Space Science

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated several bombs and breached the main U.N. compound in Somalia's capital Wednesday, sparking gun battles that killed at least 12 people. A U.N. official said at least three foreigners were believed to be among the dead.

John F. Kennedy made Berlin the city for presidents to give big speeches.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president said Wednesday he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations, while also insisting the militant group stop its violent attacks on the ground after it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed four Americans.

Taikonauts on Shenzhou-10 to give live lecture from space to Chinese students on Thursday #space

Media Invited to View UP Aerospace SpaceLoft 7 Launch for NASA, NASA ARC "News media representatives are invited to witness the first research flight on a suborbital rocket funded by NASA's Flight Opportunities Program when UP Aerospace Inc.'s SpaceLoft 7 vehicle lifts off June 21, 2013, at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Liftoff is scheduled to occur between 6 and 9 a.m. PDT. NASA has funded the flight for seven space-technology experiments to be flown in a space-relevant environment aboard the UP Aerospace sounding rocket. The sub-orbital flight is expected to provide up to four minutes of weightlessness for testing of the experiments. The flight is expected to last about 15 minutes and reach an altitude of 74 miles, with landing targeted about 320 miles downrange on the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range."

House Appropriators Want Deep Cut to FAA Commercial Space Launch Office, Space Policy Online "The House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) will meet tomorrow to markup the draft FY2014 Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill. As drafted, the bill would reduce AST from its requested level of $16.01 million to $14.16 million." "Mike Gold, Director of D.C. Operations & Business Growth for Bigelow Aerospace, said "These cuts are ill-advised to say the least. At a time when we're depending so heavily on commercial space transportation to do this to the FAA-AST will have serious consequences, causing delays throughout the industry and even potentially putting lives in danger. It's certainly my hope that all of the AST's funding can be restored."

The zoo in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, is home to a unique animal — the liliger. That's a big cat breed where the father is a lion and the mother is a lion-tiger hybrid, called a liger.

The representatives of the Alphasat/Alphabus public--private partnership met on 18 June, 2013, to celebrate the project. Each partner spoke about their contribution to the project during a press conference in the ESA Pavilon. The partner representatives were Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA DG; Magali Vaissière, ESA Director of TIA; Ruy Pinto, Inmarsat CTO; Eric Béranger, Astrium CEO; Sami Benamar, Vice President of Development at Thales Alenia Space; Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES President; David Parker, UK Space Agency Chief Executive and Jan Wörner, DLR Chairmain. The roundtable was followed by a question and answer from the media. Video courtesy ESA.

Young star suggests our sun was a feisty toddler #space

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated multiple bomb blasts and breached the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu on Wednesday, sparking gun battles with security forces that killed at least 12 people. U.N. personnel who reached the compound's secure bunker all survived, though officials hinted not all reached that bunker.