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Tag: Aerospace and defense industry

  • Astronaut who was stuck on space station for months retires within year of returning

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Suni Williams — one of two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station — has retired.

    The space agency announced the news Tuesday, saying her retirement took effect at the end of December.

    Williams’ crewmate on Boeing’s ill-fated capsule test flight, Butch Wilmore, left NASA last summer.

    The pair launched to the space station in 2024, the first people to fly Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. Their mission should have lasted just a week, but stretched to more than nine months because of Starliner trouble. In the end, they caught a ride home last March with SpaceX.

    Boeing’s next Starliner mission will carry cargo — not people — to the space station. NASA wants to make sure all of the capsule’s thruster and other issues are solved before putting anyone on board. The trial run will take place later this year.

    Williams, 60, a former Navy captain, spent more than 27 years at NASA, logging 608 days in space over three station missions. She also set a record for the most spacewalking time by a woman: 62 hours during nine excursions.

    NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman called her “a trailblazer in human spaceflight.”

    “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement,” he added in a statement.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA’s new moon rocket heads to pad ahead of astronaut launch as early as February

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s giant new moon rocket headed to the launch pad Saturday in preparation for astronauts’ first lunar fly-around in more than half a century.

    The out-and-back trip could blast off as early as February.

    The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket began its 1 mph (1.6 kph) creep from Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building at daybreak. The four-mile (six-kilometer) trek could take until nightfall.

    Thousands of space center workers and their families gathered in the predawn chill to witness the long-awaited event, delayed for years. They huddled together ahead of the Space Launch System rocket’s exit from the building, built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V rockets that sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program. The cheering crowd was led by NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman and all four astronauts assigned to the mission.

    “What a great day to be here,” said Reid Wiseman, the crew commander. “It is awe-inspiring.”

    Weighing in at 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms), the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule on top made the move aboard a massive transporter that was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras. It was upgraded for the SLS rocket’s extra heft.

    The first and only other SLS launch — which sent an empty Orion capsule into orbit around the moon — took place back in November 2022.

    “This one feels a lot different, putting crew on the rocket and taking the crew around the moon,” NASA’s John Honeycutt said on the eve of the rocket’s rollout.

    Heat shield damage and other capsule problems during the initial test flight required extensive analyses and tests, pushing back this first crew moonshot until now. The astronauts won’t orbit the moon or even land on it. That giant leap will take come on the third flight in the Artemis lineup a few years from now.

    Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and Christina Koch — longtime NASA astronauts with spaceflight experience — will be joined on the 10-day mission by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot awaiting his first rocket ride.

    They will be the first people to fly to the moon since Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt closed out the triumphant lunar-landing program in 1972. Twelve astronauts strolled the lunar surface, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. Only four moonwalkers are still alive; Aldrin, the oldest, turns 96 on Tuesday.

    “They are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon,” Wiseman said. “They just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible discovering the unknown.”

    NASA is waiting to conduct a fueling test of the SLS rocket on the pad in early February before confirming a launch date.

    “We’ve, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date” until completing the fueling demo, Isaacman told reporters.

    The space agency has only five days to launch in the first half of February before bumping into March.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA sends 4 astronauts back to Earth in first medical evacuation

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An astronaut in need of doctors’ care departed the International Space Station with three crewmates on Wednesday in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

    The four returning astronauts — from the U.S., Russia and Japan — are aiming for an early Thursday morning splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego with SpaceX. The decision cuts short their mission by over a month.

    “Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said before the return trip, “but what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other.”

    Officials refused to identify the astronaut who needed care last week and would not divulge the health concerns.

    The ailing astronaut is “stable, safe and well cared for,” outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke said earlier this week via social media. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists.”

    Launched in August, Cardman, Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov should have remained on the space station until late February. But on Jan. 7, NASA abruptly canceled the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke and later announced the crew’s early return. Officials said the health problem was unrelated to spacewalk preparations or other station operations, but offered no other details, citing medical privacy. They stressed it was not an emergency situation.

    NASA said it would stick to the same entry and splashdown procedures at flight’s end, with the usual assortment of medical experts aboard the recovery ship in the Pacific. It was another middle-of-the-night crew return for SpaceX, coming less than 11 hours after undocking from the space station. NASA said it was not yet known how quickly all four would be flown from California to Houston, home to Johnson Space Center and the base for astronauts.

