<ul class="summary-list"><li>US stocks fell on Monday, dragged by losses among tech-heavyweights like Amazon and Facebook.</li><li>Oil prices spiked after OPEC+ agreed to keep its existing schedule of gradual hikes in production.</li><li>The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed to 1.484%.</li></ul>US stocks tumbled on Monday dragged by tech-heavyweights like Facebook and Amazon amid rising Treasury yields.The benchmark S&amp;P 500 fell more than 1.5% - slipping below its 100-day moving average - while the tech-heavy <keyword id="11930332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasdaq-100" source="Orion">Nasdaq 100</keyword> slid more than 2%.Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Monday:<ul><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingesttm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a>: 4,300.46, down 1.30%</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>: 34,002.92, down 0.94% (323.54 points)</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq Composite</a>: 14,255.48, down 2.14%</li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/fb-stock">Facebook</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-stock-price-whistleblower-alleges-platform-spreads-hateful-content-2021-10">fell as much as 4%</a> after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-whistleblower-zuckerberg-choices-prop-up-hateful-content-2021-10">a whistleblower alleged</a> that the company does little to stop the spread of hateful content on its platform.Global <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword> in the past weeks have been on a downtrend as investors try to anticipate when the Federal Reserve will begin tapering asset purchases amid inflationary pressures driven by a surge in commodity prices and supply chain issues. These factors have pushed yields higher, with tech stocks in particular bearing the brunt. "The Nasdaq is the punching bag as global bond yields rise and as many investors anticipate the cyclical rotation trade will become the playbook after the DC debt drama," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at foreign exchange Oanda, said in a Monday note. Also looming is the continuation of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/debt-ceiling-reconciliation-republicans-maximum-pain-democrats-amendments-government-default-2021-9">debt ceiling crisis</a> that Congress is trying to avert later this month. A default would erode trust in the dollar and cause interest rates to soar, which would lift mortgage, car loan, and credit card costs for borrowers. S&amp;P said it would cut its rating to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fitch-us-debt-limit-credit-rating-default-aaa-sp-moodys-2021-10">the worst-possible rank of D</a> in the event of a single non-payment on government debt. Despite this, many analysts, including LPL Financial, remain bullish for the fourth quarter - a period that has historically been best time of year for stocks. Beyond 2021, chief market strategist Ryan Detrick and equity strategist Jeff Buchbinder are also optimistic."We see a favorable economic environment for stocks in 2022, consistent with prior mid-cycle expansion years and bolstered by continued earnings growth," they said in a Monday note. "The gains may not come easy, however, with a number of risks."In cryptocurrencies, dogecoin spinoff shiba inu coin <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/shiba-inu-coin-elon-musk-tweet-about-dogecoin-spinoff-2021-10">jumped 30%</a> after Tesla CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1444840184500129797" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted another picture</a> of his puppy late Sunday.Bank of America <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bofa-global-research-launches-coverage-of-digital-assets-301391753.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began coverage of digital assets</a> in a report published Monday. According to the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bank-america-bofa-digital-assets-cryptocurrency-report-debut-transformative-blockchain-2021-10">note,</a> the crypto and blockchain sectors are simply too big for investors to ignore. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/oil-price-outlook-brent-wti-opec-gradual-output-hike-production-2021-10">Oil prices spiked</a> after OPEC+ on Monday agreed to keep its existing schedule of gradual hikes in oil production, adding to inflationary pressures engulfing global markets.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> oil jumped 2.37%, to $77.68 per barrel. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brent crude</a>, oil's international benchmark, rose 2.59%, to $81.33 per barrel.Bank of America said last week that <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/oil-prices-outlook-100-inflation-winter-bank-america-bofa-crisis-2021-10?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brent crude could hit $100 a barrel</a> for the first time since 2014.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gold</a> rose 0.17%, to $1,766.30 per ounce.

