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Space station cargo launches by light of nearly full moon

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Space station cargo launches by light of nearly full moon-Image6</h2>
<small style="border: none; color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Canadian Press, 2016</small><div class="scrollable-text" style="border: none; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="border: none; color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In this photo taken with a long exposure, hundreds line the beach north of the Cocoa Beach Pier in Florida to watch launch of the Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft off the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Fresh supplies shipped out late Tuesday for the International Space Station, where the shelves finally are getting full after a string of failed deliveries. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP) NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT</i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.4;">CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Fresh supplies shipped out late Tuesday for the International Space Station, where the shelves finally are getting full after a string of failed deliveries.</span></div>
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Launching beneath the light of a nearly full moon, the unmanned Atlas V rocket provided late-night sparkle as it headed north with its precious cargo and paralleled the East Coast on its way to orbit.</div>
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Orbital ATK's Cygnus capsule holds nearly 8,000 pounds of food, equipment and scientific research for NASA, including a commercial-quality 3-D printer anyone can rent and experimental robotic grippers modeled after the thousands of sticky hairs on geckos' feet. As usual, some surprises were tucked away for the six space station astronauts, who should receive the delivery Saturday.</div>
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"Maybe they'll find a few Easter eggs on board, who knows?" Frank Culbertson, Orbital ATK's space systems president, said with a smile early Wednesday. He said he didn't want to give away too much, in case the crew got wind of it.</div>
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There's also a fire experiment that will remain on the Cygnus.</div>
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Researchers will ignite a large-scale blaze, in a contained box, to see how it spreads in weightlessness. The fire will not be set until the Cygnus departs the space station in May, full of trash for a destructive re-entry.</div>
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Named after the swan constellation, the Cygnus is one of two commercial vehicles used to stock the 250-mile-high space station. Both haulers have lost shipments to rocket failures over the past 1 1/2 years and are still working to catch up. A Russian shipment also ended up destroyed.</div>
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Orbital ATK has been using another company's Atlas rockets to keep the station supplies flowing in the wake of its October 2014 launch explosion at Wallops Island, Virginia. This is the second Cygnus assigned to an Atlas; the first flew from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in December. The company hopes to resume supply runs from Wallops this summer with its own Antares rockets.</div>
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SpaceX, meanwhile, is aiming for an April 8 launch of its Dragon cargo carrier; the last one was destroyed in a June launch accident. It will be the first time both a Cygnus and Dragon are at the orbiting outpost at the same time.</div>
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Orbital ATK named this capsule after the late Rick Husband, commander of the doomed space shuttle Columbia. He piloted the first shuttle docking at the International Space Station, in 1999. His widow and two children were on hand for the launch.</div>
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"Godspeed SS Rick D Husband!" astronaut Terry Virts said in a tweet from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.</div>
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NASA contracted out space station cargo deliveries — and beginning as early as next year, crew taxi flights — to concentrate on getting humans to Mars in the 2030s. Earlier this month, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly returned from a yearlong stay at the station, helping to push that goal forward.</div>
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___</div>
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Online:</div>
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NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html</div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2px;">By Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press</span></div>
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Space station cargo launches by light of nearly full moon

Space station cargo launches by light of nearly full moon-Image6 The Canadian Press, 2016 In this photo taken with a long exposur...

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Org Ancient Tamil Civilization Truths Hidden by The India Government

Org Ancient Tamil Civilization Truths Hidden by The India Government

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Unrest puts heavy damper on Bethlehem Christmas festivities

Hisham Khamis, a guide for 10 years, stands forlorn under a huge 
Christmas tree decorated in the black, white, red and green colours of 
the Palestinian flag.<br />

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeCtJ5twaIao-ZolQaZVR8X8DiVFX1B1Jo0TDkQRldjHacLe-kuSUBOeY3ltNi4kH_EpzMsbo_jXCHwqZsVjPjkN8dAfJkGIwade8rptpQAorNcfrjEVXEZV0tSH9F544iBUt2dA1jmZ9/s1600/X-mass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeCtJ5twaIao-ZolQaZVR8X8DiVFX1B1Jo0TDkQRldjHacLe-kuSUBOeY3ltNi4kH_EpzMsbo_jXCHwqZsVjPjkN8dAfJkGIwade8rptpQAorNcfrjEVXEZV0tSH9F544iBUt2dA1jmZ9/s320/X-mass.jpg" width="320" /></a>In recent years “at least 60-70 buses would arrive every morning,” he
 said. “These days… there are four or five, occasionally 10.”<br />

