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Category Archives: Transhuman News

CHR to monitor censorship, arrests – Philippine Star

Posted: May 28, 2017 at 7:12 am

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is monitoring reports of censorship threats and instances of warrantless arrest following the declaration of martial law in Mindanao as Marawi City is under siege by the Maute terror group.

We shall study the matter as we are still waiting for reports from our regional offices, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia told The STAR yesterday.

She was reacting to reports that several people were taken into custody in Mindanao after they failed to present identification cards to authorities.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla was also quoted as saying that the military will exercise its right to censor to ensure that no sensitive information will get into the wrong hands.

The military has yet to release details and guidelines regarding the censorship.

Earlier, the CHR urged the public to report any instance of abuse of power to the AFP, citing the assurance made by Padilla that the military will take quick action should any case of abuse be reported to them.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

The commission also reiterated its reminder to law enforcers to protect and uphold the basic rights of all people.

We would like to reiterate the guidelines stated in the Philippine National Police (PNP)s refresher on the dos and donts of martial law, as well as the Department of National Defense (DND)s Guidance on Martial Law Implementation enjoining government to ensure that human rights and the rule of law prevail, De Guia said.

The commission reminds the members of its police force and army in Mindanao where the limits of their power lie in regards to protecting civilians, she added.

De Guia also reiterated that there is legislation and protocol in place to ensure that the human rights abuses that have occurred in the past are not repeated, noting that the 1987 Constitution has provisions to protect the rights of citizens and those within the territory of the Philippines.

As stated by the PNP and DND, we encourage all police officers and military personnel to study this list of dos and donts... and to strictly comply to reduce the possibility of any misdemeanor or breach of citizens rights happening during this time of conflict, she added.

The CHR said police and military personnel cannot issue or conduct warrantless arrests outside the circumstances provided by the Rules of Court.

Those who are arrested or detained cannot be charged beyond the period of three days, nor can civilians be tried in military tribunals. The declaration of martial law does not suspend the functioning of the civil courts and the legislative assemblies, the CHR said.

Any arrest, search and seizure executed in the area where martial law is declared, including filing of charges, should comply with the Revised Rules of Court and applicable jurisprudence, the CHR added.

The House of Representatives, which is dominated by President Dutertes new and old allies, supported his declaration of martial law in the entire Mindanao.

Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas lauded the AFPs action on the matter as well as Dutertes decision to cut short his trip to Russia in order to deal with the situation in Mindanao.

Rep. Harry Roque ofKabayan party-list believes martial law in Mindanao is justified.

During emergencies such as this, the government must act swiftly. While many fear martial law because of its negative connotations in the past, we should look at the present facts with a sober perspective, he said.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, another ally of Duterte, chided martial law critics in Luzon for criticizing Dutertes decision to declare martial law in Mindanao.

Villar, who ran for the Senate under the ticket of former president Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party, said critics of martial law should just shut up and let the Mindanaons do what they think is best to resolve the conflict in Marawi City.

For Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, the President may try to seek the help of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in fighting the Maute group that has links to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).

Castelo cited a newspaper report from the Singapore Straits Times saying two Malaysians were among the 13 IS-linked militants killed in the militarys battle against the Mautes in Marawi City. With Delon Porcalla, Robertzon Ramirez

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Trump Sued for Censorship of Climate Change Data – EcoWatch

Posted: at 7:12 am

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration Tuesday to uncover public records showing that federal employees have been censored from using words or phrases related to climate change in formal agency communications.

Tuesday's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, seeks to require four federal agencies to release climate-censorship records, in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. The U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of State have failed to provide records requested by the Center for Biological Diversity or indicate when they might do so, violating deadlines established under the law.

"The Trump administration's refusal to release public information about its climate censorship continues a dangerous and illegal pattern of anti-science denial," said Taylor McKinnon at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Just as censorship won't change climate science, foot-dragging and cover-ups won't be tolerated under the public records law."

On March 30 the Center for Biological Diversity filed Freedom of Information Act requests for all directives or communications barring or removing climate-related words or phrases from any formal agency communications. The records requests followed news reports that federal agencies had removed climate information from government websites and instructed Department of Energy staff to avoid using the phrases "climate change," "emissions reductions" and "Paris agreement."

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed identical requests with the Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On March 23 the Center for Biological Diversity joined conservation biologist Stuart Pimm and the Center for Media and Democracy in a separate Freedom of Information Act request to prevent the administration from removing hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, when federal agencies receive requests for the same records three or more times, they must make the records freely available to the public on their websitesa rule known as "the Beetlejuice provision."

Records responsive to the Center for Biological Diversity's climate censorship requests will be made available to the public and the media.

