Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman made history Thursday by becoming the first civilian to conduct a private spacewalk, venturing outside SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule after traveling farther from Earth than any human in over 50 years.

A little preview of what to expect during our spacewalk from Dragon. Hopefully, we'll make it look as good as this @SpaceX rendering. https://t.co/fFKp4zZuVk

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) August 22, 2024

The spacewalk, which began shortly before 7 a.m., marked a significant milestone in private space exploration. Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4, emerged from the capsule on a tether, facing the vast expanse of space with Earth gleaming below.

"Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world," Isaacman remarked upon exiting the spacecraft, as reported by The New York Post.

The daring feat came after Isaacman and his three crewmembers reached an altitude of nearly 870 miles above Earth's surface, surpassing the Earth-orbiting record set during NASA's Project Gemini in 1966. Only the Apollo mission astronauts who traveled to the moon have ventured further into space.

Isaacman's spacewalk lasted approximately 15 minutes before SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis replaced him. The other two crewmembers, engineer Anna Menon and former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet were also slated to participate in the extravehicular activity.

The entire spacewalk procedure, including preparation and completion, was expected to take about two hours. SpaceX streamed the event live on its website, allowing viewers worldwide to witness this historic moment in commercial spaceflight.

The mission, dubbed Polaris Dawn, is part of a series of three trips Isaacman purchased from SpaceX in 2022. While the cost of these expeditions has not been publicly disclosed, they represent a significant step forward in private space exploration.

Isaacman and his crew launched from Florida on Tuesday for their five-day journey. They wore newly designed SpaceX suits that Isaacman helped develop, which were crucial for protection against the vacuum of space during the spacewalk.

The spacewalk's success was not guaranteed, as SpaceX unexpectedly delayed its start by a few hours. However, the company assured via social media that "all systems are looking good" before proceeding with the mission.

This groundbreaking achievement builds upon Isaacman's previous space endeavor in 2021, when he became the first space tourist to orbit Earth without a professional astronaut onboard.

As private citizens continue to push the boundaries of space exploration, Isaacman's successful spacewalk opens new possibilities for civilian involvement in extraterrestrial activities. It also highlights the growing role of commercial enterprises in advancing space technology and exploration.

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NASA has released a collection of mesmerizing images captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, showcasing the telescope's power to reveal hidden cosmic wonders. The release marks the 25th anniversary of Chandra's launch into space, highlighting its continued importance in astronomical research.

The newly unveiled images offer unprecedented views of various celestial objects, from the heart of our Milky Way galaxy to distant nebulae. These observations, part of nearly 25,000 images collected by Chandra, demonstrate the telescope's ability to peer into the depths of space using X-ray technology.

One of the most striking images is that of the Milky Way's center, located approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth. This single image represents 64 days of observation time, compiled from 370 separate observations over two decades. The result is a detailed view of our galaxy's core, previously hidden from visible light telescopes.

The collection also includes vivid depictions of nebulae, such as the Cat's Paw Nebula, which appears in a striking crimson red and lies 4,370 light-years away. Another notable image showcases the Crab Nebula within the Taurus constellation, glowing in bright purple hues.

Chandra's capabilities extend beyond our galaxy, as evidenced by an image of Cassiopeia A, the remnant of a supernova that occurred 340 years ago. The telescope has even turned its gaze towards our solar system, spending nearly 10 hours observing Jupiter to produce a detailed X-ray image of the planet.

Pat Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, emphasized the telescope's impact on astronomical research. "Astronomers have used Chandra to investigate mysteries that we didn't even know about when we were building the telescope — including exoplanets and dark energy," Slane said in a NASA news release.

Launched on July 23, 1999, Chandra is one of four major space telescopes deployed by NASA in the 1990s. While the Hubble Space Telescope remains operational alongside Chandra, the Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory have since been decommissioned.

Chandra's unique elliptical orbit takes it as close as 6,000 miles and as far as 86,400 miles from Earth during its 64-hour orbital period. This path allows the telescope to make extended observations of distant cosmic objects.

The observatory's extraordinary capabilities stem from its four pairs of highly polished mirrors, which NASA describes as the smoothest and cleanest ever manufactured. These mirrors focus incoming X-rays onto a spot half the width of a human hair, where sophisticated instruments capture and record the data.

