Space science
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We include updates on Sunita Williams, Solar System, Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Meteor Crater, Rakesh Sharma, Air Medal, Captain EO, Achievement Medal, Commendation Medal, Disney Wish, Roche limit, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Maggie Aderin-Pocock ... and more.
| June 10 2025 | Scheduled launch date for the Axiom 4 mission to the International Space Station, with Peggy Whitson serving as mission commander. |
| 2025 | Awarded European Research Council Synergy Grant GERACLE, providing research funding from 2025 to 2031. |
| April 28 2025 | First scheduled activation of ACES to establish communications with ground control and stabilize thermal systems. |
| April 21 2025 | ACES began its planned 18-30 month operations phase, externally mounted to the ESA's Columbus Laboratory. |
| April 21 2025 | ACES launched to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying two atomic clocks: a caesium laser cooled atomic clock (PHARAO) from CNES, France, and an active hydrogen maser (SHM) from Spectratime, Switzerland. |
| 2025 |
Flight of Fear
At Kings Dominion, Flight of Fear was integrated into the Jungle X-Pedition area with new colors supporting the Whey Foundation research.
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| March 28 2025 |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
A new nighttime projection show titled 'Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga' debuted in Galaxy's Edge during the 'Season of the Force' event.
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| March 26 2025 |
Flight of Fear
At Kings Dominion, 20 riders were trapped on the Flight of Fear roller coaster due to a malfunction during the ride's launch sequence. The riders were stranded for several hours before being safely evacuated by emergency responders. No injuries were reported.
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| March 26 2025 |
Tomorrowland
Magic Kingdom announced that an unspecified original attraction would be temporarily closed in August 2025 for refurbishment, set to reopen in 2026 with new vehicles, blasters, targets, animatronics, and scenes as part of Walt Disney World Resort's 55th anniversary celebration.
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| March 26 2025 |
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Magic Kingdom announced the original version of the attraction would be temporarily closed in August 2025 for refurbishment, with plans to reopen in 2026 as part of Walt Disney World Resort's 55th anniversary celebration.
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| March 18 2025 | Williams returned to Earth with Crew-9, landing safely in the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida, after being stranded on the ISS for over nine months due to technical problems including helium leaks and propulsion system malfunctions. |
| March 16 2025 | Earth return delayed until this date following the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. |
| March 16 2025 | Scheduled return to Earth after her extended mission on the International Space Station. |
| March 2025 |
John Z. Kiss
John Z. Kiss conducts Fluid Dynamics at Lunar Gravity (FD@LG) project aboard Blue Origin New Shepard mission NS-29, studying fluid dynamics in lunar gravity conditions.
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| March 14 2025 |
John Z. Kiss
Kiss was interviewed on the WMFE-FM 'Are We There Yet?' podcast to discuss the Blue Origin experiment, sharing insights from his space research.
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| 2025 |
Heliophysics missions
NASA's EZIE mission is planned for launch in this year, focusing on studying electric currents in Earth's atmosphere related to geomagnetic activities.
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| March 12 2025 | Became the first Head of Space for the Science Museum, London, responsible for science communication and engagement, and supporting curators. |
| March 7 2025 | Williams handed over command of the International Space Station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin during a formal ceremony. |
| February 12 2025 | Chutes & Ladders Climb & Slide Park reopened with a new design. |
| 2024 | Won the Bruno Rossi Prize with Paolo Soffitta and the IXPE team for developing the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. |
| 2024 |
Achievement Medal
Tim Walz was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in the 2024 U.S. election, indicating a significant political milestone in his career.
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| 2024 |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
A new nighttime show called 'Fire of the Rising Moons' debuted in Galaxy's Edge, using selections from John Williams' Star Wars film scores.
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| 2024 |
Tomorrowland
Completion of the Marvel area and planned opening of the Avengers Quinjet E-Ticket attraction, taking over the former Autopia circuit, as part of Stark Expo.
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| 2024 |
John Z. Kiss
Concludes faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
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| December 2024 | In December, Sunita Williams was included on the BBC's 100 Women list. |
| October 31 2024 |
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Tokyo Disneyland's Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters attraction was closed, reducing the global presence of the ride.
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| September 2024 | Sunita Williams took command of the International Space Station (ISS) for the second time in her career, a position she will hold until her return in 2025. |
| August 2024 | Began a mission with fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore to conduct scientific experiments and maintenance tasks aboard the International Space Station. |
| August 2024 | Williams returned to the International Space Station as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test, the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner. |
| August 24 2024 | Became one of the top 30 astronauts by time spent in space. |
| August 24 2024 | Sunita Williams entered the top 30 in time-in-space duration among astronauts, with expectations to rank in the top 12 when she returns in 2025. |
| June 5 2024 | Sunita Williams became the first woman to fly on a flight test of an orbital spacecraft when the Starliner launched to orbit with her as the spacecraft's pilot. |
| April 2024 | Confirmed as the commander of Axiom 4, a 16-day mission to the International Space Station with a four-person crew, scheduled to launch no earlier than May 2025. |
| April 2024 |
Tomorrowland
Oriental Land Company announced that Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters would be closing and replaced with a Wreck-It Ralph attraction.
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| April 26 2024 |
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Disney announced the closure of the Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride at Tokyo Disneyland, scheduled to close in October 2024 and be replaced by a Wreck-It Ralph themed attraction in 2026.
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| April 19 2024 |
Space Mountain
Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec are selected to write a script for a Space Mountain film for Disney.
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| April 5 2024 |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
BD droids began making scheduled daily appearances in Galaxy's Edge during the park's 'Season of the Force' event, which ran through June 2.
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| March 18 2024 | Thomas P. Stafford passed away. |
| 2023 |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Disney unveiled AI-powered Star Wars robots developed through a collaboration between Disney Research and Walt Disney Imagineering, showcasing advanced robotics and guest interaction capabilities.
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| 2023 | A part of the first stage of a Titan rocket was transferred to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, expanding its collection of space and missile history artifacts. |
| 2023 | Received IESA Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award for significant contributions to the Indian Space Programme at the Spacetronics and Deftronics Summit. |
| 2023 | Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award by DVCon-India for Accelerating the Indian Design Verification Ecosystem. |
| 2023 |
Tomorrowland
Avatar: Explore Pandora attraction closed at Shanghai Disneyland's Tomorrowland
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| 2023 |
Tomorrowland
New attraction 'Calling All Heroes: Avengers and Heroes of Tomorrow Assemble!' introduced, later redesigned to 'Stark Expo'.
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| 2023 | Awarded an Order of the British Empire 'for services to the Space Sector' in the New Year Honours, and received the Leif Erikson Exploration History Award for preserving the history of female astronauts and space professionals. |
| October 2023 |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Walt Disney Imagineering conducted a play test with roaming BD droids in Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland.
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| September 2023 | Awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree (Honoris Causa) by Bundelkhand University for his significant contributions to ISRO's satellite and space missions, including RISAT, Oceansat, NISAR, and Chandrayaan-3. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), Flight of Fear, John Z. Kiss, Martin C. Weisskopf, List of heliophysics missions, Peggy Whitson, Libby Jackson, Sunita Williams, Space Mountain, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Achievement Medal, Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, Nilesh M Desai, Thomas P. Stafford, Ilya G. Usoskin, B612 Foundation, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Galaxyland, Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space & Jane Lee Fox, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.