US Business

Boeing’s Starliner capsule docked with the International Space Station Friday, a major milestone in a high-stakes uncrewed test flight as the US aerospace giant seeks to restore its reputation following past failures.

The spaceship made contact at 8:28 pm Eastern time (0028 GMT Saturday), a little over 24 hours after it blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission to prove itself capable of providing safe rides for NASA astronauts.

“Starliner spacecraft completes its historic first docking to the International Space Station, opening a new avenue of access for crews to the orbiting laboratory,” said an announcer.

But the vessel missed the scheduled rendezvous time by more than an hour due to technical issues — including a problem that required ground control to retract its docking system then re-deploy it.

Starliner also encountered some propulsion problems early on in its journey, with two thrusters responsible for placing it in a stable orbit failing, though officials insisted these were non-critical systems.

One of 12 orbital maneuvering and attitude control (OMAC) thrusters located on Starliner’s aft side shut off after one second, at which point a second thruster kicked in and took over, but also cut out after 25 seconds. 

The ship’s software then engaged a third thruster that completed the necessary burn. 

“That system operated normally during all of the propulsion system demonstrations, and with redundancies in place, does not pose a risk to the rest of the flight test,” a NASA blog post about the issue said.

Starliner’s success is key to re-establishing Boeing’s credibility after its first launch, back in 2019, failed to dock with the ISS due to software bugs — one that led to it burning too much fuel to reach its destination, and another that could have destroyed the vehicle during re-entry. 

A second try was scheduled in August 2021, but the capsule was rolled back from the launchpad to address sticky valves that weren’t opening as they should and the vessel was eventually sent back to the factory for fixes.

NASA is looking to certify Starliner as a second “taxi” service for its astronauts to the space station — a role that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has provided since succeeding in a test mission for its Dragon capsule in 2020.

– Seeking redemption –

Both companies were awarded fixed-price contracts — $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX — in 2014, shortly after the end of the Space Shuttle program, during a time when the United States was left reliant on Russian Soyuz rockets for rides to the orbital outpost. 

Boeing, with its hundred-year history, was considered by many as the sure shot, while then-upstart SpaceX was less proven. 

In reality, it was SpaceX that rocketed ahead and recently sent its fourth routine crew to the research platform, while Boeing’s development delays have cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

Starliner is delivering more than 800 pounds of cargo to the ISS as part of this mission.

Its sole passenger is a mannequin named Rosie the Rocketeer — a play on the World War II campaign icon Rosie the Riveter — whose job is to collect flight data with her sensors to learn what human astronauts would experience.

“We are a little jealous of Rosie,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who is expected to be among the first crew selected for a manned demonstration mission later this year should OFT-2 succeed, said at a press conference this week.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule will spend about five days in space, then undock and return to Earth on May 25, using giant parachutes to land in the desert of the western United States. 

NASA sees a second provider to low Earth orbit as a vital backup, should SpaceX encounter problems. 

South Korean automaker Hyundai will build a $5.5 billion electric vehicle and battery plant in the southern US state of Georgia, its governor announced Friday, as President Joe Biden pursued his trip to Seoul.

Brian Kemp made the announcement alongside Hyundai Motor Company president Jay Chang at the future factory site near Savannah, hailing the more than 8,000 jobs the venture is expected to create.

“We are proud to welcome Hyundai Motor Group to Georgia as we forge an innovative future together,” Kemp said, according to a statement released by his office.

He called the plant “the largest economic development project in our state’s history.”

Hyundai suppliers are expected to invest an additional $1 billion in the factory, which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 units, according to the statement.

The automaker said it plans to begin construction in January 2023 and to complete the plant in the first half of 2025. It did not yet give any details on which of its electric models will be produced at the Georgia location.

“This new EV plant is the future of our business, and it will help us meet the growing demands of our US customers,” Chang said in the statement.

Hyundai has projected that 27 percent of its global fleet will be electric within seven years.

By building battery production into the new factory, Hyundai “aims to establish a stable supply chain for EV battery and other EV components in the US market,” the statement said.

Biden arrived on Friday in South Korea, on a trip aimed at cementing economic ties with Seoul. He is due to meet with Chang on Sunday, according to the White House.

The Hyundai plant will be the second electric vehicle factory in Georgia: electric truck maker Rivian announced in December that it will invest $5 billion to build its second US assembly plant there.

Hyundai aims to be the third-largest provider of electric vehicles in the United States by 2026, but it faces stiff competition.

The sector is currently dominated by Tesla, but traditional automakers General Motors and Ford plan to invest tens of billions of dollars to increase their electric offerings in the coming years, and many start-ups are also trying to break into the industry.

Asian and European stocks rebounded Friday on China’s interest rate cut, but US equities gyrated amid fears that sky-high inflation will spark a recession.

“Markets have been looking for an excuse to bounce, and a China rate cut provided the reason,” IG analyst Chris Beauchamp told AFP.

The People’s Bank of China announced it would lower its five-year loan prime rate — a key interest rate governing how lenders base their mortgage rates — to 4.45 percent from 4.6 percent.

