Atlantis docks with space station one final time - Houston Chronicle

Atlantis has docked with the International Space Station.

At 9:08 a.m. today, the shuttle flew near the space station and performed a 360-degree back flip in space, allowing astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory to photograph the belly of the shuttle.

These images will be sent to imagery experts on the ground who will ensure that the shuttle belly's heat shield tiles were not significantly damaged during Friday's launch.

After the back-flip maneuver, commander Chris Ferguson guided Atlantis toward the station and docked shortly after 10 a.m.

And with that, Atlantis' crew began transferring all that cargo they brought to orbit.

Atlantis spent a nearly flawless first full day in orbit on Saturday, with the space shuttle's crew inspecting the vehicle to ensure it sustained no significant damage during launch.

Although a final assessment of the shuttle's heat shield won't be made until later this week, upon first appearance it looks to be in good condition. During the last mission of the space shuttle program the vehicle, overall, is behaving very well, NASA officials said.

"I couldn't be happier with where we are right now," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

The four astronauts aboard Atlantis — Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim — spent a busy Saturday in space using a robotic arm with a camera attached to inspect the shuttle's nose and the leading edges of its wings for impact damage.

It's been more than two decades since a shuttle has flown with so few crew members, and there are typically six or seven astronauts on the vehicle to assist with these inspections.

"We normally do have some more hands on board, but I'm happy to report that our four-person crew is staying well ahead of the timeline," Cain said. "And that's saying a lot for flight day two."

NASA assigned just four astronauts to the flight because it wanted to pack the spacecraft with as many supplies as possible for a delivery run to the International Space Station.

Significantly, Atlantis will deliver a year's worth of food to the six space station crew members.

eric.berger@chron.com

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President Obama not giving up on big debt deal - Atlanta Journal Constitution

By LAURIE KELLMAN

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hasn't given up on getting congressional leaders to accept a $4 trillion debt reduction deal that Republicans have rejected for its tax increases and Democrats dislike for its cuts to programs for seniors and the poor, administration officials said hours before talks resumed Sunday.

President Barack Obama crosses the South Lawn of the White House in Washington to board Marine One Saturday, July 9, 2011. Obama is headed to Camp David, the Presidential retreat in Catoctin Mountains. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
In this photo provided by CBS News, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talks about the debt crisis on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington Sunday, July 10, 2011. Geithner said Sunday that the Obama administration wants to seek "the biggest deal possible" on debt reduction. His comments followed word from GOP congressional leaders Sunday that the White House's $4 trillion package was off the table. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)
FILE - In this July 7, 2011, file photo President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio meet with Congressional leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington to discuss the debt. A debt-busting deal on the scale that Obama and Boehner are seeking all but guarantees Medicare beneficiaries would feel part of the pain. Some working-age people and their families could also be on the hook, if the deal ultimately curtails the tax break for employer-provided health insurance. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
In this photo provided by CBS News, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talks about the debt crisis on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington Sunday, July 10, 2011. Geithner said Sunday that the Obama administration wants to seek "the biggest deal possible" on debt reduction. His comments followed word from GOP congressional leaders Sunday that the White House's $4 trillion package was off the table. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

"He's not someone to walk away from a tough fight," presidential chief of staff William Daley said. "Everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will ... make a serious dent in our deficit."

But House and Senate Republican leaders now say the largest of three proposals under consideration would not pass the GOP-led House because of its tax increases, an abrupt shift in negotiation over the terms of raising the nation's debt ceiling before an Aug. 2 deadline.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced late Saturday that he was rejecting that proposal. Heading into the talks at 6 p.m. EDT, the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, suggested the deal was dead.

"I think it is," McConnell said. Raising taxes amid 9.2 percent unemployment, he added, "is a terrible idea. It's a job killer."

The back-and-forth on the Sunday morning talk shows came hours before Obama and eight lawmakers of both parties were to convene at the White House over a plan to raise the nation's borrowing capacity from $14.3 trillion before next month's deadline, when administration officials say the nation would default on its debts.

Republicans have demanded that any plan to raise the borrowing limit be coupled with massive spending cuts to lighten the burden of government on the struggling economy. Higher taxes, Republicans have said from the start, are deal-killers if not offset elsewhere.

But Obama has a long way to go to satisfy lawmakers in his own party, too. Many Democrats are unnerved by the president's $4 trillion proposal because of its changes to Medicare and Medicaid.

Political pain is part of the deal, too, and should be worth bearing, Daley said, adding that Obama was calling on lawmakers to "step up and be leaders."

He cast Obama as uninterested, for now, in two more modest proposals to raise the debt limit for a shorter time, in exchange for smaller spending cuts. But Daley and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner used rhetoric that appeared to acknowledge the prospects for the $4 trillion deal could be in doubt.

"We're going to try to get the biggest deal possible," Geithner said.

He cautioned that a package about half the size of the one Obama prefers would be equally tough to negotiate because it, too, could require hundreds of billions in new tax revenue.

Expectations for Sunday's meeting took an abrupt turn after Boehner informed Obama that a package of about $2 trillion identified but not agreed to by bipartisan negotiators was more realistic.

In a statement, Boehner said: "Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes."

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Vice President Joe Biden had already identified, but not signed off on, about $2 trillion in deficit reductions, most accomplished through spending cuts.

"I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase," Boehner said.

After holding a secret meeting with Boehner last weekend, Obama and aides said they believed an even bigger figure was attainable if both parties made politically painful, but potentially historic, choices.

A Republican official familiar with the discussions said taxes and the major health and retirement entitlement programs continued to be sticking points.

Obama wanted Republicans to accept closing some corporate tax loopholes and subsidies to corporations, ending a tax friendly inventory accounting system for businesses, as well as reducing the value of tax deductions for wealthy taxpayers.

A senior administration official said the discussion on taxes broke down over the administration's desire to have the wealthy pick up a bigger share of the tax revenue load than Republicans were willing to accept.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said the $2 trillion to $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction identified by the Biden-led negotiations remains under negotiation and will also require some new tax revenue of up to $400 billion.

Daley was on ABC's "This Week," McConnell appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and Geithner was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS' "Face the Nation."

___

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

___

July 10, 2011 12:11 PM EDT

Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Atlantis docks with space station one final time - Houston Chronicle

Atlantis has docked with the International Space Station.

At 9:08 a.m. today, the shuttle flew near the space station and performed a 360-degree back flip in space, allowing astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory to photograph the belly of the shuttle.

These images will be sent to imagery experts on the ground who will ensure that the shuttle belly's heat shield tiles were not significantly damaged during Friday's launch.

After the back-flip maneuver, commander Chris Ferguson guided Atlantis toward the station and docked shortly after 10 a.m.

And with that, Atlantis' crew began transferring all that cargo they brought to orbit.

