Free Republic

After being stranded on the International Space Station since June, two astronaut castaways may still be months away from returning to Earth—in part because of incompatible space suits. The two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have had to extend what was supposed to be an eight-day trip on the ISS, because of a helium leak and thruster malfunctions on their Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft. NASA and Boeing are testing to see if it’s safe for the astronauts to return on the Boeing Starliner, but are also considering alternatives given the possible risks. NASA has yet to make a decision, but...

A United States aircrew helped rescue three stranded men from a deserted Pacific island after the sailors used palm fronds to spell the word "help" and waved their lifejackets at rescuers. A Navy P-8 aircrew based out of Japan and vessels had been searching for the men, reported missing after failing to arrive in their 19-foot craft at the island of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to catch an early morning flight on Monday. Bulk carriers Brilliant Jupiter and Ten Yu Maru were also engaged, conducting 17 hours of search across nearly 300 square kilometres of ocean....

US aircraft history buffs are hopeful that tiny bones along with artefacts from the 1930s found on a remote Pacific island may reveal the fate of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. In one of aviation's most enduring mysteries, Earhart took off from Lae, in what is now Papua New Guinea, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe via the equator in 1937 and was never seen again. A massive search at the time failed to find the flyer and her navigator Fred Noonan, who were assumed to have died after ditching their Lockheed Electra aircraft in the ocean, according to the Amelia...

San Jose, May 30 (EFE).- Eighty-eight castaways adrift for nine days at sea after immigrant smugglers abandoned them to their fate were rescued on the weekend off Costa Rica's Pacific coast after a fisherman pulled from the ocean a bottle containing a desperate message for help written by one of the group. Marviva organization director Francisco Estrada told EFE that the group consisted of 48 Ecuadorians and 40 Peruvians, adding that 18 of them were women and the rest were men of assorted ages. The rescue was made Sunday morning in a joint operation by Costa Rican authorities and...