In October 1997, a spacecraft called the Cassini orbiter was launched on a mission to explore Saturn and its moons.
Now, after nearly 20 years in space, Cassini’s mission is coming to an end. Cassini is running out of fuel. Scientists expect it to burn up in Saturn’s atmosphere in September.
But before that happens, the spacecraft will make a series of dives between Saturn and its rings, sending photographs and other information back to Earth.
Other News
Trump Fires FBI Director
US president Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI last week. When he did that, he shocked many people. The FBI is a special organization in the United States that investigates (looks carefully at) problems and issues. The FBI has been investigating an issue that Donald Trump cares about. They have been trying to figure out if some people in Russia influenced the US election, and helped get Trump elected. (No outside country is allowed to affect the results of a US election.)
French Elect Emmanuel Macron As President
France has a new president. On May 7, the French people elected Emmanuel Macron.
It was an important decision for France. Macron’s opponent was Marine Le Pen, a “far-right” politician. If she had won, France may have pulled out of the European Union* (EU). That would have meant big changes not only for France, but possibly the whole EU.
Many people in Europe are relieved that Macron won the election. Macron is a “centrist” politician, which means he’s in the “middle” – not too far “left” or “right.”** His win means that France will stay in the European Union.
Researchers Pay People To Stay In Bed
Getting paid to stay in bed all day sounds pretty good. But what if someone offered you $23,000 to stay in bed for two months? That’s the deal that a medical research team in Toulouse, France, is offering to 24 volunteers.
Researchers at MEDES, the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology, are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of weightlessness on the human body by spending 60 days lying down. Lying in bed isn’t exactly the same as being weightless, but the effects on the human body are similar.
High School Journalists Uncover Info About Principal
When a group of high school students set out to write a profile of their new principal for the school newspaper, they didn’t expect the principal would end up losing her job as a result.
On March 6, the school board in Pittsburg, Kansas in the United States, announced that it had hired Amy Robertson as the new principal for Pittsburg High School. Robertson was going to start her new job in July.
Malala Yousafzai Becomes Honourary Canadian
Malala Yousafzai has a message for Canadian kids: Don’t wait, to make a difference. Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can’t be a leader.
Yousafzai is an activist for children’s rights, and particularly the right for girls to get an education.
In this case, “activist” means that she tries to get that message out, no matter how difficult that may be for her.
100th Anniversary of Battle of Vimy Ridge
On April 9, Canadians commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War.
Vimy Ridge is in France, and it was there that a Canadian military force took back the area from the Germans in a battle that many people at the time considered unwinnable.
The Cat Came Back… Four Years Later
Booboo the cat was a stray, wandering around in Guelph, Ontario in Canada.
Someone brought her into the Guelph humane society. When the employees there checked Booboo’s microchip* to see where she was from, they found something that surprised them.
It turns out, Booboo was from California, in the United States–more than 3,000 kilometres away. She had gone missing in 2013, four years ago.
A Different View Of The World
Students at public schools in Boston, Massachusetts, will soon be looking at the world in a new way. Social studies teachers there will be using a new type of map that shows the world’s continents in slightly different sizes and positions than we usually see them.
Toronto Cafe Offers More Than Coffee (UPDATED)
Coco, Latte and Leo are hanging out at a cafe in Toronto. But they’re not humans–they’re cats. Meow Cat Cafe is one of four locations in the Canadian city where cat lovers can indulge in two of their favourite things: drinking coffee and playing with cats.
“Petting the cats is very healing. It calms people,” said Erica Yun, the owner of the cafe.
While Yun and her daughter, Helen, serve up coffee, customers get their feline fix.
