2 NASA astronauts to take spacewalk next week
Washington, May 8: Two NASA astronauts are set to go out for a spacewalk on May 16 to swap out thermal control gear that circulates ammonia to keep the International Space Station systems cool.
The excursion will be conducted by veteran spacewalkers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel, NASA said in a blog post on Monday.
The two astronauts will conduct a second spacewalk on June 14, it added.
Space Station officials will preview the upcoming spacewalks live on NASA TV on Tuesday.
On May 20, just four days after the first spacewalk, Orbital ATK is planning to launch its resupply flight on a four day trip to the orbital laboratory.
For the cargo mission, Orbital ATK will launch its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, NASA said.
Cygnus will resupply the Expedition 55 crew with new science experiments, crew supplies, station hardware and gear that will be installed on the June 14 spacewalk.
NASA also announced on Monday that it will host a media teleconference on May 10, to discuss select science investigations and technology demonstrations launching on the next Orbital ATK commercial resupply flight to space station.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
