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Chinese Astronauts Arrive at Space Station for Longest Mission

Chinese astronaut Tang Hongbo of the Shenzhou-12 mission works inside the core module Tianhe of the Chinese space station as his colleagues conduct extravehicular activities outside the space station, in this image released by China Manned Space Engineering Office August 20, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS
Chinese astronaut Tang Hongbo of the Shenzhou-12 mission works inside the core module Tianhe of the Chinese space station as his colleagues conduct extravehicular activities outside the space station, in this image released by China Manned Space Engineering Office August 20, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS
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Chinese Astronauts Arrive at Space Station for Longest Mission

Chinese astronaut Tang Hongbo of the Shenzhou-12 mission works inside the core module Tianhe of the Chinese space station as his colleagues conduct extravehicular activities outside the space station, in this image released by China Manned Space Engineering Office August 20, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS
Chinese astronaut Tang Hongbo of the Shenzhou-12 mission works inside the core module Tianhe of the Chinese space station as his colleagues conduct extravehicular activities outside the space station, in this image released by China Manned Space Engineering Office August 20, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS

Three astronauts successfully docked with China's new space station on Saturday on what is set to be Beijing's longest crewed mission to date and the latest landmark in its drive to become a major space power.

The three blasted off shortly after midnight (1600 GMT Friday) from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China's Gobi desert, the China Manned Space Agency said, with the team expected to spend six months at the Tiangong space station.

The space agency declared the launch a success and said the crew "were in good shape".

The Shenzhou-13 vessel carrying the three completed its docking with the radial port of the space station less than seven hours after the launch.

The mission, which is expected to last twice as long as a previous 90-day visit, will involve the crew setting up equipment and testing technology for future construction on the Tiangong station.

Mission commander Zhai Zhigang, 55, a former fighter pilot who performed the country's first spacewalk in 2008, said the team would undertake "more complex" spacewalks than during previous missions.

The crew include military pilot Wang Yaping, 41, who is the first woman to visit the space station after becoming China's second woman in space in 2013.

The other team member is People's Liberation Army pilot Ye Guangfu, 41.

Pictures released by the space agency showed the three astronauts waving to wellwishers who held up slogans of encouragement at a send-off ceremony before the launch.

A previous record-breaking crew -- making the first mission to Tiangong -- returned to Earth in September after spending three months on the space station.

China's heavily promoted space program has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the moon.

Tiangong, meaning "heavenly palace", is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

Its core module entered orbit earlier this year, with the station expected to be operational by 2022.

The completed station will be similar to the Soviet Mir station that orbited Earth from the 1980s until 2001.

The latest mission is set to "expand China's technological boundary" and verify the space station system's capacity for a longer duration of human occupation, Chen Lan, an independent space analyst at GoTaikonauts, told AFP.

"I don't think it is very challenging, as China's technologies (are) quite mature, though anything in space is always challenging," Chen said.

- Space race -
Saturday's blast-off came shortly after China launched its first solar exploration satellite into space, equipped with a telescope to observe changes in the Sun.

The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 missions to Tiangong through to the end of next year, including at least two more crewed launches that will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-tonne station.

China's space ambitions have been fueled in part by a US ban on its astronauts on the International Space Station, a collaboration among the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.

The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA has said it could potentially remain functional beyond 2028.

Chinese space authorities have said they are open to foreign collaboration on the space station, although the scope of that cooperation is as yet unclear.

The country has come a long way since launching its first satellite in 1970.

It put the first Chinese "taikonaut" in space in 2003 and landed the Chang'e-4 robot on the far side of the Moon in 2019 -- a historic first.

China in May became the second nation to land and operate a rover on Mars.

Astronauts on the Tiangong space station will have separate living spaces, exercise equipment and a communication center for emails and video calls with ground control.

State broadcaster CCTV said astronauts had also packed special food and supplies to celebrate the Lunar New Year during their long mission, including dumplings.

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'Breathtaking': Artemis Astronauts Blast towards Moon

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
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'Breathtaking': Artemis Astronauts Blast towards Moon

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

Four Artemis astronauts were zooming towards the Moon late Thursday after a major engine firing, a milestone that commits NASA to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.

