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US astronaut thanks Russian rescuers for their quick work

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MOSCOW — U.S. astronaut Nick Hague thanked Russian rescue teams Friday for quickly reaching him and his Russian crewmate after an aborted launch that led to their emergency landing in the barren steppes of Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz rocket that Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin were heading off in to the International Space Station failed two minutes after Thursday’s launch, releasing a rescue capsule that carried them back to Earth.

“Thank you all for your support & heartfelt prayers,” Hague tweeted from Star City, the Russian space training centre outside Moscow where the two astronauts arrived Friday. “Operational teams were outstanding in ensuring our safety & returning us to family & friends. Working with our international partners, I’m confident that we will find a path forward & continue the achievements of @Space_Station.”

U.S. and Russian space officials said the astronauts were in good condition even though they experienced a gravitational force that was six-to-seven times more than is felt on Earth when their capsule went into a steep, harrowing fall back to the ground.

NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told reporters in Moscow on Friday that the Soyuz emergency rescue system worked flawlessly.

“I just want to say how grateful we are as a country, the United States, for our Russian partners,” he said. “That’s an amazing capability and we can’t understate how important it is.”

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, promised that Hague and Ovchinin will be given another chance soon to work on the orbiting space outpost.

“The boys will certainly fly their mission,” Rogozin tweeted, posting a picture in which he sat with the two astronauts aboard a Moscow-bound plane. “We plan that they will fly in the spring.”

Russian space officials said Hague and Rogozin will spend a couple of days at Star City undergoing routine medical checks.

“They are in good health and don’t need any medical assistance,” said Vyacheslav Rogozhnikov, a deputy chief of the Russian Federal Medical and Biological Agency.

The aborted mission dealt another blow to the troubled Russian space program, which currently serves as the only way to deliver astronauts to the space station.

Sergei Krikalyov, the head of Roscosmos’ manned programs, said the launch went awry after one of the rocket’s four boosters failed to jettison about two minutes into the flight, damaging the main stage and triggering the emergency landing. He said a panel of experts is looking into the specific reason that prevented the booster’s separation.

“We will need to look and analyze the specific cause — whether it was a cable, a pyro or a nut,” he said. “We need more data.”

Krikalyov said all Soyuz launches have been suspended pending the investigation. Preliminary findings are expected later this month, Krikalyov said, adding that Roscosmos hopes to be able to sort out the problem and perform the next Soyuz launch in December.

The current space station crew of an American, a Russian and a German was scheduled to return to Earth in December after a six-month mission. It wasn’t immediately clear if their stint in orbit might need to be extended due to Thursday’s failed launch.

A Soyuz capsule attached to the station which they use to ride back to Earth is designed for a 200-day mission, meaning that their stay in orbit could only be extended briefly.

“We don’t have an opportunity to extend it for a long time,” Krikalyov said.

NASA said flight controllers could operate the space station without anyone on board if the Russian rockets remain grounded. But NASA’s Bridenstine voiced hope that the problem that aborted the launch could be solved quickly and the next Soyuz launch may take place in December.

“I have no anticipation right now that the launch in December for the next crew will be delayed,” he said.

Krikalyov emphasized that Roscosmos will do its best not to leave the space station unoccupied.

“The station could fly in an unmanned mode, but will do all we can to avoid it,” he said.

While the Russian program has been dogged by a string of problems with unmanned launches in recent years, Thursday was the first manned failure since September 1983, when a Soyuz exploded on the launch pad.

Roscosmos pledged to fully share all relevant information on the failed launch with NASA, which pays up to $82 million per Soyuz seat to the space station.

Bridenstine hailed the U.S.-Russian co-operation in space, voicing hope that tensions between Moscow and Washington in other areas wouldn’t affect that relationship.

“We can both do more in space together than we can ever do alone,” Bridenstine said. “When it comes to space and exploration and discovery and science, our two nations have always kept those activities separate from the disputes that we have terrestrially. I anticipate that this relationship will stay strong.”

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Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press








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Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

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Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.

The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.

“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.

She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”

North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.

Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.

These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.

A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.

This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.

“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”

Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.

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Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

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From Conservative Party Communications

Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.

 

“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?

“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?

“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”

 

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