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Astronauts break record for longest time in space by U.S.-launched ship
The crew of four astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) using a SpaceX Crew Dragon back in November have broken the record for most consecutive days spent in space by a U.S.-launched ship.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the Crew-1 astronauts beat the decades-long record Sunday after docking at the ISS on November 15. The previous record, set in 1974 by the Skylab 4 crew, was 84 days.
According to The Post, this mission is the first operational mission launched from the U.S. since the Space Shuttle was retired back in 2011. On top of that record, this mission has made history for also being the first time a privately owned spacecraft has ventured to the ISS.
The Crew-1 quartet launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and docked at the space station 27 hours later in the spacecraft they nicknamed “Resiliance.”
While there are three NASA astronauts part of Crew-1—Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, and Shannon Walker—the fourth crewmate is Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. They are scheduled to stay for about six months on the low-Earth orbital station.
Glover tweeted that the crew spoke over video chat with Edward Gibson, a member of the crew that in 1974 flew to Skylab, the United States’ first space station.
The news of this record being broken comes after a no-crew prototype of SpaceX’s Starship last week crashed and exploded while attempting to land during a test flight, after another crash in December. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration said it will oversee an investigation into last week’s crash, per The New York Times.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to send the Starship to Mars as part of his longtime dream of eventually colonizing the Red Planet with humans, however, more work still needs to be done to perfect the technology.
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.
In a significant development, Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, was indicted on Thursday on federal gun charges as part of Special Counsel David Weiss’ ongoing investigation. The indictment alleges that Hunter Biden made false statements during the purchase of a firearm, among other charges.
The charges against Hunter Biden include:
• Making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm
• Making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer
•Possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance
According to the indictment, the alleged incident occurred on or about October 12, 2018, in the District of Delaware. Hunter Biden is accused of knowingly making a false and fictitious written statement during the acquisition of a Colt Cobra 38SPL Revolver. According to reports from Fox News, the statement, submitted on Form 4473, falsely certified that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, or controlled substance.
Furthermore, the indictment further states that between October 12, 2018, and October 23, 2018, in the District of Delaware, Hunter Biden knowingly possessed the same firearm despite being an unlawful user of and addicted to controlled substances. This marks the first set of charges brought by Special Counsel David Weiss against Hunter Biden since being granted special counsel status.
The investigation came to public attention when it was reported by Fox News in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018 involving a gun owned by Hunter Biden.
Reports state that, Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, discarded the gun. Hunter’s gun was thrown away in a dumpster near a market, located close to a school. It was subsequently revealed that Hunter Biden had purchased a gun earlier that same month.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles do not end with the gun charges. Earlier in July, an original plea agreement collapsed, which would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts for willful failure to pay federal income tax, thus avoiding jail time on a felony gun charge. Instead, he pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss as special counsel to oversee the Hunter Biden investigation and related matters. The White House has declined to comment on these developments, which continue to draw significant public and media attention.
Follow Alexander Carter on Twitter @AlexCarterDC for more!
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