Tag Archives: Aerospace and defense industry

Boeing finds new drawback with 787 that can delay deliveries

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Boeing is coping with a brand new manufacturing drawback involving its 787 jet, which the corporate calls the Dreamliner

Boeing has recorded its first orders of the 12 months for the grounded 737 Max, however a brand new flaw has surfaced in one other of its planes, compounding the corporate’s battle to get well throughout a pandemic that has undercut demand for brand spanking new jetliners.

Boeing mentioned Tuesday it’s inspecting a part of the tail of the two-aisle 787 after discovering that items have been clamped collectively too tightly, which might result in untimely fatigue of an element referred to as the horizontal stabilizer.

The corporate mentioned it believes the issue impacts 893 of the almost 1,000 787s which have been constructed. Boeing expects the inspections of just lately completed planes to have an effect on the timing of 787 deliveries within the close to time period, spokesman Peter Pedraza mentioned in an announcement.

“It’s too early to invest in regards to the nature or extent of any proposed Airworthiness Directives which may come up from the company’s investigation,” mentioned the spokesman, Lynn Lunsford, referring to potential security orders that might be imposed on Boeing.

Boeing disclosed final month that it discovered two different manufacturing flaws within the 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner and is constructed largely of carbon composite supplies. The corporate grounded eight planes due to these points.

The corporate mentioned Tuesday that in manufacturing of the tail horizontal stabilizers at a Boeing plant in Salt Lake Metropolis, some elements have been clamped along with an excessive amount of drive, leading to improper gaps between sections. Boeing doesn’t imagine it’s a right away security concern however might result in untimely ageing of the elements, and it’s delaying some 787 deliveries whereas figuring out whether or not repairs are wanted on planes which have already been delivered.

The Chicago-based firm, which builds planes in Washington state and South Carolina, mentioned it delivered 13 airliners final month, together with 4 787s.

Boeing’s sluggish tempo of deliveries since early 2019, when the Max was grounded, has robbed the corporate of much-needed money.

Amid the unhealthy information across the 787, Boeing reported Tuesday that it obtained orders for 5 Max jets in August, two by Polish constitution airline Enter Air and three by a purchaser that Boeing didn’t determine. It additionally reported promoting three 777 cargo freighters.

Thus far this 12 months, Boeing has misplaced 932 extra orders than it has gained. The pandemic has undermined air journey, resulting in fewer flights and leaving airways without having for brand spanking new planes.

Boeing remains to be working with U.S. and overseas regulators to clear the Max for return to flying after two lethal crashes. Almost 400 Max jets have been in use when the fleet was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 individuals. The Max was Boeing’s best-selling airplane.

Boeing dispatched a Max to Vancouver on Tuesday for flight assessments this week with European regulators. The corporate has already performed a number of check flights with FAA consultants to display modifications that Boeing made to computer systems and software program after an automatic system pushed down the noses of planes earlier than they crashed.

Boeing shares fell 5.8% in Tuesday buying and selling.

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David Koenig could be reached at www.twitter.com/airlinewriter



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Candy, cheese soar to space station to satisfy crew cravings

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A cargo ship is rocketing toward the International Space Station, carrying candy and cheese to satisfy the crew’s cravings

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
A cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday, carrying candy and cheese to satisfy the astronauts’ cravings.

Northrop Grumman launched its Cygnus capsule from the Virginia seashore. The nearly 4-ton shipment should arrive at the orbiting lab Tuesday. It took three tries over the past week to get the Antares rocket off the pad, with it finally taking flight at 3:21 p.m. — an auspicious 3-2-1.

“Awesome launch,” Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy space station program manager, said once the capsule reached orbit.

Besides the usual experiments and gear, the capsule holds cheddar and manchego cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, chocolate and three kinds of gummy candy expressly requested by the three station astronauts: Skittles, Hot Tamales, and Mike and Ike’s.

Periodic supply runs by Russia, Japan and NASA’s two private shippers, Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, usually provide more than experiments, equipment, clothes and freeze-dried meals. The capsules also bring family care packages, as well as fresh food to offset the run-of-the-mill station grub.