    One U.S. and two Russian astronauts remain aboard the orbiting lab, just 1 1/2 months into an eight-month mission that began with a Soyuz rocket liftoff from Kazakhstan. NASA and SpaceX are working to move up the launch of a fresh four-person crew from Florida, currently targeted for mid-February.

    Computer modeling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years, but NASA hasn’t had one in its 65 years of human spaceflight. The Russians have not been as fortunate. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin came down with a serious infection or related illness aboard his country’s Salyut 7 space station, prompting an early return. A few other Soviet cosmonauts encountered less serious health issues that shortened their flights.

    It was the first spaceflight for Cardman, a 38, biologist and polar explorer who missed out on spacewalking, as well as Platonov, 39, a former fighter pilot with the Russian Air Force who had to wait a few extra years to get to space because of an undisclosed health issue. Cardman should have launched last year but was bumped to make room on the way down for NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stuck nearly a year at the space station because of Boeing’s capsule problems.

    Fincke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yui, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, were repeat space fliers. Finke has spent 1 1/2 years in orbit over four missions and conducted nine spacewalks on previous flights, making him one of NASA’s top performers. Last week, Yui celebrated his 300th day in space over two station stays, sharing stunning views of Earth, including Japan’s Mount Fuji and breathtaking auroras.

    “I want to burn it firmly into my eyes, and even more so, into my heart,” Yui said on the social platform X. “Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground.”

    NASA officials had said it was riskier to leave the astronaut in space without proper medical attention for another month than to temporarily reduce the size of the space station crew by more than half. Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it will have to stand down from any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person job requiring backup help from crew inside the orbiting complex.

    The medical evacuation was the first major decision by NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman. The billionaire founder of a payment processing company and two-time space flier assumed the agency’s top job in December.

    “The health and the well-being of our astronauts is always and will be our highest priority,” Isaacman said in announcing the decision last week.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Allegiant Air to acquire Sun Country Airlines in $1.5B deal

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    LAS VEGAS — Allegiant Air said it will acquire Sun Country Airlines in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion, including debt, in a move combining two low-cost U.S. carriers focused on leisure travel.

    Executives at both carriers said their route networks complement each other and that the larger airline would increase affordable travel options for passengers. The merged airline will serve about 175 cities with more than 650 routes and a fleet of roughly 195 aircraft, the companies told investors Monday.

    “Allegiant and Sun Country have both shown that our leisure-focused, flexible capacity models are strong, thriving and consistently profitable, which gives me great confidence in the potential benefits of combining our organizations,” Allegiant CEO Gregory Anderson said.

    The deal still needs approval from regulators and Sun Country shareholders. It is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

    The airlines said travelers shouldn’t expect any immediate changes and can continue booking and flying with either carrier as they normally do. Ticketing, flight schedules, the overall travel experience and the Sun Country brand will remain the same for now.

    The merged airline will operate under the Allegiant name and will be headquartered in Las Vegas. It will also maintain a significant presence in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, where Sun Country is based, while also continuing to operate Sun Country’s charter and cargo businesses, the companies said.

    Anderson will lead the combined airline as CEO, and Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker will join the company’s board of directors.

    “I’ve had the privilege of working at both companies and can say that based on those experiences, this is a tremendous fit across the board,” said Bricker, who previously served as Allegiant’s chief operating officer in 2016 and 2017.

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  • NASA cuts space station mission short

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    NEW YORK — In a rare move, NASA is cutting a mission aboard the International Space Station short after an astronaut had a medical issue.

    The space agency said Thursday the U.S.-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned.

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    By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN – AP Science Writer

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  • Helicopter crashes in Arizona mountains, killing 4 people aboard

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    SUPERIOR, Ariz. — Four people were killed when a helicopter crashed Friday in the mountains in Arizona, officials said.

    The crash near Telegraph Canyon, about 64 miles (103 kilometers) east of Phoenix, took place around 11 a.m., the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on the social platform X.

    All four people on the helicopter were killed, including the 59-year-old pilot and two 21-year-old women and a 22-year-old woman, according to the sheriff’s office.

    “Our prayers are with the victims and their families,” the sheriff’s office said.