Nasdaq falls more than 2% as rising bond yields drag mega-cap tech names lower

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s economy, which contracted by 7.3 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to grow by 9.5 per cent in 2021 and 8.5 per cent in 2022, according to latest projections released by the <keyword id="6366068" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="international-monetary-fund" source="Orion">International Monetary Fund</keyword> on Tuesday. India's growth projection released by the latest <keyword id="188983" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-economic-outlook" source="Orion">World Economic Outlook</keyword> remains unchanged from its previous WEO (World Economic Outlook) update of July this summer but is a three-percentage point in 2021 and 1.6 percentage point drop from its April projections. According to the latest WEO update, released ahead of the annual meeting of the IMF and the <keyword id="6354424" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-bank" source="Orion">World Bank</keyword>, the world is expected to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2021 and 4.9 per cent in 2022. The United States is projected to grow at six per cent this year and 5.2 per cent the next year. China, on the other hand, the IMF said is projected to grow at 8 per cent in 2021 and 5.6 per cent in 2022. Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of the IMF, said that compared to their July forecast, the global growth projection for 2021 has been revised down marginally to 5.9 per cent and is unchanged for 2022 at 4.9 per cent. However, this modest headline revision masks large downgrades for some countries. "The outlook for the low-income developing country group has darkened considerably due to worsening pandemic dynamics. The downgrade also reflects more difficult near-term prospects for the advanced economy group, in part due to supply disruptions," she said. "Partially offsetting these changes, projections for some commodity exporters have been upgraded on the back of rising commodity prices. Pandemic-related disruptions to contact-intensive sectors have caused the labour market recovery to significantly lag the output recovery in most countries," the Indian-American economist added. Observing that the dangerous divergence in economic prospects across countries remains a major concern, she said aggregate output for the advanced economy group is expected to regain its pre-pandemic trend path in 2022 and exceed it by 0.9 per cent in 2024. "By contrast, aggregate output for the emerging market and developing economy group (excluding China) is expected to remain 5.5 per cent below the pre-pandemic forecast in 2024, resulting in a larger setback to improvements in their living standards," she added. Noting that a principal common factor behind these complex challenges is the continued grip of the pandemic on global society, Gopinath said that the foremost policy priority is therefore to vaccinate at least 40 per cent of the population in every country by end-2021 and 70 per cent by mid-2022. "This will require high-income countries to fulfill existing vaccine dose donation pledges, coordinate with manufacturers to prioritise deliveries to COVAX in the near-term and remove trade restrictions on the flow of vaccines and their inputs," she said. At the same time, closing the USD 20 billion residual grant funding gap for testing, therapeutics and genomic surveillance will save lives now and keep vaccines fit for purpose. Looking ahead, vaccine manufacturers and high-income countries should support the expansion of regional production of COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries through financing and technology transfers, she said. Gopinath said that another urgent global priority is the need to slow the rise in global temperatures and contain the growing adverse effects of climate change. This will require more ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the upcoming <keyword id="491697" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-nations-climate-change-conference" source="Orion">United Nations Climate Change Conference</keyword> (COP26) in Glasgow. "A policy strategy that includes an international carbon price floor adjusted to country circumstances, a green public investment and research subsidy push, and compensatory, targeted transfers to households can help advance the energy transition in an equitable way. Just as importantly, advanced countries need to deliver on their earlier promises of mobilising USD 100 billion of annual climate financing for developing countries," Gopinath said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/canva-launches-video-editing-suite-with-customisable-templates-scene-based-editing-and-more/articleshow/86968281.cms">Canva launches video editing suite with customisable templates, scene-based editing and more</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/elon-musks-puppy-burning-tokens-and-altcoin-rally-made-shiba-inu-price-rise/articleshow/86966623.cms">Elon Musk’s puppy, a new strategy to burn tokens, and altcoins playing catch up — the perfect storm for cryptocurrency Shiba Inu to skyrocket</a>

Indian economy to grow at 9.5% this year and 8.5% in 2022, says IMF

