NASA BAFFLED BY ACCIDENTS AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

NASA baffled by accidentsat Kennedy Space Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Over the past three months, workers at the Kennedy Space Center have tripped, dropped things, banged into sensitive equipment and started fires in a baffling string of accidents that have left one person dead. NASA is investigating three of the accidents -- the death of a worker who fell off a roof, the bumping of space shuttle Discovery's robotic arm by a platform, and damage last week to an instrument that supplies power to the orbiters. But since the beginning of the year, there have been 20 other incidents in which a worker was injured or equipment was damaged in excess of $25,000. There were 14 incidents during the same period last year. "There's enough going on that we're very, very concerned," said Bill Parsons, deputy director of the Kennedy Space Center.
Gas likely asphyxiatedCalifornia ski patrol team
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. -- Two ski patrol members who fell to their deaths in a volcanic fissure were probably asphyxiated by poisonous gas spewing from the vent, along with a third member who tried to rescue the pair, a coroner said Friday. After they fell, the first two men could be heard calling for help "and then were silent within a minute or two," said Rusty Gregory, chief executive officer of the ski area on Mammoth Mountain, an 11,053-foot dormant volcano 190 miles east of San Francisco. Mono County Coroner Ralph Obenberger said all three men were asphyxiated by carbon dioxide gas. Autopsies were pending. The vent releases volcanic gas from deep within the Earth. It is normally surrounded by a plastic fence to keep skiers away, but the fence had been nearly buried by a record 52 feet of snow. The ski patrol went to the site to raise the fence before opening the area. The snow under the team collapsed, causing two patrol members to fall 21 feet to the rocky bottom of the 6-foot-diameter hole. One of the dead was a patrol member who died trying to reach the other two. Another patrolman who followed was saved by a colleague who held his breath, jumped in and attached a rescue rope, Gregory said.
Mom found innocentby reason of insanity
McKINNEY, Texas -- When Dena Schlosser told a 911 operator she had just cut off her 10-month-old baby's arms, she did so calmly, with a gospel song playing in the background. On Friday, a judge found her innocent of murder by reason of insanity, sending her to a state mental hospital until she is no longer deemed a threat to herself or others. "My own expectation is that she will remain at the hospital for many, many years," said defense attorney David Haynes, who portrayed the attack as a religious frenzy. Schlosser, 38, was arrested in 2004 after she told a 911 operator she had severed her baby's arms. Officers found the baby, Margaret, near death in her crib and Schlosser sitting quietly in a chair, still holding a knife and listening to the hymn. In issuing the verdict, Judge Chris Oldner said Schlosser had met the legal standard for insanity, but did not elaborate. Both the defense and the prosecution had agreed to let the judge decide the case after Schlosser's previous trial ended in a deadlocked jury in February.
2 fatal accidents pushW.Va. mine toll to 18
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two workers were killed in separate accidents at underground coal mines in West Virginia on Friday, bringing the state's mining fatalities for the year to 18. A miner was killed when he apparently was caught and pulled into a conveyor system at a Mystic mine near Wharton, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. The second accident occurred at a Jacob Mining Co. mine near Naugutack. Rock and roof support material fell on a 15-ton locomotive, killing the operator, Louviere said. Gov. Joe Manchin said the state mine safety office is investigating the accidents. Twelve miners died after an explosion Jan. 2 at the Sago Mine. Less than three weeks after Sago, two miners died in a fire at a mine in Melville, about 180 miles away.
Nuclear concessions
VIENNA, Austria -- Shrugging off U.S. opposition, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will go to Tehran next week in hopes of securing nuclear concessions from the Iranian leadership, diplomats and officials said Friday. While the trip was meant to defuse tensions generated by fears Iran could be seeking atomic weapons, a partial success by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei could exacerbate differences among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and derail U.S. hopes of firm action against Tehran. Iran could commit to meet some Security Council requests while falling short of demands to freeze uranium enrichment, a possible pathway to nuclear arms. That could placate Russia and China, which oppose tough anti-Iran moves, but fall short of full compliance sought by the United States, France and Britain. The five countries wield veto power as permanent Security Council members.
Associated Press
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