The first all-female spacewalk at the International Space Station was planned for March 29 with astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch, but it's now off because NASA doesn't have the proper spacesuit size available for McClain.
As NASA explains, McClain "learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso — essentially the shirt of the spacesuit — fits her best." Since Koch also wears a medium, and only one suit in that size will be ready by Friday, the mission will now consist of Koch and a male astronaut, Nick Hague. NASA says that McClain is "tentatively scheduled" for a spacewalk on April 8 with a male astronaut, David Saint-Jacques.
While it might sound odd that McClain would just now be finding out what the right size for her is, Engadget points out that "there is no way to simulate the extended effects of zero gravity" on the body beforehand, also observing that McClain said in early March she had grown by two inches since she launched. And there actually are two medium sizes on the station; it's just that only one is configured for a spacewalk, and the other won't be ready in time for Friday, The New York Times reports.
NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz told The Washington Post that despite this setback, the first all-female spacewalk is "inevitable." Brendan Morrow
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has revealed details of her proposal to give public school teachers a raise.
The 2020 Democrat is proposing an increase in federal spending with the goal of funding an average salary increase of $13,500 for public school teachers by the end of her first four years in office, CNN reports. The Harris campaign says this will cost $315 billion over 10 years, and she plans to pay for it with changes to estate tax, per NBC News.
Harris' proposal involves the federal government in the first year providing 10 percent of the funding to states to close what she has described as the salary gap between teachers and other college-educated graduates, Vox explains. States would receive incentives to contribute, and in subsequent years, the federal government would provide $3 for every $1 from the state.
Harris said during a recent speech per The Wall Street Journal that with this proposal, the question is "what's the return on the investment," and "on this, the investment will be our future." Brendan Morrow
MMA fighter Conor McGregor just announced his retirement — for the second time.
McGregor, who earned himself a six-month suspension in January for his role in a post-fight brawl after UFC 229, announced early on Tuesday that he is retiring "from the sport formally known as 'Mixed Martial Art.'" He added that he wishes "all my old colleagues well going forward in competition" and now joins "my former partners on this venture, already in retirement."
But no one was sure whether to take McGregor's announcement at face value, especially because he previously said he was retiring in 2016. "I have decided to retire young," he tweeted at the time. McGregor took this back just two days later, but his retirement could be real this time, with the phrasing of his tweet suggesting he could continue his career in boxing or wrestling. It's a real boy-who-cried-wolf scenario.
McGregor's Tuesday announcement also came just hours after his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, during which he said he's "in talks" for his next UFC fight in July and that he's "ready" for it, although "we'll see what happens" because "there's a lot of politics." The timing led fans to speculate McGregor's retirement announcement is simply a negotiating tactic.
UFC President Dana White reacted to McGregor's news Tuesday by saying that "it totally makes sense" and that "if I was him, I would retire too," per MMA Junkie. It remains to be seen how real all of this is, but if this retirement announcement is anything like the previous one, we may only need to wait two days to find out. Brendan Morrow
The hope among some Democrats that President Trump might be removed through impeachment took a hit when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) poured cold water on the idea earlier this month. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report, as filtered through Attorney General William Barr, appears to have quashed those hopes completely, "at least for now," The Washington Post reports.
Pelosi "and members of her leadership team agreed in a Monday night huddle that the caucus needs to stop talking about collusion with Russia because it was distracting from their legislative agenda." Notably, three people familiar with the meeting told the Post, liberal Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Trump-district Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) "both argued that the House needs to megaphone pocketbook issues that won them the majority."
House Democrats still plan to demand Barr release Mueller's complete report and supplemental material, and members of all ideological stripes say it's important to continue investigating Trump's administration and actions, the Post said. "Some House Democrats suggested Monday that they will double down on a strategy of attempting to cripple Trump with what one aide described as 'a thousand cuts.'"
The group of Democrats least affected by Mueller's report may be the 2020 presidential candidates, who haven't been talking much about Mueller or impeachment and aren't being asked about the subject. "Indeed, Democratic strategists have long said their party's best message for next year's election — absent a stunning revelation from the Mueller report — would focus on pocketbook issues like health care," McClatchy reports. "Polls show voters care more about those subjects, and Democrats were able to use a message fixated on protections for pre-existing conditions to gain 40 seats in the House last year." In that realm, at least, Trump is providing plenty of fodder. Peter Weber