Space.com
• Andrew Jones
China plans to fly a Pakistani pilot on the Shenzhou 24 mission, making the astronaut the first from another country to visit the Tiangong space station. The crew member is expected to spend roughly a week aboard the orbital outpost, marking an international dimension for China’s human spaceflight program.
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China plans to fly a Pakistani pilot on the Shenzhou 24 mission, making the astronaut the first from another country to visit the Tiangong space station. The crew member is expected to spend roughly a week aboard the orbital outpost, marking an international dimension for China’s human spaceflight program.
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NASA is recruiting for its 25th astronaut class, with applications due Dec. 3. Applicants need a STEM master’s degree, three years of experience and 20/20 corrected vision; the listed annual salary is $164,395. Recent classes selected roughly one candidate in every 750 to 1,525 applicants.
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Launched Nov. 11, 1966, with Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin aboard, Gemini XII was the program’s final mission. Despite a failing rendezvous radar and a balky Agena, the flight put docking and spacewalking through a final test, helping set the stage for Apollo’s lunar landing program.
The FAA has approved Dream Chaser for reentry, a regulatory step for Sierra Space’s spaceplane. Its first mission is planned to include a simulated berthing with the International Space Station, testing a key part of the vehicle’s intended cargo-delivery mission.
Two amateur radio operators said they intercepted signals from Soviet cosmonauts who died during missions the USSR kept secret. The accounts form part of a Cold War-era claim about hidden Soviet spaceflight losses; the article raises the question of whether the alleged missions happened but provides no confirmation in the supplied summary.
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A lawsuit between two space-station companies centers on claims that one copied the other’s work. NASA advised that Vast’s submission used “the PAM Provider” in some locations where it had previously named Axiom, according to the article summary.
Four volunteers completed NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) mission on Oct. 31, concluding a 378-day simulated Mars mission. The effort was led by US Air Force test pilot Ross Elder and focused on crew health and performance in an exploration-mission analog.
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Blue Origin has shifted New Glenn’s planned return to flight from December 2026 to January 2027 while rebuilding Launch Complex 36 after a ground-testing accident. Separately, Boeing has moved NASA’s Artemis III core stage into Kennedy Space Center’s High Bay 3 for final stacking, integration and testing ahead of the mission’s planned 2027 launch.
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