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SpaceX’s Starship breaks up mid-flight, forcing airlines to avoid debris
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft has broken up mid-flight, forcing airlines to divert flights to avoid falling debris.
While Elon Musk’s company successfully recreated its prior feat of catching a first-stage booster as it returned to Earth on Thursday, its new-generation uncrewed spacecraft was lost.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “briefly” slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling, the aviation regulator said.
“Normal operations have resumed,” a spokesperson said.
At least 20 flights changed their routes to avoid potential debris, according to data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24, as footage on social media appeared to show parts of the vehicle reentering the atmosphere over the Caribbean.
Musk said that the breakup of the spacecraft appeared to have been caused by an oxygen or fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.
“Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. “Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
Musk earlier acknowledged the mission failure, posting footage of falling debris. “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” he said.
SpaceX ground control lost contact with the prototype vehicle about eight and a half minutes after it took off from its launch site near Brownsville, Texas, in the United States.
The vehicle, which was in its inaugural flight, carried 10 dummy satellites and was supposed to complete a partial loop around the planet.
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” the company said in a post on X. “Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
The mission was the seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, which Musk envisages will one day ferry people and cargo to Mars.
Earlier on Thursday, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time, marking a milestone in the race to commercial space travel.
In a series of X posts after the Blue Origin launch, Musk compared his relationship with his space industry rival to the dynamic between Will Ferrell and John C Reilly’s characters in the 2008 comedy, Step Brothers.
[Aljazeera]
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison over a corruption case, in the latest of a series of charges laid against him.
It is the longest valid prison sentence the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023, has received.
He has faced charges in over 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts – all of which he decried as politically motivated.
The latest case has been described by Pakistani authorities as the largest the country has seen – though the country has seen huge financial scandals in the past, some of which involved former leaders.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were accused of receiving a parcel of land as a bribe from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust, which the couple had set up while he was in office.
In exchange, investigators said, Khan used £190m ($232m) repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency to pay the tycoon’s court fines.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party argued that the land was donated to the trust for a spiritual education centre and was not used for Khan’s personal gain.
In a post on X, PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said that the former prime minister “has done no wrong” and that this was a “politically motivated unfair trial”.
“But [Imran Khan] will not give in, he will not give up, he will not break,” he wrote.
Friday’s verdict comes after multiple delays as Khan’s party held talks with the government.
After his conviction on Friday, Khan told reporters in the courtroom that he would “neither make any deal nor seek any relief.”
Khan’s prison sentence of 14 years is the maximum that could be given in the case. He has also been fined more than £4,000.
His wife has been sentenced to seven years and fined more than £2,000. Bibi, who has been out on bail since last October, was taken into custody in court after her sentence was announced.
In 2023, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison for not declaring money earned from selling gifts he had received while in office.
Last year, Khan received a 14-year jail sentence over the selling of state gifts, and another 10 years for leaking state secrets. Both those sentences were suspended months later.
Despite being in jail and barred from holding public office, Khan still looms large over Pakistan’s political scene. Last year’s election saw candidates backed by Imran Khan winning the most number of seats out of all the parties.
Khan’s prosecution has triggered large-scale protests by his supporters – which have been met with a crackdown from authorities. Thousands of protesters have been arrested and many injured in clashes with the police.
[BBC]
The Ashes are within touching distance for Australia after Ashleigh Gardner’s maiden international century turned a stuttering innings into a comprehensive 86-run victory in Hobart to leave them 6-0 up and requiring just two points for retention.
Gardner’s run-a-ball century rescued Australia from 59 for 4 in conjunction with Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath, the latter made a 38-ball fifty, then they were launched over 300 by a late onslaught from the recalled Georgia Wareham.
In the chase, Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt made half-centuries but both fell to Wareham in what became a starring return to the side. Then just as Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones were raising hopes of a dramatic push towards the target, Phoebe Litchfield produced a stunning diving catch running back from cover to remove Wyatt-Hodge.
