Science News Roundup: Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks at ISS to bring back stranded crew; NASA names solar physicist as agency's science chief and more
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks at ISS to bring back stranded crew
A Russian spacecraft on a mission to bring back to Earth a crew stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) has docked at the station, Russian space agency Roscosmos said early on Sunday. The Soyuz MS-23, which lifted off from Baikonour space centre in Kazakhstan on Friday, is to bring back Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, and U.S. astronaut Francisco Rubio in September.
NASA names solar physicist as agency's science chief
NASA announced on Monday it has picked a longtime solar scientist who heads its heliophysics division to become the U.S. space agency's science chief. Nicola Fox, former top scientist on the Parker Solar Probe mission studying the sun, was named as NASA's associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
Japan's ispace on track for late April touchdown attempt of private moon lander
Japanese space startup ispace's lunar lander reached its farthest distance from Earth and, despite minor technical hitches during the moonshot, is on track for a lunar landing attempt in late April, company executives said Monday. The privately built Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander, which launched from Florida in December, had encountered "several" mission hiccups during its trek toward the moon, but many of them were fixable during flight and none jeopardized the craft's anticipated landing in late April, ispace's chief executive, Takeshi Hakamada, told reporters.
Snakes, lizards and desserts meet in Malaysia's first reptile cafe
Malaysian reptile enthusiast Yap Ming Yang hopes visitors to his pet-friendly cafe will learn to appreciate snakes and lizards as much as they do furrier creatures such as dogs and cats. Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and corn snakes are among the species resting in glass tanks stacked around Yap's cafe on the outskirts of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, species he says are commonly bred in the country.
Technical glitch delays NASA-SpaceX launch of next space station crew
NASA and SpaceX postponed the launch of the next long-duration crew to the International Space Station early on Monday, minutes before the rocket was due to lift off, citing a problem with ground systems used to monitor the flow of an engine-ignition fluid. Members of the four-man crew - two U.S. astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates - have since exited the spacecraft and returned to their quarters to await word on when the next launch attempt will be made, the U.S. space agency said.
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