Following a five-day mission in space, billionaire Jared Isaacman and his crew successfully completed the first private spacewalk and safely returned to Earth. On Sunday morning, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft made a splash landing in the Gulf of Mexico, close to Florida. In an orbit 460 miles above Earth, the crew—consisting of two engineers from SpaceX and a former Air Force pilot—surpassed both the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope. There have been 264 spacewalks, with Sarah Gillis of SpaceX becoming the 265th and Isaacman the 264th. The spacewalk, which lasted less t
A new milestone in space exploration has been attained, with 19 people presently orbiting Earth, setting a record. The previous high was 17, set last year. On September 11, a Russian Soyuz capsule launched three astronauts, NASA's Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, to the International Space Station (ISS), raising the total number of humans in orbit. The Soyuz crew is slated to arrive at the ISS about 3:30 p.m. EDT. When they arrive, they will join nine other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the station, including NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Tracy Caldw
On Wednesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo broke ground on a new 25-kilometer (15-mile) line for Jakarta's mass rapid transit (MRT) network. One of the busiest cities in the world, Jakarta, is undergoing this expansion thanks to a roughly $1 billion loan from Japan as part of a larger effort to reduce severe traffic congestion. The significantly larger population in the surrounding municipalities of Jakarta, which has a population of over 10 million, exacerbates the city's severe traffic problems. The planned MRT line will connect Bekasi, located on Jakarta's eastern border, to the
On Tuesday, four private astronauts launched SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission to conduct the first private spacewalk and test new spacesuits. The crew consists of billionaire Jared Isaacman, a veteran Air Force pilot, and two SpaceX engineers. At 5:23 a.m. EST, they launched in a modified SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre, reaching orbit in 10 minutes. On the mission's third day, the highlight is a 20-minute spacewalk at 700 km altitude. SpaceX's Crew Dragon will depressurise the cabin, and Isaacman and Sarah Gillis will walk attached to oxygen lines while the other
Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari stated during a convention by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) that India currently has 63 operational vehicle scrapping centres, with 60 under construction and 40 more in the pipeline—insufficient for the nation's automobile population. Gadkari emphasised the scrapping industry's potential, claiming that it could raise sales by 18-20% while creating 35,000 jobs. He also applauded SIAM's move to provide a 3% discount on new vehicle purchases for destroyed autos. He unveiled a new testing agency worth ₹4
India has become the world's second-largest 5G mobile market, surpassing the United States and trailing only China. The country's quick adoption of 5G technology is being pushed by the rising availability of low-cost 5G phones and data plans, resulting in broad high-speed access. According to a Counterpoint Research analysis, global 5G handset shipments increased 20% year on year in the first half of 2024. Apple topped the market with a 25% share, owing to the success of its iPhone 15 and 14 series, while Samsung followed, aided by its Galaxy A and S24 series. In India, Xiaomi, Vivo, and S
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has landed in New Delhi for his first official visit to India. When he arrived, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, welcomed him with a red carpet greeting and both countries' national anthems. His Highness reviewed a ceremonial guard of honour before seeing a cultural performance commemorating India's rich heritage. Senior Indian government officials as well as Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and Dr. Abdulnasser Jamal Alshaali, the UAE Ambassador to
An underwater mountain about four times the height of the Burj Khalifa has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean, around 1,448 kilometres off Chile's coast. The Schmidt Ocean Institute's oceanographers studied the 3,109-meter seamount during a 28-day mission aboard the research vessel R/V Falkor. Using sonar technology, they constructed a precise map of the seafloor, which is still largely unexplored, with only 26% surveyed in this manner. This seamount is part of a marine biodiversity hotspot that includes ancient corals, sponge gardens, and recently discovered species like a ghostly wh
NASA scientists have discovered Earth's mysterious "polar wind," which is an electromagnetic field that drives air particles from the poles to space. This phenomenon was first noticed in the 1960s but remained unexplained until the Endurance mission, which launched from Svalbard in Norway in May 2022, verified its occurrence. Glyn Collinson of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre led the expedition, which employed specialised sensors to monitor a tiny 0.55-volt change in the electric field. This fluctuation was sufficient to explain how the polar wind propels particles such as hydrogen ions
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Avani Lekhara to congratulate her on winning gold in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. "Avani, many congratulations. You are constantly performing well; keep working hard," PM Modi told her. Avani admitted that she was frightened at first, but she followed PM Modi's advice to avoid playing under the pressure of expectations. "This is my second Paralympics. "I was nervous, but you told me not to play under pressure, and I followed it," she remarked. The 22-year-old from Jaipur finished second in the qualificati