Meta’s (formerly <keyword id="6354576" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook" source="Orion">Facebook</keyword>) <keyword id="6354630" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg" source="Orion">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> says he wants to build the <keyword id="11121339" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword>, as does <keyword id="10387" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microsoft" source="Orion">Microsoft</keyword>’s Satya Nadella. While Big Tech may have popularized the term recently, the web3 community has actually been working towards this for a long time now. The relationship between cryptocurrency and the metaverse is undeniable. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the future of ownership deeds, while cryptocurrencies will help build the networks of the future. For instance, while announcing Meta’s plans for the future metaverse last month, Zuckerberg said that the digital avatars people will use in this virtual space will be NFTs. You might be using Cryptopunks and Bored Apes on video calls today, but these will someday be replaced by realistic virtual avatars of our own selves. Microsoft, on the other hand, wants to power the metaverse for enterprises, through platforms like Dynamics 365 and more. But while Big Tech companies might be gung-ho about the metaverse, smaller yet interesting projects have already begun. And these are available on popular crypto exchanges like <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=article-advertorial">WazirX</a>, Binance, Coinbase and more. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="wazirx" comment="wazirx" text="wazirx">wazirx</cmsannotation> Here are some of the top coins and metaverse projects you should be following. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The Sandbox" comment="subhead" text="The Sandbox">The Sandbox</cmsannotation> Token: SAND Hong Kong-based gaming firm Animoca Brands has been at work for over four years building The Sandbox. Now, the company’s metaverse game The Sandbox is finally set to go live on November 29 this year. It allows users to explore a virtual game world and monetize their activities in that world through a play-to-earn model. The Sandbox is powered by the SAND token, which is what players earn for playing the game. You have to complete quests in order to earn more of these tokens, and you can also spend them to acquire land and other in-game items. At the time of writing, the SAND token was priced at $5.59. The SAND token’s price briefly jumped by a whopping 260% on November 23, ahead of the game’s metaverse expansion. According to Coinmarketcap, the SAND token was the 41st largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hitting almost $5 billion in terms of overall market capitalization. Its price has appreciated by 75% over the past seven day period and by over 23% in 24 hours. The November 23 jump came shortly after footwear giant Adidas <a href="https://twitter.com/adidasoriginals/status/1462873002350202882?s=20">mentioned</a> building an “adiVerse” using The Sandbox project. The SAND token may not have the same level of liquidity as some other projects yet, but it is available on popular crypto exchanges like <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=article-advertorial">WazirX</a>. The company’s play-to-earn event, Sandbox Alpha is set to begin on November 29 and will allow a select group of players to earn 1000 SAND tokens. Sandbox Alpha will also include 18 new experiences and three NFTs to grab. The NFTs include a longsword, a dragon and a medieval gate. Pros: SAND token can have many uses in the game, SAND could become a governance token in the long run Cons: Other projects like The Sandbox exist so competition is tough <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Decentraland" comment="subhead" text="Decentraland">Decentraland</cmsannotation> Token: MANA Like The Sandbox, Decentraland is also a virtual world that is powered by cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Here, you earn the MANA token for spending time in Decentraland’s virtual world, while LAND again is the NFT. Users buy and sell digital real estate in the game and there are already <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3147981/why-members-south-koreas-gen-mz-are-buying-digital-land">users in South Korea</a> who are making long term plans for the real estate they own in the game. The MANA token was priced at around $4 at the time of writing. While the SAND token is 41st on the list of most valuable crypto’s, Decentraland’s MANA stands at number 29 with a market capitalization of over $7 billion. Its value has risen by almost 20% over the last seven day period and just about 3% over the past 24 hours. The MANA token can be bought on exchanges like <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=article-advertorial">WazirX</a>. In October, Decentraland added native support for Polygon’s Matic network, which allows users to make transactions using the META token at much lower fees. The platform also supports Wallet Connect, which is an open protocol that allows Dapps to connect to mobile wallets through QR codes. It