Atlantis spent a nearly flawless first full day in orbit on Saturday, with the space shuttle's crew inspecting the vehicle to ensure it sustained no significant damage during launch.

Although a final assessment of the shuttle's heat shield won't be made until later this week, upon first appearance it looks to be in good condition. During the last mission of the space shuttle program the vehicle, overall, is behaving very well, NASA officials said.

"I couldn't be happier with where we are right now," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

The four astronauts aboard Atlantis — Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim — spent a busy Saturday in space using a robotic arm with a camera attached to inspect the shuttle's nose and the leading edges of its wings for impact damage.

It's been more than two decades since a shuttle has flown with so few crew members, and there are typically six or seven astronauts on the vehicle to assist with these inspections.

"We normally do have some more hands on board, but I'm happy to report that our four-person crew is staying well ahead of the timeline," Cain said. "And that's saying a lot for flight day two."

NASA assigned just four astronauts to the flight because it wanted to pack the spacecraft with as many supplies as possible for a delivery run to the International Space Station.

Significantly, Atlantis will deliver a year's worth of food to the six space station crew members.

eric.berger@chron.com

View the original article here

Prince William, Kate stun at BAFTA event - USA Today

LOS ANGELES — A black-tie event Saturday night was one of the rare occasions in which even A-list celebrities were star-struck.

Pool, Getty Images

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, chat with Jennifer Lopez and her mother Guadalupe Lopez at the BAFTA Brits To Watch event.

Pool, Getty Images

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, chat with Jennifer Lopez and her mother Guadalupe Lopez at the BAFTA Brits To Watch event.

It took the appearance of what Piers Morgan dubbed "the world's most famous couple," the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to make Hollywood's biggest names gush and worry about protocol.

"They make me smile," said Nicole Kidman, in a blue-grey Elie Saab gown. "I love them."

"I think they're bigger than stars," said Zooey Deschanel, in a gold tea-length Oscar De La Renta dress.

She worried that the area near the BAFTA event at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles might look shabby to the regal couple.

"I just don't want them to see the worst of L.A.," said Deschanel.

Others spoke about not being sure how to act around royalty.

"No noogies, I know that's not allowed," said Paul Rudd. "You can only do that with an earl."

Added Rudd: "I tend to hug people if I'm nervous. Or kiss them on the cheek. When it's awkward, I fall into that trap a lot."

"I'm very excited, but slightly terrified as well," said Harry Lloyd, a British actor chosen as 42 honored "Brits to Watch" by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) which sponsored Saturday night's event.

"There are kind of a lot of opportunities to put your foot in your mouth tonight," Lloyd said.

They were reassured en masse in the ballroom by Duncan Kenworthy, vice chairman of BAFTA who urged the celebrity-packed audience to be at ease around the royal couple.

He told the 250 guests in the ballroom: "They want to meet all of you. They will try and chat with all of you this evening. When you meet them, you don't have to bow and curtsy. You can call them whatever you feel. Your Royal highness, Sir, Ma'am, William and Kate, just as the mood takes you. They are here to have fun. They are really relaxed, as I'm sure you are."

The royal newlyweds did indeed look relaxed. William and Catherine, radiant in a lavender-grey gown by Alexander McQueen and earrings lent to her by the Queen, flew in on a helicopter from the Santa Barbara polo grounds — where William scored four goals in a charity match — to this black-tie event. They quickly strode down the red carpet at around about 8 pm. after arriving surrounded by police escorts in a black right-hand drive Range Rover, one of a fleet of nine dark SUVs.

By the time they arrived, greeted and shook hands with a gathered crowd of family and friends of the event's production, the stars had already gone into the ballroom, with the exception of director Quentin Tarantino who showed up late, looking casual in sneakers and shades at the black-tie event. Several hundred people gathered nearby, screaming when the royals arrived.

The biggest stars on hand, Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lopez, scurried along the red carpet, avoiding reporters. Equally press-averse were celebrities such as James Gandolfini, Jennifer Garner and Blake Lively, who did model her stunning Marchesa steel-gray, one-shouldered gown.

Jonah Hill, said he was eager to meet the couple "I'll bombard my way in there," said the actor, almost unrecognizable in a blondish crewcut and considerably slimmed down. "I never met a prince or princess. I met Prince though."

Several celebrities described the couple as friendly, down-to-earth and strikingly attractive.

"They seem like a very nice, young, normal couple," said Jason Bateman.

"They're a breath of fresh air," said celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

William, the Duke of Cambridge, is the president of BAFTA and addressed the Hollywood luminaries as well as the 42 "Brits to Watch" at Los Angeles' Belasco entertainment complex—built in the early 1900s and recently renovated for $12 million.

"Before I start I'd like to thank Colin Firth for my perfect opening line: 'I have a voice'," said William, in a slightly husky one, after an afternoon spent playing polo.

"I am immensely proud of the success Brits have had in the fiercely competitive world of film, television and video games," said William. "Their creative and hi-tech achievements have contributed greatly to our national wealth, not to mention our personal pleasure."

"When American and British creative talent gets together, magic happens," he said. " Let's continue the winning formula. Catherine and I have been hugely looking forward to tonight's event with its exciting cast, British and American?.I believe great things will result."

His concluding phrase drew an appreciative laugh: "Lights, Camera, Action."

William and Catherine spoke first to Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Jennifer Lopez and Nicole Kidman, then greeted each of the 42 recipients, speaking to each individually and later ate dinner, which consisted of a courgette and mint tian with a lemon and pine nut gremolata, shaved manchego and a courgette blossom flower garnish to start; and a filet of beef with creamed leeks, pickled garlic, asparagus, turnip, baby onions, potato fondant, and a red wine sauce. Guests drank from gold goblets and ate from antique-style plates at tables dressed with blooms of English dahlias and roses.

For dessert, guests enjoyed a version of the British dessert Eton Mess featuring English rose meringue, strawberries, cream, sugar-dusted edible rose petals and pulled sugar.

Seated at the royal table were Nicole Kidman, Barbra Streisand, James Brolin and Donna Langley co-chairman of Universal Pictures, Duncan Kenworthy as well as the prince's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, diplomat Sir David Manning and British consul-general Dame Barbara Hay, who hosted a private party for the royals at her Hancock Park home on Friday evening.

Other guests at the event included Anna Kournikova, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Banks, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Harvey Weinstein, Elizabeth Moss, Berry Gordy, Kristin Chenoweth, Ed Westwick, and Mary-Louise Parker.

The 42 British up and comers included actors, directors, writers, producers, editors, composers, animators, cinematographers, production designers, video game designers and visual effects artists.

One of those chosen for his promise, TV director Rupert Smith said he received an email inviting him to the event, but initially didn't look closely at it.

"I thought it was an invitation to a cheese and wine thing," he said. "I nearly deleted it."

