US lunar mission’s landing attempt next week

Florida: Another private US company (Intuitive Machines) took a shot at the moon on Thursday, launching a month after SpaceX’s Falcon rocket missed its mark and came crashing back. NASA, the main sponsor with experiments on board, is hoping for a successful moon landing next week as it seeks to jumpstart the lunar economy ahead of astronaut missions. If all goes well, a touchdown attempt would occur February 22, after a day in lunar orbit, stated Intuitive Machines. ap

Sweden not to reopen probe into 1994 disaster

Stockholm: Sweden won’t reopen an investigation into a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic Sea that killed 852 people in one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime sea disasters, after investigators in Estonia, Finland and Sweden found no indication of a collision or an explosion, prosecutor Karolina Wieslander said on Thursday. A TV documentary aired in 2020 showed a hole in the hull of the wreckage of the M/S Estonia, leading to calls for a new investigation. ap