Smoke alarms sound at ISS:
Smoke alarms went off at the Russian segment of the International Space Station in the early hours of Thursday, and the crew reported noticing smoke and the smell of burnt plastic.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the incident took place in the Russianbuilt Zvezda module and occurred as the station’s batteries were being recharged.
According to Roscosmos, the crew activated air filters and returned to their “night rest” once the air quality was back to normal. The crew will proceed with a space walk Thursday as planned, the agency noted.
The space station is currently operated by NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov of Russia’s Roscosmos; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Novitsky and Dubrov are scheduled to carry out a six-hour-long space walk on Thursday to continue integrating the Russian-built Nauka science lab that docked with the space station in July. Shortly after docking, the lab briefly knocked the orbital outpost out of position by accidentally firing its engines - an incident Russian space officials blamed on a software failure. (AP)
Greece creates crisis ministry:
Greece’s center-right government has created a new ministry to address the impact of climate change and named former European Union commissioner Christos Stylianides as minister.
Stylianides, 63, who served as commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management between 2014 and 2019, was appointed in the wake of wildfires that burned more than 1,000 square kilometers (385 square miles) of forest on the island of Evia and in southern Greece.
Intense heat waves in southern Europe in July and August — described in Greece at the worst in decades — fueled deadly wildfires in Turkey as well and blazes in Italy, France, and Balkan countries.
The appointment was announced Monday after a previous candidate, former armed forces chief and defense minister Evangelos Apostolakis, withdrew, citing the lack of promised cross-party consensus for the new post.
As minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Stylianides will head firefighting, disaster relief and policies to adapt to rising temperatures resulting from climate change. (AP)
‘Keep boaters away’:
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has issued an emergency rule ordering commercial whale watch tours to stay farther away from an unwell baby orca to help her survive.
J56, or Tofino, as the whale is also known, was born in May 2019 to an orca known as Tsuchi, or J31.
The whale’s declining condition was reported to the state by the science nonprofit SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research, which is under contract to monitor the condition of the southern resident J, K, and L pods, The Seattle Times reported.
“We first expressed concern about J56 in summer 2020 when we measured her to be thin and also noticed her skin had a paler color tone – images collected this week show us that her condition has worsened,” Holly Fearnbach, marine mammal research director with the team, informed the state agency. (AP)