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Can Libertarians Advocate for Universal Basic Income? The Lowdown On Liberty – Being Libertarian

Posted: at 7:09 am

Welcome to another edition of The Lowdown on Liberty, where each week we take questions submitted from our readers as we attempt to clarify the inner-workings of libertarian principles. This week, we cover a universal basic income, the non-aggression principle, non-interventionism, and the infamous Antifa!

To answer the first part of your question Lucas, while people have always had a fear of automation rendering human labor obsolete, that type of scenario has yet to happen, and most likely never will. Automation doesnt actually destroy jobs, it displaces them usually the lowest skilled jobs. A popular example is: If we imagine the job market as a ladder with jobs being the rungs, and the lowest skilled being at the bottom, moving up in skill as we climb, then automation simply kicks out the bottom rung of the ladder and places a new, higher-skilled rung near the top.

As technology advances, the least skilled jobs, often repetitive, menial tasks are automated first. Causing the immediate job loss for a person in that position, but creating a more skilled position somewhere else. Whether its building the robot that does their previous job, installing it, maintaining it, programming it, or improving its design, these are all new, more skilled jobs that are added to the market in exchange for the less skilled job being automated. Weve seen this over time as first-world nations either automate or outsource low-skilled jobs and acquire more high-skilled, technical ones. People have always speculated that jobs would run out once automation began, but population has only grown and even though automation has become more prevalent, there are more jobs today than ever. We may theorize that automation will eventually get to a point where human labor is no longer useful, but its much more likely that higher-skilled labor that doesnt yet exist will continue to enter the market, as people continue improving and inventing. Half the skilled jobs being done today didnt exist 100 years ago, and there is no reason to think the next 100 will be any different.

Now, the second part of your question is a bit easier to predict. Universal basic income has been a hot topic lately, with people such as Mark Zuckerberg coming out clearly in support of it. However, libertarianisms core value of non-aggression is incompatible with the idea. A program that implicitly states that each person should receive according to their need, while others pay into it according to their ability (which is what it boils down to), sounds like the antithesis of libertarianism, and more in line with what a communist would endorse. Seeing as automation is unlikely to render us all suddenly unemployed, we should stick to fighting the welfare state, not endorsing it.

Great question, Scott. This example points out the obvious need for pre-determined rules in these situations. In current cases regarding these matters, most cities have laws telling citizens when excessive noise can be punishable as a citable offense. As Murray Rothbard noted, we should have clearly defined and enforceable property rights because we all partake in activities with unavoidable consequences that affect more than just our own property (smells, light and sound pollution, etc.). In a privatized society, we may resolve these with contracts voluntarily signed between neighbors, by-laws within a homeowners association, or a myriad of other ways to ensure that rules are agreed upon beforehand to ensure peaceful resolutions.

The ideas of non-intervention and keeping terror out go hand-in-hand. Our recent history in the Middle East has shown quite convincingly that there is no resolution to be had from nation-building and constant foreign occupation. While you could make the argument that simply pulling out of there would not solve all our current issues with terrorism, its important to point out the Dave Smith argument, which is: when you murder peoples children, they tend to fucking hate you. Our current strategy, Operation Enduring Freedom, is now the longest conflict in US history, outlasting the Civil War, WWI, and WWII combined. And its clearly failing, so there is no harm in trying non-intervention, because at least it would be a change, and the worst-case scenario would only be a return to the status quo. Although, there is quite a case to be made that it is our decades-long intervention and attempts at regime change that have resulted in our current predicament more than anything else. Why is it that we see swarms of terrorist groups in countries around Africa, yet the US and Europe experience almost no problems from them compared to the attacks coming from the Middle East? Non-intervention may not guarantee the total end of terrorism, but ongoing foreign intervention and attempts at nation building will certainly guarantee its persistence.

The Antifa movement seems to be bad joke that simply wont go away. The idea that you could fight fascism by forcibly shutting down the free speech of those you disagree with is so repugnant that its hard to take them seriously. Yet, we see from their actions that they are quite serious in their approach.

This is troublesome for libertarians for two reasons.

First, the ideas they represent fly directly in the face of libertarian ideals. Our strict adherence to property rights and non-aggression are the two foundations Antifa fights most adamantly against.

Second, they are providing the media with the opportunity to damage our image. For those who may not know, true anarchists, those who identify as anarcho-capitalist, fall under the larger umbrella of libertarianism. However, the media, as well as Antifa themselves, call themselves anarchists too. Now, we in the liberty movement can distinguish their anarcho-communism from what actual anarchy is, but most average Americans cannot. To the uninformed, these people fall into the category relating to anyone who is anti-government; thats us. With that in mind, we must fight the ideas of Antifa at every point possible if we hope to distinguish ourselves from them. They are truly a hypocritical scourge in our society, but if we arent careful, they may cause serious damage to our image and our credibility.

