NASA

The Dragon cargo spacecraft departing the International Space Station to end its CRS-28 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-28 (Cargo Resupply Service 28) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly off the Florida Coast. The Dragon left the International Space Station about 22 hours earlier. For SpaceX, this was the 8th mission of the 2nd contract with NASA to transport supplies to the Station with the new version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft.

Shortly after the splashdown, SpaceX’s recovery ship went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA within a few hours. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on June 6, 2023.

The area surrounding Sagittarius A* (Image IXPE: NASA/MSFC/F. Marin et al; Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image Processing: L.Frattare, J.Major & K.Arcand)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports evidence that about 200 years ago, Sagittarius A*, or simply Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, had a period of intense activity during which it swallowed considerable amounts of gas and dust. A team of researchers led by Frédéric Marin of the Astronomical Observatory of Strasbourg, France, used in particular data collected by the IXPE space telescope to examine the polarization of X-ray light emitted by bright large molecular clouds close to Sgr A*. The conclusion is that their out-of-normal brightness must have been due to the fact that they are reflected emissions produced by some kind of powerful and short-lived flare of the supermassive black hole that occurred about 200 years ago.

The Dragon 2 cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station in its CRS-28 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first part of its CRS-28 mission. Astronaut Woody Hoburg monitored the operation assisted by his fellow astronaut Frank Rubio, but the cargo spacecraft, which blasted off when it was Monday morning in the USA, completed the maneuvers automatically without any problem.

The Dragon 2 spacecraft starts its CRS-28 mission blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in its CRS-28 (Cargo Resupply Service 28) mission, also referred to as SPX-28. After almost exactly 12 minutes it separated successfully from the rocket’s last stage and went en route. This is the 28th mission for the Dragon/Dragon 2 spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station with various cargoes and then return to Earth, again with various cargoes.

Skrinkle Haven on Mars (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)

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Images captured by the Mars Rover Perseverance in an area nicknamed Skrinkle Haven in Jezero Crater on Mars indicate the presence of a river that flowed into that crater in ancient times. The surprise is that the layers of sediments and pebbles that form what was called a curvilinear unit suggest that that river was deeper and more powerful than all other ancient Martian rivers identified so far. A hill nicknamed Pinestand about 450 meters from Skrinkle Haven may have been formed by a powerful river but scientists are assessing other explanations as well.