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NASA astronauts Suni & Butch return to Earth after 9 months

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Stuck in space no more, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday, hitching a different ride home to close out a saga that began with a bungled test flight more than nine months ago.

Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico in the early evening, just hours after departing the International Space Station. Splashdown occurred off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle, bringing their unplanned odyssey to an end.

Within an hour, the astronauts were out of their capsule, waving and smiling at the cameras while being hustled away in reclining stretchers for routine medical checks.

It all started with a flawed Boeing test flight last spring.

The two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.

Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They checked out with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

Wilmore and Williams ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) by the time of splashdown.

“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California.

“What a ride,” replied Hague, the capsule’s commander. “I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear.”

Dolphins circled the capsule as divers readied it for hoisting onto the recovery ship. Once safely on board, the side hatch was opened and the astronauts were helped out, one by one. Williams was next-to-last out, followed by Wilmore who gave two gloved thumbs-up.

Wilmore and Williams’ plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work” and turning “Butch and Suni” into household names. While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together. With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts.

Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away. Williams became the station’s commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month.

Their mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration. The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.

After splashdown, Musk offered his congratulations via X. NASA’s Joel Montalbano said the space agency was already looking at various options when Trump made his call to hurry the astronauts home.

Even in the middle of the political storm, Wilmore and Williams continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions from the start.

NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended, in order to have two competing U.S. companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until it’s abandoned in 2030 and steered to a fiery reentry. By then, it will have been up there more than three decades; the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.

“This has been nine months in the making, and I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s versatility, our team’s ability to adapt and really build for the future of human spaceflight,” NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said.

With Starliner still under engineering investigation, SpaceX will launch the next crew for NASA as soon as July. Stich said NASA will have until summer to decide whether the crew after that one will be flown by SpaceX or Boeing — or whether Boeing will have to prove itself by flying cargo before people again.

Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space — a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families.

Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college. Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her husband, mother and other relatives.

“We have not been worried about her because she has been in good spirits,” said Falguni Pandya, who is married to Williams’ cousin. “She was definitely ready to come home.”

Prayers for Williams and Wilmore were offered up at 21 Hindu temples in the U.S. in the months leading up to their return, said organizer Tejal Shah, president of World Hindu Council of America. Williams has spoken frequently about her Indian and Slovenian heritage. Prayers for their safe return also came from Wilmore’s Baptist church in Houston, where he serves as an elder.

Crowds in Jhulasan, the ancestral home of Williams’ father, danced and celebrated in a temple and performed rituals during the homecoming.

After returning in the gulf — Trump in January signed an executive order renaming the body of water Gulf of America — Wilmore and Williams will have to wait until they’re off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before reuniting with their loved ones. The three NASA astronauts will be checked out by flight surgeons as they adjust to gravity, officials said, and should be allowed to go home after a day or two.

Source: AP

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Harley Davidsons found in Bird Park hideout

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Some twenty illegally imported high-end, high-capacity motorcycles—including eight Harley-Davidsons—were recovered during a raid conducted by the Central Anti-Corruption Task Force at a warehouse inside Bird Park, Hambantota.

Police said investigations are continuing to determine who owned the bikes and why they were hidden in the warehouse.

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Navy nabs 4 suspects with smuggled spices, medicine & cosmetics

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During a search operation conducted in the beach vicinity of Devils Point, Kilinochchi on 11 July 25, the Navy took hold of a stock of spices, medicine and cosmetic products which have been made ready for distribution.

The operation also led to the apprehension of 04 suspects and 02 cabs.

The operation was mounted by SLNS Buwaneka in the North Central Naval Command in Loggannawadi, Devils Point.

After searching 02 suspicious cabs in the locality, naval personnel recovered 300kg of cardamom, 260kg of turmeric powder, 273kg of dried ginger as well as medicine and cosmetic products loaded in the vehicles.

And also, 04 suspects in connection to the incident were also taken into naval custody.

The suspects detained by the Navy in this operation have been identified as residents of Erakkandi, Kalmunaikudi, Trincomalee and Puttalam, aged between 39 and 49.

The suspects together with the vehicles and seized items were handed over to the Customs Preventive Office in Katunayake for onward legal action.

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China, Sri Lanka agree to speed up FTA negotiations

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday called upon his Sri Lankan counterpart Vijitha Herath to expedite the finalisation of the China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Minister Yi was speaking during a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the two sides vowed to deepen their strategic cooperative partnership and enhance practical cooperation.

A China-Sri Lanka FTA, which has been under discussion for some time, is likely to boost two-way trade and also address the imbalance in the trade figures.

Minister Yi also called on both sides to deepen high-quality Belt and Road (BRI) cooperation, jointly implement the two flagship projects – the Colombo Port City and the Hambantota Port, and create new growth points for cooperation in fields such as Green Energy, Digital Economy, modern agriculture and maritime (Blue) economy.

Talking specifically on cooperation in the maritime domain, Minister Yi said such cooperation is mutually beneficial, adding that it does not target any third party and should not be interfered with by any third party. 

The Chinese Foreign Minister said the so-called “Indo-Pacific Strategy” pursued by certain parties provokes confrontation and coerces all parties to take sides, which is not in line with the trend of the times and will not be supported by regional countries.

Wang said China is ready to work with Sri Lanka to push the development of the strategic cooperative partnership featuring mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship between the two countries. 

Minister Herath said Sri Lanka attaches great importance to its relations with China, and firmly adheres to the “One China” principle. 

Minister Herath said that bilateral cooperation has brought tangible benefits to Sri Lankans and promoted the development and connectivity of the region. 

Sri Lanka will enhance practical cooperation with China in areas including trade and investment, infrastructure and ocean, and further deepen the two countries’ strategic cooperative partnership in a number of sectors.

Source – sundayobserver.lk / Xinhua

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