    The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

    The flight had taken off from an airport in the nearby town of Queen Creek.

    Flights were temporarily restricted over the area due to safety reasons, according to the sheriff’s office.

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  • Japan’s new flagship H3 rocket fails to put geolocation satellite into orbit

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    TOKYO — Japan’s space agency said its H3 rocket carrying a navigation satellite failed to put the payload into a planned orbit, a setback for the country’s new flagship rocket and its space launch program.

    Monday’s failure is the second for Japan’s new flagship rocket after its botched 2023 debut flight and six successful flights.

    The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki 5 satellite took off from the Tanegashima Space Center on a southwestern Japanese island Monday as part of Japan’s plans to have a more precise location positioning system of its own.

    The rocket’s second-stage engine burn unexpectedly had a premature cutoff and a subsequent separation of the satellite from the rocket could not be confirmed, Masashi Okada, a JAXA executive and launch director, told a news conference.

    Whether the satellite was released into space or where it ended up is unknown, and that JAXA is investigating the data to determine the cause and other details, Okada said.

    Jun Kondo, an official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, told reporters that the failure was “extremely regrettable” and that the government set up a task force to investigate the cause and take necessary measures as soon as possible to “regain credibility.”

    Monday’s failure is a setback for Japan’s new flagship that replaced the earlier mainstay H-2A which had near-perfect success record. It also delays Japan’s satellite launch plans, including one to have a more independent geolocation system for smartphones, maritime navigation and drones without relying on the U.S. GPS system.

    The H3 rocket is designed to be more cost-competitive in the global space market. Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to its space program and national security.

    JAXA’s H3 project manager, Makoto Arita, said the new flagship is still in the early stages of operation but can be globally competitive. “We will pull ourselves together so that we won’t fall behind rivals. We’ll fully investigate the cause and put H3 back on track.”

    Monday’s launch came five days after JAXA aborted just 17 seconds before liftoff, citing an abnormality of a water spray system at the launch facility, following an earlier problem with the rocket.

    In its debut flight in March 2023, H3 failed to ignite the second-stage engine.

    Japan currently has the quasi-zenith satellite system, or QZSS, with five satellites for a regional navigation system that first went into operation in 2018. The Michibiki 5 was to be the sixth of its network.

    Japan currently relies partially on American GPS and wants to have a seven-satellite network system by March 2026 and an 11-satellite network by the late 2030s.

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  • Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator in do-over after Musk feud

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    WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator on Wednesday, placing him atop the agency after a monthslong saga where President Donald Trump revoked his nomination as part of a feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk.

    Isaacman, who has promised to bring a business-minded approach to the space agency, was confirmed in a bipartisan vote, 67-30.

    He will take over after an unusual confirmation process upended by the Republican president’s oscillating and at times tumultuous relationship with prominent tech leaders who backed his campaign, most notably Musk, the Tesla CEO who is a close ally of Isaacman.

    Trump picked Isaacman last year but withdrew the nomination in May after feuding with Musk over the administration’s policies on issues such as electric vehicles and the performance of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

    Musk was the largest contributor of donations to Trump’s 2024 campaign and after the administration took office, he assembled a team for DOGE that blitzed through the federal government’s departments, contracts and critical infrastructure. The monthslong operation led to major cuts to federal contracts focused on foreign aid, global health and mass layoffs of federal workers.

    But the effort did not lead to significant reductions in the federal budget deficit, the stated goal. Musk also feuded with some senior Cabinet officials and, eventually, Trump himself. Musk is also CEO of the space flight company SpaceX and has ambitions for humans to colonize space.

    Trump nominated Isaacman for the job again in November. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had been serving as NASA’s interim administrator until a permanent head was in place.

    Isaacman is the founder of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing and technology solutions company based in Pennsylvania. He is also the co-founder of Draken International, a Florida-based aerospace company. He has done business with Musk’s Starlink and other ventures tied to the fellow billionaire.

    During Isaacman’s second confirmation hearing in December, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., pressed Isaacman to “explain what happened to make President Trump reconsider the decision to pull your nomination and what assurances you may have provided with Elon Musk and SpaceX would not create a significant conflict of interest in this role.”