After that, England faded quickly, losing 6 for 22 with Alana King taking a career-best 5 for 46 to make it nine wickets in the last two matches, and once again there was daylight between the sides. To cap her day, Gardner took one of the more remarkable boundary catches when she was able to toss the ball back at deep midwicket as she went over the rope, then dive full-length forward to grab the rebound.
It all meant that England were left needing to win all three T20Is and the Test to reclaim the Ashes for the first time since 2014.
To chase over 300, they needed someone to replicate Gardner’s superbly-paced century that had come up from 100 balls after she had sped through the 90s with consecutive boundaries off Sciver-Brunt. It was only the second ODI century ever to come from No. 6 or below.
McGrath’s role was also vital with Australia’s innings still in the balance at 154 for 5 when she joined Gardner. Her form has come under scrutiny in recent times, as she has shifted down the order to No. 7, so this was a timely performance from the vice-captain.
In all, 104 runs came off the final 10 overs in a formidable display of Australia’s batting depth. Sophie Ecclestone, who went for 17 off the last, finished with the second-most expensive figures of her ODI career with the top three all against Australia.
In a frenetic start to the game, England called on the DRS three times inside the first four overs, burning both reviews but getting the call right when Litchfield gloved a pull down the leg side after she had made a positive start with three crisp boundaries.
Shortly after they used up their reviews by going upstairs for a caught behind appeal against Ellyse Perry, she flicked a delivery off her pads straight to Lauren Filer at short fine leg with Lauren Bell’s muted celebration acknowledging it was more fortune than a plan.
Alyssa Healy had not been able to go through the gears during the powerplay and fell shortly before the restrictions ended when she pulled Sciver-Brunt to deep midwicket. Australia’s situation became more precarious when Annabel Sutherland completed a lean one-day series as she drove to mid-off, a similar dismissal to the second game in Melbourne.
The mantra of the Australian side is never to take a backward step even when faced with difficulties, and Gardner responded by lofting Ecclestone straight down the ground for six. Mooney then took two boundaries in three deliveries off Charlie Dean.
Gardner brought up her half-century from 53 balls and Mooney from 63. However, Mooney couldn’t convert when she tried to clear the off side against Dean and could only sky into the ring. But what was an opening for England was soon closed off by the skill and power of the Gardner-McGrath alliance in what were the best batting conditions of the series.
Megan Schutt struck in the first over of the chase when Maia Bouchier lofted to mid-off and England’s reply took a huge dent when Heather Knight edged behind with Healy taking a sharp chance standing up to the stumps.
Beaumont and Sciver-Brunt rebuilt through a stand of 89 in 18 overs but with such a hefty total to chase the run-rate pressure was always mounting. Beaumont upped her strike rate with three boundaries in six balls to reach fifty but was bowled off her pads in Wareham’s first over in ODIs since last March.
Not for the first time, Sciver-Brunt stood as the key figure. She went to a 53-ball fifty but couldn’t convert, beaten by a delivery from Wareham that skidded on into the stumps.
While the required rate hovered around eight an over it was not out of sight for England and four boundaries in four balls between Wyatt-Hodge and Jones suggested they, like Australia, may be able to make hay in the closing overs.
But then Wyatt-Hodge aimed to lift King over the off side, Litchfield ran back from cover, dived full length and held the catch as it came over her shoulder. Once again, Australia had seized a vital moment and with it were a step closer to seizing the Ashes.
Brief scores:
Australia Women 308 for 8 in 50 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 102, Tahlia McGrath 55, Beth Mooney 50, Georgia Wareham 38; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-51, Charlie Dean 2-53, Lauren Bell 2-72) beat England Women 222 in 42.2 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 61, Tammy Beaumont 54, Danni WyattHodge 35, Amy Jones 30; Alana King 5-46, Megan Schutt 3-57, Georgia Wareham 2-27) by 86 runs
[Cricinfo]
Kithma takes all ten wickets in T. B. Jayah trophy encounter
Imran Khan jailed for 14 years in corruption case
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