Science News Roundup: Chinese astronauts return after 90-day mission to space station; A ukulele in space? Inspiration4 crew shows a playful side in orbit and more

Inspiration4 crew shows a playful side in orbit A 42-year-old data engineer on the first all-civilian astronaut crew to reach orbit made some spaceflight history on Friday, with a zero-gravity ukulele performance in a SpaceX capsule hundreds of miles above Earth's surface.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Chinese astronauts return after 90-day mission to space station

Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after a 90-day visit to an unfinished space station in the country's first crewed mission since 2016. In a small return capsule, the three men - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo - landed safely in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the north of China at 1:34 p.m. (0534 GMT), state media reported.

A ukulele in space? Inspiration4 crew shows a playful side in orbit

A 42-year-old data engineer on the first all-civilian astronaut crew to reach orbit made some spaceflight history on Friday, with a zero-gravity ukulele performance in a SpaceX capsule hundreds of miles above Earth's surface. Chris Sembroski, a Lockheed Martin employee and U.S. Air Force veteran, strummed a few chords for home-bound viewers during a 10-minute show-and-tell session by the four-member Inspiration4 team as they flew at about 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 km per hour) over Europe.

SpaceX capsule with world's first all-civilian orbital crew returns safely

The quartet of newly minted citizen astronauts comprising the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission safely splashed down in the Atlantic off Florida's coast on Saturday, completing a three-day flight of the first all-civilian crew ever sent into Earth orbit. The successful launch and return of the mission, the latest in a recent string of rocket-powered expeditions bankrolled by their billionaire passengers, marked another milestone in the fledgling industry of commercial astro-tourism, 60 years after the dawn of human spaceflight.

Study rewrites understanding of modern Japan's genetic ancestry

An analysis of ancient DNA is transforming the understanding of the genetic ancestry of Japan's modern-day population, identifying a crucial contribution from people who arrived about 1,700 years ago and helped revolutionize Japanese culture. Research published on Friday showed that the people of Japan bear genetic signatures from three ancient populations rather than just two as previously thought - a more complex ancestry for the archipelago nation of roughly 125 million.

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