This latest delivery should have arrived well before Valentine’s Day. But last-minute equipment concerns at the Wallops Island launch pad halted last Sunday’s countdown for the Antares rocket, then bad weather moved in. Dangerously high wind scuttled Friday’s attempt.

This was the company’s 13th space station delivery for NASA. The Cygnus capsules get their name from the Swan Constellation.

This particular Cygnus has been christened the SS Robert H. Lawrence in honor of America’s first black astronaut. Lawrence, an Air Force major, was chosen in 1967 as an astronaut for a classified military space program known as the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. He was killed five months later in a plane crash and never flew in space.

The space station is now home for Americans Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan and Russian Oleg Skripochka. Morgan has been up there since July and the two others since September; they’ll remain on board until April. Three other astronauts returned to Earth earlier this month.

Until astronaut launches resume from Florida — possibly by SpaceX this spring — the station crew will be limited in size to three. NASA astronauts now launch on Russian rockets from Kazakhstan.

Boeing, NASA’s other commercial crew provider, is struggling with software problems in its astronaut capsule. A December test flight was marred by coding errors.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Wind delays Northrop Grumman’s supply run to space station

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High wind has delayed Northrop Grumman’s supply run to the International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
High wind delayed Northrop Grumman’s supply run to the International Space Station on Friday.

The weather was OK at the launch pad on Wallops Island, Virginia, but upper-level winds exceeded safety limits. The company will try again Saturday at 3:21 p.m. — an easy-to-remember 3-2-1.

It will be Northrop Grumman’s third attempt in under a week to launch its Antares rocket with a Cygnus capsule on top. Sunday’s try was interrupted by pad equipment concerns, then bad weather moved in.

The delivery includes nearly 4 tons of experiments and gear, as well as candy and cheese for the three station astronauts.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Record-setting astronaut feels good after near year in space

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NASA’s new record-setting astronaut says aside from sore muscles, she readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
NASA’s new record-setting astronaut said Wednesday that aside from sore muscles and trouble with balance, she’s readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space.

Christina Koch met with reporters in Houston six days after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission — which ended last Thursday — was the longest ever by a woman.

Her neck hurt for about a day. “I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head,” she said.

She considers herself lucky she didn’t have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA’s all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.

Koch returned home to Galveston, Texas, to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she’d craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico. She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and their dog, a rescue pup named LBD for Little Brown Dog, just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.

LBD was excited to see her, and vice versa.

“I’m not sure who was more excited to see the other,” Koch said.

Their reunion was recorded. “It’s just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favorite animal,” she said.

The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October. Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA’s Jessica Meir.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Defective software could have doomed Boeing’s crew capsule

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NASA says defective software could have doomed Boeing’s crew capsule during its first test flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
Defective software could have doomed Boeing’s crew capsule during its first test flight, a botched trip that was cut short and never made it to the International Space Station, NASA and company officials said Friday.

The Starliner capsule launched without astronauts in December, but its automatic timer was off by 11 hours, preventing the capsule from flying to the space station as planned. This software trouble — which left the capsule in the wrong orbit just after liftoff — set off a scramble to find more possible coding errors, Boeing officials said.

Hours before the Starliner’s scheduled touchdown, a second software mistake was discovered, this time involving the Starliner’s service module. Flight controllers rushed to fix the problem, which could have caused the cylinder to slam into the capsule once jettisoned during reentry.

Such an impact could have sent the Starliner into a tumble, said Jim Chilton, a senior vice president for Boeing. In addition, damage to the Starliner’s heat shield could have caused the capsule to burn up on reentry, he noted.

He also conceded they wouldn’t have found the second problem without the first.

“Nobody is more disappointed in the issues that we uncovered … than the Starliner team,” said Boeing program manager John Mulholland.

These latest findings stem from a joint investigation team formed by NASA and Boeing in the wake of the aborted test flight. The capsule returned to Earth on Dec. 22 after just two days, parachuting down to a landing in New Mexico.

The mission was supposed to be the company’s last major hurdle before launching the first Starliner crew.