    Isaacman replied that he “wouldn’t even want to begin to speculate why the president nominated and then renominated me.” He said he pledged to be free of conflicts of interest in his role. In a June letter, Isaacman had promised to resign from his private sector posts should he be confirmed as NASA administrator.

    Republicans have welcomed some of Isaacman’s proposals and some new senators strongly advocated for his confirmation. But many Democrats balked at Isaacman and Trump’s plans, including the proposed costs of some projects and overall priorities for the agency.

    “For nearly 70 years, the United States has been at the forefront of space exploration. President Trump knows how critical it is to reinvigorate NASA as we aim to reach new heights in the greatest frontier ever known, and that’s why he chose exactly the right man for the job,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, an aerial firefighter, former Navy SEAL and close ally of Isaacman, said in a statement.

    Sheehy, R-Mont. added that he was confident Isaacman “will work tirelessly to ensure America wins the 21st century space race.”

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  • JetBlue flight near Venezuela avoids ‘midair collision’ with US Air Force tanker

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    WASHINGTON — A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.

    “We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path. … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

    The incident involved JetBlue Flight 1112 from Curaçao, which is just off the coast of Venezuela, en route to New York City’s JFK airport. It comes as the U.S. military has stepped up its drug interdiction activities in the Caribbean and is also seeking to increase pressure on Venezuela’s government.

    “We just had traffic pass directly in front of us within 5 miles of us — maybe 2 or 3 miles — but it was an air-to air-refueler from the United States Air Force and he was at our altitude,” the pilot said. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said the Air Force plane then headed into Venezuelan air space.

    Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for JetBlue, said Sunday: “We have reported this incident to federal authorities and will participate in any investigation.” He added, “Our crewmembers are trained on proper procedures for various flight situations, and we appreciate our crew for promptly reporting this situation to our leadership team.”

    The Pentagon referred The Associated Press to the Air Force for comment. The Air Force didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The Federal Aviation Administration last month issued a warning to U.S. aircraft urging them to “exercise caution” when in Venezuelan airspace, “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela.”

    According to the air traffic recording, the controller responded to the pilot, “It has been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our air.”

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    Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

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  • NASA loses contact with its Maven spacecraft orbiting Mars for the past decade

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    This combination of ultraviolet spectrum images provided by NASA shows atmospheric features of the planet Mars in July 2022, left, during the southern hemisphere’s summer season, and the planet’s northern hemisphere in January 2023 after Mars had passed the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun, captured by the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft. (NASA/LASP/CU Boulder via AP)

    The Associated Press

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  • Airlines adopt software fix for Airbus A320 after plane has sudden altitude drop

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    Airlines around the world canceled and delayed flights heading into the weekend to fix software on a widely used commercial aircraft after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.

    Airbus said Friday that an examination of the JetBlue incident revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.

    The FAA joined the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to address the issue with a new software update. More than 500 U.S.-registered aircraft will be impacted.

    The EU safety agency said it may cause “short-term disruption” to flight schedules. The problem was introduced by a software update to the plane’s onboard computers, according to the agency.

    In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes, canceled 65 domestic flights for Saturday. Additional cancellations on Sunday were possible, it said.

    The software change comes as U.S. passengers were beginning to head home from the Thanksgiving holiday, which is the busiest travel time in the country.

    A COMAC C919 aircraft flies during the first day of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

    American Airlines has about 480 planes from the A320 family, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday, the airline said. A handful will be finished Saturday.

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    American expected some delays but it said it was focused on limiting cancellations. It said safety would be its overriding priority.

    Air India said via the social platform X that its engineers were working on the fix and completed the reset on more 40% of aircraft that need it. There were no cancellations, it said.

    Delta said it expected the issue to affect less than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it was unaffected.

    Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks.

    “Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software.”

    At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.

    Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing.

    The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s, and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said.

    The A320 is the world’s bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to Airbus’ website.

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    Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.

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  • Airlines work to fix software glitch on A320 aircraft and some flights are disrupted

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    Airlines around the world reported short-term disruptions heading into the weekend as they fixed software on a widely used commercial aircraft, after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.

    Airbus said Friday that an examination of the JetBlue incident revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.

    The FAA joined the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to address the issue with a new software update. More than 500 U.S.-registered aircraft will be impacted.

