Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blast off on a privately funded trip to the space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — India, Poland and Hungary launched their first astronauts in more than 40 years Wednesday, sending them on a private flight to the International Space Station.
The three countries shared the tab for the two-week mission. Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the deal, put the ticket price at more than $65 million per customer.
SpaceX's Falcon rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center two weeks late because of space station leak concerns. The capsule on top carried not only the three newcomers to space — none of whom were alive when their countries' first astronauts launched — but America's most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson.
Besides Whitson, the crew includes India's Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary's Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland's Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency's project astronauts sometimes pressed into temporary duty.
The astronauts are due to arrive at the orbiting lab the next morning.
In addition to dozens of experiments, the astronauts are flying food that celebrates their heritage: Indian curry and rice with mango nectar; spicy Hungarian paprika paste; and freeze-fried Polish pierogies.
Hungary's first astronaut, Bertalan Farkas, traveled to the launch site to cheer on Kapu.
Farkas launched with the Soviets in 1980, taking along a teddy bear in a cosmonaut suit that went back up with Kapu. India and Poland's original astronauts also launched with the Soviets in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Uznanski-Wisniewski carried up the Polish flag worn on his predecessor's spacesuit, noting that Miroslaw Hermaszewski was his biggest supporter until his death in 2022. India's first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, couldn't make it to Florida for the launch; Shukla said he's been a mentor 'at every step of this journey' and is flying a surprise gift for him.
While others born in India and Hungary have flown in space before — including NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died aboard the shuttle Columbia in 2003, and two-time space tourist Charles Simonyi, of Microsoft fame — they were U.S. citizens at the time of launch.
Shukla said before the flight that he hopes 'to ignite the curiosity of an entire generation in my country' and drive innovation. Like his crewmates, he plans several outreach events with those back home.
'I truly believe that even though I, as an individual, am traveling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people,' he said.
It was Axiom's fourth chartered flight to the space station since 2022 and Whitson's second time flying as an Axiom crew commander and chaperone. The trip caused her to miss her induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame late last month, since she was in quarantine before the flight. Whitson joined Axiom after retiring from NASA nearly a decade ago and has logged almost two years in orbit over her career.
Once opposed to nontraditional station guests, NASA now throws out the welcome mat, charging for their food and upkeep while insisting that an experienced astronaut accompany them.
It's all part of NASA's push to open space — moon included — to private businesses. Axiom is among several U.S. companies planning to launch their own space stations in the next few years. The goal is for them to be up and running before the international station comes down in 2031 after more than three decades of operation.
Access to space 'is not only for the biggest agencies anymore — space is for everyone,' Poland's Uznanski-Wisniewski said ahead of liftoff.
Hungarians want to 'sit at the same table with the giants,' said Kapu. Through this mission, 'Hungary gets one step closer to the stars.'
They should have flown earlier this year, but their mission was delayed following a switch in SpaceX capsules. The change enabled NASA's two stuck astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth in March sooner than planned.
The Axiom astronauts faced more launch delays once arriving in Florida. SpaceX had to fix an oxygen leak in its rocket, then NASA put the crew's visit on indefinite hold while monitoring repairs to longtime air leaks on the Russian side of the space station.
SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk's Falcon rockets launching from Florida and California are considerably smaller than the Starships making test flights out of Texas and, this year, exploding one after the other. Reliable frequent flyers, Falcons have been carrying crews to orbit since 2020.
NASA needs Starship for the moon, while Musk envisions it for Mars travel.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blast off on a privately funded trip to the space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — India, Poland and Hungary launched their first astronauts in more than 40 years Wednesday, sending them on a private flight to the International Space Station. The three countries shared the tab for the two-week mission. Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the deal, put the ticket price at more than $65 million per customer. SpaceX's Falcon rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center two weeks late because of space station leak concerns. The capsule on top carried not only the three newcomers to space — none of whom were alive when their countries' first astronauts launched — but America's most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson. Besides Whitson, the crew includes India's Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary's Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland's Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency's project astronauts sometimes pressed into temporary duty. The astronauts are due to arrive at the orbiting lab the next morning. In addition to dozens of experiments, the astronauts are flying food that celebrates their heritage: Indian curry and rice with mango nectar; spicy Hungarian paprika paste; and freeze-fried Polish pierogies. Hungary's first astronaut, Bertalan Farkas, traveled to the launch site to cheer on Kapu. Farkas launched with the Soviets in 1980, taking along a teddy bear in a cosmonaut suit that went back up with Kapu. India and Poland's original astronauts also launched with the Soviets in the late 1970s and 1980s. Uznanski-Wisniewski carried up the Polish flag worn on his predecessor's spacesuit, noting that Miroslaw Hermaszewski was his biggest supporter until his death in 2022. India's first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, couldn't make it to Florida for the launch; Shukla said he's been a mentor 'at every step of this journey' and is flying a surprise gift for him. While others born in India and Hungary have flown in space before — including NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died aboard the shuttle Columbia in 2003, and two-time space tourist Charles Simonyi, of Microsoft fame — they were U.S. citizens at the time of launch. Shukla said before the flight that he hopes 'to ignite the curiosity of an entire generation in my country' and drive innovation. Like his crewmates, he plans several outreach events with those back home. 