Why These Astronauts Are Stuck In Space

STUCK IN SPACE
The crew of Boeing's Starliner space capsule are stuck in space nearly two months after they were supposed to come home! Well, after a series of technical and mechanical faults that delayed Starliner's crewed test flight by several months before it even left Earth, the crew, who finally made it up to the ISS back in June, are now facing another and it's a biggy. See, the plan was for the crew to spend eight days on the space station before heading back down to earth as a NASA certification test for Starliner to start regularly taking astronauts to and from the ISS. But during the test, 4 thrusters used to steer the capsule failed and while it managed to dock safely, Boeing's engineers haven't been able to get them to work properly again, leaving the crew, well, stranded. While they're comfortable up there, NASA still isn't sure if Starliner will be safe enough to bring the Astronauts home and say they might need Boeing's competitor Space X to help out when they can in February 2025. Other missions to the ISS are now being delayed because of the stuck Starliner. So, NASA will have to make a decision by next week.

OLYMPICS
Australia has added two more silver medals to its record breaking tally at the Paris Olympics. Marathon swimmer Moesha Johnson scored silver in the women's 10 kay marathon swim, and our men's kayak four team came in second in the 500 metre sprint just 0.04 of a second away from gold!

TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERTS CANCELLED
Swifties in Vienna haven't let three cancelled Taylor Swift concerts ruin their fun! The concerts were cancelled yesterday after a possible security threat. So instead, these fans took to the streets to sing, dance and swap bracelets.

NAVY SHIP TOUR
Recently a few Aussie ports got a visit from a very big American navy ship, the USS Emory S. Land. Wren got to go on board and check it out.

DENMARK NOODLES
First up, to Denmark where these folks are celebrating the return of spicy instant noodles. You see, earlier this year Danish authorities banned three flavours of Buldak noodles, saying they contained too much capsaicin, the spicy chemical, to be safe. But now, they've reversed their decision, allowing 2 of the 3 flavours of noodles to be sold in the country again.

RUBBISH FUNGI
Now to Germany where scientists have found a type of fungi that can eat plastic. They're hoping it can be used to combat plastic waste, but more work needs to be done to work out what impacts the fungi might have on the environment.

BANKSY STOLEN
And finally to London where street artist Banksy has been at it again, with his 4th artwork in a week! But no sooner had it appeared had it disappeared.
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For the past 55 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.
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