NASA has yet to decide whether Boeing should conduct another test flight without a crew, before putting astronauts on board. Just in case, Boeing reported last week that it took a $410 million charge in its fourth-quarter earnings, to cover a possible mission repeat.

Douglas Loverro, head of NASA’s human exploration and operations mission directorate, said Boeing needs to check and verify all of its flight software before any decisions are made on a possible reflight. He told reporters NASA shares some of the blame for the software problems.

“Our NASA oversight was insufficient. That’s obvious and we recognize that,” he said.

The investigation team also is looking into a third problem, an intermittent space-to-ground communication problem that hampered controllers’ ability to command and manage the capsule early in the flight. Interference from cellphone towers may have exacerbated the matter, Boeing officials said.

NASA said the independent review should be completed by the end of February.

Outside of this ongoing review, NASA is taking an extensive look at Boeing’s culture, according to Loverro. He said it was prompted in part by software issues elsewhere in the company, an apparent reference to the grounded 737 Max fleet.

A second private company is on track to launch astronauts for NASA as early as this spring. SpaceX successfully completed a launch abort test last month at Cape Canaveral.

NASA astronauts have not launched from home soil since the space shuttle program ended in 2011, instead riding Russian rockets to get to the space station. The Soyuz seats go for tens of millions of dollars apiece.

NASA has been paying billions of dollars to Boeing and SpaceX to develop capsules capable of transporting astronauts to and from the space station. Even before Boeing’s software issues, the commercial crew flights were years behind schedule. The space agency deliberately opted for two companies for redundancy, an advantage cited repeatedly Friday by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives suppor t from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Grand Canyon visit inspired Kobe Bryant’s pilot to fly

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LOS ANGELES —
Ara Zobayan’s passion for helicopters began as a passenger, a tourist floating over the vast Grand Canyon.

The freedom the man who would become Kobe Bryant’s pilot felt was transformational, inspiring Zobayan to scrimp and save to take lessons and learn to pilot the aircraft himself.

“It tapped into what he felt he was here on Earth to do: to fly and to teach, and to teach people to have this feeling that he had,” said an emotional Darren Kemp, a student pilot of Zobayan who became a close friend.

Zobayan’s journey from pupil to pilot to the stars ended Sunday when the Sikorsky aircraft he was flying crashed into a hillside outside Los Angeles, killing him Bryant and the other seven aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident, including any role heavy fog played.

The 50-year-old Zobayan was the chief pilot for charter service Island Express and had more than 8,200 hours of flight time. He was certified to fly using only instruments — a more difficult rating to attain that allows pilots to fly at night and through clouds.

But on the day of the disaster, he was flying under special visual flight rules that require pilots to see where they are going.

He had completed the same flight the day before — Orange County to Ventura County — but Sunday morning brought fog so heavy it grounded helicopters for the Los Angeles Police Department and county sheriff. Zobayan was forced to detour around the San Fernando Valley until he could return to follow U.S. Highway 101 in Calabasas.

In his final radio transmission to air traffic controllers, Zobayan said he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer before the helicopter plunged more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) into a hillside.

The death of Bryant shocked the sporting world, but it also shook those who were endeared to Zobayan as much for his skills in the skies as the smile that greeted them each time they would fly.

“He was one of their best pilots,” said Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who flew with him to commute from his home in San Diego to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles where the Clippers and Lakers play.

“That’s a guy who you ask for to fly you from city to city,” Leonard said Wednesday. “He’ll be like, ‘I just dropped Kobe off and he said hello.’ ”

Zobayan began taking lessons in 1998 at Group 3 Aviation at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, where he would ultimately become a flight instructor.

“Ara worked hard in other businesses to save enough money to pay for training,” Group 3 owners Peter and Claudia Lowry said in a statement.

Kemp, the former student, said Zobayan inspired him to become a better pilot. His mentor was a stickler for pre-flight checklists, Kemp said, and would make his students sit in the pilot and passenger seats.

“He was like, ‘The way you do it, you have to become it. Go sit in the copter, go touch it, go feel it,’ ” Kemp recalled.