Alright, thats it for this week. Thank you to everyone who wrote in, and make sure you submit your questions each week on our The Lowdown on Liberty post, and the top questions will be answered the following week!

Featured image: BasicIncome.org

This post was written by Thomas J. Eckert.

The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.

Thomas J. Eckert is college grad with an interest in politics. He studies economics and history and writes in his spare time on political and economic current events.

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Can Libertarians Advocate for Universal Basic Income? The Lowdown On Liberty - Being Libertarian

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So how does your garden grow? – The Guardian

Posted: at 7:09 am

A peacock butterfly and a small tortoiseshell butterfly warm themselves on a buddleia plant. Well, we think it is... Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Can you name a shrub? No Googling, no consulting, Ill give you three seconds, three two one GO!

Ah no, sorry. Thats a tree. Good try though.

Who said buddleia? Well done to you.

Oleander? Five points.

OK, Ill grudgingly accept rose. You could have a shrub rose. I think.

Viburnum, you say? Is that not a percussion instrument? Wait, hang on, let me just look at the no, youre right, you can have viburnum.

If youre currently in a room with four other people, ask if anyone can name a shrub. If more than two of them can, youre in an unusual room. According to a survey by the Royal Horticultural Society, held to mark the opening of the 2017 Chelsea Flower Show, 50% of British adults cannot name a single shrub.

You might think: well, that could just be down to the confusing nomenclature. What is a shrub, what is a bush, what is a tree? Its not that people dont know these plants, they just got stuck on category definitions when put on the spot.

But that doesnt explain it, because 40% couldnt name a household plant either. You cant embarrass yourself on the scientific classification of household plant; thats just any plant you find in a house. Peace lily, rubber plant, cactus, African violet, venus flytrap, those Christmas ones, you know, the red ones. Theyre all house plants. But four out of 10 Brits cant name one.

Also gloomily reported was that a fifth of respondents do not grow anything themselves, indoors or outdoors, of any kind. But surely thats a happy twist in the tale: so four-fifths do! 80% of people are trying to grow something! The extrapolation is that literally millions of us, despite not being able to name any plants, are planting them anyway.

And thats the main thing. I think its enormously important to plant things. Theres an incomparable peace and comfort in watching the cycles of plant life, which is deeply therapeutic if youre actually taking part.

You may say: duh, everybody knows that, its a cliche and doesnt bear mentioning. But Im not so sure. It was also reported, in the roar of garden-themed publicity accompanying this most famous of flower shows, that artificial grass is surging in popularity and Britain is awash with illegal orange petunias.

Did you know orange petunias were illegal? I didnt. Apparently, theyre genetically modified to the extent that we dont know what harm they may do to insect life. Were not supposed to buy them or cultivate them and should contact Defra if we see them on sale.

In the future, they may prove harmless. People may delight in whatever the genetic modification cleverly does: survive winter, grow straighter or withstand drought. But the problem there, like the problem with artificial grass, is that its all about the glory of man. And gardening should be the precise opposite.

The soothing power of flowers and grass lies in the way they come and go and come again; theyre a mortal part of an immortal whole. And thats what you feel like yourself, as you watch their cycles and feel your place within them. The key to natures therapy is feeling like a tiny part of it, not a master over it. Theres amazing pride in seeing a bee land on a flower you planted but thats not your act of creation, its your act of joining in.

This simply doesnt apply if its astroturf. Astroturf is a great idea I believe its better for hockey but if you want to bask in the genius of human invention you might just as well stare at an iPhone. Or the fridge.

Im not a luddite. Science, computers, medicine, theyre all great. But nature is context. That which we cant control. Its constant mortality and immortality is an answer to the terror of finite existence. It reassures the soul.

Thats why I sympathise with 79-year-old Guy and Josie Simmins, whose wheelie bin row has been reported in the national press.

The Simminses must be surprised by the level of interest. In the normal run of things, bins are like farts: were quite interested in our own, irritated by those of our immediate neighbours and simply dont think about ones that happen several counties away.

But people have enjoyed sniggering at the stance of Mr and Mrs Simmins, who, along with other residents of their terraced street in Bath, say the front gardens are too pretty to stand the invasion of council-enforced wheelie bins.

Ho ho, snorts the Twitter generation. Rich mans problems! Terrorism Brexit Syria! #checkyourprivilege hashtag hashtag! (Hashtag is the modern equivalent of rhubarb: a meaningless noise to make when pretending to be a coherent crowd.)

But theyre missing the point. This is a couple, nigh on 80 years old, no doubt as terrified and miserable about the state of everything as the rest of us, who find solace in tending the natural environment around them and want (indeed need) to keep doing so.

