LIVESTREAM: Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi's historic ISS launch
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the UAE's Sultan Al Neyadi and his three fellow astronauts to space has been moved to the launch pad.
Dr Al Neyadi is setting off on a six-month mission to the International Space Station. A launch is scheduled to take place on Monday at 10.45am GST.
On Friday, a static fire test — a ground test where the rocket’s engines are fired — will be carried out to ensure it is flight-ready.
The reusable booster rocket with the Dragon crew capsule on top will lift off from Launch Pad 39A at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
“Falcon 9 and Dragon rolling out of the hangar at Launch Complex 39A,” SpaceX tweeted.
The company was also meant to be launching a group of Starlink satellites on Sunday from another pad but said it was prioritising the Crew-6 launch.
“Team is completing pre-flight checkouts and setting up for no earlier than Sunday, February 26, for launch of Starlink; launch of Crew-6, which has priority, is currently targeted for Monday, February 27,” SpaceX said.
“If weather and all other aspects of Crew-6 are go, we’ll stand down from Sunday’s launch attempt of Starlink.”
The Crew-6 launch was delayed by a day to give SpaceX more time to get the rocket and spacecraft ready.
Nasa and SpaceX said they were analysing data from all previous Falcon 9 launches, after seeing evidence of combustion in the engine bay of a booster that launched previously.
That booster had been flown 12 times and the one carrying the crew is on its first flight.
“I don’t think those things are going to be a concern for the crewed flight but we don’t take things for granted. We want to make sure they’re really ready,” SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said on Tuesday.
There are other back-up launch dates of February 28 and from March 2 to 4 if things do not go as planned.
Steve Stich, commercial crew programme manager at Nasa, said that it was too early to forecast the weather for a launch.
The crew arrived in Florida on Tuesday and are in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Centre.
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
Race results:
1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min
2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec
3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m
7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m
8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m
9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m
