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NASA, SpaceX Delay Flight that Was to Retrieve Stuck Astronauts

The NASA SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, that will carry the NASA's Crew-10, is docked after the launch was scrubbed at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, USA, 12 March 2025. EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH
The NASA SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, that will carry the NASA's Crew-10, is docked after the launch was scrubbed at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, USA, 12 March 2025. EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH
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NASA, SpaceX Delay Flight that Was to Retrieve Stuck Astronauts

The NASA SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, that will carry the NASA's Crew-10, is docked after the launch was scrubbed at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, USA, 12 March 2025. EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH
The NASA SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, that will carry the NASA's Crew-10, is docked after the launch was scrubbed at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, USA, 12 March 2025. EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH

NASA and SpaceX on Wednesday delayed the launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station that would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
NASA had been set to launch a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying a replacement crew for the International Space Station in a mission that would set up the return to Earth of Wilmore and Williams - stuck in space for nine months after a trip on Boeing's faulty Starliner.
The launch was called off due to a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket, Reuters quoted NASA as saying in a statement.
Launch teams are working to address the issue, it said in another statement.
NASA said it is now targeting a launch no earlier than 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT) Friday after mission managers put off a launch attempt on Thursday because of high winds and rain forecast in the flight path of Dragon.
With a Friday Crew-10 launch, the Crew-9 mission with astronauts Wilmore and Williams would depart the space station on Wednesday, March 19, it said.
The US space agency had moved up the mission by two weeks after President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, called for Wilmore and Williams to be brought back earlier than NASA had planned.
A planned eight-day stay on the orbiting station has dragged on for Wilmore and Williams, both veteran astronauts and US Navy test pilots. Starliner returned to Earth without them last year.
SpaceX's rocket had been scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 7:48 p.m. ET (2348 GMT) with a crew of two US astronauts and one astronaut each from Japan and Russia.
Wilmore and Williams have been working on research and maintenance with the space station's other astronauts and have remained safe, according to NASA. Williams told reporters in a March 4 call that she is looking forward to seeing her family and dogs upon returning home.
"It's been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us," Williams said of her family. "We're here, we have a mission - we're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun."
The flight, known as Crew-10, normally would be considered a routine astronaut rotation. Instead, it has become entangled in politics as Trump and Musk have sought - without offering evidence - to blame former President Joe Biden for the delayed return of Wilmore and Williams.
The demands by Trump and Musk for an earlier return were an unusual intervention in NASA's human spaceflight operations. The mission previously had a target date of March 26, but NASA swapped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a different one that would be ready sooner.
When the new crew arrives aboard the station, Wilmore, Williams and two others - NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov - can return to Earth in a capsule that has been attached to the station since September, as part of the prior Crew-9 mission.
Wilmore and Williams cannot leave until the new Crew-10 craft arrives so that the ISS staffed with enough US astronauts for maintenance, according to NASA.
Wilmore and Williams flew to the station in June as the first test crew of Boeing's Starliner, which suffered propulsion system issues in space. NASA deemed it too risky for the astronauts to fly home on the Boeing craft. This led to the current plan to bring them home in a SpaceX capsule.

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Kinshasa Urban Train Back on Track after Years to Beat Gridlock

Kinshasa's urban train is back in service after nearly 15 years. AFP
Kinshasa's urban train is back in service after nearly 15 years. AFP
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Kinshasa Urban Train Back on Track after Years to Beat Gridlock

Kinshasa's urban train is back in service after nearly 15 years. AFP
Kinshasa's urban train is back in service after nearly 15 years. AFP

At dawn, dozens of passengers crowded along dusty tracks to board the only urban rail link serving downtown Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo's congested capital.

Recently brought back into service after nearly 15 years out of operation, the sky-blue train sporting the national colors makes the daily round trip between the outskirts of the airport and the center of the megacity of nearly 17 million inhabitants, said AFP.

At Masina station, a suburb about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the city center, people have to elbow their way through to find a spot in the packed carriages.

Those who miss their stop -- which last barely a few moments -- have to jump on while the train is moving.

The basic one-way ticket costs 2,000 Congolese francs (around $0.87), rising to 4,000 francs in second class and 5,000 in first class.

Carriages are packed to bursting and the heat inside quickly becomes stifling due to a lack of air conditioning.

Those lucky enough to have a seat can see the busy avenues and vast shantytowns that have sprung up along the tracks in recent years as they go by.

Others end up missing the legendary yellow minibuses that clog the city streets.

"We're paying the same price, but here there's nowhere to sit," grumbled Clovis Musa, who lives in Masina and works at the central market, standing in a second-class carriage filled with noise and chatter.

