ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021 SCIENCE 11

China names Mars rover for traditional fire god Old SpaceX capsule delivers new crew to space station CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 24, McArthur fl ew to the space station crew fl ight for NASA will follow in (AP): A recycled SpaceX capsule car- in the same seat and the same capsule October. rying four arrived at the In- - named Endeavour - as her husband, For Friday’s automated fl ight, ternational Space Station on Saturday, , did on SpaceX’s debut SpaceX replaced some valves and the third high-fl ying taxi ride in less crew mission. thermal shielding, and installed new than a year for Elon Musk’s company. For the next four days, the space parachutes on the capsule, named En- The Dragon capsule docked autono- station will be home to 11 astronauts, deavour after NASA’s retired space mously with the orbiting outpost more just shy of the record of 13 set during shuttle. Otherwise, the spacecraft is the than 260 miles (420 kilometers) above NASA’s space shuttle era. The cur- same vehicle that fl ew before. the Indian Ocean, a day after launching rent population includes six Ameri- Also: from NASA’s . cans, two Russians, two Japanese and The new arrivals - representing the one French. It will shrink by four on BEIJING: China’s fi rst Mars rover will US, France and Japan - will spend six Wednesday when three Americans and be named Zhurong after a traditional months at the space station. They’ll re- one Japanese depart for home and a fi re god, the government announced place four astronauts who will return splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Saturday. The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 to Earth in their own Dragon capsule Recycled Wednesday. probe that arrived in Mars orbit on It was the fi rst time two SpaceX Flying in a recycled capsule Friday Feb. 24 and is due to land in May to crew Dragons were parked there at the provided a bit of deja vu for NASA look for evidence of life. same time - practically side by side. Megan McArthur. She It is part of Chinese space plans that “We are so excited to have you launched in the same seat in the same include launching a crewed orbital sta- aboard,” radioed the space station’s capsule as her husband, Bob Behnk- tion and landing a human on the moon. commander, . en, did during SpaceX’s fi rst crew China in 2019 became the fi rst country Although this was SpaceX’s third fl ight. This time, it was Behnken and to land a space probe on the little-ex- crew fl ight for NASA, it was the fi rst to their 7-year-old son waving goodbye. plored far side of the moon and in De- use a vehicle that’s fl own before, an es- McArthur blew kisses and offered vir- cember returned lunar rocks to Earth sential part of Musk’s push to the moon tual hugs. for the fi rst time since the 1970s. and Mars. The Dragon capsule was used Also fl ying SpaceX on Friday: Ja- This image made from NASA TV shows the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with the Earth behind, approaching The rover’s title fi ts with the Chi- for SpaceX’s fi rst crew launch last May, pan’s Akihiko Hoshide and France’s the International Space Station, Saturday, April 24. The recycled SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts has ar- nese name for Mars - “Huo Xing,” or while the Falcon rocket soaring Friday , the fi rst European to rived at the International Space Station, a day after launching from . (AP) fi re star, the China National Space Ad- hoisted crew two in November. launch in a commercial crew capsule. ministration said. NASA astronauts It was a stunning scene: The launch some other things that can happen that winged Teslas from his electric car Musk, who started his space company The name “signifi es igniting the and Megan McArthur - the commander plume glowed against the dark sky, have been in our backyard practically.” company. The astronauts’ spouses and in 2002. fl ame of China’s planetary explora- and pilot of the returning Dragon - moni- refl ecting the sunlight at high altitude. Hours after liftoff, SpaceX was noti- children huddled around the cars for NASA limited the number of launch tion,” a deputy CNSA administrator, tored their capsule’s fl at screen com- Despite the early hour, spectators fi ed of a piece of space junk that might one last “love you” before the caravan guests because of COVID-19, but pas- Wu Yanhua, was cited by the offi cial puters as the space station loomed ever lined surrounding roads to watch the come dangerously close to the capsule. pulled away and headed to the pad in sengers for SpaceX’s fi rst privately Xinhua News Agency as saying. larger. They could have taken control if Falcon take fl ight an hour before - So fl ight controllers ordered the as- the predawn darkness. purchased fl ight made the cut. Tech The top candidate for the landing necessary, but the autonomous system rise. Liftoff was delayed a day to take tronauts to put on their spacesuits and “From now on, I’ll see you on a billionaire Jared Isaacman, who’s site is Utopia Planitia, a rock-strewn did its job, much like a self-driving car. advantage of better weather along the lower their visors just in case. There screen!” tweeted Pesquet’s partner, bought a three-day fl ight, watched the plain where the US lander Viking 2 Also checking into the space station: East Coast in case of a launch abort was no danger, and the unidentifi ed Anne Mottet. Falcon soar with the three people who touched down in 1976. France’s Thomas Pesquet and Japan’s and emergency splashdown. debris turned out to be farther than ini- Visibly weary, Musk later said he will accompany him. Their capsule is CNSA says Tianwen-1’s goals in- Akihiko Hoshide. Both have lived “You’re seeing a piece of history tially thought. doesn’t sleep the night before a crew still at the space station and due back cluding analyzing and mapping the there before, as has Kimbrough. It was happening here,” said Lance Bryan, A masked Musk met briefl y with the launch and this one was no exception. on Earth with four astronauts next Martian surface and geology, looking the fi rst station visit for McArthur. visiting from Burnsville, Minnesota. astronauts at NASA’s Kennedy Space “It gets a little bit easier, but still Wednesday. It will be refurbished in for water ice and studying the climate “It’s, in this case, good history versus Center before they boarded white gull- pretty intense, I have to say,” said time for a September liftoff. Another and surface environment.