Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

NASA’s Crew-8 spacecraft recently docked with the International Space Station on its mission to deposit three US astronauts for a sixth-month stay. Their arrival was recorded with a video of a pile-on group hug in microgravity.

Yet there was another passenger on board—Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.

It isn’t editorializing to say that US-Russia relations are the worst they’ve been since the worst days of the Cold War. Yet despite their differences, there’s one long and grand tradition they have always shared: peaceful cooperation and coexistence in space.

In the video, thrilled that their colleagues made it to the ISS safely, and thrilled, one would imagine, with the mere presence of new faces, Crew-8 mission commander Matthew Dominic is mobbed by NASA Crew-7 mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli and Soyuz-24 mission flight engineer Marina Vasilevskaya.

The three astronauts’ group hug begins to float toward the ceiling when Dominic realizes just in time that they will all get a nasty bump on their heads if he doesn’t stop them.

Dominic then moves to greet Soyuz-24 mission commander Oleg Kononenko while the rest of his crew follow behind, hugging those wearing the red, white, and blue and the white, blue, and red.

NASA astronauts Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps arrived in the Crew capsule Endeavor with Grebenkin for a six-month stay to relieve the Crew-7 mission team that arrived in the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance. 

The mission was the fifth flight for the Endurance, and is the first SpaceX Crew Dragon to reach that milestone. Currently, the craft is rated for a maximum of five flights, but Space News reports that the company has sat down with NASA to study extending that certification to as many as 15 flights based on performance.

Astronauts have a unique way of seeing the world, figuratively and literally. Looking down on our home from low-Earth orbit day after day, they realize (and they all say they do) that space is an incredibly harsh environment, and everything we humans have and need is concentrated on this single planet with no alternative.

The video shows what they think of the current tensions in US-Russia relations, and perhaps we should all take a leaf out of their book.©

The good news in this article is that humans with a common goal can accomplish much, regardless of their differences.  Today’s John Ku talks about cooperation. I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Together by John W. Howell © 2024

Separately, work’s hard,

But together makes a job . . .

Easier to do.

WATCH the micrograv group hug below… 

Dispersed around the UK, hundreds of heroic volunteers soak themselves to the skin on early spring nights in order to save toads, frogs, and newts from being squished under the tires of passing cars.

This network of volunteer societies is literally transforming England by slowly walking across dark asphalt with a high-beam flashlight and a high-visibility jacket, picking up amphibians and dropping them into a bucket for safe transport across the road.

They are reducing the toll of roadkill on local amphibian populations by enormous amounts and ensuring they can keep up their valuable ecosystem services like keeping insect populations in check and filling the spring air with their soft croaking songs.

If you don’t live in a wet or rain-prone area, and you’ve never been on the road during frog/toad mating season, you might think, “How hard is it to just avoid running them over?” But it’s not that simple, for starters, because they can gather in such numbers that swerving to avoid one puts your tires on another, and small frogs and newts look just like leaves and twigs on the dark tarmac through a rain-splattered windshield.

Last year, England’s 203 amphibian rescue groups saved at least 115,000 animals from roads.

The Guardian’s Adrian Sherratt went out one night with Charlcombe Toad Rescue near the ancient city of Bath to photograph and participate in a rainy night’s rescue operations.

This group has brought the number of amphibian deaths from road crossings down to 3% from 60%. When you think that in March, hundreds of mama toads and frogs cross the street with bellies full of eggs, that equates to the survival of thousands of animals.

Bath is renowned for wet areas and hot springs, and frogs and toads need to reach these bodies of water to mate or lay eggs. But being a well-developed area, it involves crossing a lot of roads.

“I find it very emotional, actually,” said Angela, a Charlcombe volunteer. “And it becomes more emotional as you do it. You see a creature that’s so vulnerable just sitting there, and you can see it’s pregnant and bulging with babies. You want them to have a fighting chance of making it to their breeding grounds.”

Charlcombe has been active during the breeding seasons since 2003 and has saved over 40,000 animals from roads. There is a waiting list to join the 50 or so volunteers needed for the operation, which also crowdfunds a £1,500 sum to pay for the main road to be closed during the breeding season.

Froglife is a charity that coordinates the mass data collection that these efforts generate. They also help connect those desiring to volunteer with toad patrols in their area.

On that note, there are dozens and dozens of toad patrol groups that need new members, particularly in Cheshire, Lancashire, and the Isle of Wight.

Today’s JohnKu applauds there volunteers. I hope you have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Frogs,toads, and newts by John W. Howell © 2012

Frogs, toads, newts, oh my,

Such lowly creatures and yet . . .

There are folks who care.