Chandra has made groundbreaking discoveries throughout its quarter-century of operation, including identifying the oldest known black hole and providing the first evidence for the existence of dark matter. As the telescope continues its mission, these new images serve as a testament to its enduring value in unlocking the secrets of our universe.

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NASA has announced that a rare stellar event, known as a nova, is expected to illuminate the night sky later this year. This celestial phenomenon, described by the space agency as a "once-in-a-lifetime" occurrence, is predicted to be visible without the need for telescopes or specialized equipment.

According to VOA News, astronomers anticipate the nova will likely occur by September 2024. The event will involve a binary star system located in the constellation Corona Borealis, approximately 3,000 light-years from Earth. This system, named T Coronae Borealis, consists of two gravitationally linked stars: a white dwarf and a red giant.

NASA explains that a nova results from dramatic changes in a star that cause it to release a significant amount of energy, temporarily becoming extremely bright. Unlike a supernova, which marks the final destruction of a star, a nova allows the white dwarf to remain active after the event.

The process leading to a nova in a binary system involves the transfer of hydrogen from the red giant to the white dwarf. Over time, this accumulation creates intense pressure and heat on the white dwarf's surface. "This buildup can cause a thermonuclear explosion large enough to blast away the material the white dwarf had collected," astronomers told AFP.

The upcoming nova has generated excitement within the scientific community. Sumner Starrfield, a professor of astrophysics at Arizona State University, expressed his anticipation to AFP: "It could be today... but I hope it's not," he joked while working on a paper to predict what astronomers might learn from the event.

This nova will mark at least the third time humans have witnessed such an event from the T Coronae Borealis system. AFP reports that Irish astronomer John Birmingham first discovered it in 1866, with a subsequent appearance in 1946.

Rebekah Hounsell, a research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, highlighted the potential impact of this celestial display. She told AFP, "This may create a lot of astronomers out there" as it can "fuel the next generation of scientists." She hopes that it could provide young people with "a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data."

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In a bold initiative aimed at combating global warming, Professor Yoram Rozen, head of the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI) at the Technion and a professor in the Faculty of Physics and a team of academics and industry experts has formulated a daring plan to launch a massive foil sheet into space to act as a sunshade, deflecting a portion of the sun's rays and lowering the Earth's average temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius within a relatively short span of 18 months.

Q: From the outside, your idea sounds a bit presumptuous, Prof. Yoav Rosen: to send a shade into space that will cover part of the Earth to help deal with global warming and even lower the temperature here by a degree and a half. Tell me about your plan at the Technion.

"The idea is to send an enormous sunshade, covering an area of 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles) – roughly the size of Argentina – to a unique point between the Earth and the sun. It will unfurl between the sun and the Earth, blocking a portion of the sun's radiation and lowering the average temperature here on Earth by 1.5 degrees Celsius within a relatively short period of about a year and a half. Since we will not be able to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions entirely – and even if we do, we will still be left with the current high temperatures – we need to address the problem from the outside."

Q: It is commonly thought that since the beginning of the Industrial Age, the temperature on Earth has risen by about a degree and a half. So you're closing a gap of about 250 years in a year and a half.

Rozen acknowledges that lowering the Earth's temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius in just 18 months is an ambitious goal, given that global temperatures have risen by approximately the same amount over the course of 250 years since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. However, he asserts, "According to all our analyses, this will work. The current average temperature on Earth is around 15 degrees Celsius, and it would be preferable to be around 13.5 degrees."

The sunshade itself would be constructed from a material already used in space missions and turns out to be relatively accessible. "It's not all that different from the survival or shock blankets used by pilots, hikers, and marathon runners to keep warm after physical exertion. It's the same material as the survival blankets you can find at Decathlon for 34 shekels (around $10)," Rozen explains. "The material is the same material – but it's clear that when sending it into space, some changes are required, and everything becomes more expensive."

Q: You're talking about a shade the size of Argentina, Algeria, or Kazakhstan. How will the production work?

While acknowledging the enormity of the task, Rozen emphasizes that the production process would be modular, with the sunshade constructed in separate components that need not be connected in space but could operate adjacently to create the desired shade. "The production will be done in parts," he clarifies. "Even in space, the components don't have to be connected; they can be side by side to create the shade."

Q: Will the shade be noticeable on Earth in any way? Will we have a shadow in the middle of the day?

