Beyond academic rigour, Symbiosis fosters a vibrant student life replete with opportunities for personal growth and camaraderie, encompassing cultural events, sports, social initiatives, and service-learning projects
kt network1 hour ago
The astronauts who will depart the International Space Station (ISS) as early as this weekend will be stuck using diapers on the way home because of their capsule’s broken toilet.
Nasa astronaut Megan McArthur described the situation on Friday as “suboptimal” but manageable.
“Spaceflight is full of lots of little challenges,” she said during a news conference from orbit. “This is just one more that we’ll encounter and take care of in our mission. So, we’re not too worried about it.”
Mission managers could decide later whether to bring McArthur and her three crewmates back in their SpaceX capsule before launching their replacements. That launch already has been delayed more than a week by bad weather and an undisclosed medical issue involving one of the crew.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet told reporters that the past six months have been intense up there. The astronauts conducted a series of spacewalks to upgrade the station’s power grid, endured inadvertent thruster firings by docked Russian vehicles that sent the station into brief spins, and hosted a private Russian film crew — a space station first.
They also had to deal with the toilet leak, pulling up panels in their SpaceX capsule and discovering pools of urine. The problem was first noted during SpaceX’s private flight in September, when a tube came unglued and spilled urine beneath the floorboards. SpaceX fixed the toilet on the capsule awaiting liftoff, but deemed the one in orbit unusable.
Engineers determined that the capsule had not been structurally compromised by the urine and was safe for the ride back.
On the culinary side, the astronauts grew the first chile peppers in space — “a nice moral boost,” according to McArthur. They got to sample their harvest in the past week, adding pieces of the green and red peppers to tacos.
“They have a nice spiciness to them, a little bit of a lingering burn,” she said. “Some found that more troublesome than others.”
Also returning with McArthur and Pesquet: Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. SpaceX launched them to the space station on April 28.
One American and two Russians will remain on the space station following their departure. While it would be better if their replacements arrived first — in order to share tips on living in space — Kimbrough said the remaining Nasa astronaut will fill in the newcomers.
Beyond academic rigour, Symbiosis fosters a vibrant student life replete with opportunities for personal growth and camaraderie, encompassing cultural events, sports, social initiatives, and service-learning projects
kt network1 hour ago
More than 30,000 people received infected blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s from National Health Service, destroying lives, dreams and families
europe1 hour ago
UAE energy major buys equity stake in Texas LNG field
energy1 hour ago
Accelerated public and private investment and structural reforms 'could spur growth more than expected', said IMF
uae1 hour ago
This is the first-ever education technology company to be listed in the UAE
markets1 hour ago
At ISNR 2024, WWK9 highlighted several innovative solutions
business1 hour ago
The bulk of the swarms seen in the Emirates is made up of Wandering Gliders — the world's most widespread dragonfly that is found in open areas
uae1 hour ago
Bagheri is considered close to Iran's ultraconservatives and a member of the inner circle of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
mena1 hour ago