China to send first astronauts to new space station on longest crewed mission to date
CNN
A rocket carrying three veteran astronauts bound for China's orbiting space station module will launch from the Gobi Desert in the country's north in just over 24 hours, China's space agency announced Wednesday.
The three men, Nie Haisheng, 56, Liu Boming, 54, and Tang Hongbo, 45, will become the first Chinese astronauts to land on the initial stages of the space station, called Tiangong or Heavenly Palace, which is still under construction in a low Earth orbit. China's Manned Space Engineering Office made the announcement at a news conference on Wednesday, saying the launch would take place at 9:22 a.m. Beijing time (9:22 p.m. ET) Thursday from Jiuquan Space Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.President Joe Biden on Sunday delivers his first commencement address of the 2024 season at Morehouse College, where the president may for the first time in months have to confront the angst that’s been percolating on college campuses nationwide toward his administration’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
Arab and Palestinian Americans left a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday night frustrated they did not have a clear understanding of how the Biden administration might act upon their concerns as the Israel-Hamas war devastates the civilian population in Gaza, participants told CNN.