Current Science News Highlights: Boeing's Starliner, Earth's Preservation, China's Lunar Triumph

Recent science news briefs cover significant events such as Boeing's Starliner capsule facing technical issues delaying its return, a study suggesting that protecting 1.2% of Earth's land could prevent most extinctions, and China's Chang'e-6 moon probe successfully returning with samples from the moon's far side.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Explainer-How Boeing's Starliner can bring its astronauts back to Earth

Problems with Boeing's Starliner capsule, still docked at the International Space Station (ISS), have upended the original plans for its return of its two astronauts to Earth, as last-minute fixes and tests draw out a mission crucial to the future of Boeing's space division. NASA has rescheduled the planned return three times, and now has no date set for it. Since its June 5 liftoff, the capsule has had five helium leaks, five maneuvering thrusters go dead and a propellant valve fail to close completely, prompting the crew in space and mission managers in Houston to spend more time than expected pursuing fixes mid-mission.

Protecting 1.2% of Earth would prevent most extinctions, study says

Setting aside an additional 1.2% of the world's land as nature preserves would prevent the majority of predicted plant and animal extinctions and cost about $263 billion, according to a study published on Tuesday. The world is racing to meet a goal to protect 30% of the world by 2030 to protect wildlife that is being decimated by climate change, pollution and habitat destruction.

China's Chang'e-6 moon probe lands back on Earth

China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe landed on Tuesday in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, making the country the first to bring back samples from the moon's far side. The reentry capsule touched down at 2:07 p.m. Beijing time (0607 GMT), according to state broadcaster CCTV, carrying lunar soil collected earlier in the month by the probe after a successful landing on the moon's South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater on the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.