SpaceX Dragon Docks With Space Station; Success for Private Enterprise in Orbit

By Ned Potter
@NedPotterABC

 Email0Smaller FontTextLarger Text|Print

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft flying formation with International Space Station. Image: NASA

“Looks like we’ve got a Dragon by the tail,” said NASA astronaut Don Pettit.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule safely berthed to the International Space Station today, greeted by cheers in mission control and pronouncements about how a new era is beginning in orbit.

The Dragon did something that has happened dozens of times before — made a successful rendezvous with the space station to deliver supplies. But it’s the first privately-owned spacecraft to make the trip.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mike Suffredini, NASA’s space station program manager, this afternoon. “I can’t tell you how proud we are to have been a part of this historic moment.”

“We’re incredibly excited,” said Elon Musk, the founder and head of SpaceX. “There’s so much that could have gone wrong and didn’t.”

NASA hopes private American companies will inexpensively deliver supplies, and eventually astronauts, to the station, something the U.S. has been unable to do without foreign help since the space shuttles were retired last year.

NASA TV

The berthing was done achingly slowly — standard procedure when two ships fly together in orbit at more than 17,000 miles per hour.  Rather than let the Dragon maneuver itself for a docking, astronaut Pettit reached out with the station’s robot arm to grab the approaching ship.

NASA TV

NASA said under current plans, Dragon will remain docked to the space station for unloading until May 31.  After undocking, SpaceX will order the ship to re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific off the Southern California Coast.

NASA TV

“This is a fantastic thing,” said Musk, surrounded by cheering SpaceX employees in California, “but there are better things to come in the future.”

Palin endorses Utah's Hatch in Senate race

Posted by

CNN Political Unit

(CNN) – Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has weighed into another race for the U.S. Senate, this time endorsing the incumbent seeking reelection to the Utah seat he has held since 1976.

Palin announced her backing for Orrin Hatch in a post to her website Tuesday evening, calling him "part of the one percent of national politicians who I think should be reelected."

– Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

Her endorsement comes almost precisely a month after Hatch came within several dozen votes of avoiding a primary contest in his bid for a seventh term in the Senate.

Hatch is known for reaching across the aisle on occasion, though in her endorsement, Palin touted his opposition against the health care reform led by President Barack Obama, as well as opposition to Obama's nominees for the Supreme Court.

"We know he will use his seniority and influence to dissuade politicians from continuing to raise the debt ceiling without any plan to balance the budget and end these dangerously unsustainable deficits," she wrote. "And unlike some others, Orrin has gone out of his way to embrace the Tea Party movement."

Palin made her case for Hatch in a television appearance last August, saying his support for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution means "we need to be agreeing and embracing his idea and working with him to make sure that happens, instead of shooing him away and out of the Tea Party movement."

Former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist will face Hatch in a June 26 primary, and in his first television advertisement, suggested the incumbent was being hypocritical to turn down televised debates, which Hatch had called for in his 1976 bid. One of Liljenquist's supporters has said he will protest Hatch's decision to only debate once, and on radio, by holding a personal hunger strike.

National groups and figures have weighed in on the race, including GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who endorsed Hatch.

Palin's prior 2012 endorsements have included the backing of Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who this month defeated incumbent Richard Lugar - who, like Hatch, started in the Senate in 1976.

Business turns the dead into diamonds

By Ramy Inocencio, CNN

'Diamond burial' new way to say goodbye

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Eva Wu had her 17-year-old son's remains turned into a diamond
• Cost to turn remains into synthetic diamonds range from $3,000 to $37,000
• Started by the Swiss company Algordanza, whose name means "remembrance"
• "I feel peace. I feel he's near me. And it's 100% him. Nothing else but him"

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Eva Wu has kept her son's room unchanged ever since he died in January of 2011. Cornald passed away from a rare form of cancer, known as PEComa, at age 17. Divorced and single, Wu recalled his optimism even in his final days.

"He always comforted me. He said 'Mummy, I know what's going on. I'm not afraid of dying. I know where I'm going to. I have Jesus in my heart so don't worry about me'."

To keep him close in death as he was in life, Wu had his ashes made into a diamond. "I feel peace. I feel he's near me. And it's 100% him. Nothing else but him," said Wu, who keeps the diamond on a cross necklace. "And I can recall his smiling face, and I can recall his gentle character."

That peace is thanks to the Hong Kong company Algordanza, which has been making "remembrance diamonds" since 2008, said Scott Fong, local director of Algordanza.

