Spacex: Musk's 'Mars Ship'

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 07 SpaceX: Musk’s ‘Mars ship’ ‘Like an animal’ prototype aces NASA astronauts describe noisy, jolting descent 150m test flight AFP | Houston paceX’s crewed capsule isn’t called Dragon for Snothing. The two NASA astronauts brought back to Earth on Sun- day said they felt they were in- side the belly of a beast as it careened into the atmosphere at 17,500 mph. “It came alive,” said mission commander Bob Behnkhen at a virtual press conference held Tuesday in Houston, Texas. Shortly after the test flight, which lasted just under a minute, SpaceX The thrusters were firing to founder Elon Musk tweeted: “Mars is looking real.” keep the capsule, called “En- deavour,” pointed precisely at its target site off the coast of Pensa- BBC cola, for the first water landing by a US spaceship since 1975. Bob Behnken (c) and crewmate Doug Hurley are best friends in real life and both are married to fellow astronauts prototype of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle “The atmosphere starts to A has successfully flown to an altitude of 150m (500ft). make noise, you can hear that The uncrewed test vehicle rose up on a plume of exhaust rumble outside the vehicle and you feel a little bit of that shim- pheric noise,” he added. power system and firing para- before deploying its landing legs and touching down softly. as the vehicle tries to control, my in your body,” continued the Not only was ride down deaf- chutes, it was also bone-jarring. The flight was carried out at SpaceX’s test site near the vil- 50-year-old. ening, but each time the vessel “Very much like getting hit lage of Boca Chica in south Texas on Tuesday evening. “It doesn’t sound like a ma- carried out descent sequences in the back of the chair with a It’s the first flight test in almost a year for the Raptor engine, chine, it sounds like an animal like jettisoning its “trunk” that baseball bat, you know, just a which will be used to power Starship. coming through the atmosphere contained crack,” said Behnken, describing The stainless steel test vehicle, called SN5, has been com- with all that all the puffs the the sensation. pared variously to a grain silo and water tank. that are happening Behnken and crewmate But it could pave the way for a spacecraft capable of carrying KNOW WHAT from the thrusters Doug Hurley, 53, are best humans to the Moon and Mars. and the atmos - friends in real life and Shortly after the test flight, which lasted just under a minute, both are married to fellow SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted: “Mars is looking real.” astronauts. SN5 took off from Boca Chica at 00:57 BST (18:57 local time) One person who will They were addressing for the brief flight. It uses a single Raptor engine, which is particularly benefit journalists, as tradition dictates, powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen. from Behnken’s two days after their return from The final Starship vehicle will feature six Raptors, standing knowledge: astronaut a six-month stay on the Interna- 50m (165ft) tall. It could carry 100 people on a single flight. Megan McArthur, who tional Space Station. But in order to overcome Earth’s gravity, it will need to be is slated to make the The success of the demon- launched by a massive rocket called Super Heavy, which will same voyage in the stration mission for SpaceX be equipped with 31 Raptor engines. Crew Dragon, the first crewed Another test vehicle called Starhopper undertook a few brief spring of 2021 on the US spaceship to achieve orbit flights in 2019, also flying to a height of 150m (500ft). same spacecraft, and since the Space Shuttle era, The Starship vehicle is one of three shortlisted candidates to is Behnken’s wife. means it will likely soon be cer- land humans on the Moon in the 2020s for Nasa. A Japanese tified for regular service. billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune in online The next mission is already fashion retail, has booked a trip around the Moon on Starship. planned for September. Elon Musk has long harboured plans to settle people on “The mission went just like Mars as part of his vision to make humans a “multi-planetary the simulators, from start to fin- species”. ish, all the way there was really no surprises,” said Hurley. Both men are veterans of the Third of Afghans estimated to have Space Shuttle program, which ended in 2011, and they had contracted virus: health ministry been training for five years with SpaceX. Splash down at 15 miles per hour in the Gulf of Mexico felt “pretty firm,” said Hurley, but that was expected. Nobel laureate John Hume laid to rest in N.Ireland AFP News Brandon Lewis. More than 18 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus ohn Hume, whose tireless Despite his family asking the since it first emerged in China late last year. Jefforts to bridge sectarian public to stay away from the divides in Northern Ireland won funeral over fears of coronavi- AFP News But the country of around 32 him the Nobel Peace Prize, was rus transmission, a few dozen million people has only limited buried in Londonderry Wednes- people gathered outside the ca- early a third of Afghan- testing capacity and has offi- day as tributes poured in from thedral. Nistan’s population -- or cially declared just 36,000 cas- global icons ranging from Pope Hundreds also lined nearby 10 million people -- has been es and more than 1,200 deaths. Francis and the Dalai Lama to streets applauding as Hume’s infected with the coronavirus, “A second wave of the infec- Bill Clinton and Irish rocker cortege made its way to a private according to health ministry tion is happening everywhere Bono. burial following the funeral. estimates published Wednes- in the world and we cannot be High-profile figures across The family had asked mourn- day. an exception. We will use the the world paid homage follow- ers to light a “candle for peace” The figure comes from a sur- findings of this survey to better ing Hume’s death on Monday at their homes -- a suggestion vey based on antibody tests on prepare ourselves for a possi- aged 83, lamenting the passing taken up by many people across around 9,500 people across the ble second wave,” Osmani said. of a political giant. Ireland, as well as in govern- country, with technical sup- Hume was a key architect ment buildings in London, Bel- port from the World Health of the 1998 Good Friday peace The wicker casket containing Hume’s remains was brought into St Eugene’s fast and Dublin. Organization, health minister agreement, which largely end- Cathedral in Londonderry on Tuesday evening Hume first became politi - Ahmad Jawad Osmani said at ed three decades of violence cally active in the movement a press briefing. in Northern Ireland that killed the loving mercy of Almighty “lived a truly meaningful life”. for Catholic equality in Lon- The survey estimated that 3,500 people. God,” Vatican Secretary of State Northern Ireland’s first min- donderry -- a city on the front 31.5 percent of the population “Mindful of the Chris - Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in ister and deputy first minister, line of the conflict between had contracted the virus, with 31pc tian faith that inspired John a statement on behalf of Pope Arlene Foster and Michelle nationalists who favour being the highest infection rate in of the Afghanistan Hume’s untiring efforts to Francis. O’Neill, attended the ceremony, part of Ireland and Protestant Kabul where more than half population had promote dialogue, reconcilia- The Dalai Lama said Hume’s along with Irish Prime Minis- unionists who want Northern of the city’s five million pop- contracted the virus tion and peace.... His Holiness “steady persistence set an exam- ter Micheal Martin and Brit- Ireland to remain in the United ulation were thought to have commends his noble soul to ple for all of us” and that he had ain’s Northern Ireland minister, Kingdom. been infected..

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