also announced a Metaverse Festival featuring EDM artist Deadmau5 last month. Pros: MANA token can be used for other purposes, LAND can be auctioned as NFTs Cons: Users cannot interact with each other yet, the game’s terrain remains more or less the same <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gala Games" comment="subhead" text="Gala Games">Gala Games</cmsannotation> Token: GALA Unlike MANA, BLOK, SAND and others, the GALA token doesn’t power one game. Instead, it is the cryptocurrency introduced by Gala Games, a company that aims to make many blockchain-based games. Gala Games was founded in 2016 by Eric Schiermeyer, who was the co-founder Zynga, one of the most successful gaming companies ever. It has five games at the moment, which run either on the Mac and Windows platforms, or through web browsers. The company also allows users to buy a license and operate their own node on the Gala network. The GALA token was listed on Binance on September 13 and has been growing in value steadily since then. Its price stood at around $0.68 at the time of writing, but given that the company will be making more games, it could increase substantially in future. The GALA token can be bought on exchanges like <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=article-advertorial">WazirX</a>. The company claims to be the only project in the blockchain gaming space that hasn’t taken money from venture capitalists yet. Instead, it tried to fund the development of its games by selling licenses for its nodes. The sixth game, called Betwixt, was announced on November 24 and the company says its development is funded by the money that it acquired from selling nodes. Pros: Multiple games means more chances of success, Eric Schiermeyer has a rich history in gaming Cons: One of its games might become more popular than all others, making the time spent on others less fruitful later <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Star Atlas" comment="subhead" text="Star Atlas">Star Atlas</cmsannotation> Token: ATLAS Like many other metaverse projects, Star Atlas is also a blockchain-based game that is building its own metaverse. It’s built on the Solana blockchain, and hence benefits from the network’s high throughput in terms of transactions. Star Atlas is a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), meaning its world is as expansive as popular games MMORPGs like World of Warcraft etc. It’s built on the Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite platform, which gives it pretty good graphics too, something that games like Decentraland, The Sandbox and others have been lacking. The Atlas token was priced at $0.15 at the time of writing, making this a good time to jump in. The ATLAS token is also listed on Coinbase at the moment, though it will surely be more widely available once the project picks up. While the ATLAS token is Star Atlas’ utility token and what players will be rewarded with, the game will also have a governance token called POLIS. This means that POLIS holders will actually have a say in the game’s future developments. The POLIS token is set to come at a later date and could be a big difference maker for Star Atlas in future. Pros: Great graphics could attract more gamers easily, Solana can support high transaction throughput, only AAA-class metaverse game on the horizon right now Cons: Great graphics also means it will have higher hardware requirements than simpler games, and hence create barriers to entry <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Bloktopia" comment="subhead" text="Bloktopia">Bloktopia</cmsannotation> Token: BLOK All metaverse projects are expected to adopt virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) sometime in future, but Bloktopia is already on it. It’s the only VR metaverse being built right now, and includes a virtual skyscraper which has 21 levels. Why 21? To honour the 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be in circulation, as detailed in the Bitcoin whitepaper. Those who own the Bloktopia token, predictably called the BLOK, will be called Bloktopians. “For the first time ever, users will have access to crypto information and immersive content all in one place. Bloktopians will be able to earn revenue through real estate ownership, advertising revenue, play games, build networks and much more,” the company says on its website. On November 22, founder Paddy Carroll told Cointelegraph that the company is building floors one and six right now, along with the auditorium, and wants to have a working beta up by March 2022. It’s built on the Polygon platform and is available on crypto exchanges like OKex and KuCoin. Pros: Already being built for virtual reality, one of the founders worked on PlayStation VR, great graphics Cons: Yet to launch, VR would also mean entry barriers are high and hence usage might be low SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/what-is-bitcoin-golden-cross-and-death-cross/articleshow/87796591.cms">Bitcoin investors love the golden cross and death cross — here’s why they matter but there are other factors to keep in mind</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/bitcoin-digital-gold-may-give-higher-returns-than-actual-gold/articleshow/87152395.cms">Bitcoin may be more festive with 'digital' gold giving higher returns than the actual yellow metal this festive season</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/elon-musks-puppy-burning-tokens-and-altcoin-rally-made-shiba-inu-price-rise/articleshow/86966623.cms">Elon Musk’s puppy, a new strategy to burn tokens, and altcoins playing catch up — the perfect storm for cryptocurrency Shiba Inu to skyrocket</a>

