Day: November 16, 2022

American space agency NASA on Wednesday launched the Artemis I moon mission from the modernized Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“#Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration,” NASA announced on Twitter.

It is the first time, that NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and NASA Orion, the safest spacecraft designed by NASA, fly together, it added.

The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II.

NASA said it is the first integrated test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will bring humanity to the Moon.

The mission will last 25 days in space and the Orion capsule will splashdown on Dec. 11.

The Artemis II mission, scheduled for 2024, will take four astronauts on an identical journey around the Moon and back.

Artemis III is scheduled to take two astronauts to the lunar surface in 2025 or later.

Planned launches for Artemis I were scrubbed in late August and early September due to technical problems.

Hurricane Ian also prevented launch attempts in late September and early October.

Artemis I will embark on a 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) journey around the Moon and back.

Orion will enter an elliptical orbit of the Moon that will see the spacecraft get to within 62 miles (99 kilometers) above its surface and about 40,000 miles (64,373 kilometers) beyond it.

The SLS is the largest rocket ever constructed, standing 322 feet (98 meters) tall with 8.8 million pounds (3.9 million kg) of thrust.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Top diplomats from Ukraine and the US on Wednesday discussed in a phone call the suspected missile strike in Poland which killed two people.

“Detailed call with (Secretary of State) Antony Blinken on Russian missile terror — its scale, aims, consequences. I stressed the response to what happened in Poland must be stiff and principled. Grateful for affirming the US will double down on recovering our energy system, together with G7 and the EU,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also confirmed the phone conversation with Kuleba, saying the US will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

Earlier, Blinken said he spoke with Kuleba and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau regarding the explosion in eastern Poland.

“We pledged to remain closely coordinated in the days ahead as the investigation proceeds and we determine appropriate next steps,” Blinken said in a tweet.

The suspected missiles struck a village in Poland, near its border with Ukraine, late on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately attacking Poland, a NATO member, with the latest strikes, hinting that Russian attacks could spread to the rest of Europe.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday it is unclear as to who launched the missile strike but “it was a rocket of Russian production.”

US President Joe Biden said that it was “unlikely” that the missiles were fired from Russia, but an investigation was ongoing. Biden also spoke with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and offered Washington’s support in an investigation into the reported explosion.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry denied that the country launched missile strikes on Poland.

Source: Anadolu Agency

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday expressed hope that Donald Trump will lose his bid to win back the US presidency, according to media reports.

The fact that Trump wants to run again is not particularly impressive, the chancellor told the TV channel n-tv on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Scholz called on American voters to again reject demagoguery in the 2024 presidential election.

The German leader also praised incumbent President Joe Biden, saying he is “very fit” and a “very smart, very experienced politician who deals with issues of world development” and “an important” promoter of transatlantic ties.

Asked whether Trump’s Tuesday announcement that he was running again played a role at the G-20 summit, Scholz replied, “Perhaps the best news is: not at all.”

It is normally unusual for world leaders to weigh in on foreign presidential races, even in early stages, but Berlin and most Germans breathed a sigh of relief when Biden defeated Trump in November 2022.

German-US relations hit an all-time low under Trump, who often targeted Germany and then-Chancellor Angela Merkel for particular ire.

Trump held Germany in particularly low regard, criticizing its trade surpluses – telling his first NATO summit that “the Germans are very, very bad” – and decrying its defense spending levels, even suggesting that Berlin owes “vast sums of money” to the Western military alliance and America.

Trump, known for his brusque, truculent attitude, aggressively spurned finding personal chemistry with Merkel (and most Western leaders), reportedly calling her “stupid.”

Source: Anadolu Agency