In a video Kemp once shot in the cockpit, a grinning Zobayan is wearing sunglasses and a green headset as he salutes. Kemp sometimes called him “Big Z,” a gentle tease because Zobayan was slim and slight in stature.

The two bonded like brothers and spoke almost every other day, Kemp said. Over dinners at Captain Jack’s in Huntington Beach near Zobayan’s home, the teacher would call his student “captain” as he talked about his girlfriend, chauffeuring Bryant and offering flying tips.

Clients said they trusted Zobayan implicitly, bringing their children and grandchildren along on flights, often to Santa Catalina Island — the main destination for Island Express.

Margaret Bray flew with Zobayan often to and from her restaurant, Maggie’s Blue Rose, on the island off the coast of Los Angeles.

“He always had this big smile, this infectious smile,” Bray said.

Zobayan would often take his lunch breaks at her restaurant and told her about a recent trip to Spain. Bray, who like Zobayan is of Armenian descent, said she’d tease him when she saw him on TV as part of Bryant’s “entourage.”

“I think Kobe and him had this friendship,” she said. “It wasn’t like pilot and customer.”

Basketball players weren’t his only celebrity passengers — Kylie Jenner and actor Lorenzo Lamas mourned his passing.

Zobayan and Lamas, a fellow pilot and friend, flew the ex-girlfriend of comedian Andy Dick around in a chopper for an episode of “Celebrity Wife Swap.”

Clients sought out Zobayan and would book trips well in advance.

Gary Johnson, vice president of airplane parts manufacturer Ace Clearwater Enterprises, said he’d flown with Zobayan about 30 times in roughly eight years, and was looking forward to a trip with him next month.

“He was the one I always requested,” Johnson said. “He was just sort of those magic souls you run into every now and then.”

Johnson said he’s not sure if he’ll still do the sightseeing trip in February without his favorite pilot.

“I hope he’s up there in the clouds right now,” Johnson said.

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Associated Press sports writer Beth Harris contributed to this story.

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Boeing papers show employees slid 737 Max problems past FAA

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Newly released Boeing documents show that company employees knew about problems with flight simulators for the now-grounded 737 Max jetliner and talked about misleading regulators

Boeing employees knew about problems with flight simulators for the now-grounded 737 Max and apparently tried to hide them from federal regulators, according to documents released Thursday.

In internal messages, Boeing employees talked about misleading regulators about problems with the simulators. In one exchange, an employee told a colleague they wouldn’t let their family ride on a 737 Max.

Boeing said the statements “raise questions about Boeing’s interactions with the FAA” in getting the simulators qualified. But said the company is confident that the machines work properly.

“These communications do not reflect the company we are and need to be, and they are completely unacceptable,” Boeing said in a statement.

Employees also groused about Boeing’s senior management, the company’s selection of low-cost suppliers, wasting money, and the Max.

“This airplane is designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” one employee wrote.

Names of the employees who wrote the emails and text messages were redacted.

The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, after two crashes that killed 346 people. Boeing is still working to update software and other systems on the plane to convince regulators to let it fly again. The work has taken much longer than Boeing expected.

The latest batch of internal Boeing documents were provided to the Federal Aviation Administration and Congress last month and released on Thursday. The company said it was considering disciplinary action against some employees.

An FAA spokesman said the agency found no new safety risks that have not already been identified as part of the FAA’s review of changes that Boeing is making to the plane. The spokesman, Lynn Lunsford, said the simulator mentioned in the documents has been checked three times in the last six months.

”Any potential safety deficiencies identified in the documents have been addressed,” he said in a statement.

A lawmaker leading one of the congressional investigations into Boeing called them “incredibly damning.”

“They paint a deeply disturbing picture of the lengths Boeing was apparently willing to go to in order to evade scrutiny from regulators, flight crews, and the flying public, even as its own employees were sounding alarms internally,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

DeFazio said the documents detail “some of the earliest and most fundamental errors in the decisions that went into the fatally flawed aircraft.” DeFazio and other critics have accused the company of putting profit over safety.