British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who co-stars in Larry Crowne, said she avidly watched the royal wedding with her mother. "Catherine always looks so effortlessly cool, calm and collected. She's got such a sense of style."

Mbatha-Raw, in a stunning cobalt blue gown by Reem Acra, said she found the wording of her emailed invitation strangely low-key.

"At the bottom, it said 'Let us know if you'd like to attend'," said Mbatha-Raw. "I was like 'Are you kidding me?'"

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Activists at Syrian 'national dialogue' call for end to violence - CNN International

Syrian officials and delegates attend the national dialogue meeting in Damascus on July 10, 2011.NEW: "The bloodshed needs to stop. ... Excessive force is unjustified," one activist saysSyria's vice president says the meeting is a step toward creating a "democratic nation"Some government opponents criticize the Damascus University meetingSyria's foreign ministry summons U.S. and French ambassadors

(CNN) -- Activists speaking at a Syrian government-sponsored "national dialogue" meeting Sunday criticized recent crackdowns by the country's security forces, calling for an end to violence against protesters.

Syria's vice president hailed the Damascus University meeting between officials and members of the opposition as a step toward creating a "democratic nation."

"We hope that at the end of this comprehensive meeting to announce the transition of Syria to a pluralistic democratic nation where all citizens are guided by equality and participate in the modeling of the future of their country," Vice President Faruq al-Shara said in opening remarks at the meeting, which was broadcast live on state television.

Syrian activists say that security personnel have assaulted unarmed protesters during months of anti-government demonstrations that erupted nationwide in mid-March. The Syrian government has claimed armed groups are responsible for the violence at the demonstrations.

Several speakers at Sunday's meeting called on Syria's government to change its tactics.

"The bloodshed needs to stop. Yes, there are unauthorized protests, but is it a reason to use unjustified and excessive violence? The use of all types of excessive force is unjustified," said Qadri Jameel of the opposition Front of Change and Liberation.

Syrian researcher Al-Tayyeb Tizzina also criticized the use of force and asked for violence to stop in order for the dialogue to succeed.

"The establishment of a political society requires the immediate start of a process dismantling the police state that is dominating Syria," he said.

Al-Shara acknowledged that a surge of violence in Syria precipitated Sunday's meeting.

"We have to admit that without the big sacrifices that were presented by the Syrian people, from the blood of their sons, civilians or military in more than one province, city and town, this meeting wouldn't have happened," he said.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the meeting included members of the opposition, independent activists, youth leaders and academics.

But some opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime have criticized the meeting, saying the government is trying to quiet widespread unrest without making meaningful changes.

Demonstrators protested the meeting in nationwide "no dialogue" marches Friday.

"Any dialogue must be based on the base of (al-Assad's) stepping down from power," said a statement from the Change in Syria Conference, an opposition group which called for al-Assad to hand over power to the vice president at a meeting in Turkey last month.

Sunday's dialogue meeting began as Syria's foreign ministry summoned the U.S. and French ambassadors and accused them of interfering in internal affairs when they visited Syria's fourth largest city without permission last week, state media reported.

The ministry told the diplomats that their visit to the city of Hama violated the Vienna Convention, according to SANA.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford visited Hama as part of what the State Department called an

effort to show American support for Syrians fighting for democracy. He was in Hama early Friday and departed.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland issued a blunt rebuttal to similar Syrian government accusations Friday, calling claims that Ford's visit was inciting protesters "absolute rubbish" and saying she was "dismayed" by the Syrian government's reaction. Nuland said that the U.S. Embassy had notified the Syrian Defense Ministry before the visit and that Ford's car was waved through a security checkpoint.

France's ambassador to Syria, Eric Chevallier, also visited Hama Thursday and spent the night, the French government said, meeting with wounded people and their families and medical staffers at a hospital.

Al-Assad issued a decree appointing a Hama provincial governor Sunday, a day after firing the existing leader after a series of peaceful demonstrations there, including a massive anti-government protest last Friday.

Activists and Human Rights Watch have reported many arrests and deaths in a fierce government crackdown in the area. Citizens have called a general strike in the city.

Diplomatic tensions over Syria also flared in Washington last week, with the State Department summoning Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustapha Friday.

The State Department said Mustapha was called "to express a number of our concerns with the reported actions of certain Syrian embassy staff in the United States."

The statement, issued in response to a question taken at Friday's daily briefing, said the State Department had received reports that Syrian mission personnel had been conducting video surveillance of people participating in peaceful demonstrations in the United States.

"We are also investigating reports that the Syrian government has sought retribution against Syrian family members for the actions of their relatives in the United States exercising their lawful rights in this country and will respond accordingly," the statement said.

CNN's Yousuf Basil and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

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Egyptian frustrations with army, government mount - Reuters

A protester holding a big Egyptian flag walks in Tahrir square in Cairo July 10, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih

By Dina Zayed and Shaimaa Fayed

CAIRO | Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:56am EDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian activists vowed on Sunday to stay camped in Cairo's Tahrir Square, accusing the army rulers of failing to sweep out corruption, end the use of military courts and swiftly try those who killed protesters.

Anger has been rising against what many Egyptians see as the reluctance of the military council to deliver on the demands of protesters who ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. They include speeding up the pace of Mubarak's trial over the killings of demonstrators, which is scheduled to start August 3.

A speech by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Saturday that promised action but was thin on detail only stoked frustrations.

One speaker in Tahrir, the symbolic center of the revolt that toppled Mubarak, said Sharaf deserved a "red card," the soccer term for being sent off. Youth groups on Facebook called for stepping up action this week.

Analysts said the army-appointed government needed to act quickly if it wanted to avoid a further escalation even if some of the aspirations for change were unreasonably high.

The Public Prosecution office, in what appeared to be an attempt to placate protesters, posted a list of the legal measures it had taken against senior officials of the Interior Ministry accused of killing protesters, including trial dates.

An Egyptian judge also said on Sunday that new criminal cases would be deferred to other courts to free up judges reviewing cases linked to corruption and the death of protesters, in line with Sharaf's call to expedite protester demands.

Hundreds of people were camped in Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo, throughout Sunday. Activists said more would join late in the day, including some heading in from Suez where protests have been taking place since Wednesday.

A sign reading: "Civil disobedience until further notice" was pinned up outside the vast 'Mogamma' administrative building in Tahrir. Protesters blocked the main roads to the square and set up security barricades.

Employees and some who made the trip to finish paperwork at the administrative building -- stood arguing with protesters that they had jobs to do -- after being barred from entry.

Makeshift tents were set up in the center of the square, where some protesters have stayed since a mass rally on Friday dubbed "Revolution First" that demanded swifter reforms. Some chanted for Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi to go.

Tantawi, who now leads the military council in charge of Egypt, was Mubarak's defense minister for two decades. The army has pledged to hand power to civilians soon and has scheduled a parliamentary election for September.

