4 astronauts return to Earth after being delayed by Boeing's capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton
Cape Canaveral (AP): Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing's capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.
A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week.
The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing's new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.
SpaceX launched the four — NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia's Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us ... and helped us to roll with all those punches.”
Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.
The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.
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28-year-old youngster killed on spot after speeding jeep crashes into tree in Hassan
Hassan: A 28-year-old youngster was killed on the spot and three others grievously injured when the jeep they were traveling in rammed into a roadside tree near Malligevalu in Shankaranahalli of the taluk on Monday.
The deceased youth, identified as Nischit, was the son of Chandra, a teacher from Kongalli village in Arakalgud taluk. The injured Keerthi and Radhika were taken immediately to the Hassan District Hospital.
The vehicle, identified as a Thar jeep, was found to be completely damaged due to the impact of the collision. The accident is suspected to have occurred due to the excessively high speed of the vehicle.
Gorur Police have visited the accident site and held an inspection. Further investigation is underway.