Headquartered in Switzerland, Algordanza's name comes from the local Romansch language meaning "remembrance." An engineer by education, Fong thought there could be a demand for the service after his mother's aunt passed away in 2007, and he found end-of-life services in Hong Kong to be "crude" and options for burial few.

The ashes-to-diamond process is fairly straightforward, Fong said. Algordanza sends 200 grams of cremated remains to its laboratory in Switzerland. The carbon from those ashes is then filtered out to more than 99% purity and refined into silky, black graphite. A machine then applies volcano-like pressure and temperature: Nine hours later, a synthetic diamond -- which has a bluish rather than clear tint, owing to boron found naturally in the body -- is born.

A quarter-carat diamond retails for about $3000, Fong said. A two-carat diamond, the biggest that Algordanza makes, costs about $37,000.

This price range makes remembrance diamonds competitive with the cost of Hong Kong burials, which range from $2,000 to more than $200,000 depending on the choice of coffin, according to the city's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

No space for the dead in Hong Kong

Land is also scarce in Hong Kong. Just as the living complain about Hong Kong's sky-high property prices, interment is pricey for the dead, too, in the city's densely-packed cemeteries. In fact, the Hong Kong government only allows a body to stay buried for a maximum of six years before it must be exhumed and cremated.

Hong Kong fights to find space for the dead

Fong says Algordanza's revenues have doubled since he opened its Hong Kong office in 2008. But Chinese traditional culture holds that the business of death is taboo. Even Fong's father, Bill, had discouraged him from starting his business at first.

"He told me that all of Chinese cultural society would cut off my head for even proposing an idea like this," Fong recalled.

But his father came to accept the idea after questioning if future generations would preserve family traditions, Fong said, like annual tomb visits to pay respect to the departed. His father asked, "Who would then come to visit me?" Fong said.

Fong's father died a few weeks ago due to complications from liver cancer. His remains will be made into a diamond and split among his four children who live around the world, Fong said.

As for Wu, acceptance from her family to create a diamond from her son's remains was slow.

"They know my bonding to my child. They know we are so close," she said. "And if this is the way that can make me happy and comfortable ... (they said) just go ahead."

Wu admits a remembrance diamond may not be the way everyone may want to commemorate their loved ones. But aside from the love held for the departed, a diamond can last nearly as long, she adds.

Ronal Reagan's Blood for Sale

By Gregory J. Krieg

Vial said to have held a sample of President Reagan's blood after 1981 assassination attempt. Image: PFC Auctions

Thirty-one years after Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed by a would-be assassin, an online auction house on the island of Guernsey (an autonomous British protectorate and controversial tax haven just off the northern coast of France) is making available to the highest bidder a glass vial it says once held the president’s blood.

Sixty-nine days after being sworn in, Reagan was attacked outside a Hilton Hotel in Washington by John Hinckley, Jr., a schizophrenic young man who later said he was trying to impress the actress Jodie Foster. The Secret Service rushed the president to George Washington University Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. Despite significant internal injuries and bleeding, Reagan recovered and was back at work at the White House only weeks later.

Reagan, of course, went on to become one of conservative America’s most beloved figures.

Now fans can put in a bid for a 5-inch long, plasma-stained glass tube and an accompanying medical form listing Reagan’s patient identification number, age, sex, and the name of the hospital’s chief cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. None of the boxes on the form indicating which tests should be done are ticked off, but instructions are written onto the page requesting the sample’s “lead level” be examined.

The anonymous seller provided online auctioneers with a “letter of provenance,” claiming that his mother, then a technician at Bio Science Laboratories in nearby Columbia, Md., was given permission by a supervisor to take the vial home at the end of the week Reagan was shot. When his parents died, the seller writes, the vial was passed on to him.

“About 3 to 4 months ago,” he continues, “I contacted the Reagan National Library (sic) and spoke to the head of the library, a Federal Agent. I told him what I had, how I came across it and so on. We spoke for about 45 minutes. The reason that I contacted the Reagan National Library was to see if they would like to purchase it from me. He indicated that if I was interested in donating it he would see to it that he would take care of all of the arrangements.”

But he wanted to sell it, and after finding that the “National Archives was not interested in what I had, nor was the Secret Service, the FBI and other agencies,” he decided to put it on the block.

“Pres. Reagan when he was my Commander in Chief when I was in the ARMY from ’87-’91,” the mystery man writes, “and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that Pres. Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it.”

The auction opened on Wednesday, May 9, with a bid of 1,500 British pounds sterling ($2,370.90). By late Monday, “Lot 160 – Ronald Reagan Blood Vial” had a new top offer of $9,910.36.

