountaineer and Olympic gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier died while attempting another peak in the region.
Septuagenarian Indian activist marks Independence Day with fast for Gaza
- 77-year-old activist also went on a fast on Friday to express solidarity with Palestinians
- He draws parallels between India’s independence struggle, Gaza’s fight for liberation
New Delhi: With a stack of fliers about Gaza in hand, Prof. Vipin Kumar Tripathi carefully hands each paper to the visitors of Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, in Old Delhi.
For Tripathi, the independence hero’s resting place was the perfect spot to mark India’s Independence Day and simultaneously raise awareness about Gaza and the mass starvation Israel has imposed on the enclave’s 2.1 million people.
On Friday, the 77-year-old Indian activist went on a fast as a form of nonviolent protest and to express solidarity with Palestinians, hoping to spark similar compassion for Palestine among his countrymen.
“I want to raise conscience because it is an Independence Day of our country and independence is incomplete unless we awaken the feeling for independence of others, (especially) the most oppressed ones,” Tripathi told Arab News.
“I am creating consciousness and awareness on the major issues confronting the people of the world and extreme violence that is going on in Gaza: People are starving to death, they are being forced to starve.”
A former physics professor at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, Tripathi came from a family of freedom fighters and has been an activist since 1989.
After his retirement in 2013, he dedicated his life to social service, traveling to different parts of the country with a message of peace.
His campaigns often involved engaging people in conversations and handing out information sheets and brochures addressing some of the most pressing issues in India, including the troubles in Kashmir and the ordinary citizens’ rights to question their government.
For the past month, his activism has been focused on Gaza. He has handed out Hindi and English leaflets titled “Gaza Sufferings Must Awaken Us,” which draw similarities between the Indian and Palestinian struggle against British colonialism, while also urging Indians to speak up.
Starting his day at 9 a.m., Tripathi distributed the same fliers on Friday around Old Delhi and at the Gandhi memorial, which he sees as a “symbol of martyrdom for humanism.”
He said: “No human being is inferior or superior to each other. Every human being has a right to live with full dignity and freedom, and for this he sacrificed his life.
“I am sitting here today remembering the independence movement that India fought, to our martyrs, our freedom fighters and Indian masses who participated in their struggle, and I am also here fasting, remembering the (Palestinians) suffering extreme crisis of survival due to mass starvation and bombings continuously going on for the last 22 months.”
While India’s civil society and government opposition are increasingly speaking up against Israeli war crimes, New Delhi has largely remained quiet since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023. The campaign has killed more than 61,000 people and injured more than 154,000 others.
Tripathi is also calling on the Indian government to “change its position, change its stance on Gaza (and) on Israel.”
By the end of the day on Friday, Tripathi was removed from the Raj Ghat by the police, who said that the site was not a location for protests. It was a scene similar to other pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New Delhi, where protesters have been detained.
But Tripathi has said he will continue to campaign for Palestinians, as he merely wants the people of India “to open their eyes.”
He said: “India’s independence is not the independence of only the Indian people; the people who fought for India’s independence also cared for the freedom of others.
“I want the people of this country to remove prejudices from their heads and feel the agony of the suffering masses of Gaza because they are not different from us. They are part of the same colonial struggle against colonialism that we carried … so I want the people of our country to be caring for them.”