Bethlehem is preparing for the traditional midnight Christmas mass at
 the Church of the Nativity, but the atmosphere this year is less than 
festive.<br />

A wave of violence and protests has deterred many tourists from 
making the annual pilgrimage to the ancient city in the Israeli-occupied
 West Bank, though much of the unrest has occurred away from Bethlehem, 
usually considered a safe destination.<br />

Even so, clashes between stone-throwing young Palestinians and 
Israeli troops have raged outside Bethlehem hotels, already badly hit by
 a drop in guests since Israel built a West Bank separation wall that 
forces visitors from nearby Jerusalem to go through a military 
checkpoint to get to the town.<br />

On a recent day, the smell of teargas and a foul-smelling spray known
 as “skunk”, which the Israeli army uses against protesters, still hung 
heavy in the air. Palestinian officials say Bethlehem hotels that are 
usually 80-90 percent full at this time of year have not reached even 
half that level. The drop is a major concern for a city that lives 
largely on tourism and where unemployment exceeds 20 percent.<br />

Jamal Shehada, who runs a shop selling Santa hats, rosaries and other
 souvenirs, blames Israeli guides who meet tourists from their flights 
at the international airport outside Tel Aviv.<br />

With no airport in the Palestinian territories, tourists headed for 
Christian sites there must start their visit in the Jewish state.<br />

“They tell tourists that there are only terrorists in Bethlehem, and 
many of them say to themselves, ‘We’d be better off buying our souvenirs
 from the Israelis rather than in Bethlehem’,” Shehada says. He adds 
that the army has increased the number of roadblocks around Bethlehem, 
where streets once teeming with tourists during the Christmas period are
 now empty.<br />

That has been in response to the violence that erupted at the 
beginning of October, including Palestinian gun, knife and car-ramming 
attacks targeting Israelis.</div>

Unrest puts heavy damper on Bethlehem Christmas festivities

Near the church in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, built over the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, tour guides pace back and ...

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US, Cuba to resume regular flights

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The United States and Cuba on Thursday announced plans to resume 
flights between the two nations, erasing another vestige of what had 
been strained ties rooted in the Cold War.<br />

The latest progress as the countries work to build on their 
restoration of full diplomatic relations this summer was made public a 
year to the day after President Barack Obama and counterpart Raul Castro
 first said they would bury the hatchet.<br />

In a short statement, the US State Department said that on Wednesday 
Washington and Havana had reached “a bilateral arrangement to establish 
scheduled air services between the two countries.”<br />

This does not mean American tourists can now start flocking to communist-run Cuba to lie on beaches, sip rum and fire up cigars.<br />

Such travel remains illegal because the trade embargo that the 
Americans slapped on Cuba in 1960 after Fidel Castro came to power in a 
communist revolution remains in effect.<br />

In a statement marking the anniversary of the start of 
reconciliation, Obama renewed his call for the Republican-controlled 
Congress to lift the embargo, which he termed the “legacy of a failed 
policy.”<br />

Republicans are wary of rewarding Cuba until it improves its human rights record.<br />

Until now only charter flights were permitted. Current US law also 
allowed for special permits to visit Cuba, and the criteria for getting 
one of these was loosened in January</div>

US, Cuba to resume regular flights

The United States and Cuba on Thursday announced plans to resume flights between the two nations, erasing another vestige of what had bee...