The grounding of the Max will cost the company billions in compensation to families of passengers killed in the crashes and airlines that canceled thousands of flights. Last month, the company ousted its CEO and decided to temporarily halt production of the plane in mid-January, a decision that is rippling out through its supplier network.

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China to finish Beidou competitor to GPS with new launches

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China says its Beidou Navigation Satellite tv for pc System that emulates the U.S. World Positioning System will probably be competed with the launch of its remaining two satellites within the first half of subsequent yr

BEIJING —
China stated Friday its Beidou Navigation Satellite tv for pc System that emulates the U.S. World Positioning System will probably be competed with the launch of its remaining two satellites within the first half of subsequent yr.

Challenge director Ran Chengqi instructed reporters that the core of the positioning system was accomplished this month with the launch further satellites bringing its complete constellation to 24.

That was up from 19 the yr earlier than, making it one in all rising house energy China’s most advanced tasks.

Ran described the system at a uncommon information convention as having “excessive efficiency indicators, new expertise programs, excessive localization, mass manufacturing networking and a variety of customers.”

“Earlier than June 2020, we plan to launch two extra satellites into geostationary orbit and the Beidou-Three system will probably be absolutely accomplished,” Ran stated.

The newest launches mark the third iteration of Beidou, which means “Huge Dipper,” the primary of which was decommissioned in 2012. Future plans name for a better, extra accessible and extra built-in system with Beidou at its core, to come back on-line by 2035, Ran stated.

“As a significant house infrastructure for China to offer public providers to the world, the Beidou system will all the time adhere to the event idea of ‘China’s Beidou, the world’s Beidou, and the first-class Beidou,’ serving the world and benefiting mankind,” Ran stated.

China’s house program has developed quickly alongside all strains over the previous 20 years and growing impartial high-tech capabilities — and even dominating in fields corresponding to 5G knowledge processing — is a significant authorities precedence.

In 2003, China turned simply the third nation to independently launch a manned house mission and has since constructed an experimental house station and despatched up a pair of rovers to the floor of the moon. Future plans name for a fully-functioning everlasting house station, a mission to mars and a doable crewed flight to the moon.

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Museum of the Bible quietly replaces questioned artifact

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The Museum of the Bible in Washington quietly changed an artifact presupposed to be one in all a handful of miniature Bibles {that a} NASA astronaut carried to the moon in 1971 after an skilled questioned its authenticity.

The transfer follows an announcement final 12 months that not less than 5 of 16 Useless Sea Scroll fragments that had been on show on the museum had been discovered to be obvious fakes.

The museum changed the unique microfilm Bible with one which was donated by an Oklahoma lady who wrote a e book in regards to the Apollo Prayer League, which organized for Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to hold tiny Bibles to the moon.

“We all know for positive that one on show proper now went to the moon, however we couldn’t confirm for positive that the one we had initially on show had gone to the moon,” museum spokeswoman Heather Cirmo stated. “We could not disprove it, it simply wasn’t sure.”

The $500 million museum was largely funded by the Inexperienced household, evangelical Christian billionaires who run the Oklahoma Metropolis-based Interest Foyer chain of craft shops. The purported “lunar” Bible is simply the most recent merchandise bought by the household to return beneath scrutiny.

Steve Inexperienced, museum founder and president of Interest Foyer, additionally bought 1000’s of Iraqi archaeological artifacts for a reported $1.6 million, however was pressured in 2018 to return them to the Iraqi authorities and Interest Foyer paid a $three million tremendous after authorities stated they had been stolen from the war-torn nation and smuggled into the U.S. Museum officers have stated none of these objects had been ever a part of its assortment.

As for the Useless Sea Scrolls that had been known as into query, the 11 remaining fragments are being examined, with outcomes anticipated by the top of the 12 months, Cirmo stated. Two of the fragments stay on show with indicators noting that they’re being examined.

The museum didn’t announce that it was changing the lunar Bible — a choice Cirmo defended.