The move is in contrast to other major central banks — like the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England — that are raising borrowing costs to combat rocketing consumer prices.

The Chinese move sparked optimism among traders that it could boost the world’s second-largest economy from its Covid-induced stupor.

“The rate cut announced by the PBOC is obviously good news and is clearly targeted at revitalising the ailing property market which continues to suffer due to the crackdown last year and Covid lockdowns this year,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

“This could help to revive a hugely important part of the economy,” he added, but “whether it’s enough to help China hit its 5.5 percent growth target this year is another thing.” 

Asian stocks closed with gains, as did Europe’s main markets although those faded as the day wore on. 

Wall Street also opened higher but later tumbled, with the S&P 500 temporarily sinking into a “bear market,” a drop of more than 20 percent from a recent peak.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,901.36, basically unchanged for the day, but down three percent for the week and off 19 percent from its January high point.

“Stocks remain on a shaky footing,” said market analyst Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and FOREX.com.

He said investors are worried about inflation, interest rate hikes, low economic growth, stagflation, and recession.

“Perhaps most importantly for stocks, the Fed is not there to provide cushion, like before,” he added, as the US central bank is raising interest rates to combat inflation.

Downcast earning reports from retailers have heightened market uncertainty at a time of rising interest rates, surging energy prices, China’s Covid lockdowns and Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.

Major stock indices have lost huge portions of their value in recent months.

In Europe, Paris and Frankfurt stocks are down between 14 and 15 percent, while London’s main index has shed a modest 3.9 percent.

– Key figures at around 2040 GMT –

New York – Dow: FLAT at 31,261.90 (close)

New York – S&P 500: FLAT at 3,901.36 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.3 percent at 11,354.62 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 7,389.98 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 13,981.91 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 6,285.24 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 3,657.03 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.0 percent at 20,717.24 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 3,146.57 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 26,739.03 (close)

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.4 percent at $112.55 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.7 percent at $113.23 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0564 from $1.0588

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2497 from $1.2467

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.50 pence from 84.93 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 127.86 yen from 127.79

burs-jmb/hs

Billionaire Elon Musk jetted into Brazil Friday to meet far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and unveil a project to link thousands of Amazonian schools to the internet and expand satellite monitoring of the rainforest.

The two men met at a luxury hotel in Porto Feliz, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Sao Paulo, with executives of several Brazilian companies present. 

“Super excited to be in Brazil for launch of Starlink for 19,000 unconnected schools in rural areas & environmental monitoring of Amazon!” tweeted Musk of the project. 

In comments made at the meeting, snippets of which were shared on social media, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla said the project would be “really good” for “deforestation… for education (and), environmental reasons.”

No further details were released of the deal, and journalists were kept at a distance from the meeting venue.

Amazon destruction has risen sharply under the government of Bolsonaro, who is accused of promoting impunity for gold miners, farmers and timber traffickers who illegally clear the rainforest.

The president, however, claimed Friday the new project would reveal the “truth” about the state of the Amazon: “the exuberance of this region, how it is preserved by us.”

Experts point out there are already projects in place to monitor Brazilian deforestation.

“What is missing is action, not monitoring,” said Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of Mapbiomas — a consortium of NGOs, universities and startups that does exactly such work with satellite images.

– Free speech? –

Bolsonaro told Musk his announcement last month of a $44 billion bid for Twitter had come as a “ray of hope.”

The offer has since been suspended, with Musk demanding proof of the number of Twitter spam accounts.

Bolsonaro has had several social media posts deleted over the years amid accusations that he uses fake news as a political weapon, and has welcomed Musk’s statements on loosening restrictions in the name of free expression.

The billionaire had vowed, among other things, to reinstate the account of ex-president Donald Trump — a political idol of Bolsonaro’s.

“Musk has become in recent weeks a kind of hero of Bolsonarism,” said Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations expert at Sao Paulo’s Getulio Vargas foundation.

“His possible acquisition of Twitter was seen as good news because it would supposedly end the restrictions” ahead elections in October.

Bolsonaro, who will seek re-election, is lagging behind leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in opinion polls.

Bolsonaro tweeted a photograph of him and Musk shaking hands, and said they had also discussed “the use of technology… in the realization of Brazil’s economic potential.”

The meeting was kept under wraps until just hours before it happened.

– High-speed internet- 

Musk is listed by Forbes as the world’s wealthiest person, with a fortune of more than $200 billion.

“Since we are going to connect the Amazon, we brought one of the largest entrepreneurs in the world to help us in this mission,” tweeted Communications Minister Fabio Faria, who met Musk in Texas last November.

At the time, the government announced it was negotiating with SpaceX for satellite access.

SpaceX has thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit to provide high-speed internet, especially to areas underserved by fixed and mobile networks. 

Many more launches are planned to expand the service that has more than 100,000 subscribers worldwide.

Friday’s meeting came hours after Musk rejected allegations on Twitter that he had groped a flight attendant and exposed himself to her six years ago.

Musk tweeted that the latest “attacks” on him were related to his plans to “restore free speech to Twitter & vote Republican.”