"The entire military council served Mubarak and the entire Cabinet is nothing but the remnants of his regime," a longtime critic of the former president, Abdel Hamid Qandil, said.

'EMOTIONS ARE RISING'

"We have been manipulated for almost six months. If our demands are not met, there will be further escalation," said a 37-year-old protester, who identified himself only as Mohamed.

After Sharaf's speech, the Revolution Youth Coalition called for speeding up trials, hiking the minimum wage, stopping trials of civilians in military courts and reforming the Interior Ministry, criticised by Egyptians for the rough manner police handled protests during and since the uprising.

"People's emotions are rising, especially over the issue of retribution for the killers (of protesters). ... There is no patience, especially because the people know the killers, saw them and reported them," said Adel Soliman, executive director of the International Center for Future and Strategic Studies.

More than 100 Egyptian political groups warned they reserved the right "to use all legitimate methods to push for achieving their demands, foremost of which a general strike, civil disobedience."

The prime minister has come in for increasingly tough criticism. His appointment in March was initially welcomed as the former minister had joined protesters in Tahrir even when Mubarak was still in office. Now, activists say he has failed to act firmly as a mediator between protesters and the army.

Ahmed Abdullah wrote on Facebook after Sharaf's speech: "What I am failing to understand is this is not what was demanded in Tahrir. Essam Sharaf promised he would achieve the demands of the revolution or join it, where is that promise."

(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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What We Could Lose if the James Webb Telescope Is Killed - PC Magazine

NASA's next space-based observatory is on the chopping block due to budget cuts. If it dies, a whole universe of discovery could die with it.

NASA's James Webb telescope, the successor to the Hubble, is on the chopping block. With the U.S. Congress arguing over fiscal matters, one of the things that may get cut is NASA's budget, with the expensive James Webb telescope potentially getting the ax. If that happens, a generation of scientific discoveries about the nature of the universe may need to be put on hold.

Right now the future of the Webb telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, is uncertain. Congress is looking to cut costs, and NASA's budget could be cut by as much as $1.6 billion (or about nine percent of its overall budget). Such a big cut would certainly be the death knell for the Webb telescope, which has so far cost $3 billion but whose final price is expected to hit the $6.8-billion mark.

"The cost overruns are driven by a couple things," says Rick Howard, the program director of the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA. "We've had ten or so technologies that needed to work in order to have this kind of telescope—mirrors actuators, the sunshade. We've made great progress, but it's taken longer and it's been harder than we thought. We've hand to invent new adhesives for carbon fiber because what we thought was the right chemical equation didn't work at all. Another source was inadequate early funding of reserves."

Seeing in Infrared

With the Webb in jeopardy, its mission to find out more about the nature of the universe may be postponed. The telescope is fundamentally different from Hubble, scanning the infrared spectrum rather than visual light. Being able to see in infrared is the key to the Webb making new discoveries. For example, it will be able to penetrate dust clouds that are opaque to normal telescopes.

But seeing in infrared is also one of the reasons the Webb is so expensive. Since all objects emit some infrared light, the telescope needs to be positioned much farther from the earth than normal satellites to shield it from potential interference. In fact, the Webb will ultimately be four times further from the earth than the moon. At such a long distance, servicing the telescope will be impossible, says NASA, so it cannot afford any screw-ups or design flaws. As such, testing the Webb's components is extremely detailed.

"We are very concerned about that," says Howard. " There's a huge amount of testing that goes on. We've gone to great lengths to build both sub-scale and full-scale prototypes in order to be able to make sure we fully understand this design. In addition to that we have a lot of testing going on of the flight unit."

What We'll Lose With the Webb

Once it's in place, though, the Webb is quite literally expected to unlock a universe of discoveries. Positioned so far from the Earth and shielded from outside infrared interference, the telescope will be able to see things the Hubble never could. Chief among them: seeing back in time. Since light only travels so fast, the further you look out, the further you look back. The Webb is expected to be able to peer into some of the universe's earliest moments, before even stars existed. This could give insight into how the cosmos came into being.

On top of that, the Webb is going to be looking at how the first galaxies were formed. From observations from Hubble and other telescopes, we know know most galaxies have huge black holes at their centers, but questions remain about how this symbiotic pairing of black holes and stars emerges. The answer likely has to do with "dark matter," the term for the missing matter in the universe that scientists can observe the gravitational effects of, but can't see directly. By looking into the formation of galaxies, the Webb may unlock the secrets of this mysterious substance.

"We'll be looking at the very first stars and galaxies in the universe, which right now are very fuzzy little blobs on the deepest images with Hubble," says Howard. "Not just seeing them, but getting [good] resolution on them. Because it'll be able to look back at the earliest galaxies, it'll be able to see how dark matter has affected light as it travels to us."

Finally, the Webb may help answer the question of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. The telescope will be able to see better than ever before planets in other star systems and more importantly—which ones have water. A planet with large amounts of water is a prime candidate for life, and the Webb could point us right to them.

"[We'll] be able to look at those planets and look at the spectra, the composition of the atmosphere, the composition of water— it's something only the [James Webb telescope] will be able to do," Howard says. "It'll be able to tell water in the atmosphere, maybe even on the surface."

Looking Back at Hubble

All of its potential discoveries come at a price, however, and it may be one Congress isn't willing to pay. The risk factor is high, too, since the telescope must set itself up perfectly at a vast distance from the earth. If anything goes wrong, it's billions in wasted taxpayer dollars.

In considering the fate of the Webb, it's informative to look back at Hubble, which led to almost two decades of cosmological discovery. Besides finding those galactic black-hole nuclei, Hubble's observations revealed the age of the universe, the repulsive force known as "dark energy," and that planets are common.

"When we launched Hubble, no one thought that it would be able to make the observations and discoveries that it has," Howard says. "Hubble's the only telescope that has ever made an actual observation of a planet orbiting another star. Nobody else has done that. When we launched Hubble, no one had even thought dark energy existed.

"The discovery space is huge for this observatory."

For more from Peter, follow him on Twitter @petepachal.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

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Verizon Powers a Third of iPhone 4s, Analysts Say - PCWorld

Slowly but steadily, ground in the race for the most iPhone users.

ANALYSIS: Verizon iPhone: 7 Facts You Need to Know

According to new data released last week by Localytics, a mobile analytics firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Verizon powered 32 percent of all iPhone 4 devices in the U.S. so far this month. Daniel Ruby, the director of online marketing for Localytics, says that his firm collected the data by analyzing which carrier iPhone 4 owners were using to access the 1500 mobile applications that use Localytics as their analytics software. Localytics has several big-name clients that use its software to monitor traffic on their applications, including Skype, Newscorp and Turner Broadcasting, so its data does capture trends within some high-traffic applications.