    The EU safety agency said it may cause “short-term disruption” to flight schedules. The problem was introduced by a software update to the plane’s onboard computers, according to the agency.

    In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes, canceled 65 domestic flights for Saturday. Additional cancellations on Sunday were possible, it said.

    The software change comes as U.S. passengers were beginning to head home from the Thanksgiving holiday, which is the busiest travel time in the country.

    American Airlines has about 480 planes from the A320 family, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday, the airline said. A handful will be finished Saturday.

    American expected some delays but it said it was focused on limiting cancellations. It said safety would be its overriding priority.

    Air India said on X that its engineers were working on the fix and completed the reset on more 40% of aircraft that need it. There were no cancellations, it said.

    Delta said it expected the issue to affect less than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it was unaffected.

    Pope Leo XIV is on his inaugural foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, and is flying along with the papal delegation and press corps aboard an ITA Airways Airbus A320neo charter.

    The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Saturday that ITA was working on the issue. He said the necessary component to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul along with the technician to install it. Leo was scheduled to fly from Istanbul, Turkey to Beirut, Lebanon on Sunday afternoon.

    In France, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the situation has stabilized as several software updates had already been installed. He said the impact was limited in the country with an “almost complete return to normal in French airports.”

    In the U.K., disruption also was minimal. British Airways, for example, said only three of its aircraft required the update, while EasyJet indicated there may be changes to its flying schedule as a result of the update, in which case passengers will be informed.

    Germany’s Lufthansa said most software updates were completed during the night and on Saturday morning. No Lufthansa Group Airlines flights are expected to be canceled due to the current situation, but there may be minor delays over the weekend, it said.

    Scandinavia’s SAS said its flights were operating as normal Saturday, after teams worked overnight to install the required software.

    Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks.

    “Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software.”

    At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.

    Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing.

    The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s, and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said.

    The A320 is the world’s bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to Airbus’ website.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Pan Pylas in London and Nicole Winfield in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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  • Airlines adopt software fix for Airbus A320 after plane has sudden altitude drop

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    An aircraft heavily used by commercial airlines around the world needs a software fix to address an issue that contributed to a sudden drop in altitude of a JetBlue plane last month, the manufacturer and European aviation safety regulators said Friday.

    The step may result in some flight delays as U.S. travelers return home from the Thanksgiving holidays.

    Airbus said an analysis of the JetBlue incident revealed intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.

    The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a directive requiring operators of the A320 to address the issue. The agency said this may cause “short-term disruption” to flight schedules.

    American Airlines has about 480 planes from the A320 family, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft and updates should be completed for the overwhelming majority on Friday, the airline said. A handful will be finished Saturday.

    American Airlines expects some delays but it said it’s focused on limiting cancellations as customers return home from Thanksgiving holiday travel. It said safety would be its overriding priority.

    Delta said it expected the issue to affect less than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet are affected and it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it wasn’t affected.

    Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks.

    “Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said. “Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software.”

    At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to the hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.

    Airbus is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France.

    It’s one of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers alongside Boeing.

    The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said.

    The A320 is the world’s best-selling single-aisle aircraft family, Airbus’ website said.

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  • Fleet of UPS planes grounded after deadly crash expected to miss peak delivery season

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    A fleet of planes that UPS grounded after a deadly crash isn’t expected to be back in service during the peak holiday season due to inspections and possible repairs, the company said Wednesday in an internal memo.

    The airline expects it will be several months before its McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleet returns to service as it works to meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, said the memo from UPS Airlines president Bill Moore to employees. The process was originally estimated to take weeks but is now expected to take several months.

    A fiery MD-11 plane crash on Nov. 4 in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people and injured at least 23 when the left engine detached during takeoff. Cargo carriers grounded their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleets shortly after, ahead of a directive from the FAA.

    “Regarding the MD-11 fleet, Boeing’s ongoing evaluation shows that inspections and potential repairs will be more extensive than initially expected,” Moore wrote in the memo.

    A UPS spokesperson said in a statement that the company will rely on contingency plans to deliver for customers throughout the peak season, and it “will take the time needed to ensure that every aircraft is safe.”

    The 109 remaining MD-11 airliners, averaging more than 30 years old, are exclusively used to haul cargo for package delivery companies. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet.