​Facebook and Microsoft aren’t the only ones creating a metaverse — here are five popular coins looking to create digital worlds​

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In May, <keyword id="6360701" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex">SpaceX</keyword> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-nasa-astronaut-mission-launch-100000-workers-demo2-2020-6">launched its first astronauts to orbit</a> in its new Crew Dragon spaceship: <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s <keyword id="8930502" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bob-Behnken">Bob Behnken</keyword> and <keyword id="5206379" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Doug-Hurley">Doug Hurley</keyword>.</li><li>On Sunday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-safely-splashes-down-nasa-astronauts-crew-dragon-demo2-mission-2020-8">the astronauts landed safely</a> after spending two months at the International Space Station. </li><li>Both men are military test pilots, engineers, and members of the same NASA astronaut class. Each flew on two space shuttle missions, married a fellow astronaut, and has a son.</li><li>SpaceX has described Behnken and Hurley as "badass space dads," while fellow <keyword id="73998" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="astronauts">astronauts</keyword> say the two men are deceptively intelligent.</li></ul>The way NASA's astronaut office picks a crew from its esteemed corps is something of a mystery.But the space agency's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-announcement-astronaut-crew-spacex-boeing-selection-2018-8">2018 selection</a> of Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to fly SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-suni-williams-on-spacex-boeing-spaceships-2018-6">Crew Dragon spaceship</a> seems almost obvious.Each man graduated from the same crop of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-become-nasa-astronaut-application-requirements-advice-tips-2020-3">astronaut candidates</a> in 2000. Each is an engineer and flew military aircraft. Each has flown to space three times aboard a space shuttle. Each married a fellow astronaut who has journeyed to space and fathered a son with her. Each spent years working with SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, to perfect the commercial spaceship they successfully rode to orbit. And both shared the aspiration of every test pilot turned astronaut: the freak opportunity to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-to-fly-spacex-crew-dragon-how-they-prepare-2020-1">fly a brand-new bird</a>. They named SpaceX's first Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour."If you gave us one thing that we could have put on our list of dream jobs that we would have gotten to have someday, it would have been to be aboard a new spacecraft and conduct a test mission," Behnken told reporters <a href="https://images.nasa.gov/details-KSC-20200520-MH-FMX01_0001-Demo-2_Crew_Arrival_News_Conference-3248646" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on May 20</a>, before SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched him and Hurley into orbit.After that launch, Behnken and Hurley docked to the International Space Station (ISS), where they spent 63 days living and working. Then on Sunday, the men made a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-nasa-astronaut-mission-biggest-concern-reentry-danger-2020-5">fiery, risky</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-nasa-astronaut-mission-crew-dragon-landing-timeline-steps-2020-7">descent to Earth</a>, culminating in a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico."Thanks for doing the most difficult part and the most important part of human spaceflight: sending us into orbit and bringing us home safely," Behnken said shortly before climbing out of the spaceship. "Thank you again for the good ship Endeavour."<h2>A high-stakes resurrection, 9 years in the making</h2><div type="image" title="spacex crew dragon spaceship sunrise kennedy space center cape canaveral florida launchpad launch complex 39a elon musk twitter" height="449" width="800" msid="76042078" hostid="261"></div>Prior to launching and landing Behnken and Hurley, SpaceX had flown 85 orbital-class Falcon 9 rockets, but no people.NASA, meanwhile, flew its last space shuttle in July 2011. Since then, the agency had been forced to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-buying-russian-soyuz-seats-2019-2017-1">rely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft</a> to get its astronauts into space — a monopolistic arrangement that cost NASA and put its access to the ISS <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soyuz-rocket-launch-failure-video-2018-11">at risk</a>. Behnken and Hurley's SpaceX mission, called Demo-2, was the result of a roughly $8 billion, 10-year public-private effort called the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/commercial-crew-program">Commercial Crew Program</a>. Boeing is one competitor in the program (though it saw <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-investigating-potentially-catastrophic-boeing-spaceship-error-2020-2">major issues</a> with its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-boeing-cst-100-starliner-spaceship-mission-failed-docking-iss-2019-12">first uncrewed test flight</a>), and SpaceX the other. NASA awarded SpaceX about $2.7 billion of that sum to develop, build, and test Crew Dragon, as well as fly it on seven missions.