Nevertheless, the Kinshasa rail service offers an escape for residents of outlying neighborhoods who are otherwise forced to spend several hours a day in monster traffic jams.

"I haven't taken a car in four years; I do all my trips back and forth by motorbike," Britey Mafuka, a trader who spends around $380 a month on transport, said.

"I was starting to look for a house near the city, but when they brought the train back, I dropped the whole idea," he added.

- Quick but 'expensive' -

Mass transit systems are considered vital for the future of African megacities, which are seeing rapid population growth and often chaotic urbanization.

Kinshasa, Lagos in Nigeria and Tanzania's Dar es Salaam are projected to be the most populous cities in the world by 2100.

Nigeria's biggest city inaugurated a long-awaited urban train in 2023.

The Senegalese capital, Dakar, did the same in 2021, and three years later, established a bus network on dedicated lanes to alleviate the congestion in the city center.

But in Kinshasa, which sits on the banks of the mighty Congo River, such infrastructure has remained at the planning stage.

The railway network, built in the aftermath of independence from Belgium in 1960, was gradually abandoned by the National Transport Office (ONATRA) due to a lack of funds to maintain the tracks.

President Felix Tshisekedi officially restarted the Kinshasa urban train service after nearly 15 years at the end of June.

Its resurrection is part of the MetroKin project, a 300-kilometer rail network supported by Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African organization that helps fund and develop infrastructure, the president's office said.

The revamped city link means it takes around an hour and 15 minutes to travel into the city center from the area around the airport.

By road "it's practically impossible", Chadrack Walele, the line manager, said.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers are transported per train, he said.

"If these passengers were now to go by road it would cost us an enormous amount of time and cause traffic jams," he said.

The train currently does one daily round trip but that will soon rise to two, he added.

On arrival at Kinshasa's central train station, thousands of passengers poured out onto the tracks -- with mixed opinions.

"We're glad they restarted the train because it's the fastest way to travel," Gabriel Mfutila said.

But "we are poor, we are trying to survive -- how are we going to feed our children and pay for transportation that's so expensive?" he said, on the platform before disappearing into the city's crowds.

Varieties

Push to Rename Nashville Airport for Dolly Parton Gets a Boost from Tennessee's Governor

FILE PHOTO: US singer Dolly Parton speaks at the launch of her Imagination Library book project in the Magna Center in Sheffield, northern England December 5, 2007. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US singer Dolly Parton speaks at the launch of her Imagination Library book project in the Magna Center in Sheffield, northern England December 5, 2007. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis//File Photo
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Push to Rename Nashville Airport for Dolly Parton Gets a Boost from Tennessee's Governor

FILE PHOTO: US singer Dolly Parton speaks at the launch of her Imagination Library book project in the Magna Center in Sheffield, northern England December 5, 2007. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US singer Dolly Parton speaks at the launch of her Imagination Library book project in the Magna Center in Sheffield, northern England December 5, 2007. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis//File Photo

A push by fans to rename Nashville's airport for Dolly Parton appears to be taking flight just days after the country music icon's death.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and the CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority both came out in favor of the name change Friday. It's expected to come up at the authority's meeting next month, The Associated Press said.

Long before 80-year-old Parton died Tuesday, fans in January 2025 started an online petition calling for officials to rename Nashville International Airport in her honor. It got renewed attention following Parton's death, jumping to more than 155,000 signatures Friday.

The change would make Parton the first woman whose name adorns one of America's 50 busiest airports.

The governor said he’s already discussed the idea with representatives for Parton.

“At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness,” Lee said in a statement.

Born in poverty in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton became an icon whose popularity crossed generational, geographic and political boundaries. In addition to writing and recording hit songs such as “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” she starred in Hollywood films including “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias.”

A number of American airports bear the names of beloved celebrities, from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. New Orleans' airport was renamed for jazz icon Louis Armstrong in 2001.

The vast majority of US airports named for a person honor men. Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, is one exception. Another is Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport in Atchison, Kansas.

Putting Parton's name on the Nashville airport could require its governing authority to revisit its policy for such honors, which states that airport properties should only be named for people who have been dead for at least two years.

The governor’s office said his proposal and the naming policy will be discussed by the airport authority at its meeting Sept. 17.