With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway driving speed in less than three seconds, the Orion capsule engine blasted the astronauts on their trajectory towards the Moon, which they now will loop as part of the 10-day Artemis 2 mission, reported AFP.

In the moments that followed what the US space agency dubbed a "flawless" firing that lasted just under six minutes, astronaut Jeremy Hansen said that "humanity has once again shown what we are capable of."

The astronauts said they were "glued to the window" taking pictures, and later passed a floating microphone back and forth as they took questions from US television networks.

They said the spacecraft was a little chilly and they were still making it a home, but the crew was all smiles.

"There's nothing that prepares you for the breathtaking aspect of seeing your home planet both lit up bright as day, and also the Moon glow on it at night with the beautiful beam of the sunset," said Christina Koch.

Thursday's nudge came one day after the enormous orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the long-anticipated journey around the Moon.

The astronauts are now on a "free-return" trajectory, which uses the Moon's gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.

"From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the Moon, around the far side and back to Earth," NASA official Lori Glaze said.

The astronauts are wearing suits that also serve as "survival systems" -- in the unlikely case of a cabin depressurization or leak, they'll maintain oxygen, temperature controls and the correct pressure for up to six days.

The astronauts -- Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Koch along with Canadian Hansen -- spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems on the spacecraft that has never carried humans before, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.

Queried on the toilet situation, Koch said she was "proud to call myself the space plumber.

"I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board," she said. "So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine."

- 'Herculean' -

Crewmembers also had their first workouts of the mission on the spacecraft's "flywheel exercise device" -- each astronaut will carve out 30 minutes a day for fitness, a bid to minimize the muscle and bone loss that happens without gravity.

The 10-day mission is aimed at paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.

Artemis 2 marks a series of historic accomplishments: sending the first person of color, the first woman and the first non-American on a lunar mission.

If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts could also set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.

"There is nothing normal about this," said Wiseman. "Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realizing the gravity of that."

The Artemis 2 mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.

The current era of American lunar investment has frequently been portrayed as an effort to compete with China, which aims to land humans on the Moon by 2030.

Asked about division closer to home and what message they had for Americans, Glover said from his vantage point, "You look amazing. You look beautiful."

"From up here, you also look like one thing," he added. "We're all one people."

Varieties

Trump Ballroom Approved by Panel, Remains Stalled by Judge

Donald Trump has cited the need for the ballroom to host state dinners for visiting dignitaries. Mandel NGAN / AFP/File
Donald Trump has cited the need for the ballroom to host state dinners for visiting dignitaries. Mandel NGAN / AFP/File
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Trump Ballroom Approved by Panel, Remains Stalled by Judge

Donald Trump has cited the need for the ballroom to host state dinners for visiting dignitaries. Mandel NGAN / AFP/File
Donald Trump has cited the need for the ballroom to host state dinners for visiting dignitaries. Mandel NGAN / AFP/File

US President Donald Trump's White House ballroom won final planning approval on Thursday, but construction remains in limbo following a court order that he needs congressional approval.

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which has several Trump appointees on its board, greenlit the plans in an 8-1 vote, said AFP.

The project aims to construct a massive ballroom on the site of the White House's East Wing -- previously best known for housing the First Lady's offices. It was demolished in September.

Trump expressed his thanks in a post on his Truth social media platform, saying, "when completed, it will be the greatest and most beautiful ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world."

Planning approval does not, however, mean construction can go ahead unchecked.

On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered a halt to construction, saying Trump needed congressional approval. The president is "steward" of the White House, Judge Richard Leon wrote. "He is not, however, the owner!"

Will Scharf, the commission's chairman and a political ally of Trump, addressed the lawsuit before the vote, saying, "That order really does not impact our action here today.

"From my perspective, we have a project before us. We've been asked to review it, and that's really our job here today."

He noted that Judge Leon had placed a two-week delay on his stop-work order to allow the Trump administration to appeal.

The ballroom has become a passion project for Trump during his second term: the president often discusses the plan in public appearances, press conferences and meetings.

Trump has repeatedly said that a large ballroom is needed to host, among other key events, state dinners for visiting dignitaries.