'I truly believe that even though I, as an individual, am traveling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people,' he said. It was Axiom's fourth chartered flight to the space station since 2022 and Whitson's second time flying as an Axiom crew commander and chaperone. The trip caused her to miss her induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame late last month, since she was in quarantine before the flight. Whitson joined Axiom after retiring from NASA nearly a decade ago and has logged almost two years in orbit over her career. Once opposed to nontraditional station guests, NASA now throws out the welcome mat, charging for their food and upkeep while insisting that an experienced astronaut accompany them. It's all part of NASA's push to open space — moon included — to private businesses. Axiom is among several U.S. companies planning to launch their own space stations in the next few years. The goal is for them to be up and running before the international station comes down in 2031 after more than three decades of operation. Access to space 'is not only for the biggest agencies anymore — space is for everyone,' Poland's Uznanski-Wisniewski said ahead of liftoff. Hungarians want to 'sit at the same table with the giants,' said Kapu. Through this mission, 'Hungary gets one step closer to the stars.' They should have flown earlier this year, but their mission was delayed following a switch in SpaceX capsules. The change enabled NASA's two stuck astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth in March sooner than planned. The Axiom astronauts faced more launch delays once arriving in Florida. SpaceX had to fix an oxygen leak in its rocket, then NASA put the crew's visit on indefinite hold while monitoring repairs to longtime air leaks on the Russian side of the space station. SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk's Falcon rockets launching from Florida and California are considerably smaller than the Starships making test flights out of Texas and, this year, exploding one after the other. Reliable frequent flyers, Falcons have been carrying crews to orbit since 2020. NASA needs Starship for the moon, while Musk envisions it for Mars travel. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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10 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A Revolutionary War-era boat is being painstakingly rebuilt after centuries buried beneath Manhattan
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'The public can come and contemplate the mysteries around this ship,' said Michael Lucas, the museum's curator of historical archaeology. 'Because like anything from the past, we have pieces of information. We don't have the whole story.' From landfill to museum piece The rebuilding caps years of rescue and preservation work that began in July 2010 when a section of the boat was found 22 feet (7 meters) below street level. Curved timbers from the hull were discovered by a crew working on an underground parking facility at the World Trade Center site, near where the Twin Towers stood before the 9/11 attacks. The wood was muddy, but well preserved after centuries in the oxygen-poor earth. A previously constructed slurry wall went right through the boat, though timbers comprising about 30 feet (9 meters) of its rear and middle sections were carefully recovered. Part of the bow was recovered the next summer on the other side of the subterranean wall. The timbers were shipped more than 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) to Texas A&M's Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation. Each of the 600 pieces underwent a three-dimensional scan and spent years in preservative fluids before being placed in a giant freeze-dryer to remove moisture. Then they were wrapped in more than a mile of foam and shipped to the state museum in Albany. While the museum is 130 miles (209 kilometers) up the Hudson River from lower Manhattan, it boasts enough space to display the ship. The reconstruction work is being done in an exhibition space, so visitors can watch the weathered wooden skeleton slowly take the form of a partially reconstructed boat. Work is expected to finish around the end of the month, said Peter Fix, an associate research scientist at the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation who is overseeing the rebuilding. On a recent day, Lucas took time out to talk to passing museum visitors about the vessel and how it was found. Explaining the work taking place behind him, he told one group: 'Who would have thought in a million years, 'someday, this is going to be in a museum?'' A nautical mystery remains Researchers knew they found a boat under the streets of Manhattan. But what kind? Analysis of the timbers showed they came from trees cut down in the Philadelphia area in the early 1770s, pointing to the ship being built in a yard near the city. It was probably built hastily. The wood is knotty, and timbers were fastened with iron spikes. That allowed for faster construction, though the metal corrodes over time in seawater. Researchers now hypothesize the boat was built in Philadelphia in the summer of 1775, months after the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Thirteen gunboats were built that summer to protect Philadelphia from potential hostile forces coming up the Delaware River. The gunboats featured cannons pointing from their bows and could carry 30 or more men. 'They were really pushing, pushing, pushing to get these boats out there to stop any British that might start coming up the Delaware,' Fix said. Historical records indicate at least one of those 13 gunboats was later taken by the British. And there is some evidence that the boat now being restored was used by the British, including a pewter button with '52' inscribed on it. That likely came from the uniform of soldier with the British Army's 52nd Regiment of Foot, which was active in the war. It's also possible that the vessel headed south to the Caribbean, where the British redirected thousands of troops during the war. Its timbers show signs of damage from mollusks known as shipworms, which are native to warmer waters. Still, it's unclear how the boat ended up in Manhattan and why it apparently spent years partially in the water along shore. By the 1790s, it was out of commission and then covered over as part of a project to expand Manhattan farther out into the Hudson River. By that time, the mast and other parts of the Revolutionary War ship had apparently been stripped. 'It's an important piece of history,' Lucas said. 'It's also a nice artifact that you can really build a lot of stories around.'
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