I dont know the Simminses but, speaking for myself, the hours I spent obsessively watering plants last week were not about shrinking my attention on to something smaller than the immediate fears and tragedies around us, but trying to invest it in something bigger.

Maybe the Simminses are protecting their connection with the eternal. I might be setting too much store by symbolism, but God knows what happens to the psyche if you spend all day staring at a giant dustbin.

These arent big gardens were talking about. Theyre just little patches of green, lining an ordinary street. No astroturf, no orange petunias, just an ordinary selection of calming, leafy, natural shrubs. I was grateful for mere photographs of them in last weeks horrible newspapers although, of course, I couldnt name any.

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So how does your garden grow? - The Guardian

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We’ll support gov’t end nomadic herdsmen conflict Group – Citifmonline

Posted: at 7:08 am

The Ghana National Association of Cattle Farmers (GNACAF) has pledged their commitment to support government and the security agencies to bring lasting solution to the trans-human conflicts between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers in Ghana.

The Association noted that, the protracted conflict between some nomadic herdsmen and crop farmers in the country has led to lose of lives and property and hence concerted efforts needed to end the trend.

Speaking at a Regional and District representatives members GNACAF in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, National Chairman of GNACAF, Imam Hanafi Sonde said, they are working assiduously with the Ghana Cattle Ranching committee (GCRC) to resolve the trans human conflicts in Ghana.

In recent times there have been many conflicts between the herdsmen and the crop farmers in some communities of the country that has led to lose of lives and property. These situations create instability; undermine peace and also a threat to food security in Ghana.

GNACAF will continue to work and collaborate with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Security agencies, Ghana Ranching Committee (GCRC), Municipal and District assemblies, Traditional councils and other relevant bodies to bring lasting solution to the unfortunate trend.

Mr. Sonde hinted that, his outfit was in the process of sensitizing cattle farmers to adopt modern technology of cattle grazing in Ghana.

He urged government to support the cattle sector development to significantly contribute to the economic development of the country.

The members in the Upper East Region were given certificates and identification cards of membership.

The meeting was aimed at reviewing the organization and adopts new strategies to enhance its structures and activities in the region.

By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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We'll support gov't end nomadic herdsmen conflict Group - Citifmonline

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How a 3.3 million-year-old toddler offers researchers a window into … – Washington Post

Posted: at 7:08 am

The fossilized piece of a cheek bone was spotted in a chunk of sandstone sticking out of the dirt in the scorching badlands of northeastern Ethiopia.

Zeresenay Alemseged knew almost immediately that hehad stumbled upon something momentous.

The cheekbone led to a jaw, portions of a skull and eventually collar bones, shoulder blades, ribs and perhaps most important the most complete spinal column of any early human relative ever found.

Nearly 17 years later, the 3.3-million-year-old fossilized skeleton known as the Dikika Baby remains one of the most important discoveries in archaeological history, one that is filling in the timeline of human evolution.

When you put all the bones together, you have over 60 percent of a skeleton of a child dating back to 3.3 million years ago, which is more complete than the famous australopithecine fossil known as 'Lucy,' " Alemseged, a 47-year-old professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, told The Washington Post. We never had the chance to recover the face of Lucy, but the Dikika child is an almost complete skeleton, which gives you an impression of how children looked 3.3 million years ago.

[Ape that lived in Europe 7 million years ago could be human ancestor, controversial study suggests]

The fossil, also calledSelam peace in the Ethiopian Amharic language has revealed numerous insights into our early human relatives. But Alemseged said one of the most startling findings comes from the toddler's spine, which had an adaptation for walking upright that had not been seen in such an old skeleton.

The result, he said, is a creature whose upper body was apelike, but whose pelvis, legs and feet had familiar, humanlike adaptations.

If you had a time machine and saw a group of these early human relatives, what you would have said right away is, 'What is that chimpanzee doing walking on two legs?' " Alemseged said.

The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show for the first time the spinal column was humanlike in its numbering and segmentation. Though scientists know that even older species were bipedal, researchers said Selam's fossilized vertebrae is the only hard evidence of bipedal adaptations in an ancient hominid spine.

Yes, there were other bipedal species before, but what is making this unique is the preservation of the spine, which simply is unprecedented, Alemseged said. Not only is it exquisitely preserved, but it also tells us that the human-type of segmentation emerged at least 3.3 million years ago. Could there have been other species with a similar structure, yes, but we don't know for sure.

Human beings share many of the same spinal structures asother primates, but the human spine which has more vertebrae in the lower back, for example is adapted for efficient upright motion, such as walking and running on two feet.

