SpaceX delivers four astronauts to the International Space Station just 15 hours after launch
The four U.S., Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.
Moving in are NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russia's Oleg Platonov — each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions.
Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for NASA's two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose space station stay went from one week to more than nine months. Fincke and Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But with Starliner grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026, the two switched to SpaceX.
Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch lineup a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness.
Their arrival temporarily puts the space station population at 11.
While their taxi flight was speedy by U.S. standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station — a lightning-fast three hours.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Researchers figure out what's caused devastating sea star epidemic
A study published Monday offers clarity on a more than decade-long marine mystery: What has been killing the velvety sunflower sea star? In 2013, something began ravaging sea stars along the West Coast, turning them into decaying, fragmented carcasses. Over the next few years, the wasting disease (SSWD) killed billions of animals along the shore, transforming entire marine ecosystems. A network of researchers formed to focus on recovery. One species was hit especially hard: Pycnopodia helianthoides, more commonly known as the sunflower sea star. Scientists estimate the global population plummeted by 94% since 2013. California alone lost about 99% of its sunflower sea stars. For over a decade, nobody knew what was responsible. In their paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers have now identified the culprit behind the devastating epidemic — and with it, a path forward for restoration. 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