<div type="image" title="space shuttle atlantis sts 135 sts135 last final mission rendezvous pitch maneuver station nasa iss028e015554_orig" height="1950" width="2600" msid="76042082" hostid="261"></div>The joining of forces enabled NASA to groom SpaceX into a reliable commercial spaceflight provider that can sell the agency tickets to orbit for its astronauts. SpaceX, for its part, now has a human-rated spacecraft that will permit it to break open a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-international-space-station-commercialization-tourists-2019-6">new era of commercial spaceflight</a>."This is a unique moment where all of America can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again, and that is launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, said in May ahead of the launch. "We're transforming how we do spaceflight in general."Essential to that transformation are the two people proving the gambit actually works.<h2>SpaceX: They're 'badass' pilots, astronauts, and 'space dads'</h2><div type="image" title="nasa astronauts doug hurley bob robert behnken kennedy space center florida arrival spacex demo2 demo 2 crew dragon test flight may 20 2020 GettyImages 1226088875" height="1987" width="2650" msid="76042087" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/douglas-g-hurley/biography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hurley</a>, 53, grew up in New York near the Pennsylvania border, graduated at the top of his class in high school, and chased a civil engineering degree from Tulane University. By joining the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, he eventually would up as a test pilot in the Marine Corps with the call sign "Chunky" — then later became a member of NASA's <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010612051440/https://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/astro2000.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">year 2000 astronaut class</a>.<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/robert-l-behnken/biography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Behnken</a>, a 49-year-old Missouri native, followed a similar path. He pursued a mechanical-engineering degree from Washington University in St. Louis, later picking up a master's and a doctorate in the topic from Caltech. Amid that academic work, he joined the US Air Force's ROTC program, which led him to become a test pilot and also a member of the same class of NASA astronaut candidates.The men befriended each other in NASA's program and each flew two space-shuttle missions. Hurley's last mission, aboard space shuttle Atlantis in July 2011, was the final flight of that program.Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who has worked at SpaceX and now teaches astronautics at the University of Southern California, says he knows both men well. He even shared the same doctoral adviser with Behnken and went trekking in nature with him."Doug likes to play a dumb pilot, but he's actually a really smart guy," Reisman told Business Insider. "And Bob's nickname is 'Dr. Bob.'"<div type="image" title="nasa astronaut doug hurley jet pilot training" height="1366" width="1821" msid="76042092" hostid="261"></div>Reisman described Behnken as very even-keeled and quiet, someone who "tries not to let his mouth get out in front of him."Reisman shared a story about being in a SpaceX meeting with Behnken in which some employees began to talk to him "like a dumb pilot" about vehicle-control theory — which the astronaut studied for his Ph.D."I'm sitting there laughing my my ass off because I know that he knows more about this stuff than they do," Reisman said.In 2015, NASA picked Behnken and Hurley, along with two other astronauts, as part of a "Commercial Crew Cadre" to work with SpaceX and Boeing on new commercial spaceships. That fast-tracked them for spots on Crew Dragon.<a href="https://youtu.be/MUd2x8Yr6jo">During a press briefing on May 1</a>, Gwynne Shotwell, the president and COO of SpaceX, described both men as "badass" pilots, astronauts, and "space dads." When each astronaut was later asked what makes the other a badass, Behnken said Hurley "is ready for anything all the time" and "always prepared.""When you're going to fly into space on a test mission, you couldn't ask for a better person or a better type of individual to be there with you," Behnken said. "I'm just thankful that, doing something like this, I'm doing it with with Doug Hurley."