Among the larger questions researchers like Alemseged are trying to answer include:When did our ancestors evolve the ability to bebipedal?When did we become more bipedal than arboreal,or tree-dwelling? Andwhen did our ancestors abandon an arboreal lifestyle to become the runners and walkers that eventually populated Africa and then the world?

One of the significant barriers to answering those questions is that complete sets of vertebrae are rarely preserved in the fossil record.

For many years we have known of fragmentary remains of early fossil species that suggest that the shift from rib-bearing, or thoracic, vertebrae to lumbar, or lower back, vertebrae was positioned higher in the spinal column than in living humans, but we have not been able to determine how many vertebrae our early ancestors had, said Carol Ward, a curator's distinguished professor of pathology and anatomical sciences in the University of Missouri School of Medicine, and lead author on the study. Selam has provided us the first glimpse into how our early ancestors spines were organized.

[Why these researchers think dinosaurs were minutes away from surviving extinction]

Unpacking the intricacies of Selam's spinal structure would not have been possible without the assistance of cutting-edge technology, researchers said.

After 13 years of using dental tools to painstakingly remove portions of the fossil from sandstone which risked destroying the fossil Alemseged packed up Selam in his suitcase and took the fossil from Ethiopia tothe European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, in 2010. Alemseged and the research team spent nearly two weeks there using high-resolution imaging technology to visualize the bones.

The fossil had undergone a medical CT scan in 2002 in Nairobi, Alemseged said, but that scanner was unable to distinguish objects with the same density, meaning that penetrating bones encased in sandstone was impossible. Once in France, that was no longer a problem, and the results, he said, were mind-blowing.

We were able to separate, virtually, the different elements of the vertebrae and were able to do it, of course, without any damage to the fossil, Alemseged said. We are now able to see this very detailed anatomy of the vertebrae ofthis exceptionally preserved fossil.

The scans revealed that the child possessed thethoracic-to-lumbar joint transition found in other fossil human relatives, but they also showed that Selam had a smallernumber of vertebrae and ribs than most apes have.

For researchers, the skeleton is a window into the transition between rib-bearing vertebrae and lower back vertebrae, which allowed our early human ancestors to extend at the waist and begin moving upright, eventually becoming highly efficient walkers and runners.

Though hehas been studying Selam for nearly two decades, Alemseged thinks the fossil has more secrets to share with the modern world.

I don't think she will stop surprising us as the analysis continues, he said. Science and tech is evolving so much that I'm sure in a few years well be able to extract even more information that we're not able to extract today.

International Space Station Fast Facts – KTVQ Billings News

Posted: May 26, 2017 at 3:42 am

CNN Library

(CNN) -- Here's a look at the International Space Station (ISS), a spacecraft built by a partnership of 16 nations.

The 16 nations are the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Information on ISS crews and expeditions can be found here.

Statistics: The ISS includes three main modules connected by nodes: the US Laboratory Module Destiny, the European Research Laboratory Columbus, and the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo (Hope). Each was launched separately and connected in space by astronauts.

Mass: 925,335 pounds (419,725 kilograms)

Habitable Volume: 13,696 cubic feet (388 cubic meters)

Solar Array Length: 239.4 feet (73 meters)

As of May 2017, there have been 201 spacewalks conducted for station assembly and maintenance, totaling just over 1,250 hours.

As of May 2016, the space station has orbited the Earth 100,000 times.

Timeline: November 1998 - A Russian Proton rocket places the first piece, the Zarya module, in orbit.

December 1998 - The space shuttle Endeavour crew, on the STS-88 mission, attaches the Unity module to Zarya initiating the first ISS assembly sequence.

June 1999 - The space shuttle Discovery crew, on mission STS-96, supplies two modules with tools and cranes.

July 2000 - Zvezda, the fifth flight, docks with the ISS to become the third major component of the station.

November 2000 - The first permanent crew, Expedition One, arrives at the station.

November/December 2000 - The space shuttle Endeavour crew, on mission STS-97, installs the first set of U.S. solar arrays on the station and visits Expedition One.

February 2001 - Mission STS-98 delivers the US Destiny Laboratory Module.

March 2001 - STS-102 delivers Expedition Two to the station and brings Expedition One home. The crew also brings Leonardo, the first Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, to the station.

September 16, 2001 - The Russian Docking Compartment, Pirs, arrives at the ISS.

June 2002 - STS-111 delivers the Expedition Five crew and brings the Expedition Four crew home. The crew also brings the Mobile Base System to the orbital outpost.

December 2002 - STS-113 delivers the Expedition Six crew and the P1 Truss.

May 3, 2003 - Expedition Six crew return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-1. Crew members Bowersox and Pettit are the first American astronauts ever to land in a Soyuz spacecraft.

July 29, 2003 - Marks the 1,000th consecutive day of people living and working aboard the International Space Station (this is a record for the Space Station, but not for space).

