To the Moon and back: 50 years on, a giant leap into the unknown
It was not until Donald Trump came to office that the US would decide to return to the Moon, under the Artemis program, named for Apollo’s twin sister
It was not until Donald Trump came to office that the US would decide to return to the Moon, under the Artemis program, named for Apollo’s twin sister
United States President George Bush pledged swift federal aid for millions of storm-struck Texans on Tuesday.
Texas officials warned on Monday of a possible health crisis and urged thousands to leave the island city of Galveston.
Rescue teams scoured rubble and searched homes on Sunday in a huge rescue effort after Hurricane Ike cut a swathe of destruction through Texas.
Hurricane Ike slammed into the most populated part of the Texas coast on Saturday with ferocious winds and a wall of water that flooded seaside towns.
Hurricane Ike powered across the densely populated Texas coast and through Houston on Saturday, bringing ferocious winds and a wall of water.
Hurricane Ike barrelled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early on Saturday, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds.
Hurricane Ike roared towards the Texas coast on Friday, threatening to drive a 6m wall of water into coastal communities and menacing Houston.
Hundreds of thousands of people on Thursday fled Houston, Texas, as officials warned that those who stay behind "face certain death".
Ernie Els withdrew from the Houston Open on Sunday because of a virus, giving him an unexpected two weeks off before going to the US Masters. ”I am very disappointed to have been forced to make this decision because I was really looking forward to playing this week,” Els said in a statement.
Space shuttle Endeavour headed for home on Wednesday after delivering a Japanese module and a Canadian robot to the International Space Station. Its 16-day mission was scheduled to end with a landing at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 23.05pm GMT, 33 minutes before sundown.
Spacewalking astronauts stashed an inspection boom to the outside of the International Space Station on Saturday to assure the next shuttle crew can scrutinise their ship for damage. Latching the boom to the outside of the station was the primary task of the fifth and final spacewalk conducted by the Endeavour crew.
A pair of astronauts ended a spacewalk late on Thursday in which they tested a repair procedure for the heat shields on the space-shuttle fleet — a technique Nasa hopes it never needs to use. During the over six-hour outing the pair also replaced a faulty circuit breaker and removed a thermal sock from the station’s new Canadian-built handyman robot.
Two spacewalking astronauts floated out of a hatch on the International Space Station on Monday to help install a new European lab, while a crewmate who was supposed to participate in the outing helped from inside. Spacewalkers Rex Walheim and Stanley Love ventured outside as the space station passed over Asia.
Nasa scrambled on Wednesday to deal with two power problems at the International Space Station that could delay future missions and make it even harder to finish building the orbiting outpost before the space shuttles must be retired. Both issues competed for the precious little spacewalking time that’s left in Discovery‘s mission.
Astronauts plowed ahead on Monday with the mammoth job of moving a 17,5-ton solar-array truss on the International Space Station, a task made even more crucial following the discovery of contamination in an important part of the orbiting lab’s power system.
The former CEO of Enron’s broadband division reported to a Louisiana prison on Tuesday to serve 27 months for securities fraud related to his role in the company’s 2001 collapse, his lawyer said. Ken Rice (48) pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in 2004 and assisted prosecutors in other Enron cases.
Astronauts on the International Space Station and visiting space shuttle Atlantis said goodbye on Monday as they closed the hatch between their two ships in preparation for the shuttle’s departure on Tuesday. The space travellers spoke warm words of friendship and shook hands before the seven Atlantis crewmembers floated into their spacecraft.
Nasa reported major progress on glitches in a critical computer system on the International Space Station on Friday as astronauts repaired insulation damage to the space shuttle Atlantis during a spacewalk. Four of the six boxes or ”lanes” that comprise the computer were up and running.
A major, new problem popped up on the International Space Station on Wednesday as space shuttle astronauts finished installing a new solar-power unit — the failure of key computers that could in an extreme scenario force the crew off the station, officials said.
Astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis prepared for a walk in space on Monday to add a giant new piece to the International Space Station, and Nasa engineers pondered whether a bump in the ship’s heat protection system needs repair.
The space shuttle Atlantis winged toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station on Sunday, lugging a heavy payload for the orbital outpost and troubled only by a small tear in a heat-protecting thermal blanket. Nasa plans to fly 12 more missions to complete the station.
Steffi Graf required three stitches after husband Andre Agassi inadvertently hit her in the face with his racket during a fundraiser that followed the final of the United States Clay Court Championships on Sunday. Graf and Agassi were holding hands — her left to his right — while rallying with a couple of youngsters when Agassi’s follow-through struck his wife in the face.
Astronaut Lisa Nowak’s attack on a rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut sent shockwaves on Tuesday through a tightly-knit Nasa community accustomed to its crewmembers showing the ”right stuff,” and not getting involved in love triangles. Johnson Space Centre director Michael Coats said in a statement the space agency was ”deeply saddened by this tragic event”.
As he recovers at home from hip-replacement surgery last week, former United States president George Bush is already thinking about jumping out of an airplane again. Bush Snr plans to mark his 85th birthday in June 2009 by skydiving like he did when he turned 80.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is asking engineers to join his fledgling and secretive private aerospace business, breaking a long silence about his operation in a remote section of West Texas by posting photos and videos on the company’s website of a test launch of a reusable spacecraft.
Astronauts failed late on Saturday to dislodge a stuck solar array on the International Space Station, setting the stage for a likely fourth space walk just to solve the problem. Robert Curbeam and Sunita Williams ended their space walk at 2.56am GMT on Sunday, after seven-and-a-half hours of working as electricians in space.
Former Enron chief accounting officer Richard Causey was sentenced on Wednesday to five-and-a-half years in prison for approving the bogus bookkeeping that led to the company’s 2001 collapse. Causey (46) the last of the top-tier Enron executives to be sentenced, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in December 2005.
Former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to more than 24 years in prison for leading a financial fraud that destroyed the company and came to symbolise a dark era for corporate America. US District Judge Sim Lake said Skilling’s crimes ”have imposed on hundreds if not thousands of people a lifetime of poverty”.
Ex-Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, facing sentencing later this month for his role in the energy trading giant’s collapse, paid a fine to a Dallas court for public drunkenness, according a report on Wednesday on the Houston Chronicle website. Skilling did not appear in the Dallas court, but pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge and mailed in a fine.
Andrew Fastow, who helped engineer the financial trickery that sank Enron and then helped convict his former bosses in the scandal, on Tuesday got four years knocked off the plea deal he had made, receiving a six-year sentence instead. United States District Judge Ken Hoyt said the 44-year-old former Enron chief financial officer (CFO) had given ”exceptional” assistance to prosecutors.
Astronauts on shuttle Atlantis conducted a final inspection of their spacecraft’s heat shield on Monday as they began early preparations for their return to Earth. They used a sensor-laden robot arm to scan the shuttle’s wings and other surfaces that bear the brunt of super-hot temperatures.