Nasa’s veteran astronauts are set to blast off on Boeing’s first human space flight next week – a test flight that will help determine whether the company is ready to begin commercial operations.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will head to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Boeing CST-100 capsule for a two-week stay after launching from Florida. The launch was initially mean to be on May 6 (May 7, UAE time), but due to a pressure valve issue was postponed to May 17, and since then has been pushed to May 21 after reports of a helium leak.
The spacecraft will blast off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V, broadcast live on Nasa’s website and social media channels.
The crew took part in a media briefing on Wednesday from their quarantine quarters in Florida.
“Our mission is primarily a test mission and it’s really flying the spacecraft to the space station, docking and then checking it out while it's docked to make sure that it could be a safe haven and that it can remain docked to the space station for a number of months,” said Ms Williams.
Beginning commercial operations would help Boeing transport astronauts for Nasa and private clients to and from the ISS.
The company is contracted under Nasa’s Commercial Crew Programme, which seeks to launch and return agency astronauts on privately owned spacecraft.
SpaceX is also part of the programme and has been launching crew for Nasa since 2020.
Meet the crew
Ms Williams, a retired Navy captain, has logged 322 days in space and completed seven spacewalks totalling 50 hours and 40 minutes.
“I think it's going to be like going back home – both of us have lived there for six months and pretty much know the space station,” she said.
Mr Wilmore is a US Navy captain who has spent a total of 178 days in space. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000.
He said that the skills he gained as an astronaut and a navy captain have helped him to train for this mission.
“I don't think either one of us ever dreamt that we'd be associated with the first flight of a brand-new spacecraft,” he said.
“The training we both received at Navy Test Pilot School … has been invaluable for the process.”
Arriving to launch pad like Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick
The former navy captains said they felt like they were part of Top Gun: Maverick, a 2022 film in which Tom Cruise's character returns to a navy piloting school to train top aviators.
Mr Wilmore said they would be playing parts of the movie on the way to the launch pad, while riding in Boeing's new AstroVan II.
"You're riding in the AstroVan – it's got cushioned seats and, of course, it's got a big video screen in the back," he said.
"And, as you would expect from two navy test pilots, you know what movie we put on: of course, it was Top Gun: Maverick.
"We've actually asked them [if they could] edit it and put in only the flying scenes and the dramatic scenes.
"And we will watch [it] on the way out to the pad on Monday night."
Watch: Inside the starliner capsule
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
The five pillars of Islam
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox
Price, base / as tested: Dh76,900 / Dh110,900
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
Gearbox: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: Torque: 352Nm @ 2,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.5L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
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Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
From this question, a new destiny.
For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
To return the many to the one.
A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
We reflect all cultures, all ways.
We are a twenty first century wonder.
Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
Now is the turning point of cultures and hopes.
Come with questions, leave with visions.
We are the link between the past and the future.
Here, through art, new possibilities are born. And
new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
Because we are mirrors of each other.
Because together we create new worlds.
Together we are more powerful than we know.
We connect, we inspire, we multiply illuminations
with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
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