For all our interested readers: Bidding expires this Thursday, May 24, at 2 p.m. EDT. All submissions are considered official and cannot be altered. Payment, according to the PFC Auction website, is due within seven days of the date of your invoice.

Exclusive page Excerpt from A Man's World

Excerpt from The Love Bug Chapter.


     “Babe, I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been thinking about moving out. My parents don’t

respect me. Living here is just becoming a bit too much.” I placed my head in my

hands and took a deep breath. I exhaled a few seconds later, acting as though the

thought was depressing to me. I was playing up the drama, going for Amy’s heart

strings like a master actor. “They can’t give me five minutes to myself without

finding something to argue about. I’m sick of it. Something seems to be pushing us

together. What I’m saying is that I’d like to be with you and only you. If we were

ever to get…”

     I stopped right there to let her natural curiosity take over and for her to think

about what I’d just said. I put my hand on her knee. “Well, we haven’t really known

each other long enough for me to be talking like this. I hope I’m not making you feel

uncomfortable.”

     “No, not at all,” she said, listening intently.

     “It’s just that I can’t stop thinking about you.” The way I spoke and looked at her

would have made even me believe I was sincere, so it had to be working on her. Her

face was full of concern, I stole a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. It was a

performance worthy of an Oscar. Women tend to think that men can’t act as well as

they can. Remember one thing, men invented acting. We do it everyday in way’s

women haven’t even discovered yet.

     I could feel that I was minutes away from hearing what I wanted to hear. I could

see me living in her condo with all the sex I wanted at anytime. I asked her to join

me in the family room. I took her hand and lead her. I turned on the affection while

we sat there pretending to watch television. I snuggled next to her, giving her soft

butterfly kisses up and down her neck. Then I suddenly realized that I’d been so

caught up in my plan that I totally forgot to ask about her trip. “So, how was your

trip?” I asked in a soft whisper.

     She immediately started to rattle off details and events almost nonstop. I tried

my best to appear interested by staring at her lips. It’s a tactic we men use a lot.

Usually we nod intermittently and look at the woman’s face, moving our gaze from

lips to eyes, lips to eyes. She finally paused and started to say what I had been

waiting to hear.

http://amansworldbook.com/

At least 6 dead after quake rocks northern Italy

From Barbie Nadeau, For CNN

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck four kilometers (2.4 miles) outside Camposanto, northwest of Bologna.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Six people are dead following the earthquake, the civil protection agency says
• At least 50 people are injured; workers are sifting through rubble for survivors
• The number of injuries is expected to rise as workers head toward remote villages
• The USGS says a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck northern Italy

Rome (CNN) -- A strong earthquake struck northern Italy early Sunday, leaving at least six people dead, authorities said.

Two people were killed in a ceramic factory in Sant'Agostino di Ferrara, and one person died when a work shed collapsed in Ponte Rodoni di Bondeno, said Elisabetta Maffani, spokeswoman for Italy's civil protection agency.

In addition, a woman in Bologna died of a heart attack during an evacuation; a Moroccan national died when the factory he was working in collapsed; and a sixth victim was found dead under rubble in Sant'Agostino, Maffani said.

At least 50 people were injured. Workers were searching through rubble for survivors in Sant'Agostino.

The 6.0-magnitude quake occurred just after 4 a.m. (10 p.m. ET Saturday), 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) outside Camposanto, northwest of Bologna, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

In Sant'Agostino, the quake knocked down a church bell.

Authorities were still assessing damage in the region, the civil protection office said. The agency said it anticipates reports of more injuries as rescue workers make their way to remote villages in the mountainous area.

In January, the same area was struck by a 5.3-magnitude quake.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the central Italian city of L'Aquila, killing more than 300 people and causing widespread destruction.

Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An annular solar eclipse will take place on May 20, 2012 (May 21, 2012 for local time in Eastern Hemisphere), with a magnitude of 0.9439. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide.

[edit]
The annular phase will be visible from the Chinese coast, northern Taiwan, the south of Japan, and the western part of the United States. Guangzhou, Taipei, Tokyo and Albuquerque will be on the central path. Its maximum will occur in theNorth Pacific, south of the Aleutian islands for 5 min and 46.3 s, and finish in the western United States.Visibility

Animation of eclipse path

[edit]North America

It will be the first central eclipse of the 21st century in the continental USA, and also the first annular eclipse there since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 which was also the previous eclipse of this series Solar Saros 128.

Animation of eclipse as viewed from Albuquerque, New Mexico, showing sunset before the eclipse ends