    Boeing, which took over as the manufacturer of MD-11s since merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said in a statement that it is “working diligently to provide instructions and technical support to operators” so that they can meet the FAA’s requirements.

    The FAA said Boeing will develop the procedures for inspections and any corrective actions, pending approval from the FAA.

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  • Fleet of UPS planes grounded after deadly crash expected to miss peak delivery season

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    A fleet of planes that UPS grounded after a deadly crash isn’t expected to be back in service during the peak holiday season due to inspections and possible repairs, the company said Wednesday in an internal memo.

    The airline expects it will be several months before its McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleet returns to service as it works to meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, said the memo from UPS Airlines president Bill Moore to employees. The process was originally estimated to take weeks but is now expected to take several months.

    A fiery MD-11 plane crash on Nov. 4 in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people and injured at least 23 when the left engine detached during takeoff. Cargo carriers grounded their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleets shortly after, ahead of a directive from the FAA.

    “Regarding the MD-11 fleet, Boeing’s ongoing evaluation shows that inspections and potential repairs will be more extensive than initially expected,” Moore wrote in the memo.

    A UPS spokesperson said in a statement that the company will rely on contingency plans to deliver for customers throughout the peak season, and it “will take the time needed to ensure that every aircraft is safe.”

    The 109 remaining MD-11 airliners, averaging more than 30 years old, are exclusively used to haul cargo for package delivery companies. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet.

    Boeing, which took over as the manufacturer of MD-11s since merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said in a statement that it is “working diligently to provide instructions and technical support to operators” so that they can meet the FAA’s requirements.

    The FAA said Boeing will develop the procedures for inspections and any corrective actions, pending approval from the FAA.

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  • US-Russian crew of 3 blasts off to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft

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    In this photo taken from video released by Roscosmos space corporation, the Soyuz-2.1 rocket booster with Soyuz MS-28 space ship carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev, a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off in Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (Roscosmos space corporation, via AP)

    The Associated Press

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  • South Korea’s largest satellite launched on Nuri rocket in ambitious space mission

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    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early Thursday in the fourth of six launches planned through 2027.

    The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from a spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials said the rocket placed a 516-kilogram (1,137-pound) science satellite and 12 microsatellites into a target orbit about 600 kilometers (372 miles) above Earth.

    The Korea Aerospace Administration said the main satellite made contact with a South Korean ground station in Antarctica about 40 minutes after liftoff at 1:55 a.m., confirming normal function and deployment of its solar panels. The satellite later established links with ground stations in South Korea’s central Daejeon city and Svalbard, Norway, as well as further contact with the King Sejong Station in Antarctica.

    Five of the 12 microsatellites had contacted ground stations as of Thursday afternoon, and the rest were expected to do so in a scheduled sequence.

    Kyunghoon Bae, the country’s science minister, said the successful launch reaffirmed that South Korea had independent space launch and transport capability.

    He said the launch was a turning point as the first time a private company, Hanwha Aerospace, assembled the rocket under a technology transfer from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the national space agency.

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    “Building on today’s success, we will steadfastly pursue the development of next-generation launch vehicles, lunar exploration and deep-space missions,” Bae said.

    The main satellite launched Thursday is equipped with a wide-range airglow camera to observe auroral activity and separate systems for measuring plasma and magnetic fields and for testing how life-science experiments perform in space.

    The dozen smaller “cube” satellites, developed by university teams and research institutions, include GPS systems to study Earth’s atmosphere, infrared cameras to track plastic in the oceans, and systems for testing solar cells or communication equipment.

    Thursday’s event was the country’s first launch involving a Nuri rocket since May 2023, when it successfully placed a 180-kilogram (397-pound) observation satellite into orbit, and the fourth overall since its first attempt in October 2021, which failed to deliver a dummy device.

    Further launches are planned in 2026 and 2027 to advance the country’s space technologies and industries, and to reduce the gap with leading Asian space powers, such as China, Japan and India.

    Nuri is a three-stage rocket powered by five 75-ton-class engines in its first and second stages and a 7-ton-class engine in its third stage, which releases the payloads at the desired altitude. It’s the country’s first space launch vehicle built primarily with domestic technology, a core asset for a nation that had largely relied on other countries to launch its satellites since the 1990s.