August 10, 2003 - Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko marries his fiance Ekaterina Dmitriev from space. The bride and groom exchange vows over a hotline set up for the event. Dmitriev stands next to a life-sized picture of Malenchenko.

April 22, 2004 - The second of four gyroscopes that stabilize the orbiting outpost of the ISS fails. NASA officials say this does not pose an immediate threat to the crew. An extra spacewalk will have to be conducted to the fix the electrical component box thought to be at fault.

November 2, 2005 - Fifth anniversary of continuous human presence in space on the International Space Station.

February 3, 2006 - SuitSat-1, an unmanned space suit containing a radio transmitter, batteries, and internal sensors to monitor battery power and temperature, is deployed as a part of an International Space Station spacewalk. The suit is supposed to transmit recorded messages in six languages to school children and amateur radio operators for several days before re-entering Earth's atmosphere and burning up, but it goes silent shortly after its deployment.

March 31, 2006 - Arriving with the crew of Expedition Thirteen is Marcos Pontes, the first Brazilian astronaut. Staying eight days, Pontes conducts scientific experiments before returning to Earth with the crew of Expedition Twelve.

July 7, 2006 - The arrival of Thomas Reiter of Germany via the Space Shuttle Discovery returns the station's long-duration crew to three for the first time since May 2003 and the Columbia shuttle disaster. Reiter is the first non-US, and non-Russian long-duration station crewmember, and he remains onboard during the first part of Expedition Fourteen.

September 9, 2006 - Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the International Space Station, delivering the P3/P4 truss and its solar wings before undocking September 21 and returning to Earth.

September 20, 2006 - Arriving with the crew of Expedition Fourteen is Anousheh Ansari, an American businesswoman. She spends about eight days conducting experiments and blogging about her experiences before returning to Earth with two of the three members of Expedition Thirteen.

December 2006 - Arrival of Flight Engineer Sunita Williams via space shuttle mission STS-116. Williams replaces Thomas Reiter, who returns to Earth with the crew of STS-116.

April 7, 2007 - Charles Simonyi becomes the fifth space tourist when he accompanies the Expedition Fifteen crew to the ISS. He spends 12 days aboard the space station before returning to Earth with the crew of Expedition Fourteen.

June 10, 2007 - Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the ISS to install a new segment and solar panel on the space station and retrieve astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been at the space station since December. Williams is replaced by Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson, who will return to earth aboard Discovery on Mission STS-120.

June 15, 2007 - Four days after ISS's computers crash, two Russian cosmonauts bring them back online. The computers control the station's orientation as well as oxygen production. The crew used Atlantis' thrusters to help maintain the station's position while its computers were down.

October 25, 2007 - Space Shuttle Discovery docks with ISS. In the days while docked with the ISS, Discovery crew delivers and connects Harmony to the ISS, a living and working compartment that will also serve as the docking port for Japanese and European Union laboratories. Discovery and ISS crew also move an ISS solar array to prepare for future ISS expansion, planning a special spacewalk to repair damage to the solar array that occurred during its unfurling.

November 14, 2007 - ISS crew move the Harmony node from its temporary location on the Unity node to its permanent location attached to Destiny.

February 9, 2008 - Space Shuttle Atlantis arrives. Atlantis crew delivers the European-made Columbus laboratory, a 23-foot long module that will be home to a variety of science experiments. Atlantis remains docked with the ISS for just under nine days.

March 9, 2008 - "Jules Verne," the first of a series of European space vessels designed to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, launches from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, French Guiana. The vessels, called Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV), are propelled into space atop an Ariane 5 rocket, and are designed to dock with the ISS with no human assistance. The Jules Verne will wait to dock with the ISS until after Space Shuttle Endeavour's March mission is completed.

March 12, 2008 - Space Shuttle Endeavour docks with the ISS.

March 24, 2008 - Endeavour detaches from the ISS. While docked, crew members make five spacewalks to deliver and assemble the Dextre Robotics System, deliver and attach the Kibo logistics module, attach science experiments to the exterior of the ISS, and perform other inspection and maintenance tasks.

April 3, 2008 - The unmanned European cargo ship Jules Verne successfully docks with the ISS. Able to carry more than three times the volume of the Russian-built Progress resupply vehicles, the Jules Verne contains fuel, water, oxygen, and other supplies. The automated docking sequence is monitored by flight controllers at the European Space Agency in Toulouse, France, as well as at NASA's Mission Control in Houston, and Russia's control center near Moscow.

April 10, 2008 - Two members of Expedition 17 crew arrive at the ISS via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Travelling with them is Yi So-yeon, a space flight participant and South Korea's first astronaut. Yi later returns to Earth aboard an older Soyuz spacecraft along with members of the Expedition 16 crew; while in space, she will conduct a number of experiments aboard the ISS.