Localytics notes that Verizon's iPhone share has been inching further upward ever since it started selling a CDMA version of the device in February. The firm found that Verizon powered just under 20 percent of all iPhone 4s after having the device available on its network for one week. That number grew steadily every month afterward, hitting 25 percent of the U.S. iPhone 4 market in April and 29 percent of the iPhone 4 market in June.

Going forward, the firm expects that Verizon will continue to eat into AT&T's market share, especially when the newest iPhone model debuts simultaneously on both networks this fall.

"Although various outlets reported on response to the Verizon iPhone launch being lackluster, the network has managed to pull together a very respectable segment of the iPhone-using market," Localytics writes. "With rumors swirling about the iPhone 5 perhaps launching in September on multiple carriers, Verizon's recent market share gains may be a precursor of what comes this fall."

Although Verizon activated an impressive total of 2.2 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2011, it was still no match for AT&T, which activated 3.6 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2011, a 33% increase over the 2.7 million iPhones it activated in the first quarter of 2010. AT&T also has said that 23% of iPhone activations in the first quarter of 2011 represented new subscribers, meaning the carrier is still attracting new users even though it no longer holds exclusivity rights for the iPhone. Although a survey issued by ChangeWave earlier this year suggested that one in four AT&T iPhone users would switch to Verizon once Verizon got the iPhone, there has so far been no indication of a mass iPhone exodus from one carrier to another.

Read more about anti-malware in Network World's Anti-malware section.

For more information about enterprise networking, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2011 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.

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Last edition of News of the World sells fast in London - Reuters

Copies of the final edition of the News of the World, alongside other Sunday papers, are displayed for sale in a newsagent in London July 10, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Luke MacGregor

By Paul Sandle

LONDON | Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:40am EDT

LONDON (Reuters)- When Rupert Murdoch, his media empire under fire over a phone-hacking scandal, swept into his London headquarters on Sunday from the United States, the message was clear.

Murdoch, sporting a white panama-style hat, sat in the front passenger seat of a red Range Rover intently reading a copy of the final edition of the best-selling newspaper he had closed only hours earlier to try to contain the spreading crisis.

"The World's greatest newspaper 1843-2011," said the front page, held up for all to see. "Thank you and goodbye."

Newspaper staff had departed, amid scenes of cheering and emotion at the same London complex, in the early hours. Many employees saw themselves as having been sacrificed by Murdoch to save his broader business interests.

But Murdoch was signaling he was not bowed. He has already made clear he has no intention of yielding to criticism and removing senior executives, nor of giving up his proposed multi-billion-dollar buyout of British broadcaster BSkyB.

The newspaper he held high had a particular symbolic significance for Murdoch. It was the first British newspaper he bought, in 1969, and the cornerstone of what became a huge media empire with political influence that, with the hacking scandal, has become the subject of much soul searching in Britain.

Admirers saw the demise of a national institution, famous for exposure of the misdemeanors of the rich, royal and famous, for its gossip and for its pictures of scantily clad women.

Critics saw in the closure a long overdue chance to cut back Murdoch's ability to influence British politicians through his global media empire.

"The specter of the old Murdoch, the one whose demise was signaled last week -- powerful, voracious and threatening -- must not be allowed to rise again from the ashes of the News of the World," said an editorial in The Observer, a rival weekly.

Copies of the last edition were selling well, said newspaper vendor Jean Natella at London Bridge Station.

"I think it's a shame because they've done a lot of good, they've riddled out a lot of, let's say, nasty people," she said. "It's unfortunate that a few people have brought it down. But they have got no choice because they condemned others so they have got to show they are accountable."

Regular reader Michael Mitchell, a revenue officer, said, "I don't think it should close; I think the people responsible should not be there."

"They have, I feel, overstepped the mark. Or they've been found out, because if this paper is doing it you can bet the majority of them are doing it as well."

Researcher Jonathan Schifferes said journalism would be disgraced for a long time as a result of the (phone-hacking) allegations, and the scandal reflected badly on Britain.

The headline of the last edition was simple and unusually low key and underneath in smaller print added: "After 168 years, we finally say a sad but very proud farewell to our 7.5 million loyal readers."

The words appeared over a montage of some of the paper's most famous front pages, most of them involving celebrities, members of the royal family and politicians.

Inside, the paper ran several nostalgic editorials charting its successes over the years, in addition to the usual fare of celebrity gossip, showbiz and other news. The only adverts the last issue carried were for charities.

The owners of News of the World made the shock decision to close the title on Thursday in the face of mounting criticism of its newsgathering techniques. [nL6E7I909T]

Claims of illegal hacking into the voicemails of stars, royals, families of soldiers killed in combat and a kidnapped girl later found murdered have engulfed parent company News Corp in scandal.

The print run for the last News of the World was bumped up to five million copies, nearly double the normal number, in anticipation of a spike in demand for the historic edition.

(Additional reporting by Mike Collett-White; Writing by Ralph Boulton and Tim Pearce; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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U.S. Suspects Contaminated Foreign-Made Components Threaten Cyber Security - ABC News

Some foreign-made computer components are being manufactured to make it easier to launch cyber attacks on U.S. companies and consumers, a security official at the the Department of Homeland Security said.

"I am aware of instances where that has happened," said Greg Schaffer, who is the Acting Deputy Undersecretary National Protection and Programs Director at the DHS.

Schaffer did not say where specifically these components are coming from or elaborate on how they could be manufactured in such a way as to facilitate a cyber attack.

But Schaffer's comment confirms that the U.S. government believes some electronics manufacturers have included parts in products that could make U.S. consumers and corporations more vulnerable to targeted cyber attacks.

A device tampered with prior to distribution or sale could act as a "Trojan horse" in the opening wave of an international cyberwar. Contaminated products could be used to jeopardize the entire network.

The admission by Schaffer came out Thursday after repeated questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on cyber threats.

ABC News previously reported that the FBI was investigating a case in which counterfeit Cisco routers were being sold to various government agencies but this is the first time that a government official has confirmed that the threat is real.

Such attacks are difficult to detect and many go unnoticed. Cyber tactics have changed and many hackers just want to steal information without incident. Cyber thieves are going after personal information such as credit card numbers or target corporations and trade secrets.

Many in Congress have pointed to foreign governments as the source of many recent cyber attacks, although the administration has yet to call out any one nation.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in April called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to condemn cyber attacks launched by Chinese attackers against the American social action website Change.org.

Foreign-made components, often manufactured in Asia, play a key role in consumer electronic devices -- everything from Internet routers to home computers -- that make up the national digital infrastructure. DHS is charged with identifying and defending that infrastructure, but lacks legal authority to intervene in private companies.

While the threat of a contaminated supply chain is real, it is not exclusively directed at the United States, according to Jim Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The threat of a contaminated supply chain is a risk, but it's a risk that everybody has, because it's a global supply chain," he said.

