JetBlue flight

drops altitude

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Officials say at least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured after a sudden drop in altitude forced an emergency landing in Florida.

The Thursday flight from Cancun to Newark, New Jersey, was diverted to Tampa International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says the flight crew experienced “a flight control issue” and that it is investigating.

A spokesperson for the local fire department said Friday that between 15 and 20 passengers were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. JetBlue says it has taken the Airbus A320 out of service for inspection and will investigate the cause.

Space Station

marks 25 years

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station is marking 25 years of nonstop human presence in orbit. Nearly 300 people have lived aboard the scientific outpost. The visitors are mostly professional astronauts, but also the occasional space tourist and movie director.

With only five years left at the complex, NASA is counting on private companies to launch their own orbiting stations with an even bigger and wider clientele. NASA is paying SpaceX nearly $1 billion to boot the space station from orbit in early 2031.

The station’s first full-time residents — one American and two Russians — opened the hatch in 2000.