"We won't feel it, and there won't be a noticeable shadow. It's a bit like a fly casting a shadow on Earth from a kilometer up. But in practice, it will lower the temperature for us, and also block 2% of the radiation that reaches us, which is the goal. The shade will mainly affect the area within 1,600 km (994 miles) from the equator, which is the critical area that affects the entire planet."

Q: How did you come up with the idea in the first place?

"The idea for the sunshade project germinated a few years ago when an Israeli group of academics and industry experts convened to explore potential solutions to global warming. While initial suggestions included launching 250 million massive (2.5 acre) balloons to shade the Earth, the group quickly recognized the impracticality of such a vast number of balloons, which could potentially fall into the atmosphere."

"A few months later, while traveling back from a conference, the idea clicked – how to send the sunshade, to what point, and what materials to use," Rozen recounts. "The next day, I discovered that someone had proposed a similar concept 16 years earlier, which gave me confidence that I was on the right track. The difference is that all the previous papers on this were theoretical, while we're coming up with a structured implementation plan."

While acknowledging the project's astronomical cost – an estimated $30 trillion – Rozen and his team have decided to start small by sending a prototype sunshade the size of a classroom into space. "After we succeed with the small one, we can enlist the world's support for the larger project," he states.

Q: When will you be able to send the prototype into space?

"Within three to four years from the moment we have the money. Sending the prototype into space will cost about $15 million. Right now, our progress is slow because we don't have money to invest, and the expectation is that in the future, we'll be able to rely on outside companies to prepare the sail, computer, and other parts."

Solar storms, pressure, and darkness

Q: You emphasize that shading the Earth must be done from outside it, i.e., from space, and that shading from the Earth's surface won't work. Could you explain that a bit more?

"On a hot sunny day in Israel, you go into an air-conditioned building. Maybe it's more comfortable for you, but you haven't changed the temperature of the Earth. If a bus stop has a roof, it's a bit more comfortable underneath it, but it doesn't change the temperature of the Earth because the roof absorbs the heat. So the shading has to be done outside the atmosphere. You need to block the radiation from reaching in the first place."

Q: The point for positioning the shade is 1.5 million kilometers (932,057 miles) from here. Why exactly?

"It's a fantastic point because it's one of five fixed points in space that rotate with the entire system. It's the only one that interests us because positioning the shade at other points would likely cast a shadow on other stars, not just us. So we have to be at the first Lagrange point, which is the distance where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Sun are in equilibrium."

Q: What will you do about the radiation pressure?

"The radiation pressure is not negligible and knocks the system out of balance, so we'll position the shade a bit farther 'to the right,' about 50,000 km (31,069 miles) towards the Sun, to restore the system to equilibrium. By the way, the new point is also unstable, meaning the shade could still lose balance and fall. So we'll need to make corrections, just like a person standing on one leg adjusts their stance to stay upright."

Q: is the significance of such corrections in space?

"In principle, you can put an engine and make minor corrections all the time, but an engine adds weight and complexity, both of which we want to avoid. So we will deploy a sail and move to one side, or close the sail and move to the other side. The movement and reorientation won't happen every few seconds or minutes, but every 100-200 days. This is a solution that isn't problematic for us. It seems that between these two points, we can move within a certain range and stay within the area without falling. The shade will be modular and made up of many such blankets, as mentioned, and more units will be regularly launched to join the larger system."

Q: How many such launches will you need?

"We're talking about 2.5 million tons. We can currently launch 100 tons, and each time we'll launch the maximum possible. We'll likely need thousands of launches. The travel time will also be relatively short. The James Webb Space Telescope was launched about two and a half years ago to the relevant point for us, and the travel time was a few weeks."

Q: Will there be annual routine maintenance for such a project?

"There's not really an option for maintenance. Any part that fails, meaning it's in the wrong orientation, will be replaced with another. The cost of replacement is marginal compared to the entire project."

Q: What about the Sun's heating affecting the shade negatively? Just a month ago, satellites detected strong solar storms.

"It's true that the Sun has its cycles, but broadly speaking –the Sun is cooling over the course of billions of years. In a few billion years, it's also expected to go out, and then we'll need to talk again and see what we're doing."

International interest

Q: I'm trying to think about what's more presumptuous: thinking it's possible to send such a shade into space, or raising the amount of money we're talking about – $30 trillion.