Part of that challenge facing DHS includes a plan to form partnerships with the private sector, because most of the nation's cyber infrastructure is controlled by private companies.

DHS has begun classifying key infrastructure and is reaching out to private Internet companies.

But Republicans in particular have expressed concerns with the president's proposed cyber legislation, calling the new rules too burdensome on the private sector.

"The president's plan gives the Department of Homeland Security unfettered authority to regulate private industry," Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who spoke at an earlier hearing at the House Judiciary Committee.

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At Least 31 Dead in Indian Train Accident - Voice of America

Mangled passenger cars are seen at the site of a train accident near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state, July 10, 2011

Rescuers in northern India are sorting through the wreckage of an express train that derailed, killing at least 31 people and injuring 100 more.

Authorities say the Kalka Mail train was travelling from Howrah to New Delhi Sunday when at least 12 coaches jumped the tracks near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear.

Officials say the number of casualties is likely to rise as rescuers make their way through the twisted coaches.

India's railway network is one of the largest in the world. Accidents are common, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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Google doubling Google+ population - CNET

The Google+ team, facing strong demand for the new social-networking service, has expansion on its mind.

Google briefly let Google+ users invite new members last night in a plan to double the social network's population. And Google has begun detailing its plans for letting business users, not just individuals, use the service starting later this year.

Google has been limiting the individual sign-up rate, leading to frustration among many who want to get in. But Dave Besbris, the Google+ engineering director, said last night it was time for another growth spurt.

"Things are going well with the systems right now so we feel comfortable enough to open up invites for a brief period. Our goal is to double the user base in the field trial from its initial group," he said in a Google+ post.

Apparently the moment was indeed fleeting, because I couldn't find an invitation mechanism by the time I woke up here in England. That means Lutz Beyer's amusing cartoon about Google+ exclusivity remains relevant.

Google had opened invitations briefly last week, shortly after the mostly-closed beta test began. I've had success getting quite a few people in by a somewhat circuitous Google+ invitation route that involves sharing a Google+ post by e-mail with their Gmail addresses.

It's been an irregular process: some people told me they never got an invitation, and sometimes the message took days to arrive. And because Google throttles the sign-up rate, many of those I've invited had to check back several times before they happened to click when the window was open.

In a comment, Besbris apologized for the sporadic availability.

"We are also ensuring, as we grow, things keep working well, so occasionally we may have to pause/slow down/speed up the signup rate to keep the service smooth and fast. The combo can make it seem unpredictable," he said. "I'm sorry [about] that and thanks for your patience."

An official invitation clearly would be a far better way to handle this than the e-mail technique. Google, though, is proceeding cautiously.

"I wanted to take a moment to explain why we're growing the system slowly," Besbris said. "First, we want to make sure our infrastructure scales so the service remains fast and reliable. Second, we want to ensure that bugs are fixed while there are still a relatively few people in the field trial."

Google has made a couple tweaks--shutting down the ability to publicly share an initially private post last week, for one thing. Another change came yesterday involving profile pictures. "Changing your public profile picture or scrapbook photos will no longer generate a public post to the stream, just to the people you have in your circles. So only people in your circles will engage in discussions about the photos you post," Google+ product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair said in a Google+ post.

A look at the Google+ feature introduction page for new arrivals.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

1.7 million Google+ users so far?
Besbris wouldn't say how many people are using Google+ right now, but it's certainly in the thousands at least. Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and president of FamilyLink.com, estimated that there were 1.7 million people on Google+ on Monday, a figure based on a statistical extrapolation from the frequency of surnames. "My model uses surname distribution data from the U.S. Census Bureau and compares it to how many Google+ users there currently are with a small sampling of surnames in the U.S. and in the world," he said of his method.

Google+ is a sprawling product, too, and it's taken time for people to grasp its many mechanisms for organizing contacts, sharing posts publicly or selectively, and figuring out details such as, say, the difference between the default stream of contacts' posts (which shows posts from people in all your circles) and the "incoming" stream (which shows posts from people who put you in one of their circles). And Google+ can be used either through a sophisticated Web app or a full-featured Android app; an iOS app for Google+ has been submitted for approval.

No wonder then that newbie guides are popping up. My favorite compendium so far is one from Andrew Shotland. I also liked this flowchart showing how comments are shared with others on Google+.

Google+'s tentacles extend well beyond Google+ itself. Google Docs notifies you of updates. E-mail invitations arrive frequently with word of new followers and discussion replies. The Google home page features a link to your Google+ page. People's Google Profile pages now anchor their Google+ identities--and in a sign that Google is serious about this social networking thing, Google will delete any profiles that aren't made public by July 31. (Here's an idea: why doesn't Google send anybody in that situation an automatic Google+ invitation to try to win them over?)

It's not clear when Google will open up the invitations again, though clearly it will. When it does, Besbris advises you proceed cautiously, too.

"We continue to throttle invites, so please don't mass invite folks as it won't work," he said. "If you invite a handful of your most important friends and family you're much more likely to get these folks into our system."

Business demand, too
Google also is wrestling with business demand for Google+--something to match Facebook pages that need not be tied to a single individual.

Business accounts will be coming later this year, Google product manager Christian Oestlian said yesterday in a Google+ post. He also noted that Google will shut down existing non-individual accounts--well, most of them at least.

"Right now we're very much focused on optimizing for the consumer experience, but we have a great team of engineers building a similarly optimized business experience for Google+. We're very excited about it and we hope to roll it out later on this year," Oestlian said in a video about the option.

Several corporations have already jumped onto Google+, but it's not "optimally suited" for them, Oestlian said, and Google is shutting them down even as it plans to test what it hopes to actually launch:

The business experience we are creating should far exceed the consumer profile in terms of its usefulness to businesses. We just ask for your patience while we build it. In the meantime, we are discouraging businesses from using regular profiles to connect with Google+ users. Our policy team will actively work with profile owners to shut down non-user profiles.

Over the next few months we are going to be running a small experiment with a few marketing partners to see the effect of including brands in the Google+ experience. We'll begin this pilot with a small number of named partners.

Given that companies had already jumped aboard, it appears that at least some businesses would prefer a suboptimal experience to none at all. A measured debut is a sensible way of heading off problems before they're big, but Google also would do well to tap into the Google+ enthusiasm while it's still strong.

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Microsoft Baidu Deal, Android Royalties Marked Week - eWeek

Microsoft continued its Android march this week, with a report that the company plans on demanding $15 from Samsung for each Android smartphone produced by the manufacturer.

That information apparently came from unnamed industry officials speaking to the Seoul-based Maeil Business Newspaper, and found its way into a July 6 Reuters report. Were Samsung to enter some sort of royalties deal, it would become the latest in an increasingly long string of companies paying Microsoft an "Android tax." Microsoft insists that Google's Android platform violates a variety of patents it holds.

