Endeavour returns with tired astronauts
Endeavour returns with tired astronauts
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Heralded by twin sonic booms, space shuttle Endeavour touched down in California bearing two weary astronauts who easily broke NASA's 188-day space endurance record aboard the international space station.
Endeavour finally brought the three-man Expedition 4 crew home Wednesday but had to land at NASA's backup site in the Mojave Desert after waiting since Monday for bad weather to clear out from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"This is not the place we intended to land, but it's a great day here, and we brought back a good vehicle, and the Expedition crew is looking great," shuttle commander Kenneth Cockrell said.
The station crew, astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, and cosmonaut Yuri Onufrienko walked from the shuttle into a special transporter vehicle for the ride from the runway to base facilities, NASA said.
They faced medical tests over two days before a planned flight Friday to Johnson Space Center in Texas.
British man killedin bomb explosion
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A car bomb explosion killed a British man in the capital Riyadh today, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
Quoting the chief of Riyadh police, the agency said the victim's four-wheel-drive vehicle exploded. An investigation was launched, SPA said.
The police chief said the explosion occurred at 8:54 a.m. local time, and there were no other casualties.
He said the victim was a bank employee.
There has been a series of similar blasts in the country.
Two bombings in Riyadh in late 2000 killed a Briton and injured four others. A Scottish man was injured in an explosion in Khobar in December 2000. In March 2001, a Briton and an Egyptian were injured in a bombing outside a large downtown Riyadh bookstore.
Saudi officials said those blasts arose from disputes between gangs smuggling alcohol, which is forbidden in the kingdom under Islamic laws but is not difficult to obtain.
Astronomers spotyoung, sunlike star
WASHINGTON -- Astronomers may get their first chance to monitor the evolution of a planetary system like our own by observing blobs of dust and rock orbiting a young, sunlike star in the distant universe.
The star, named KH 15D, is unique because it is periodically obscured by clouds of matter that orbit between the star and viewers on Earth, William Herbst, an astronomer at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., said Wednesday.
Herbst said the orbiting material may be building planets, perhaps following the same evolutionary process that is thought to have formed the Earth and its sister planets.
"The processes that are going on in this inner disk region could be analogous to what was going on in the formation of the Earth," said Herbst. "It could shed light on our origins by helping us to understand how our Earth and the planets in the solar system came to be."
Although many distant stars have been observed to have orbiting debris, Herbst said KH 15D "is the only one that behaves in this way" and the only one seen with matter orbiting so close to the central star.
"The star is eclipsed by material that is circling it," said Herbst. "Essentially, the star winks at us."
Lawmaker from Tenn.shoots, kills himself
KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- A Republican lawmaker charged with indecent exposure in Florida last week apparently killed himself at home with a shotgun, authorities said Wednesday.
Police Chief Mark Addington said state Rep. Keith Westmoreland, 55, apparently shot himself in the chest. Westmoreland failed to show up for a family dinner and his brother discovered his body when he checked the house.
Westmoreland, a Republican, was arrested Friday on seven counts of indecent exposure at a Gulf Coast hotel hot tub and pool. He declined to comment about the charges as he entered the House for a legislative session Wednesday.
Nashville police said they warned Westmoreland after another incident involving a man who exposed himself to hotel guests in March. In a third incident, two sisters, ages 13 and 15, said a man exposed himself at a hotel whirlpool and drove off. Police said the license plate description matched Westmoreland's.