"Fortunately, I'm not dealing with raising the global amount. That depends on a lot of politics."

Q: The annual US budget is about $5 trillion. I assume this is a global interest, and every country will have to contribute its share.

"To be honest, I was sure that for such a project, with keywords like sustainability, global warming, and saving planet Earth, it would be very easy to raise money – but it turns out that's not exactly the case."

Q: What kind of reactions are you getting in academia and beyond about this idea?

"Everyone is excited about it," he affirms, "but some professional bodies are skeptical about the costs. Nevertheless, technology companies, countries, and prominent environmental activists have reached out to us and expressed great interest."

However, Rozen expresses surprise at the opposition from certain environmental circles, who fear that a solution to global warming might lead to complacency about pollution. "It's important for me to note that our solution, effective as it may be, needs to coexist with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," he emphasizes.

Q: On the subject of opposition – how did October 7 affect your project?

"We had a major partner that left us on October 7. I'm talking about an academic institution from the United Arab Emirates, the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC). They want to continue working on this project, but it's possible they were instructed to stop working with us. We visited them several times, they were our research partners and they also have a larger budget."

Q: Are you in any contact with them?

"No, they're not responding to us right now."

Q: Is there a chance they'll come back to the table?

"Yes, I'm optimistic. It's an academic institution supported by the government, and we had a great relationship that included weekly meetings that led to progress. We were supposed to visit them and present the project at the UN Climate Conference. But they told us not to come and that this project won't be in our pavilion. If the collaboration had continued, we could already be counting down to sending the prototype into space."

Q: What will happen if your plan to send this shade doesn't go through? Are there other solutions for lowering the Earth's temperature?

"Let's start from the premise that we agree the Earth's temperature is rising. As I see it, there are three branches to the solution: The first is to absorb carbon dioxide, CO2, back from the atmosphere or the oceans, thereby reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. This is possible, but we're talking about insane amounts of CO2 that we'd need to liquefy and store, and anything stored can always leak out. It's an option, but it's not without problems."

"The second solution, believe it or not – is painting everything white. The brighter an object is, the more light it reflects and doesn't absorb as heat. When you wear a black shirt you absorb more heat, while a white shirt will lower your temperature."

Q: That doesn't sound very realistic.

"Right. A sub-branch of that is to do it in space. That is, to create more clouds that reflect light and lower the temperature, but there's an extreme game with the weather here."

Q: What are the long-term risks if we don't send this shade? What could happen to the Earth over a few decades?

"I'm a physicist, not a climate scientist, but we're already witnessing more and more disasters and extreme events. If we don't address the problem, we'll see even more of them, with greater damage and a threat to our lives, within two or three decades. If we continue to allow the Earth's temperature to rise over a longer period, we could reach a point where no functioning humanity can solve its problems. It's hard to predict the future, but very negative changes could occur for humans, perhaps even irreversible ones."

Q: There are those talking about relocating humanity to another planet. Your shade solution sounds more realistic.

"If we can't live on Earth, we'll need to find another place. And relocating humanity to another planet – Mars, for example – is much more expensive than the $30 trillion we're talking about. Moreover, think about the extreme conditions on Mars: We'd have to live there in a biosphere because the radiation there is lethal and the temperature is extreme. We'd need spacesuits and a constant oxygen supply. But here, on Earth, we have great conditions, we just need to invest in solutions."

Q: It's sad, but we need a "climate October 7" for people to wake up.

"I have news for you – we're already in a 'climate October 7,' and we're not aware of it because the disaster is ongoing, not happening all at once. Fortunately, we're not annihilating 100 million people in one event, but it's happening gradually. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on a solution that will advance and improve our lives, humanity is invested in another global project that costs us much more – wars. It's so easy for us to spend money on wars, but when it comes to our future here, the expense becomes harder and more complicated. I'll never be able to understand that. We need to take action now, so we don't pay compound interest on our inaction."

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SpaceX, the aerospace company helmed by Elon Musk, is preparing for the fourth launch of its massive Starship rocket as early as next week.

This highly anticipated test flight holds great significance in the pursuit of developing a reusable rocket system capable of making space exploration more accessible, cost-effective, and potentially even enabling human visits to distant celestial bodies.

"The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon. We're continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," SpaceX says.