So far, most of those companies have been small: Wistron Corp., Onkyo Corp., Velocity Micro and General Dynamics Itronix have all agreed within the past 10 days to a royalty agreement. However, both Amazon and HTC pay Microsoft, suggesting that some big enterprises are also in Microsoft's sights.

And some companies have fought back. Motorola retaliated to a Microsoft patent-infringement suit with an intellectual-property complaint of its own. And Barnes & Noble, whose Nook e-reader uses Android, filed a countersuit against Microsoft after the latter sued it for patent infringement.

"Microsoft is misusing these patents as part of a scheme to try to eliminate or marginalize the competition to its own Windows Phone 7 mobile-device operating system posed by the open-source Android operating system and other open-source operating systems," read the bookseller's counterclaim, filed April 25 with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle. "Microsoft's conduct directly harms both competition for and consumers of eReaders, smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile electronic devices, and renders Microsoft's patents unenforceable."

Even as Microsoft pushes for Android royalties, there are indications that its own smartphone market share is in serious trouble. For the three-month period between the end of February and the end of May, research firm comScore estimated Microsoft's U.S. share dipping from 7.7 percent to 5.8 percent. That comes despite the marketing push behind the Windows Phone platform.

During the same period, adoption of Android rose from 33 percent to 38.1 percent, while Apple enjoyed a slight uptick from 25.2 percent to 26.6 percent. Research In Motion continued its market slide, declining from 28.9 percent to 24.7 percent.

The top mobile OEMs, in descending order of market share, included Samsung, LG Electronics, Motorola, Apple and RIM.

Microsoft can only hope that its upcoming Windows Phone "Mango" update will increase the platform's appeal to consumers and businesspeople. As Microsoft executives demonstrated for a small group of media and analysts during a May press event in New York City, Mango's new features include a redesigned Xbox Live Hub, home-screen tiles capable of displaying up-to-the-minute information, the ability to consolidate friends and colleagues into groups, and visual voicemail?more than 500 new elements in all, if Microsoft is to be believed.

Mango is due for release sometime this fall. Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics and Nokia have all committed to building new Windows Phone devices preloaded with Mango. Meanwhile, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE have apparently agreed to produce Windows Phone units for the first time.

Microsoft's issues with Google also extended to the search realm, with news that Redmond is pairing with China's largest Internet search provider, Baidu, to provide users with search results for English-language queries.

Although Google continues to dominate the worldwide market for Web search, the company's run-ins with the Chinese government over issues like censorship are well known. Following a hack of Google servers in early 2010 that exposed Gmail accounts of human-rights activists, Google ceased censoring search results in the country and redirected users to the Google.hk domain in Hong Kong. In March, the company accused the Chinese government of disrupting Gmail service.

A spokesperson for Shanghai MSN Network Communications Technology, also known as MSN China, told the Wall Street Journal July 4 that the results would be labeled as coming from Bing. The deal holds substantial benefits for both companies: Baidu is looking to expand its user base, while Microsoft has made no secret of its desire for inroads into the Chinese market.

The question is whether the Chinese government will demand Microsoft censor those English-language results. "Microsoft respects and follows laws and regulations in every county where we run business," a Microsoft spokesperson told The New York Times July 4. "We operate in China in a manner that both respects local authority and culture and makes it clear that we have differences of opinion with official content-management policies." 

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Sex May Have Resulted From Infections - Care2.com

University of Indiana researchers found evidence that sexual reproduction may have begun as a way to avoid infection and death from parasites. Asexual reproduction is more efficient because it does not require a partner, but it also results in limited genetic variation. If a species has limited genetic variation, a parasitic species than can infect one organism might be able to infect the whole species, resulting in extinction.

Sexual reproduction inputs different genes into the new generation with each cycle. New genetic material in a host generally helps it prevent attacks and infection from parasites. The IU researchers tested the Red Queen hypothesis which is intended to explain the advantage of sexual reproduction, and the constant and sometimes deadly competition between species.

One of the lead researchers explained, “We were able to conduct a controlled test showing that exposure to coevolving parasites led to extinction of populations that could only self-fertilize, while populations that could have sex were able to survive and even adapt to the coevolving parasites.” (Source: io9.com)

In their experiment experiment bacteria became more infective, but the subjects that were reproducing asexually and therefore making genetic copies of themselves, did not get more resistant to the bacteria and eventually went extinct. The round worm Caenorhabditis elegans was used in the study.

Sex could be a strategy against co-evolving parasites, but the Red Queen hypothesis is not the only plausible explanation for its existence. The co-evolutionary activity might also be seen in the fact there are a number of pathogens also associated with sexual reproduction.

Image Credit: ChrisO

(Photo is an example of sexual dimorphism.)

Related Links

5 Reasons to Have Sex
Sex, Power, and Marketing Jello-O to Monkeys

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Secret agents raid Apple store webcam 'artist' - BBC News

8 July 2011 Last updated at 10:54 ET The US Secret Service has raided the home of an artist who collected images from webcams in a New York Apple store.

Kyle McDonald is said to have installed software that photographed people looking at laptops then uploaded the pictures to a website.

Mr McDonald said he had obtained permission from a security guard to take photos inside the store.

Apple declined to comment. However, the Secret Service confirmed that its electronic crime division was involved.

A spokesperson told the BBC that the investigation was taking place under US Code Title 18 /1030 which relates to "Fraud and related activity in connection with computers."

Offences covered by the legislation carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Writing on Twitter, Mr McDonald said: "@secretservice just stopped by to investigate [web address removed] and took my laptop. Please assume they're reading any e-mails you send me."

No arrests had been made in the case as of 8 July.

Staring

Kyle McDonald's images were uploaded to a page on the blogging site Tumblr.

In the description of People Staring at Computers, the project is described as: "A photographic intervention. Custom app installed around NYC, taking a picture every minute and uploading it if a face is found in the image.

"Exhibited on site with a remotely triggered app that displayed the photos full screen on every available computer."

The site features a video and series of photographs, apparently showing shoppers trying-out computers.

Comments on the individuals by visitors to the site are also attached to the images.

Mr McDonald, writing on Twitter, said that he had been advised not to comment on the case by the online freedom group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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Swatch From Apollo 11 Moon-Bound Flag Goes to Auction - Fox News

It was one small step for man. Now one small strip from the famed flag planted on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission is set to go to auction.

"This is the most-viewed flag in American history," said Michael Orenstein, whose west Los Angeles auction house is handling the Sunday sale that features a piece of fabric shorn from the banner as it was being prepared for the world's first lunar landing.

Other items on the block include one of the Collier trophies -- the so-called Oscar of aviation -- that was awarded to the crew of 1962's Mercury 7 mission and a three-ring notebook used by "Deke" Slayton as he trained to be one of the space program's first astronauts.

