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SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, including the first person from the Arab world going up for an extended monthslong stay. The Falcon rocket bolted from Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, illuminating the night sky as it headed up the East Coast.. Nearly 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates watched from the launch site as astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi only the second Emirati to fly to space blasted off on his six-month mission. Half a world away in Dubai and elsewhere across the UAE, schools and offices planned to broadcast the launch live. Also riding the Dragon capsule that's due at the space station on Friday: NASA's Stephen Bowen, a retired Navy submariner who logged three space shuttle flights, and Warren Woody Hoburg, a former research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and space newbie, and Andrei Fedyaev, a space rookie who's retired from the Russian Air Force. The first attempt to launc
Last-minute technical trouble forced SpaceX to call off Monday's attempt to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. The countdown was halted with just two minutes remaining until lift-off from Kennedy Space Centre. With just a split second to blast off, there was no time to deal with the problem, which involved the engine ignition system. SpaceX did not immediately say when it would try again. The next attempt could come as early as Tuesday, although poor weather was forecast. Strapped into the capsule atop the Falcon rocket were two NASA astronauts, one Russian cosmonaut and one astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. When informed by SpaceX that the fuel would start to be drained from the rocket, commander Stephen Bowen replied: We'll be sitting here waiting. It was expected to take nearly an hour. Bowen and his crew including the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates assigned to a months long mission, Sultan al-Neyadi will replace another
SpaceX is a big step closer to sending its giant Starship spacecraft into orbit, completing an engine-firing test at the launch pad on Thursday. Thirty-one of the 33 first-stage booster engines ignited simultaneously for about 10 seconds in south Texas. The team turned off one engine before sending the firing command and another engine shut down but still enough engines to reach orbit! tweeted SpaceX's Elon Musk. Musk estimates Starship's first orbital test flight could occur as soon as March, if the test analyses and remaining preparations go well. The booster remained anchored to the pad as planned during the test. There were no signs of major damage to the launch tower. NASA is counting on Starship to ferry astronauts to the surface of the moon in a few years, linking up with its Orion capsule in lunar orbit. Further down the road, Musk wants to use the mammoth Starships to send crowds to Mars. Only the first-stage Super Heavy booster, standing 230 feet (69 metres) tall, was u