The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight.

The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They launched Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, AP reported.

America’s most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, is the commander of the visiting crew. She works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight.

Besides Whitson, the crew includes India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency’s project astronauts on temporary flight duty.

No one has ever visited the International Space Station from those countries before. The time anyone rocketed into orbit from those countries was in the late 1970s and 1980s, traveling with the Soviets.

Speaking in both English and their native languages, the new arrivals shared hugs and handshakes with the space station’s seven full-time residents, celebrating with drink pouches sipped through straws. Six nations were represented: four from the U.S., three from Russia and one each from Japan, India, Poland and Hungary.

“We have so many countries at the same time on the space station,” Kapu said, adding that seven of the 11 astronauts are first-time space fliers “which also tells me how much space is expanding.”

Added Uznanski-Wisniewski: “We will all try to do the best representing our countries.” Shukla rated the experience so far as “fantastic … wonderful.”

The space station’s commander, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, said he was happy to finally see their smiling faces after “waiting for you guys so long.” Whitson also made note of the lengthy delay and preflight quarantine.

To stay healthy, the four newcomers went into quarantine on May 25, stuck in it as their launch kept getting delayed. The latest postponement was for space station leak monitoring, NASA wanted to make sure everything was safe following repairs to a longtime leak on the Russian side of the outpost.

It’s the fourth Axiom-sponsored flight to the space station since 2022. The company is one of several that are developing their own space stations due to launch in the coming years. NASA plans to abandon the International Space Station in 2030 after more than three decades of operation, and is encouraging private ventures to replace it.

President Donald Trump announced he will sign an executive order this week extending the deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by another 90 days—pushing the deadline into mid-September.

This extension marks the third reprieve since the original ban deadline passed on January 19 under a US protection Act.

Trump justified the move by emphasizing ongoing efforts to finalize a sale while ensuring U.S. user data protection.

Critics argue Trump’s repeated extensions may exceed legal authority, citing that the law permits only one such extension .

Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike have voiced concerns, warning that the law’s requirements haven’t been met and further delays could undermine U.S. national security.

A near-final deal led by Oracle was disrupted after new U.S. tariffs triggered Beijing’s refusal to approve the transaction.

With China’s approval still pending and legal limits tested, analysts express skepticism over whether further extensions are viable or sustainable.

In a medical breakthrough, a Chinese surgical team has completed the world’s first intercontinental robotic prostatectomy, successfully connecting a surgeon in Rome with a patient undergoing surgery in Beijing.

The operation, hailed as a major leap forward for telesurgery, showcased how advanced technology can eliminate geographical barriers in delivering highly specialized medical care.

Dr. Zhang Xu, head of urology at the PLA General Hospital in Beijing, led the procedure entirely from Italy, remotely controlling robotic surgical instruments located more than 8,000 kilometers away in China.

Using a cutting-edge robotic system and powered by ultra-fast 5G and high-speed fiber-optic networks, the surgery was executed with real-time precision.

The low-latency digital connection was essential to ensure accurate, responsive control — a technical challenge that was once considered a major hurdle to remote surgery.

A standby surgical team was present in Beijing to assist in case of emergencies, but the entire procedure was directed by Zhang from Europe, marking an unprecedented demonstration of international surgical collaboration.

This landmark operation signals a promising future for telemedicine, especially for rural and underserved regions. It illustrates a world in which expert surgeons can operate from thousands of miles away, bringing top-tier care to places that lack access to advanced medical facilities.