June 2, 2008 - Space Shuttle Discovery docks with the ISS. Discovery is carrying Japan's Kibo lab, a replacement pump for the station's toilet, and astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is replacing Garrett Reisman as part of the station's crew.

June 11, 2008 - Discovery undocks with the ISS after its crew successfully delivers and installs the Japanese-built Kibo lab, delivers parts to repair the ISS's malfunctioning toilet, collects debris samples from the station's faulty solar power wing, and retrieves an inspection boom left behind during a previous shuttle mission. Station crewmember Garrett Reisman departs with Discovery; he is replaced on the station by Gregory Chamitoff.

October 12, 2008 - The Soyuz TMA-13 capsule carrying two Americans - flight commander Michael Fincke and American computer game millionaire Richard Garriott, and Russian flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov - lifts off from Kazakhstan. It docks with the ISS on October 14.

March 12, 2009 - Orbital debris from a prior space shuttle mission forces the crew of Expedition 18 to retreat to its Soyuz capsule temporarily.

August 24, 2011 - Russian emergency officials report that an unmanned Russian cargo craft, the Progress-M12M, that was to deliver 3.85 tons of food and supplies to the ISS crashed in a remote area of Siberia. Future missions could be delayed until an investigation pinpoints the cause of the crash involving a Soyuz rocket, the same kind of booster that powers the flights of crew members to the space station.

May 19, 2012 - SpaceX's launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station, is aborted a half a second before liftoff. SpaceX engineers trace the problem to a faulty rocket engine valve.

May 22, 2012 - The unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches at 3:44 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket carries the Dragon spacecraft, which is filled with food, supplies and science experiments and bound for the International Space Station.

May 25, 2012 - The unmanned SpaceX Dragon spacecraft connects to the International Space Station, the first private spacecraft to successfully reach an orbiting space station.

October 7, 2012 - SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with its Dragon capsule carrying 1,000 pounds of supplies bound for the International Space Station launches at 8:35 p.m. ET from Florida's Cape Canaveral. It is the first of a dozen NASA-contracted flights to resupply the International Space Station, at a total cost of $1.6 billion.

February 19, 2013 - NASA loses communication with the ISS during a software upgrade. Communication is restored several hours later.

May 9, 2013 - The crew discovers that the International Space Station is leaking ammonia. The crew performs a spacewalk and corrects the leak two days later.

November 9, 2013 - Russian cosmonauts perform the first ever spacewalk of the Olympic Torch ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

December 11, 2013 - A pump on one of the station's two external cooling loops shuts down after hitting a temperature limit, according to NASA. The malfunctioning loop had been producing too much ammonia, possibly the result of a malfunctioning valve.

December 24, 2013 - Astronauts complete a repair job to replace the problematic pump. Their spacewalk lasts seven and a half hours, and is the second ever spacewalk on a Christmas Eve. The first was in 1999 for a Hubble Repair Mission.

March 10, 2014 - After five and a half months aboard the ISS, Expedition 38 astronauts return to earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft.

September 16, 2014 - NASA announces that Boeing and Space X have been awarded contracts to build vehicles that will shuttle astronauts to and from the space station.

October 28, 2014 - An unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket contracted by NASA bursts into flames seconds after liftoff, destroying supplies meant for the International Space Station.

December 15, 2015 - Astronaut Tim Peake is the first British European Space Agency astronaut to arrive at the International Space Station.

March 2, 2016 - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko land in the Kazakhstan desert at 10:26 a.m. local time after a nearly yearlong mission on the International Space Station.

Excerpt from:
International Space Station Fast Facts - KTVQ Billings News

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Look up: International Space Station more visible through Saturday – WRAL.com

Posted: at 3:42 am

By Tony Rice

The International Space Station (ISS) will be a little more visible through Saturday morning.

Several times each year, the ISS enters a high-beta period. The Beta Angle, measured between the sun and Earths orbit, reached a high of 72 degrees this morning.

Astronauts usually experience a sunrise and sunset on each 90-minute orbit of the Earth. During periods of high-beta angle, the space station is in constant sunlight as it orbits above the suns terminator, the line between night and day.

Think of it this way: Picture a track with a bright light in the middle. Now picture an object tied to the end of a rope being swung by a runner circling that track. The light is the sun, the runner is Earth, the track is the orbital plane of Earth, and the object orbiting the runner is the ISS. If the runner swings the rope horizontally, with the plane of track/Earths orbit, thats a low beta angle. The object sees some periods of darkness as it swings into the runners shadow. If the runner swings the rope vertically, perpendicular to the plane of track/Earths orbit, thats a high-beta angle. The object is always exposed to light.

