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[[Environmental groups sue the United States government over SpaceX’s launch license. Plus, a pair of spacewalks outside the International Space Station, and a glimpse at the destruction that scientists say awaits our home planet. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.]]
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptThe Week in Space (TV)
HEADLINE: Conservation Groups Sue Federal Government to Ground SpaceX Operations
TEASER: Environmental groups cry foul after company’s test launch of massive Starship
PUBLISHED AT: 05/04/2023 at 2:40pm
BYLINE: Arash Arabasadi
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): REUTERS/ NASA TV/ AP/ SPACEX/ R. HURT / K. MILLER (CALTECH/IPAC)
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 2:49
NOTE: PART DO NOT OBSCURE LOGO
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: ))
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[[Environmental groups sue the United States government over SpaceX’s launch license. Plus, a pair of spacewalks outside the International Space Station, and a glimpse at the destruction that scientists say awaits our home planet. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.]]
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We begin this week with a pair of spacewalking duos outside the International Space Station.
The first features Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.
The engineers spent 7 hours outside the space station relocating a radiator to cool a multipurpose laboratory module and installing a new airlock.
The two are scheduled for another spacewalk next week.
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Earlier, and still outside the space station, it was NASA astronaut Steve Bowen and the United Arab Emirates' Sultan Alneyadi also spending 7 hours preparing for the installation of the station’s power generation system.
The two readied the space station for two new solar arrays set for delivery this year aboard SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply mission to the outpost.
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Speaking of SpaceX, the private spaceflight juggernaut had a pair of successful launches just weeks after the partially successful launch of its Starship. More on that in a minute.
But this SpaceX flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral launched two satellites for telecommunications company SES, which says its hardware will provide broadband connectivity all over the world.
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SpaceX also launched its Falcon Heavy rocket this week, which the company says is among the world’s most powerful. SpaceX says the rocket’s mission was to carry three satellites into orbit.
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Now then, back to SpaceX’s Starship. The company launched “the world’s most powerful rocket” to great fanfare before it exploded shortly after takeoff. Still, the SpaceX team claimed victory.
Environmentalists were not impressed.
Conservation groups on Monday sued the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, over its approval of expanded launch operations near a national wildlife refuge in South Texas.
The Starship launch hurled debris and shrapnel at least several hundred meters and torched nearly one-and-a-half hectares of nearby grounds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says
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it also sent a cloud of pulverized concrete drifting more than 10-kilometers.
Environmental groups call for a full environmental impact study, which the FAA has not yet done. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the launch’s impact amounted to a “human-made sandstorm” and said he was not aware of any “meaningful” damage to the environment.
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Finally, this week, scientists for the first time witnessed a dying sun-like star that swelled for eons before getting so big that it swallowed a nearby gas planet.
Scientists say the same thing will probably happen to planet Earth deep into the future when our sun morphs into a red giant… in about five billion years. Arash Arabasadi, VOA News.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Washington D.C.
Embargo DateMay 4, 2023 16:38 EDT
Byline
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
