NASA is set to launch a SpaceX rocket from Florida on Wednesday, sending a replacement crew to the International Space Station (ISS) while preparing to bring home two U.S. astronauts stranded in space for nine months after Boeing’s Starliner faced technical issues.
NASA has advanced the timeline of the mission after U.S. President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk pushed for the early return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The two were originally scheduled to return in late March, but concerns over their prolonged stay led NASA to prioritize their retrieval.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying four astronauts—two from NASA, one from Japan, and one from Russia—is set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center at 7:48 p.m. ET (2348 GMT). Once the new crew arrives, Wilmore and Williams, along with two other ISS members, will return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule attached to the station since September.
Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June as part of a test mission on Boeing’s Starliner, which encountered propulsion system failures, making it unsafe for their return. NASA’s decision to abandon the Starliner capsule for this return highlights Boeing’s ongoing struggles with the $4.5 billion Starliner program, which has been delayed by technical issues and cost overruns.
The return flight is expected on Sunday or Monday, marking the end of an unintended extended mission for Wilmore and Williams. Meanwhile, NASA continues to evaluate Boeing’s readiness for future missions as SpaceX remains the primary transport provider for ISS crews.
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Following the U.S.-Israel strikes, Iran has called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to be held on Monday (2 March), and vowed strong retaliation to the attacks. Touraj Shiralilou sent this update from Tehran.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
Speaking during a closed-door deposition in New York on Thursday (February), former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she did not “recall” ever meeting the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and had “no knowledge of his crimes”.
Pakistan’s declaration of an “open war” with Afghanistan must be understood in the context of months of escalating violence, regional analysts have said, describing the latest developments as a significant shift in the nature of the conflict.
Follow the latest developments and global reaction after the US and Israel launched “major combat operations” in Iran, prompting retaliation from Tehran.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
Two people were killed and around 40 injured when a tram derailed in central Milan on Friday (27 February), a spokesperson for the local fire service said.
Iran’s top diplomat said that the next round of nuclear talks is expected in less than a week after what he described as “progress in the most serious exchanges” between Tehran and Washington. The statement follows the third round of nuclear talks on Thursday (26 February) in Geneva.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday thanked FIFA and its President, Gianni Infantino, for reaffirming that the country’s 2026 World Cup host venues will remain unchanged, following violence that erupted after the killing of a major cartel leader.
South Korea will soon cease to be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not function fully, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade-old policy and approved the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers.
New research suggests 40,000-year-old carved objects from south-western Germany bear repeated marks arranged in organised sign sequences similar to early proto-cuneiform, although they are not regarded as a form of writing.
The chief executive of Google DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, has called for more urgent research into the risks posed by artificial intelligence, warning that stronger safeguards are needed as systems become more advanced.
NASA successfully completed a critical fueling rehearsal on Thursday (19 February) for its giant moon rocket, Artemis II, after earlier hydrogen leaks disrupted preparations for the next crewed lunar mission. The launch is scheduled for 6 March, according to the latest information from NASA.
ByteDance will take steps to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property on its artificial intelligence (AI) video generator Seedance 2.0, the Chinese technology firm said on Monday.
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