A new crew arrived on the International Space Station on Friday to replace three astronauts who were forced to carry out a year-long mission after their spacecraft suffered catastrophic damage.
Nasa astronaut Loral O’Hara and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub lifted off aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7.44pm, UAE time.
They will take over from US astronaut Frank Rubio and Russia's Dmitry Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev, who are expected to return to Earth on September 27.
"The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying O’Hara, as well as Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos, docked to the station’s Rassvet module at 2.53pm EDT (10.53pm UAE time)," said Nasa.
Why did they spend a year in space?
Mr Frank and his two Russian colleagues travelled to the ISS on September 21, 2022, for what was meant to be a six-month mission.
But three months after docking, their Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was damaged beyond repair – reportedly from a meteor strike that caused a coolant leak.
It was too dangerous for the crew to return on the damaged craft, so Nasa and Russian officials decided to extend their mission by six months.
A rescue craft, the Soyuz MS-23, was sent to the station in February with 430kg of supplies, and will bring the astronauts back.
Record-setting stay on the ISS
The extended stay means Mr Rubio has set the US record for the longest spaceflight by an astronaut.
When he lands on Earth, Mr Rubio will have spent 371 days in space, beating Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s record of 355 days.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson spoke to Mr Rubio on Wednesday to thank him for his service.
"It was unexpected. In some ways, it's been an incredible challenge," Mr Rubio said in the live call.
"But in other ways, it's been an incredible blessing. I count myself lucky and honoured to be able to represent the agency and our country."
His colleagues praised his work on the space station.
US astronaut Woody Hoburg, who returned from a six-month mission earlier this month, said during his farewell speech on the ISS that he was impressed by Mr Rubio.
“His leadership up here has been incredible. He's been amazing to work with. And Frank is just making a huge sacrifice being away from his family for so long," he said.
“I just want to really recognise the service he's given to us at the space station.”
The extended trip will mean the Russians also set a new record for the longest spaceflight aboard the ISS by a Russian cosmonaut.
Mr Petelin and Mr Prokopyev will beat the time set by their colleagues, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, of 355 days.
Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who died last year, holds the world record for the longest single stay in space. He spent 437 days on the Mir space station.
Who is the replacement crew?
This is Ms O'Hara's and Mr Chub's first spaceflight and Mr Kononenko's fifth mission.
The Russian cosmonauts will spend a year on the ISS and will return on the Soyuz MS-26 craft in September, 2024.
Ms O'Hara will be there for six months.
"I video chatted with Frank Rubio, who's on board the space station right now waiting for me to get there so he can come home," she said during a briefing on August 23.
Brief scores:
Toss: Kerala Knights, opted to fielf
Pakhtoons 109-5 (10 ov)
Fletcher 32; Lamichhane 3-17
Kerala Knights 110-2 (7.5 ov)
Morgan 46 not out, Stirling 40
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
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There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
