At 8.04 am IST on Monday, May 7, 2024, Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore will fly to space as the first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner.
'I feel confident that, if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we would get in (the Starliner spacecraft) and we could undock, talk to our team, and figure out the best way to come home'
Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter had to prove that big things could come in small packages.
The mission's findings will help researchers improve their forecasts of space weather events, which have the potential to damage satellites and harm astronauts on orbit, disrupt radio communications and, at their most severe, overwhelm power grids, NASA said.
Two weeks after India successfully launched its maiden Mars mission, America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration has launched a new spacecraft to orbit the red planet to probe how it lost its atmosphere and abundant liquid water.
Commercial flights may also help Boeing's bottom line on a rare, fixed-price, government-backed development program.
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