A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
On Saturday, the Soyuz crew module was attached to its rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. We watched as the completed vehicle was loaded onto a flat-bed transporter, ready to be carried to the launch pad. Mr Peake and two other crew members will launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday 15 December. During his seven-month stay on the orbiting outpost, the former Army helicopter pilot will carry out a programme of experiments and educational activities. He will be accompanied on the flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Timothy Kopra.The Soyuz spacecraft - which carries the crew to the ISS - and its rocket are assembled at adjacent facilities at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On Friday, the crew module was transported by train from its assembly site - known as Building 254 - to the huge hangar-like facility designated Building 112. More than 40 years ago, Building 112 housed a giant (105m-high) rock...