The cabinet of bankrupt Lebanon, at its final session on Friday, passed a financial recovery plan needed to secure international aid, but its implementation will depend on the fractious incoming parliament.

The session came five days after Lebanon held its first election since an economic crisis, widely blamed on corruption and negligence by the ruling elite, dragged the country to the brink of becoming a failed state.

“Any delay in implementing the financial recovery plan will be very costly to Lebanese,” Prime Minister Najib Mikati said at a press conference after cabinet met.

The International Monetary Fund and Lebanon in April struck a conditional deal for $3 billion in aid. Enacting reforms, including a financial recovery plan, is one of many prerequisites for the package, and analysts have expressed scepticism that the reforms can take place.

It will be up to the new government and parliament to implement the plan approved by the outgoing cabinet.

The financial plan passed by ministers includes restructuring and recapitalising the banking system, and protecting small depositors “as much as possible”, according to an official five-page document seen by AFP.

Sunday’s election yielded a polarised and fragmented legislature likely prone to the kind of deadlock that has characterised Lebanese politics for decades.

This could complicate the formation of a new government and delay implementation of the reforms.

Lebanon has been battered by triple-digit inflation, soaring poverty rates and the collapse of its currency since a 2020 debt default.

In a move adding to the economic pain, cabinet also raised telecom prices. Starting July, the internet bill of Lebanon residents will more than double, as will mobile phone bills.

Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm warned Thursday the cash-strapped sector might collapse if there were no hikes, because current prices were set according to pre-inflation rates. 

The outgoing Lebanese cabinet will continue to function with limited caretaker powers until a new one is formed, a process that could take months.

“I call on elected lawmakers to expedite the formation of a new government,” Mikati said.

Also on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated their call for “structural reforms” in Lebanon.

“They reaffirmed the need to implement the structural reforms necessary for the country’s recovery, as expected by the Lebanese population and the international community,” the French presidency announced after a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

Macron and Salman also “reaffirmed their willingness to continue their coordination to support the Lebanese population”.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule was preparing to dock with the International Space Station Friday, in a high-stakes uncrewed test flight key to reviving the US aerospace giant’s reputation after a series of failures.

The spaceship blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday evening, and is now set to rendezvous with the ISS at 7:10 pm Eastern Time (2310 GMT), as part of a mission to prove it is capable of providing safe rides for NASA astronauts.

Starliner encountered some propulsion problems early in its journey, with two thrusters responsible for placing it in a stable orbit failing for unclear reasons — though officials insisted everything remained on track.

“Overall, the spacecraft is doing really well,” Steve Sitch, program manager for  NASA’s Commercial Crew Program told reporters at a post-launch press conference, in which he nonetheless flagged anomalies that engineers are working to understand.

One of 12 orbital maneuvering and attitude control (OMAC) thrusters located on Starliner’s aft side failed after one second, at which point a second thruster kicked in and took over, but also cut out after 25 seconds. 

The ship’s software then engaged a third thruster that completed the necessary burn. 

The OMAC thrusters are set to be used to bring Starliner closer to the ISS, and to help de-orbit the spacecraft near the end of the mission.

“We’ll go look at the data and try to understand what happened. And then from a redundancy perspective, can we recover those thrusters?” said Sitch.

Starliner’s success is key to repairing Boeing’s frayed reputation after its first launch, back in 2019, failed to dock with the ISS due to software bugs — one that led to it burning too much fuel to reach its destination, and another that could have destroyed the vehicle during re-entry. 

A second try was scheduled in August 2021, but the capsule was rolled back from the launchpad to address sticky valves that weren’t opening as they should, and the vessel was eventually sent back to the factory for fixes.

NASA is looking to certify Starliner as a second “taxi” service for its astronauts to the space station — a role that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has provided since succeeding in a test mission for its Dragon capsule in 2020.

– Seeking redemption –

Both companies were awarded fixed-price contracts — $4.2 billion to Boeing, and $2.6 billion to SpaceX — in 2014, shortly after the end of the Space Shuttle program, during a time when the United States was left reliant on Russian Soyuz rockets for rides to the orbital outpost. 

Boeing, with its hundred-year history, was considered by many as the sure shot, while then-upstart SpaceX was less proven. 

In reality, it was SpaceX that rocketed ahead, and recently sent its fourth routine crew to the research platform — while Boeing’s development delays have cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

Starliner should dock with the ISS about 24 hours after launch, and deliver more than 800 pounds of cargo.

Its sole passenger is a mannequin named Rosie the Rocketeer — a play on the World War II campaign icon Rosie the Riveter — whose job is to collect flight data with her sensors in order to learn what human astronauts would experience.

“We are a little jealous of Rosie,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who is expected to be among the first crew selected for a manned demonstration mission should OFT-2 succeed, said at a press conference this week.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule will spend about five days in space, then undock and return to Earth on May 25, using giant parachutes to land in the desert of the western United States. 

NASA sees a second provider to low Earth orbit as a vital backup, should SpaceX encounter problems.