SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday with four astronauts of the private Ax-3 mission aboard to begin a two-week stay on the orbiting laboratory.
Ax-3 launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday (Jan. 18), kicking off a roughly 36-hour orbital pursuit. That chase ended today (Jan. 20) at 5:42 a.m. EST (1042 GMT), when Freedom docked at the forward port on the station’s Harmony module as the two spacecraft sailed 262 miles above the South Pacific. Ax-3 is SpaceX’s third private human spaceflight for the company Axiom Space, which has flown nine people to the station since since 2022.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for human spaceflight with the third private mission, which is allowing many more countries to participate in the scientific research and technology development that we do onboard this orbiting laboratory.,” said Andreas Morgensen, commander of the station’s seven-person Expedition 70 crew who represents the European Space Agency. “We have doubled the number of nationalities onboard the space station going from four to eight, which I think is a great testament to the international collaboration which underpins this marvelous space station.”
The combined crew of the International Space Station includes seven Expedition 70 astronauts (in red and orange) and the Ax-3 crew (bottom row, from left): Michael Lopez-Alegria, Walter Villadei of Italy, Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey, Marcus Wandt of Sweden. (Image credit: NASA TV)
Ax-3 carries Axiom’s first all-European crew, including the first astronaut from the nation of Turkey, mission specialist Alper Gezeravcı. He is joined by Ax-3 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael “L.A.” López-Alegría (who has dual U.S. and Spanish citizenship), mission pilot and Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, and mission specialist Marcus Wandt of the European Space Agency, who hails from Sweden.
The four men are joining a truly international crew on the ISS, which includes Morgensen (of Denmark), NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara of the U.S., Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russian cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. The hatches between the ISS and the Freedom capsule opened at 7:13 a.m. EST (1213 GMT), allowing the Ax-3 quartet to float aboard the orbiting lab.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom capsule docks at the Harmony module on the International Space Station on Jan. 20, 2024 to deliver the four Ax-3 astronauts to the orbiting lab for Axiom Space. (Image credit: NASA TV)
“This is really a symbol of how axiom in conjunction with NASA and other partners is working to expand human access to low Earth orbit,” Lopez-Alegria said during a televised welcome ceremony on the ISS. “We’ve got, as Andy said, so many nationalities represented on board and this is really symbolic of what we’re trying to do to open it up not only to other nations, also to individuals to researchers to continue the great work that’s been going on onboard the ISS for the last two decades plus.”
Lopez-Alegria, a former ISS commander who flew on three NASA shuttle flights, presented his three Ax-3 crewmates with Universal Astronaut Pins to mark their spaceflight feat. While the flight is the first for Gezeravcı and Wandt, Villadei has flown on a suborbital flight aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity, though it is his first trip to orbit.
While aboard, Ax-3 crewmembers will live and work alongside the station’s current residents, performing experiments for a variety of research investigations. Much of the science included on Axiom’s first two crewed missions focused on human spaceflight and habitability in microgravity environments, and this latest mission continues that trend.
“I would like to thank for everybody for their great effort for us to be able to make it over here, in the last eight months training period as well as all the counterparts for their contribution for our safe travels,” Gezeravcı said. “To make it over to ISS, we are happy as Turkey to [take this] step for the first time in our history.”
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Ax-3 research includes robotics experiments with high-strength alloys, with implications for in-space construction and assemblies; an experiment from Turkey called Vokalkord, which uses artificial intelligence algorithms to diagnose several dozen diseases by analyzing a cough or someone’s speech; and many other investigations into physics, biology and microgravity.
The Ax-3 crew are scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbital laboratory, after which the astronauts and their SpaceX capsule will depart the ISS and come back to Earth with a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida.
“I want to thank all of you guys again for welcoming us aboard,” Lopez-Alegria told the ISS crew. “I know that it’s tough to have guests in your house and we promise not to spill any red wine on your white carpet.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Jan. 20 to include the successful docking and welcome ceremony of the four Ax-3 astronauts to the International Space Station.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
