Science News Roundup: International Space Station thrown out of control by misfire of Russian module -NASA; Space station mishap prompts NASA to postpone launch of Boeing Starliner and more

The seven crew members aboard - two Russian cosmonauts, three NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a European space agency astronaut from France - were never in any immediate danger, according to NASA and Russian state-owned news agency RIA. Space station mishap prompts NASA to postpone launch of Boeing Starliner NASA on Thursday postponed a planned launch of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule to the International Space Station after the orbiting outpost was briefly thrown out of control by jet thrusters inadvertently activated on a newly docked Russian module, NASA said.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

International Space Station thrown out of control by misfire of Russian module -NASA

The International Space Station (ISS) was thrown briefly out of control on Thursday when jet thrusters of a newly arrived Russian research module inadvertently fired a few hours after it was docked to the orbiting outpost, NASA officials said. The seven crew members aboard - two Russian cosmonauts, three NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut, and a European space agency astronaut from France - were never in any immediate danger, according to NASA and Russian state-owned news agency RIA.

Space station mishap prompts NASA to postpone launch of Boeing Starliner

NASA on Thursday postponed a planned launch of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule to the International Space Station after the orbiting outpost was briefly thrown out of control by jet thrusters inadvertently activated on a newly docked Russian module, NASA said. The Starliner launch delay was announced a day before it was due for blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Boeing Lockheed Martin Corp Atlas V rocket. NASA said the space agency and Boeing decided to push back the launch date to Aug. 3, with Aug. 4 set as an immediate backup.

"There is contact!" - Russia's new Nauka space module docks with ISS

Russia upgraded its capabilities on the International Space Station on Thursday after its new Nauka module, set to serve as a research lab, storage unit, and airlock, successfully docked with it after a nervy journey from Earth. A live broadcast from Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, showed the module, a multipurpose laboratory named after the Russian word for 'science', docking with the ISS at 1329 GMT, a few minutes later than scheduled.

Sponge-like Canadian fossils may be earliest sign of animal life

Fossils found in rugged mountainous terrain in Canada's Northwest Territories may give a glimpse at the humble dawn of animal life on Earth - sea sponges that inhabited primordial reefs built by bacteria roughly 890 million years ago. A Canadian researcher said on Wednesday the fossils, dating to a time called the Neoproterozoic Period, appear to show distinctive microstructures from the body of a sea sponge built similarly to a species living today called the Mediterranean bath sponge, or Spongia Officinalis.

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