Beta angle is an important part of ISS flight controllers planning. While all that sunlight is great for generating power with the stations massive solar arrays, it presents challenges in keeping the stations components cool. Controllers must keep the station oriented to provide its own shade on key segments.

Orbiting at just over 250 miles in altitude, ISS is visible to anyone on the ground within a 100-mile wide circle. The closer you are to the center of that circle, the higher in the sky the ISS will reach and the longer it will be visible in the sky. Central North Carolina is at the center of that circle Thursday just after 9 p.m.

Generally, the ISS is visible here on Earth only during the hour or two before or after sunset or sunrise. During high-beta periods, that constant sunlight extends its visibility, even overnight. That provides an unusual number of opportunities to see the station pass overhead as clouds move out later tonight.

The station will be visible:

Thursday

9:10 p.m. from the SW for over 6 minutes 10:50 p.m. from the NW for 3 minutes (very low pass)

Friday

3:43 a.m. from the NNW for nearly 6 minutes 5:17 a.m. from the WNW for 5 minutes 9:55 p.m. from the W for 5 minutes

Saturday

4:28 a.m. from the WSW for 3 minutes 9:03 p.m. from the WSW for 6 minutes 9:49 p.m. from the NW for 2 minutes

Tonights ground track of the station takes it west of Pinehurst and Carthage, directly over Jordan Lake, directly over the campuses of Cisco and Biogen in RTP, Falls Creek, until it leaves North Carolina directly over the state line at Lake Gaston.

The station will travel from the South Carolina border to the Virginia border in just 41 seconds.

Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and software engineer at Cisco Systems. You can follow him on Twitter @rtphokie.

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Look up: International Space Station more visible through Saturday - WRAL.com

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2 US Astronauts Conduct Unplanned, Rapidly Executed Contingency Space Walk on Space Station – Universe Today

Posted: at 3:41 am

Universe Today

2 US Astronauts Conduct Unplanned, Rapidly Executed Contingency Space Walk on Space Station
Universe Today
In the space of just 3 days, a pair of NASA astronauts conducted an unplanned and rapidly executed contingency space walk on the exterior of the space station on Tuesday, May 23 in order to replace a critical computer unit that failed over the weekend.
NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 22 May 2017 - Astronauts Prepare for Contingency SpacewalkSpace Ref (press release)
Cool Spacewalk, Right? Get Ready for MoreISS Will Need Fixin'WIRED
Spacewalking astronauts pull off urgent station repairsIndex-Journal
CDA News -The Space Reporter
all 36 news articles »

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2 US Astronauts Conduct Unplanned, Rapidly Executed Contingency Space Walk on Space Station - Universe Today

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NASA to Air Launch of Next International Space Station Resupply Mission – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted: at 3:41 am

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting its eleventh commercial resupply services mission to theInternational Space Stationfor 5:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 1. Launch coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency's website at 5:15 p.m., followed by the post-launch news conference at 7:30 p.m.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will liftoff on the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carryingalmost 6,000 pounds of science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of Expedition 52 and 53 crew members. The unpressurized trunk of the spacecraft also will transport solar panels, tools for Earth-observation and equipment to study neutron stars.

About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit. It then will deploy its solar arrays and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station. When it arrives to the space station, Expedition 52 Flight Engineers Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson of NASA will grapple Dragon.

Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will begin at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, June 4, on NASA TV, with installation coverage set to begin at 11:30 a.m. If the launch does not occur on June 1, the next launch opportunity is 5:07 p.m. Saturday, June 3, with NASA TV coverage starting at 4:30 p.m.

The Dragon spacecraft will remain at the space station until approximately July 2, when it will return to Earth with research and return cargo in a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California.

Media at Kennedy will have the opportunity to participate in special tours and briefings May 31 and June 1, as well as view the launch. The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed, but for more information about media accreditation, contact Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598 orjennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov.

This will be the 100th launch, and sixth SpaceX launch, from this pad. Previous launches include 11 Apollo flights, the launch of the unmanned Skylab in 1973, 82 shuttle flights and five SpaceX launches.

For an updated schedule of prelaunch briefings, events and NASA TV coverage, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/spacex-crs-11-briefings-and-events

Learn more about the SpaceX CRS-11 mission at:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-to-air-launch-of-next-international-space-station-resupply-mission-300464350.html

SOURCE NASA

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NASA to Air Launch of Next International Space Station Resupply Mission - PR Newswire (press release)

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Look up: International Space Station more visible through Saturday – WRAL.com

2 US Astronauts Conduct Unplanned, Rapidly Executed Contingency Space Walk on Space Station – Universe Today

NASA to Air Launch of Next International Space Station Resupply Mission – PR Newswire (press release)

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