<div type="image" title="astronaut robert behnken cupola internationa space station nasa s130e010477" height="1986" width="2648" msid="76042097" hostid="261"></div>Hurley, for his part, praised Behnken's wit."There is no stone unturned, there's no way that he doesn't have every potential eventuality already thought about five times ahead of almost anybody else," Hurley said. "There's no question I can ask him that he doesn't already have probably the best answer for."<a href="https://www.oneorbitcdr.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leroy Chiao</a>, a former NASA astronaut who flew to space four times, said the reputations of Behnken and Hurley precede them."I would certainly fly with them, either one of them or both of them, in a moment," Chiao told Business Insider.<h2>'When you're watching, you're just a spectator'</h2><div type="image" title="nasa astronaut doug hurley son jack wife karen nyberg spacex crew dragon launchpad tour may 2020 demo2 demo 2" height="1152" width="1536" msid="76042102" hostid="261"></div>Behnken and Hurley found more as part of NASA's 2000 astronaut class than space-shuttle flights: They also met their wives.Astronaut <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/karen-l-nyberg/biography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karen Nyberg</a> married Hurley, and their son Jack is now 11. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/k-megan-mcarthur/biography" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megan McArthur</a>, who helped repair the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, married Behnken. Their son Theo is 6 years old. Last month, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-picks-astronauts-for-spacex-crew-dragon-2020-7">NASA selected McArthur</a> to pilot Crew Dragon's second official mission to the ISS — the most recent mission was considered a demo — called Crew-2, next spring. She previously flew in the space shuttle Atlantis.In an interview with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/25/who-spacex-launch-astronauts/?arc404=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>, McArthur expounded on the difficulty of seeing Behnken lift off.<div type="image" title="megan mcarthur bob behnken nasa astronauts 2012 rnasa spaceflight achievement awards ceremony nasa" height="1693" width="2257" msid="76042104" hostid="261"></div>"One of the hardest things to do is watch the person that you love launch into space," she said. "It's much harder than actually doing it yourself when you're in the rocket. You have the training. You're prepared for the mission. When you're watching, you're just a spectator. And no matter what happens, there's nothing you can do to contribute to the situation."Still, having a spouse who understands <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-crew-dragon-loss-crew-mission-failure-chances-probability-2020-5">what it takes to go to space</a> helps when parenting young kids through the experienceBehnken said delays in the Commercial Crew Program — the first launch was slated for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-commercial-crew-spacex-boeing-delays-russia-space-station-2018-1">2017</a> — worked to their advantage in the parenting department."We've had a lot of the conversations over the years rather than having to have them all in the last couple of weeks," he told Business Insider. "It's kind of become more routine, if you will, in terms of expectation that I would eventually be flying on a SpaceX vehicle."Before the astronauts left the ISS, Behnken's son reminded him in a wakeup call ahead of the return trip that Theo had been promised a puppy.<h2>'That's how we like it to be'</h2><div type="image" title="elon musk spacex crew dragon demo 1 nasa astronaut bob behnken commercial spaceship mission march 2 2019 dave mosher business insider DCM_1092" height="1939" width="2585" msid="76042110" hostid="261"></div>Musk said ahead of the Demo-2 mission that reentry and landing were the most concerning phases for him. The Crew Dragon's heat shield had to protect the astronauts from temperatures up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit while traveling at speeds up to 25 times the speed of sound.<div type="image" title="spacex crew dragon spaceship capsule splash down gulf mexico pensacola nasa astronauts bob behnken doug hurley thumbs up seats demo2 august 2 2020" height="2024" width="2698" msid="77339084" hostid="261"></div>After the vehicle splashed into the Gulf of Mexico, Musk flew out to meet the astronauts near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas."I think my entire adrenaline just dumped," Musk told a small crowd over a microphone. "I'm not very religious, but I prayed for this one."This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on May 27, 2020.Do you have a story or inside information to share about the spaceflight industry? Send Dave Mosher an email at <a href="mailto:dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com</a> or a Twitter direct message at <a href="https://twitter.com/davemosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@davemosher</a>. More secure communication options are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dave-mosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed here</a>.