Varieties

Europe's Summer Drought Threatens Fish in Rivers, Lakes and Farms

A boat sits on dry ground as water levels have dropped on the Danube in Petrovaradin, Serbia, Tuesday, August 25, 2026. (AP Photo/ Darko Vojinovic)
A boat sits on dry ground as water levels have dropped on the Danube in Petrovaradin, Serbia, Tuesday, August 25, 2026. (AP Photo/ Darko Vojinovic)
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Europe's Summer Drought Threatens Fish in Rivers, Lakes and Farms

A boat sits on dry ground as water levels have dropped on the Danube in Petrovaradin, Serbia, Tuesday, August 25, 2026. (AP Photo/ Darko Vojinovic)
A boat sits on dry ground as water levels have dropped on the Danube in Petrovaradin, Serbia, Tuesday, August 25, 2026. (AP Photo/ Darko Vojinovic)

Small boats stand idle on cracked ground in a shriveled side channel of the Danube River in northern Serbia, where the water has receded into a couple of shrinking ponds under pressure from extreme drought and heat. Fish circle in the shallow waters.

“This is all we have, these two little ponds that are full of juvenile fish,” fisherman Dusan Jovanovic said. He said the fish are in danger because there is too little water and its temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

“If they start to die, they will all die at once,” Jovanovic said.

Persistent drought and scorching heat this summer have ravaged ecosystems and businesses across the region, from a lake in Slovenia and the side channel of the Danube in Serbia, to fish farms in Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary.

The fish industry has been hit especially hard, with damage estimated in the millions of euros (dollars). This is adding to the already high toll caused by problems with energy and water supplies, devastated crops, losses in river traffic and trade, The Associated Press said.

Finding themselves unprepared for this year's crisis, countries and businesses are now pondering ways to minimize the effects of future extreme weather events that scientists have tied to human-induced climate change.

Hungary's fish die as entire country faces extreme drought

Around 99% of Hungary’s lands are currently under severe or extreme drought conditions, according to the national meteorological service. Desertification, a process where vegetation recedes because of high heat and low rainfall, threatens much of the Great Hungarian Plain.

Among the most affected are Hungary’s roughly 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) of fish ponds. The country’s Agriculture and Food Economy Ministry said last week that “persistent heat and water shortages” had led to 1,588 hectares (3,924 acres) of those ponds drying out, causing the deaths of nearly 280 metric tons of fish at 20 farms.

The estimated revenue loss from the damage was 1.3 billion forints ($4.2 million), the ministry said. Producers say replacing lost fish could take years. Sometimes, operators were forced to drain one pond and divert its water to save fish in another, the Hungarian Aquaculture and Fisheries Inter-branch Organization said in early August.

Repeated drought over years hurts Romanian fish farmers

For fish farmers in Romania, especially those cultivating carp, this year’s blistering heatwave follows severe droughts in 2023 and 2024, the effects of which are still being felt, says Catalin Platon, president of ROMFISH National Association of Fish Producers.

In carp production, Platon said, the production cycle is three or four years.

“So what we lost in 2023 has (had an) impact every year since," he explained. Water-use policies that prioritized irrigation for agriculture during the previous droughts, “left us with no water for the fish,” Platon complained.

Czech fish farmers take emergency measures

Fish farmers across the Czech Republic have taken various emergency measures: reducing or suspending feeding to reduce oxygen use, aerating the ponds or draining them when necessary.

The Czech Fishing Association officials say sustained rainfall could ease the immediate crisis, but long-term measures are needed to retain more water in the landscape.

Jan Sokolik, a technician at the Rybarstvi Trebon fishery, explained that “some ponds that were actually low on water have already been fished, but they were all marginal ponds.”

“Now we’re just starting to plan what to do with the big ponds,” he said.

Bosnian trout breeders ‘looking to survive summer’

Veljko Budjen owns a trout farm near Trebinje in southeast Bosnia. He said hot and dry summers have brought serious problems in the mainly mountainous country famous for its trout restaurants.

“Trout is a cold water fish, which requires cold water with a lot of oxygen,” he said. “So during the summer you are forced to reduce trout production and feeding so the business can just barely survive.”

One option, he said, is to add liquid oxygen to the water during summer months. Otherwise, he said, “you wait for the first rain.”

Slovenians pump water into a lake in an attempt to save fish Emergency teams have been pumping water into Lake Pristava in eastern Slovenia, a favorite spot for fishermen, to try to prevent a mass suffocation of fish from lack of oxygen and water chestnut overgrowing to cover the lake surface.

Firefighters have pumped in 8 million liters (2 million gallons) of water but they still fear it's not enough.

"We are surprised that any fish has survived at all,” Danijel Fras, from the Pesnica Lenart Fishing Association, told public broadcaster RTV Slovenia.

In Serbia, fishermen said the only solution for the endangered fish in the Danube side channel in Novi Sad is to move them to another location.

“The temperatures this year are extreme,” Jovanovic, the Serbian fisherman, said. "No one can remember anything like this.”