Images that capture what it was like living through 2021.
At 2.20 pm on Friday, exactly as planned, space shuttle Atlantis thundered off its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Centre and set off on its 32nd -- and, perhaps, its last -- flight, carrying several tonnes of equipment to the International Space Centre. The space shuttle programme shuts down later this year.After 12 days in space, the Atlantis will return to the Kennedy Space Centre and be readied as a backup ship in case there is an emergency.
About 500,000 people are expected to gather along the Brevard County coast to watch what would be the penultimate launch in the space shuttle's 30-year, 134-mission history.
US space shuttle Discovery lifted off for its final flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to deliver a new module and critical supplies to the International Space Station, late Thursday night.
Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, 43, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT and US Naval Test Pilot School, is the only Indian-American in the list.
Space shuttle Atlantis touched down safely in its final landing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Houston on Thursday, bringing the curtain down on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 's 30-year space shuttle programme considered one of the most eventful eras in the US history of manned spaceflight.
After a 13-day long successful mission that enabled it to deliver the final US components of the International Space Station, the space shuttle Discovery was due to touch down at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for the final time on Wednesday.
The powerful role of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence in Afghan insurgency is 'as clear as the sun in the sky', says a latest study.
Although all five vehicles that have comprised NASA's space shuttle fleet are unmatched in achievements, space shuttle Discovery is unique among the extraordinary.
Although all five vehicles that have comprised NASA's space shuttle fleet are unmatched in achievements, space shuttle Discovery is unique among the extraordinary.
Scrapping NASA's"Back to Moon" project, US President Barack Obama gave a new mission to the country's civilian space programme agency-a manned mission to Mars in a decade and sending astronauts to explore asteroids beyond the moon by 2025.
India and the US have agreed to cooperate in the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes, including in human space flight, under an agreement signed between their space agencies.
Hours after she returned to Earth onboard shuttle Atlantis after a record 195-day stay in space, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams was chosen Person of the Week by a leading US television network.
Shiva Keshavan has often been described as India's answer to Cool Runnings, befitting as it was the film of Jamaica's unlikely bobsleigh team which played a role in inspiring his own unique story.
Williams will be in rehab for at least 45 days, depending on her overall health condition, after which both her parents will join her in Houston, where she has been living since 1998 after being selected as astronaut by NASA.
Trained to remain aboard the space station until July, Williams will also join space station commander Mike Lopez-Alegria for three spacewalks early in 2007.
'Having dedicated my life towards improving breast healthcare in my motherland. I shall continue to work with rock-solid determination following this "chosen" path.'
I still believe that it is a good thing that think tanks are mushrooming in Delhi. They provide a platform for discussion, even if they shed more heat than light. With Parliament almost incapable of serious debate, informed discussion and civilised discourse, where does this nation get its intellectual churn, asks Mohan Guruswamy.
Debris has been tracked in a 500-square mile area but could be scattered over a region three times that.
Fifty fishermen from Nagapattinam and Karaikal have been arrested by the Sri Lankan
India's Shiva Keshavan won a silver at the 17th Asian Luge Championships in Nagano, Japan.
Rup Narayan Das reveals the towering Odisha leader's role in improving national security after the 1962 War with China.
The rocket is the first step in Musk's ambitious dream to send humans to Mars and establish a colony on the planet.
With Pakistan moving towards tactical nuclear weapons, there is an increasingly higher risk of nuclear theft, a US think-tank report has warned ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington later this month.
Though this time India's first astronaut remained earth bound, P Rajendran/Rediff.com finds out more about his journey off the beaten track along America's East Coast.
'There is a compulsion to look hard, decisive, and risk-taking; start something; and then conclude it in a way you can claim victory.' 'That is not such an easy option against China,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Noted economist Arvind Subramanian is favoured as the choice for the government's Chief Economic Advisor (CEA).
Chandrayaan-3's success is a must for India's space ambitions; we can't afford to lose out. And for realising our space dreams, the Indian private sector must be encouraged because if we lose this race, the moon, Mars, and mineral-rich asteroids will already be crowded before we reach there.
On Sunday morning Eastern US time, four astronauts will zoom into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Commanding the spaceflight is Raja Chari, a United States Air Force colonel.
India's real risk is not that crony populism would fail, but that it would succeed, consolidating a path that is fundamentally a trap, both in terms of social inequalities and long-term growth, says Michael Walton.
'There were no singers like Lata, Kishore, Rafi or Mukesh. And until now, there is nobody. Nobody with that kind of voice, nobody with that kind of brain to learn. Not only to learn, but to improvise. We improvised music, we improvised the songs. Nowadays, they just listen and copy.'
These 90 new jobs are in addition to the 280 staff that Wipro already employs across Scotland.
'Toll system can never end though the rates may vary from time to time. Toll is my brain child'
Some of the memorable inaugural ball gowns through the years.
Shiva Keshavan reveals why he feels 'stabbed in the back' after giving his all for the country for 20 years and what keeps him going despite all the recent problems affecting him.
From hobnobbing with the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and Mick Jagger, the reclusive author-turned-politician has come a long way, says Anita Katiyal
'It has even been suggested that Modi and Amit Shah, however grudgingly, harbour admiration for her controlling streak and steely resilience,' says Sunil Sethi.
Indians at large harbour a notion that their country is cherrypicking out of the American basket of goodies, but the policymakers in Delhi and the political leadership are well aware that it can only be a pipe dream since a military alliance with a superpower is a profound irrevocable commitment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Having escaped the 'group of death', it is now do-or-die for the United States and Australia after advancing to the knockout round of the Women's World Cup on Tuesday.