“It is fairly ridiculous to suppose that any museum, that each time you turn one thing out you are going to announce it on plaques,” Cirmo stated. “Collectors make errors on a regular basis. … This isn’t one thing that’s distinctive to Steve Inexperienced.”

The merchandise that was beforehand displayed is now in storage, Cirmo stated.

Tulsa creator Carol Mersch, who had raised considerations about its authenticity, donated the substitute Bible.

“(Inexperienced) is grateful, as is the museum, that somebody got here ahead and donated one that really went to the moon … and that one did not value something,” Cirmo stated.

Mersch was given 10 lunar Bibles by then-NASA chaplain the Rev. John Stout, a co-founder of the Apollo Prayer League.

Inexperienced, chairman of the museum’s board, purchased the unique Bible for about $56,000. It had additionally been displayed on the Vatican.

Mersch questioned its authenticity as a result of it had a serial quantity that was solely three digits; she stated Stout engraved the genuine lunar Bibles with five-digit numbers. Mersch stated the Bible she offered was authenticated by each Stout and Mitchell.

“I believed (donation) the very best factor I may do to honor Rev. Stout. He had requested me to donate them to museums,” Mersch stated.

Inexperienced purchased the merchandise that was initially on show from Georgia-based Peachstate Historic Consulting, which acquired the Bibles from Stout’s brother, James Stout. The Stout brothers are each lifeless, as is Mitchell. Peachstate proprietor David Frohman didn’t reply to requests for remark.

In an interview with The Related Press a month earlier than the museum’s 2017 opening, Inexperienced acknowledged the museum had made some errors early on.

“There’s numerous complexities in areas that I am nonetheless a novice at,” he stated. “However we’re partaking the very best specialists we will to advise and assist us in that course of.”

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NASA units 1st all-female spacewalk after swimsuit flap in spring

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The primary all-female spacewalk is again on, six months after a suit-sizing flap led to an embarrassing cancellation.

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NASA introduced Friday that the Worldwide Area Station’s two ladies will pair up for a spacewalk later this month. Astronauts Christina Koch and the newly arrived Jessica Meir will enterprise out Oct. 21 to plug in new, upgraded batteries for the solar energy system.

Will probably be the fourth of 5 spacewalks for battery work. The primary is Sunday; Koch will exit with Andrew Morgan.

Koch was alleged to do a spacewalk with one other feminine crewmate in March. However NASA needed to scrap the plan just some days prematurely as a result of there wasn’t sufficient time to get a second medium-size spacesuit prepared. The second medium was put collectively on board in June.

NASA’s deputy chief astronaut Megan McArthur advised reporters the all-female spacewalk can be a milestone. However she famous that girls are so built-in in any respect ranges at NASA now that they do not are likely to dwell on gender.

“I am certain that they will sit again and replicate on it, as all of us will. We’ll all have a good time that,” McArthur stated.

Koch and Meir, a marine biologist who arrived on the orbiting lab final week, are each members of NASA’s Astronaut Class of 2013, the primary and just one with a fair break up between women and men. They’re additionally each making their first spaceflights.

Koch, {an electrical} engineer, is greater than 200 days into an roughly 300-day mission, which is able to set a report for the longest single spaceflight by a girl.

“Up to now, ladies have not at all times been on the desk,” Koch stated throughout a televised interview earlier this week. “And it is great to be contributing to the human spaceflight program at a time when all contributions are being accepted, when everybody has a job, and that may lead, in flip, to elevated probability for fulfillment.”

Because the world’s first spacewalk in 1965, solely 14 ladies have accomplished them, versus 213 males, in line with NASA.

Anticipate extra ladies spacewalking collectively on the horizon.

“It seems that over the subsequent couple years, we’re having a whole lot of medium swimsuit folks fly,” stated NASA’s area station program supervisor, Kirk Shireman.

Koch will function the lead spacewalker for Sunday’s tour with Morgan, her U.S. male crewmate. There are 11 spacewalks developing within the subsequent few months — 10 U.S. and one Russian. Just one is 2 ladies.

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The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Division of Science Training. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.

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This story has been corrected to say Meir arrived on the orbiting lab final week.

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