But Orenstein said the sale's gem is the seven-inch strip of red and white fabric being auctioned along with a photo bearing Neil Armstrong's autograph on consignment by Tom Moser, the retired NASA engineer who was tasked with designing the moon-bound flag in the weeks before Apollo 11's 1969 launch.

"It's right up there with Betsy Ross and the Star Spangled Banner," Orenstein said.
NASA's original plans didn't involve planting a flag on the moon because of a United Nations treaty prohibiting nations from claiming celestial entities as their own, Moser said.

But after Congress slipped language into an appropriations bill authorizing the flag's placement as a non-territorial marker, Moser was told to design a flag that could survive the trip to the moon and be planted on its surface upon arrival.

With the spacecraft's tiny interior too cramped even for a rolled-up flag, Moser devised a way to fix an aluminum tube with a thermal liner for the banner on the outside of the vessel, he said.

NASA staff bought an American flag off the shelf of a nearby store and Moser had a hem sewn along its top, so a telescoping aluminum rod could be inserted to hold the banner out straight on the gravity-free moon. (On the moon, the rod didn't extend its full length; the consequent bunching is what makes the flag look like it's blowing in the wind.)

Meanwhile, a strip of fabric along the flag's left side was cut to remove a set of grommets, Moser said.

"It was put in the trash can and I just took it out and said, `I'm going to keep that,"' he said.

Moser said he had Neil Armstrong sign a photo of the flag planted on the moon when the astronaut returned to Earth and he kept the picture and his rescued scrap of flag together in his NASA office until he retired in 1990.

But after hanging onto the photo and flag-swatch assemblage all these years, he finally decided to put them up to auction, although he said he'll miss owning what he sees as a piece of history.

Orenstein said he expects the flag remnant and photo to fetch $100,000 to $150,000 and possibly much more.

"How do you price something like this?" Orenstein said. "If people recognize it for what it is or appreciate it for with it is, it can just keep going up."

Some space scholars, however, appear unimpressed with the artifact.

Since the remnant itself was never launched, its connection to the moon-bound banner has little significance, said Louis Parker, exhibits manager at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"That doesn't give it any more importance than any other piece of fabric that was here on Earth," he said.

But Moser insisted that the piece does indeed have value, since it represents the beginning of an era of space exploration that now has an uncertain future as the space shuttle makes its final voyage.

"The flag is the icon of the whole accomplishment of the United States being first to the moon and of a great accomplishment for mankind," he said. "Being part of that icon, it has a special meaning."

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Independent South Sudan "free at last" - Reuters

A man dances with fireworks during South Sudan's independence day celebrations in Juba July 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

By Alexander Dziadosz and Jeremy Clarke

JUBA | Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:25am EDT

JUBA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of South Sudanese danced and cheered as their new nation declared independence on Saturday, a hard-won separation from the north that still leaves simmering issues of disputed borders and oil payments unresolved.

The president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, stood next to his old civil war foe the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who now leads just the north, at a ceremony to mark the birth of the new nation.

Under-developed, oil-producing South Sudan won its independence in a January referendum -- the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of fighting with the north.

Security forces at first tried to control the streets in the south's dusty capital Juba, but retreated as jubilant crowds moved in overnight and through the day, waving flags, dancing and chanting "South Sudan o-yei, freedom o-yei."

Some revelers fainted in the blistering heat as South Sudan's parliamentary speaker, James Wani Igga, read out the formal declaration of independence.

"We, the democratically elected representatives of the people ... hereby declare Southern Sudan to be an independent and sovereign state," said Igga before Sudan's flag was lowered, the South Sudan flag was raised and the new anthem sung. Kiir took the oath of office.

People threw their hands in the air, embraced and wept. "We got it. We got it," one man said as he hugged a woman.

The presence of Bashir, who campaigned to keep Africa's largest state united, was a key gesture of goodwill.

It will also be an embarrassment to some Western diplomats at the event. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

Bashir gave a speech congratulating the new country. "The will of the people of the south has to be respected," he said, adding that both states had to maintain peace.

RECOGNITION

North Sudan's government was the first to recognize South Sudan on Friday, hours before the split took place, a move that smoothed the way to the division.

The United States, China and Britain signaled their recognition of the state on Saturday, according to official statements and government media reports.

"After so much struggle by the people of South Sudan, the United States of America welcomes the birth of a new nation," said U.S. President Barack Obama, stopping short of announcing any immediate changes in longstanding U.S. sanctions on Sudan that Khartoum has been hoping will be lifted.

Dignitaries including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of about 30 African nations attended.

In a possible sign of the South's new allegiances, the crowd included about 200 supporters of Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahed al-Nur, fighting Khartoum in an eight-year insurgency just over South Sudan's border in the north.

Earlier, the supporters of Nur's rebel Sudan Liberation Army faction stood in a line chanting "Welcome, welcome new state," wearing T-shirts bearing their leader's image. One carried a banner reading "El Bashir is wanted dead or alive."

Traditional dance groups drummed and waved shields and staffs in a carnival atmosphere.

"Free at last," said Simon Agany, 34, as he walked around shaking hands after midnight -- the time when officials said the South actually became the world's newest nation.

The crowd cheered as Kiir unveiled a giant statue of civil war hero John Garang, who signed the peace deal with the north.

Kiir offered an amnesty to rebels fighting his government and promised to bring peace to troubled border areas.

"I would like to take this opportunity to declare amnesty for all those who have taken up arms against Sudan," he said.

"I want to assure the people of Abyei, Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan that we have not forgotten you. When you cry, we cry. When you bleed, we bleed. I pledge to you today that we will find a just peace for all," he said.

SEEDS OF FUTURE TENSION

Khartoum's recognition of the South did not dispel fears of future tensions.

Northern and southern leaders have still not agreed on a list of issues, most importantly the line of the border, the ownership of the disputed Abyei region and how they will handle oil revenues, the lifeblood of both economies.

At the stroke of midnight the Republic of Sudan lost almost a third of its territory and about three quarters of its oil reserves, which are sited in the south. It faced the future with insurgencies in its Darfur and Southern Kordofan regions.

In Khartoum on Saturday, one sign of the new national order was the disappearance of some English-language and SPLM-linked newspapers. The north said it suspended them on Friday as they were published or owned by southerners -- an ominous signal for more than 1 million southerners left in the north.

Many northerners see the separation as a loss of face.

Analysts have long feared a return to war if north-south disputes are not resolved.

Mostly Muslim Sudan fought rebels in the south, where most follow Christianity and traditional beliefs, for all but a few years from the 1950s in civil wars fueled by ethnicity, religion, oil and ideology.

(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing, Andrew Heavens and Khaled Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Megan Davies at the United Nations; Writing by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Tim Pearce)

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