Starship and Super Heavy loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant in a rehearsal ahead of Flight 4. Launch is targeted as early as June 5, pending regulatory approval pic.twitter.com/lss0brCZgN

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 29, 2024

According to SpaceX, the launch window for the Starship rocket, coupled with its Super Heavy booster, could open as early as Wednesday, June 5, contingent upon obtaining approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Despite the company's previous Starship test ending in a fiery spectacle, the FAA has determined that the incident posed no safety risks to the public, granting SpaceX the green light to proceed with another test launch before completing the investigation into the previous mishap.

Watch Starship's fourth flight test → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK https://t.co/SjpjscHoUB

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 6, 2024

While the FAA has yet to issue the launch license required for the fourth test, approvals for the preceding three launches were granted within a day or two of the designated launch window. SpaceX has indicated that the launch window will open as early as 7 a.m. Central Time (8 a.m. ET, 5 a.m. PT), though the company has urged the public to follow its social media channels for the most up-to-date information, as such schedules are subject to change.

"The mission will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight and will shift focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy, including opening and closing the payload door in space for the first time and executing its first reentry from space," SpaceX stated.

A live webcast of the launch will commence approximately 30 minutes before liftoff and can be viewed on SpaceX's website and its X account.

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In less than three months, Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe will take off for the International Space Station as part of the historic "Rakia" mission, and will bring with him several items highlighting Jewish heritage and tradition.

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One of those items is a dreidel (sevivon in Hebrew), the beloved children's game that will exemplify the connection between ancient Jewish tradition to the innovation and progress of the space mission. The dreidel will symbolize the technological miracle of sending a human being into outer space. The zero-gravity conditions in space will allow the dreidel to spin endlessly.

At a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in Houston, Stibbe, a former fighter pilot who will become the second astronaut in Israel's history after Ilan Ramon, presented Mayor Sylvester Turner with the dreidel.

Turner praised the Jewish community, wished Stibbe a fascinating journey and encouraged more cooperation between his city and the State of Israel.

"I told him I would take a dreidel with me to the International Space Station that will allow me to demonstrate the way in which it works in space in conditions of microgravity and no friction that causes is to slow down and stop," Stibbe said of his conversation with Turner. "This is also how Earth rotates, without friction and without stopping."

"As part of the Rakia Mission to the International Space Station," Stibbe said, "I will be taking with me a bag filled with items that have a special meaning to me. It was clear to me that one of these items will be a symbol of Jewish history."

The purpose of the "Rakia" mission, a joint initiative of the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation Science and Technology, is to "inspire the younger generation while advancing and expanding the Israel Aerospace Industry," according to the mission's official website.

Stibbe is scheduled to spend 200 hours in space where he will perform a number of experiments using Israeli technology and scientific developments.

"The mission is an opportunity for breakthroughs in dozens of Israeli technologies and scientific experiments in space, a chance to advance education and the arts in Israel," the website continued.

Rakia will be the first space mission manned entirely by private astronauts.

Another item Stibbe will take with him to space is an ancient coin dating to the Bar Kochba revolt.

The Bar Kochba revolt was an uprising of Jews in Judea against the Roman Empire from 132 to 136 AD, led by Simon Bar Kochba. "Year two of the liberty of Israel" is imprinted into the coin, in defiance of Roman sovereignty.

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With its depiction of a palm tree and vine leaves, Stibbe said the 1,900-year-old coin represented his connection to the Land of Israel, his love of country, and Israelis' desire for independence, following a visit to the IAA's Dead Sea scrolls laboratory in Jerusalem.

"The palm tree particularly touched me," he noted, "as it is the symbol of the Agricultural Research Organization at Volcani Center, where my father spent his life conducting research on the country's soil."

Eli Eskosido, director of the IAA, said the rebels "could not have imagined in their wildest dreams that after many centuries, this item would make its way to outer space with a Jewish astronaut who lives in an independent Jewish state."

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Taking to Twitter, Meir posted a picture of her feet covered in blue and neon-colored Hanukkah-themed socks that had a menorah and Star of David emblazoned on them. Below her, the big vast universe was in clear view.

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"Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it on Earth! #HappyHanukkah," Meir's post said.

Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it on Earth! #HappyHanukkah pic.twitter.com/FKC2M5iXni

— Jessica Meir (@Astro_Jessica) December 23, 2019

In October, Meir famously took part in the all-woman spacewalk and has spent her time at the International Space Station ever since. 

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