    The Naro Space Center, South Korea’s lone spaceport, saw its first successful launch in 2013 with a two-stage rocket built with Russian technology, following years of delays and repeated failures. The rocket reached its target altitude during its first test in 2009 but failed to deploy a satellite, and then exploded shortly after liftoff during its second test in 2010.

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  • South Korea’s largest satellite launched on Nuri rocket in ambitious space mission

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    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early Thursday, the fourth of six planned launches through 2027.

    The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from the country’s spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials were monitoring whether it will successfully deliver a 516-kilogram (1,137-pound) science satellite and 12 other microsatellites into orbit.

    The main satellite, designed to orbit 600 kilometers (372 miles) above Earth, is equipped with a wide-range airglow camera to observe auroral activity and separate systems for measuring plasma and magnetic fields and for testing how life-science experiments perform in space.

    The dozen smaller “cube” satellites, developed by university teams and research institutions, include GPS systems to study Earth’s atmosphere, infrared cameras to track plastic in the oceans, and systems for testing solar cells or communication equipment.

    Thursday’s event was the country’s first launch involving a Nuri rocket since May 2023, when it successfully placed a 180-kilogram (397-pound) observation satellite into orbit, and the fourth overall since its first attempt in October 2021, which failed to deliver a dummy device.

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  • Eruption of long-dormant Ethiopian volcano subsides

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    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday, days after an eruption that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths.

    Villages in the district of Afdera in the Afar region were covered in ash, officials said residents were coughing, and livestock found their grass and water totally covered.

    Airlines cancelled dozens of flights scheduled to fly over affected areas as the meteorological department said the ash clouds were expected to clear later in the day.

    India’s flag carrier, Air India, said it canceled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to inspect aircraft that may have flown over affected areas, acting on a directive from India’s aviation safety regulator.

    Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had canceled flights to Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

    At least seven international flights scheduled to depart from and arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi were canceled Tuesday, while at least a dozen were delayed, according to an official at the airport.

    An official in charge of health in northern Ethiopia’s Afdera district, Abedella Mussa, said the residents were coughing and mobile medical services from the larger Afar region had been launched in the remote area.

    “Two medical teams have been dispatched to the affected kebeles (neighborhoods) like Fia and Nemma-Gubi to provide mobile medical services,” he said.

    Another official in charge of livestock, Nuur Mussa, said animals were unable to find clean water or grass. “Many animals, especially in the two affected kebeles, cannot drink clean water or feed on grass because it is covered by volcanic ash,” he said.

    Atalay Ayele, a geologist at Addis Ababa University, said such eruptions occur because Ethiopia is situated along an active rift system where volcanism and earthquakes are frequent.

    “This is the first recorded eruption of Hayli Gubbi in the last 10,000 years,” he told The Associated Press. “It will likely continue for a short period and then stop until the next cycle.”

    High-level winds carried the ash cloud from Ethiopia across the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, the Arabian Sea and then towards western and northern India, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement. The ash cloud was moving toward China and expected to clear Indian skies late Tuesday.

    ___

    Roy wrote from New Delhi.

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  • China launches Shenzhou 22 spacecraft to assist in return of 3 astronauts

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    BEIJING — China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday to help bring back a team of astronauts after a damaged spacecraft left them temporarily stranded on China’s space station.

    The Shenzhou 22 will be used sometime in 2026 by the three astronauts who docked on the Tiangong space station on Nov. 1.

    Earlier this month, another group of Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou 20 mission faced a nine-day delay in their return to Earth after their craft’s window was damaged. They eventually returned using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had just carried the replacement crew to Tiangong.

    While the three-person crew landed safely on Earth, three of their fellow astronauts on the replacement crew were temporarily left without a guaranteed way to return in case of an emergency.

    The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft — the damaged one, which for now remains in space — will be brought down to Earth later and assessed, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The space program determined it didn’t meet safety standards for transporting the astronauts.

    Chinese astronauts have been carrying out missions to the Tiangong space station in recent years as part of Beijing’s rapidly progressing space program, initially building out the station module-by-module.

    China developed Tiangong after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns, since China’s space program is controlled by its military.

    Tiangong, which means “Heavenly Palace,” hosted its first crew in 2021. It is smaller than the International Space Station, which has been operating for 25 years.

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