Four astronauts began their journey to the International Space Station on Thursday, blasting off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre on board a SpaceX rocket.
The nine first-stage engines of the Falcon 9 roared into life just after 6am Gulf Standard Time, sending the Crew Dragon capsule and its occupants blazing through the darkened Florida skies.
Breaking through the sound barrier after only a minute, the rocket’s first stage then separated from the spacecraft and upper stage, landing autonomously on a SpaceX drone ship waiting in the Atlantic.
Shannon Walker, a Nasa astronaut who flew to space on the Crew-1 mission in November last year, said: "It was one of the most impressive launches I have seen."
Hours earlier, the astronauts smiled and waved as they headed for the launchpad in a convoy of Tesla cars before boarding the capsule.
A SpaceX tracker showed the Dragon capsule flying towards its rendezvous with the ISS.
Thursday's flight was the fourth crewed mission to the ISS under Nasa's partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of electric car maker Tesla.
The Crew-3 mission followed a flurry of high-profile space tourism flights this year, including the September launch of SpaceX Inspiration 4, the first all-civilian crew sent into orbit without a professional astronaut to accompany them.
Originally planned for October 31, Thursday's flight was delayed several times by bad weather over the launch site, and by what Nasa called a “minor medical issue” involving one of the four crew members.
Steve Stich, Nasa’s commercial crew programme manager, said on Tuesday that the astronauts were "all in good shape” ahead of the flight. The agency has not revealed which astronaut was affected by the medical issue.
The delays meant that the astronauts of the previous mission to the ISS, Crew-2, had to return to Earth before their replacements took off. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying those astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.
During that Crew-2 landing, one of the capsule’s four main parachutes was slow to open, fully deploying more than a minute after the other three and throwing up another potential problem for the Crew-3 launch schedule.
But Nasa and SpaceX said they had investigated the parachute issue and found nothing out of the ordinary.
“We don’t see anything that’s off-nominal that concerns us from a parachute standpoint,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX.
“It performed essentially the way it was designed to perform,” he said, adding that SpaceX had observed parachutes deploying more slowly in tests.
Who are the astronauts of Crew-3?
The Crew-3 mission is made up of three Nasa astronauts, Lt Col Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, and German Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.
Lt Col Chari, a US Air Force officer, is commanding the mission.
The astronauts are expected to dock with the ISS at 4.10am on Friday and will spend six months on board the orbital laboratory conducting experiments in botany, material science and health.
The Crew-3 mission is intended to help pave the way for future space exploration and benefit life on Earth.
Only one member of the crew has been to space before.
Mr Marshburn flew on a space shuttle mission in 2009 and then on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from 2012-2013.
Ms Barron is the newest addition to Nasa’s astronaut corps, joining in 2017 after serving in the US Navy’s submarine fleet.
Mr Maurer, a materials science engineer, will become the 12th German to travel to space.
What science experiments will the crew conduct?
The mission’s main scientific aims include experiments to grow plants in space without soil and build optical fibres in microgravity, which research suggests would be better than those made on Earth.
Mr Maurer will help set up the European Robotic Arm on the Russian side of the ISS, and test out an artificial intelligence assistant called Cimon, which was developed by the German space agency DLR, Airbus and IBM.
“It’s an experiment which is really paving the way towards exploration,” he said.
One use envisioned for the AI assistant is to act as a geology expert that could help astronauts on a future mission to Mars, because of the time delay to communications with Earth, he said.
The Crew-3 astronauts will also go on spacewalks to finish upgrading the station’s solar panels.
The crew will also be on the ISS during two tourism missions, hosting Japanese tourists arriving aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the end of 2021 and the SpaceX Axiom crew, which is due to take off in February 2022.
Crew-2 splash down – in pictures
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Jawan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAtlee%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Nayanthara%2C%20Vijay%20Sethupathi%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Letswork%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOmar%20Almheiri%2C%20Hamza%20Khan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20co-working%20spaces%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.1%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20with%20investors%20including%20500%20Global%2C%20The%20Space%2C%20DTEC%20Ventures%20and%20other%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20about%2020%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
SPEC%20SHEET
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Honeymoonish
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
The%20specs%20
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THREE
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Which products are to be taxed?
To be taxed:
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Products excluded from the ‘sweetened drink’ category would contain at least 75 per cent milk in a ready-to-drink form or as a milk substitute, baby formula, follow-up formula or baby food, beverages consumed for medicinal use and special dietary needs determined as per GCC Standardisation Organisation rules
A cheaper choice
Vanuatu: $130,000
Why on earth pick Vanuatu? Easy. The South Pacific country has no income tax, wealth tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. And in 2015, when it was hit by Cyclone Pam, it signed an agreement with the EU that gave it some serious passport power.
Cost: A minimum investment of $130,000 for a family of up to four, plus $25,000 in fees.
Criteria: Applicants must have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The process take six to eight weeks, after which the investor must travel to Vanuatu or Hong Kong to take the oath of allegiance. Citizenship and passport are normally provided on the same day.
Benefits: No tax, no restrictions on dual citizenship, no requirement to visit or reside to retain a passport. Visa-free access to 129 countries.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Rafael Nadal's record at the MWTC
2009 Finalist
2010 Champion
Jan 2011 Champion
Dec 2011 Semi-finalist
Dec 2012 Did not play
Dec 2013 Semi-finalist
2015 Semi-finalist
Jan 2016 Champion
Dec 2016 Champion
2017 Did not play
Company%20profile%20
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