Science News Roundup: Ethiopia's first satellite; Amazon rainforest to be monitored from space and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Ethiopia launches first satellite into space

Ethiopia launched its first satellite into space on Friday, as more sub-Saharan African nations strive to develop space programs to advance their development goals and encourage scientific innovation. Before dawn on Friday, senior officials and citizens gathered at the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre just north of the capital Addis Ababa to watch a live broadcast of the satellite's launch from a space station in China.

China-Brazil satellite launched into space to monitor Amazon rainforest

An Earth observation satellite jointly developed by China and Brazil was launched into space on Friday under a bilateral program seen as a template for broader cooperation among BRICS nations. The China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A was launched on a Long March-4B rocket in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Boeing's failed Starliner mission strains 'reliability' pitch

Boeing Co's stunted Friday debut of its astronaut capsule threatens to dent the U.S. aerospace incumbent's self-declared competitive advantage of mission reliability against the price and innovation strengths of "new space" players like Elon Musk's SpaceX. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, has anchored its attempt to repel space visionaries like Musk and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos partly on its mission safety record built up over decades of space travel.

Boeing's Starliner astronaut capsule fails key test to reach space station

Boeing Co's new astronaut capsule failed after liftoff on Friday to climb high enough in orbit to reach the International Space Station, cutting short a critical unmanned test mission in the embattled aerospace giant's race to send humans to the orbital outpost. The CST-100 Starliner astronaut capsule was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, but an automated timer error, which Boeing could not immediately explain, prevented the spacecraft from attaining the orbit that would have put it on track to rendezvous and dock with the space station, NASA said.