"For more than 150 years, every president has dreamt about having a ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, state visits, and even, in the modern day, inaugurations," Trump wrote on Truth. "I am honored to be the first president to finally get this much-needed project, which is on time and under budget, underway."

He has promised to meet the costs -- estimated to be upwards of $400 million -- with private donations, not tax payer money.

Varieties

Waste Water to Clean Energy: Japanese Engineers Harness the Power of Osmosis

Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners have opened what is only the world's second osmotic power plant. Philip FONG / AFP
Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners have opened what is only the world's second osmotic power plant. Philip FONG / AFP
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Waste Water to Clean Energy: Japanese Engineers Harness the Power of Osmosis

Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners have opened what is only the world's second osmotic power plant. Philip FONG / AFP
Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners have opened what is only the world's second osmotic power plant. Philip FONG / AFP

A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source.

The possibility of generating power from osmosis -- when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one -- has long been known.

But actually, generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass, said AFP.

Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world's second osmotic power plant.

It generates power from the transfer of molecules between treated sewage water and concentrated seawater, a waste product from a desalination plant in the city.

"If osmotic power generation technology advances to the point where it can be practically used with ordinary seawater... this, in turn, would represent a major contribution to efforts against global warming," said Kenji Hirokawa, manager at Sea Water Desalination Plant.

Osmosis is familiar to most people. It is the process that, for example, causes water to seep out of a cucumber or eggplant when sprinkled with salt.

Water molecules move across membranes from an area of low solution concentration to an area of higher concentrated solution.

At scale, that movement can be significant enough to turn a turbine and thereby generate electricity.

Desalination solution

Fukuoka is particularly well-placed to benefit from the technology because it has a readily available source of extremely salty water -- the brine leftover from desalination.

With no major rivers to sufficiently source its water, the city and wider Fukuoka region of 2.6 million people have relied on a major desalination plant to produce drinking water since 2005.

That left the city with large quantities of concentrated saline wastewater to deal with.

Ordinarily it is diluted and released back to the sea. Previous attempts to find alternatives, including salt making, failed to gain traction.

Then engineering firm Kyowakiden Industry approached the city about harnessing the salty wastewater for osmotic power.

"When our company rolls this out as a business, we aim to build plants roughly five to 10 times the scale of this current facility," said Tetsuro Ueyama, research and development manager at the Nagasaki-based company.

In Fukuoka's system, a generator is attached to a local desalination plant located near a sewage treatment facility.

It draws in highly saline wastewater from the desalination plant and receives treated sewage.

The two separate streams of liquid go through a number of chambers separated by semi-permeable membranes through which water molecules travel from the treated sewage toward the salty water.

That process increases the volume, pressure and speed of the saline water flow, spinning a turbine that generates electricity before the now-diluted mixture is discharged to sea.

The 700-million-yen ($4.4 million) power generation system came online last August, and once running at full capacity, it should generate up to 880,000 kilowatts annually, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 300 households.

However, it will remain devoted to supplying the power-thirsty facility, although it covers just a tiny fraction of its energy needs.

Not 'a pipe dream'

The engineers involved, however, are dreaming big.

The system will go through a five-year test to monitor its performance, including costs and maintenance, particularly for the membrane and other parts exposed to salt.

Financial details of the project have not been disclosed, but engineers admitted that for now the system's power costs "a lot more" than either fossil fuel or renewable energy.

Pumping the water into the system also uses energy itself, and scaling up osmotic power for grid-level energy production has not yet been done anywhere in the world.

Still, officials and experts believe the power source has a future, noting that unlike solar and wind, it is not dependent on weather or light.

And the current high costs are partly because the company had to build a one-of-a-kind power plant, Ueyama said.

Osmotic power has often been seen as primarily useful for estuary areas, where freshwater river flows meet the salty ocean.

But Ueyama said the technique being used in Japan could be useful for countries with large desalination facilities like Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations.

Kyowakiden is also working on technology that could generate similar power levels from less salty regular seawater.

"First we want to popularize this technology from Fukuoka to the rest of Japan. In order for us to do that, we want to further upgrade our technology to create osmotic power generation that can use ordinary ocean water to generate electricity," he said.

"We don't think this is a pipe dream."