
-
South Korea's Ryu and Japan's Saigo share LPGA Chevron lead
-
Canada leaders make closing pitches in campaign upended by Trump
-
De Bruyne's Man City exit 'so difficult' for Guardiola
-
'No regrets' for Amorim over Man Utd move
-
Lyon and Strasbourg win to close in on Europe, Montpellier relegated from Ligue 1
-
Toulouse thrash Castres as Top 14 pursuers stumble
-
Djokovic crashes to nervous Arnaldi in Madrid opener, Swiatek advances
-
Olympic champs Russell, Davis-Woodhall win at Drake Relays
-
Browns end Sanders long draft slide
-
Cavs crush Heat, on brink of NBA playoff sweep
-
Fire rages after major blast at Iran port kills 8, injures hundreds
-
Kiwi Beamish wins Penn Relays 1,500m crown with late kick
-
Mbappe on Real Madrid bench for Clasico Copa del Rey final
-
England survive France fightback to seal Women's 6 Nations slam
-
Palace sweep past Villa to reach FA Cup final
-
CAF appoint Moroccan Lekjaa first vice-president
-
Major blast at Iran port kills 5, injures hundreds
-
Rodgers vows to stay with Celtic after fourth successive Scottish title
-
Ipswich relegated as Newcastle, Chelsea boost top five bids
-
Canada leaders make final pitches in campaign upended by Trump
-
Mullins -- Ireland's national training treasure
-
US, Iran say progress in 'positive' nuclear talks
-
Mullins emulates O'Brien with second successive trainer's title
-
Ipswich relegated after one season in Premier League
-
Just Stop Oil activist group holds final march
-
Djokovic crashes to nervous Arnaldi in Madrid opener
-
Syria's Kurds demand 'democratic decentralised' Syria
-
Leverkusen win to delay Bayern and Kane's title party
-
Buenos Aires farewells native pontiff with tears and calls to action
-
Turkey's opposition says Erdogan's canal plan behind latest arrests
-
Maresca hails 'nasty' Chelsea as top five bid stays alive
-
Trump raises Putin doubts after Zelensky talks at pope's funeral
-
Major blast at Iran port kills 4, injures hundreds
-
Napoleon's sword to be sold at auction in Paris
-
Iran, US discuss nuclear deal in third round of talks
-
Buenos Aires farewells native pontiff with call to action
-
Warholm sets hurdles world record at Diamond League, Holloway shocked
-
US students 'race' sperm in reproductive health stunt
-
Wikileaks founder Assange joins crowds for pope funeral
-
Leader Marc Marquez claims Spanish MotoGP sprint victory
-
Celtic win fourth successive Scottish Premiership title
-
Jackson ends drought as Chelsea boost top five push
-
Warholm sets 300m hurdles world record in Diamond League opener
-
Major blast at south Iran port kills 4, injures hundreds
-
Russia says retook Kursk from Ukraine with North Korean help
-
Francis laid to rest as 400,000 mourn pope 'with an open heart'
-
Trump, Zelensky meet on sidelines of pope's funeral
-
'Shared loss': Filipino Catholics bid Pope Francis farewell
-
Families unable to reunite as India-Pakistan border slams shut
-
Major blast at south Iran port injures hundreds

In space race, Europe faces choice: passenger or pilot
As the race to send people to the Moon and beyond heats up, Europe faces calls to make a choice: Keep paying for seats on spacecraft or finally fly its own manned vehicle.
Imagine if Christopher Columbus did not have a ship to sail to the Americas, the head of the European Space Agency said recently, lamenting that the continent lacked a vessel to "explore the next frontier".
"We will be on the Moon and we believe we will be living there. We will use the Moon as an economic zone. This is a new frontier," ESA director general Josef Aschbacher told the 14th European Space Congress last week in Brussels.
"The big question is, do we want, as Europeans, to be part of it, or do we want to be watching others going to the Moon?"
NASA is aiming to return to the Moon with its Artemis programme by 2025, while China plans to send one of its taikonauts there by 2030.
India plans an uncrewed test flight for its Gaganyaan programme this year to prepare for a manned mission.
Europe, meanwhile, has no manned vessels to speak of, having relied on US and Russian spacecraft to take more than 30 astronauts into orbit over the years.
Private companies have now become major players in the sector, with Elon Musk's SpaceX taking astronauts to the International Space Station.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who travelled to and from the ISS aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule, has called for more ambition in Europe in terms of crewed flights.
European space firm ArianeGroup, owned by Airbus and French group Safran, says it is ready to develop a reusable two-stage launcher capable of carrying astronauts.
Philippe Baptiste, president of France's CNES space agency, says such a launcher would pave the way for Moon and Mars missions, but he said Europe's space ambitions remain a political question.
That question takes on particular significance in the runup to a European space summit in the French city of Toulouse on February 16.
An ESA ministerial meeting will be held in November to lay out priorities and budgets for the coming years.
- Mere passengers -
The ESA's 2021 space exploration budget stood at 735 million euros ($822 million) -- just seven percent of NASA's.
Meanwhile, private-sector funding in space-related companies exceeded $10 billion last year -- an all-time high -- and investors are directing more funds to Moon projects and further from Earth's orbit, according to the McKinsey consultancy.
Lacking its own vehicle, the ESA will seek to secure a spot for a European on a NASA Moon mission by proposing to develop a lunar supply lander, Didier Schmitt, the agency' head of exploration strategy, told Bsmart online media.
Europe is already guaranteed three stays on NASA's Gateway, a space station that will orbit the Moon with several European-built modules.
But even NASA has had to rely on SpaceX for flights to the ISS as the US space agency works on a new vessel to replace the mothballed space shuttle programme.
German astronaut Alexander Gerst warns that using private hardware could see his colleagues denied full access to data.
"I see that from my colleagues who were training now for example with SpaceX with the Dragon, it's a totally different game. They're not partners on an equal level anymore, they are actually more like passengers," he said.
"They're not allowed to have access to all the information anymore, so it is a step back."
- 'Economic rationale' -
Europe tried to have its own manned spacecraft before. The Hermes programme, however, was abandoned in 1992 after delays and failure to meet cost and performance goals.
Jean-Jacques Tortora, director of the Vienna-based European Space Policy Institute, said arguments in favour of a European space programme lack an "economic rationale."
"Essentially, it is about political objectives, if Europe has the desire to be a space power or not," Tortora said.
In last week's Brussels conference none of the ministerial level representatives from France, Germany or Italy -- which together put up some 60 percent of the ESA budget -- mentioned crewed European flight as a priority.
That did not deter ESA chief Aschbacher, who said he is not "asking for a decision today or in three weeks."
O.Norris--AMWN