Shubhanshu Shukla: First Indian astronaut to arrive soon on International Space Station
A day after Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became only the second Indian to travel to space, the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission he's piloting is due to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).Ax-4's multi-country crew, led by former Nasa veteran Peggy Whitson and including Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, will spend two weeks on the ISS.The crew were seen floating in the spacecraft earlier on Thursday in a video shared by private firm Axiom Space on their way to the ISS.The mission has generated a huge interest in India as it comes 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly to space aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.
Ax-4 - a commercial flight operated by Houston-based Axiom Space - lifted off from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:31 EDT (06:31 GMT; 12:01 India time) on Wednesday. The docking on Thursday is due at 07:00EDT (11:00 GMT; 1630 India time). The mission is a collaboration between Nasa, India's space agency Isro, European Space Agency (Esa) and SpaceX. The two European astronauts will also be taking their countries back to space after more than four decades. During their two-week mission, the crew would spend most of their time conducting 60 scientific experiments, including seven designed by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).Isro, which has paid 5bn rupees ($59m; £43m) to secure a seat for Group Captain Shukla on Ax-4 and his training, says the hands-on experience he will gain during his trip to the ISS will help India in its human space flights.Isro has said it wants to launch the country's first-ever human space flight in 2027 and has announced ambitious plans to set up a space station by 2035 and send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.
'What a ride!'
Earlier on Thursday, Axiom Space had a live uplink with the astronauts on board where Group Captain Shukla spoke about his first 24 hours in space."What a ride!," he said, adding that it has been "an amazing feeling to be just floating in space" and that "it's been fun time". "I was not feeling great when we got shot into vacuum, but I'm told I've been sleeping a lot, which is a great sign," he said laughing. "I'm enjoying the view, the experience and learning anew, like a baby, how to walk, to control yourself and to eat and read," he added.As Group Captain Shukla and other crew members spoke, Joy - a small, white toy swan described as Ax-4's "fifth crew member" - floated in and out of vision.Axiom has said Joy is "more than a cute companion for the Ax-4 crew" and is travelling to space as their "zero-G [zero-gravity] indicator".During Thursday's broadcast, Group Captain Shukla said the baby swan "symbolises wisdom and ability to discern what is important and what is not" which made it "so important in this age of distractions".Soon after Wednesday's launch, Commander Peggy Whitson revealed the name of their vehicle: Grace."Grace is more than a name," she said. "It reflects the elegance with which we move through space against the backdrop of Earth. It speaks to the refinement of our mission, the harmony of science and spirit, and the unmerited favour we carry with humility."The name, she added, was a reminder "that spaceflight is not just a feat of engineering, but an act of goodwill - for the benefit of every human, everywhere".
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South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
ISS welcomes its first astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary
The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They launched Wednesday from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre. America's most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, is the commander of the visiting crew. She works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight. Besides Whitson, the crew includes India's Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary's Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland's Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency's project astronauts on temporary flight duty. No one has ever visited the International Space Station from those countries before. In fact, the last time anyone rocketed into orbit from those countries was in the late 1970s and 1980s, travelling with the Soviets. 'Welcome aboard the International Space Station,' Nasa's Mission Control radioed from Houston minutes after the linkup high above the North Atlantic. 'It's an honour to have you join our outpost of international co-operation and exploration.' It's the fourth Axiom-sponsored flight to the space station since 2022. The company is one of several that are developing their own space stations due to launch in the coming years. Nasa plans to abandon the International Space Station in 2030 after more than three decades of operation, and is encouraging private ventures to replace it.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
SKYX Platforms Corp. Announces Corporate Update Highlighting Russell 2000 Inclusion, Major Smart City Deployment, and Strategic Growth Initiatives
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As part of this initiative, SKYX will deploy over 500,000 units of its advanced plug & play smart home technologies, including its AI-powered smart ecosystem, across the entire 63-acre development. The project will include more than 5,700 condos and apartments, a significant allocation for workforce and affordable housing, over 350,000 square feet of retail space, 1.5 million square feet of green walkways, parks, bike paths, shuttle lanes, and a $35 million Tri-Rail station. World-renowned architectural firm Arquitectonica is leading the project's design, while development is spearheaded by SG Holdings—a joint venture between the Swerdlow Group, SJM Partners, and Alben Duffie, each with a legacy of major urban developments. Financially, SKYX continues to gain strong backing from U.S. and international manufacturers in support of its large-scale product deployments. This support underscores investor confidence in the scalability and market demand for SKYX's smart