Meet Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, 2 'badass' astronauts, engineers, and 'space dads' who flew SpaceX's Crew Dragon to orbit and back

Millennials reveal their 105 favorite brands, from Gucci to Amazon

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/515d8f2569bedda56f000006-670-502/sheryl-sandberg-on-jon-stweart-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="sheryl sandberg on jon stweart" width="480" />Screenshot</div></div>Good morning, here's the news.
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/source-for-aol-patch-the-bloodbath-begins-tomorrow-morning-2013-8">Layoffs at AOL Patch are expected to begin today.</a> Tim Armstrong warned one week ago that he'd be killing or trying to find partners for up to 400 of the local news sites.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html">An internal audit and more documents reveal that the NSA has overstepped its boundaries thousands of times per year since 2008.</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-7-official-release-2013-8">Apple's new operating system, iOS 7, is expected to become available in September</a>. The company is widely expected to announce its latest iPhone along with an official release date for iOS 7 on Sept. 10. If Apple follows its pattern, iOS 7 should be available as a free download within a week of that announcement. 
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ashton-kutcher-fires-back-at-woz-2013-8">Ashton Kutcher says Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is being incentivized to bash his Jobs movie.</a> "He is being paid by another company to support a different Steve Jobs film," Kutcher tells the AP. "It’s personal for him, but it’s also business. We have to keep that in mind."
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bustles-bryan-goldberg-apologizes-and-responds-to-critics-2013-8">Bustle founder Bryan Goldberg has apologized for the way he wrote his media startup's launch announcement on Tuesday.</a> The announcement enraged a lot of people, in part because it seemed to ignore successful women-targeted websites tht already exist. 
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<li>
Elon Musk's SpaceX has a new "sideways" rocket that can land right where it takes off. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacexs-new-sideways-rocket-launch-must-be-seen-to-be-believed-2013-8">You kind of need to see it to believe it.</a>
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<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-porter-entertainment-startup-2013-8">Former Zynga executive and OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter is close to launching a new mobile venture, which may be in partnership with talent agent Ari Emanuel.</a>
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<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandbergs-lean-in-foundation-is-damaging-her-reputation-by-refusing-to-pay-its-interns-2013-8">Facebook billionaire Sheryl Sandberg is still receiving a lot of blow back after an editor for her Lean In Foundation advertised an unpaid internship position</a>.
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<li>
<a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/pandodailys-threatening-email-meltdown-1149039909">There is an email chain everyone in Silicon Valley is reading that doesn't make PandoDaily look so great.</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandbergs-lean-in-foundation-is-damaging-her-reputation-by-refusing-to-pay-its-interns-2013-8"></a>
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<li>
Stressed out, startups? Scientific studies have found a few tried and true ways to relax. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-relax-2013-8">All you need is some celery, a puppy, yoga and kisses.</a>
</li>
</ul>

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