Killed teen’s dad ‘critically ill with Covid’

FOUR astronauts get an out-of-this-world greeting from colleagues after arriving at the International Space Station on a unique mission.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour was the first craft blasted into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight.

Endeavour left Florida’s Kennedy Space Center with two US astronauts, one from Japan and one from France. They included NASA’s Megan McArthur, 49, seen floating in for a hug, right.

SpaceX, which is owned by Tesla car entrepreneur Elon Musk, is helping NASA in its bid to return astronauts to the moon by 2024.

THE father of a boy who was killed in his school uniform is fighting for his life with Covid-19 and may be unaware of the tragedy, a family friend has said.

Fares Maatou, 14, was struck with an iron bar and knifed in East London on Friday “for his electric scooter”, witnesses claim.

The family friend said they didn’t know if his dad knows as he is “critically ill” in intensive care.

TRAGEDY

The friend, who did not want to be named, said: “This is a terrible tragedy.

“The family have been through so much. His dad is still critically ill, and now they have lost their youngest son.”

Fares was the 11th teenager to be stabbed to death in the capital this year.

Several boys laid flowers at the scene outside Zzetta Soul Fired Pizza in Canning Town yesterday.

One said: “He was walking with JB, one of his friends, when they tried to take his electric scooter.

“They were going to attack JB but Fares jumped in front of him and was hit with a metal stick.”

The Met said three boys had been arrested and remained in custody last night. DCI Perry Benton said they are “piecing together what happened”.