home innovations. As of March 31, 2025, SKYX reported $35 million in cash, sufficient to execute its near-term strategic goals and achieve cash-flow positivity in 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, the Company generated record revenues of $20.1 million, up from $18.9 million in the same period the previous year, while also reducing general and administrative expenses by 17%, from $7.9 million to $6.6 million. SKYX also improved its gross margins and gross profit sequentially. Anticipating strong seasonal demand, SKYX is preparing for a Q3 launch of its disruptive All-In-One Smart Turbo Heater & Ceiling Fan, with manufacturing already underway through long-term partners. The Company will launch two models of the patented product, targeting the multi-billion-dollar ceiling fan and space heater market. SKYX expects its products to be in 30,000 U.S. and Canadian homes by the end of the second quarter of 2025, with tens of thousands more to follow in the second half of the year. To further support its growth, SKYX secured $15 million in preferred stock investments at $2 per share from strategic investors led by The Shaner Group, a major global Marriott Hotels chain owner. The round also saw significant participation from company insiders, including President Steve Schmidt and co-CEOs Lenny Sokolow and John Campi, signaling strong internal confidence in the Company's vision and trajectory. In a major manufacturing development, SKYX announced a strategic U.S. partnership with Profab Electronics, a premier electronic contract manufacturer based in Pompano Beach, Florida. This collaboration complements the Company's manufacturing operations across Vietnam, Taiwan, China, and Cambodia, strengthening SKYX's commitment to building a resilient and efficient supply chain. SKYX continues to pursue national safety standardization of its ceiling outlet and receptacle technology. Its Safety Code Standardization Team, led by Mark Earley (former head of the National Electrical Code) and Eric Jacobson (former president and CEO of the American Lighting Association), is now backed by a prominent new leader from a key government safety organization. SKYX has already secured ANSI/NEMA approval and has been voted into 10 segments of the NEC Code Book. The Company expects that its technology, once the full range of product variations is complete, will be recommended by insurance companies due to its potential to reduce fires, ladder falls, and electrocutions. SKYX continues to build recurring revenue streams through a 'Razor & Blades' business model. The Company's ceiling electrical outlet (Razor) serves as the foundation for a range of plug & play smart products (Blades), including lighting, fans, recessed lights, emergency fixtures, chandeliers, and more. 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As electricity is a standard in every home and building, our mission is to make homes and buildings become safe-advanced and smart as the new standard. SKYX has a series of highly disruptive advanced-safe-smart platform technologies, with over 97 U.S. and global patents and patent pending applications. Additionally, the Company owns over 60 lighting and home decor websites for both retail and commercial segments. Our technologies place an emphasis on high quality and ease of use, while significantly enhancing both safety and lifestyle in homes and buildings. We believe that our products are a necessity in every room in both homes and other buildings in the U.S. and globally. For more information, please visit our website at opens new tab or follow us on LinkedIn, opens new tab. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this press release are not based on historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'aim,' 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'can,' 'could,' 'continue,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'evaluate,' 'forecast,' 'guidance,' 'intend,' 'likely,' 'may,' 'might,' 'objective,' 'ongoing,' 'outlook,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'probable,' 'project,' 'seek,' 'should,' 'target' 'view,' 'will,' or 'would,' or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements reflect the Company's reasonable judgment with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which have outcomes difficult to predict and may be outside our control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include statements relating to the Company's ability to successfully launch, commercialize, develop additional features and achieve market acceptance of its products and technologies and integrate its products and technologies with third-party platforms or technologies; the Company's efforts and ability to drive the adoption of its products and technologies as a standard feature, including their use in homes, hotels, offices and cruise ships; the Company's ability to capture market share; the Company's estimates of its potential addressable market and demand for its products and technologies; the Company's ability to raise additional capital to support its operations as needed, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to execute on any sales and licensing or other strategic opportunities; the possibility that any of the Company's products will become National Electrical Code (NEC)-code or otherwise code mandatory in any jurisdiction, or that any of the Company's current or future products or technologies will be adopted by any state, country, or municipality, within any specific timeframe or at all; risks arising from mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other collaborations; the Company's ability to attract and retain key executives and qualified personnel; guidance provided by management, which may differ from the Company's actual operating results; the potential impact of unstable market and economic conditions on the Company's business, financial condition, and stock price; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. 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The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
‘Jet of the future' dubbed The Phantom boasts see-through cabin, fuel-slashing AI design…& could take to skies VERY soon
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