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Paris attacks: Hollande blames Islamic State for 'act of war'

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The near-simultaneous attacks in 
Paris that killed at least 128 people were an "act of war" organised by 
the Islamic State (IS) militant group, French President Francois 
Hollande says.</div>
He said the attacks, carried out by eight gunmen and suicide bombers, were "organised and planned from outside".<br />
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<br />
The targets included bars, restaurants, a concert and a high-profile football match. IS claimed the attacks.<br />
Mr Hollande has declared three days of national mourning. <br />
He
 raised the security threat level to its highest point and imposed a 
nationwide state of emergency. Hospital officials now put the number of 
injured at 300. Eighty are in a critical condition.<br />
These are the 
deadliest attacks in peacetime France, and only the fourth time since 
WW2 that a state of emergency has been imposed. The last time was during
 a 2005 wave of riots in poor suburbs.<br />
It is the worst atrocity in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings. <br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-34815972">Live: Follow the latest developments here</a><br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34820043">How will Paris cope?</a><br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34821164">Terrorism and fear stalk city</a><br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34820092">Images of aftermath of shootings</a><br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34821161">'I saw people on the ground and blood'</a><br />
<a class="story-body__link" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34813570">Eyewitness accounts from the scene</a><br />
The night of violence unfolded soon after 21:00 (20:00 GMT) as people were enjoying a Friday night out in the French capital.<br />
A
 gunman opened fire on Le Carillon bar in the rue Alibert, not far from 
the Place de la Republique, before heading across the road to Le Petit 
Cambodge (Little Cambodia), killing at least 12 people.<br />
<br />
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<figcaption class="media-with-caption__caption"><span class="off-screen">Media caption</span>Jerome Bartelemy survived the concert hall shootings: ''They told us to lie down... I saw him shoot someone, then I understood''</figcaption>
</figure>"We heard the sound of guns, 30-second bursts. It was 
endless. We thought it was fireworks," Pierre Montfort, a resident 
living close to Le Petit Cambodge, said.<br />
A few streets away, 
diners sitting on the terrace of La Casa Nostra pizzeria in rue de la 
Fontaine au Roi, were also fired on, with the loss of at least five 
lives.<br />
At around the same time, on the northern outskirts of 
Paris, 80,000 people who had gathered to watch France play Germany at 
the Stade de France heard three explosions outside the stadium.<br />
President
 Hollande was among the spectators and was whisked to safety after the 
first explosion. It later emerged three suicide bombers blew themselves 
up at fast food outlets and a brasserie near the stadium.</div>

Paris attacks: Hollande blames Islamic State for 'act of war'

The near-simultaneous attacks in Paris that killed at least 128 people were an "act of war" organised by the Islamic State (IS...

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Navratra Festival 2015

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The famous Navratra festival of Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno 
Devi cave shrine, will begin from October 13 amid tight security.<br />
The festival could not be celebrated last year due to floods in Jammu and Kashmir.<br />
“While mega event could not be held last year due to the floods in 
the state but this time no stone should be left unturned to make the 
event a huge success,” Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pawan Kotwal said.<br />
“Navratra festival will be held in Katra town of Reasi district from October 13 to October 21,” Mr Kotwal said.<br />
To promote the budding artists, All India Devotional Song Competition
 will be organised besides holding of cultural programmes, children 
programmes, debate and drawing competitions, rally on environmental 
awareness, yoga display and wrestling will be highlights of the 
festival.<br />
The International wrestling competition will be organised by J&K 
Indian Style Wrestling Association and wrestlers from Balarus, England 
and the UK will take part in it.<br />
The Divisional Commissioner said that economy of Jammu revolves 
around Vaishnodevi pilgrimage as around one crore pilgrims visit the 
shrine annually.<br />
Giving briefing on the security aspect, IGP Jammu Danish Rana said 
that foolproof security arrangements will be put in place to ensure 
safety of the pilgrims during the pilgrimage.<br />
He also directed police officials of Katra and Reasi to divise traffic management system for better management of yatra.</div>

Navratra Festival 2015

The famous Navratra festival of Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine, will begin from October 13 amid tight security. ...

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Supermoon Sunday! How to make the most of the total lunar eclipse

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Sunday’s super-sized total lunar eclipse is special for a couple of 
reasons, but it’s extra-special for places like Seattle, where the 
timing is perfect for family viewing.<br />
“I love it when these astronomical events are at a good time,” said <a href="http://www.alicesastroinfo.com/">Alice Enevoldsen</a>, an astronomy educator whose home base is in West Seattle. “It’s in the evening … but not yet bedtime for little kids.”<br />
Lunar eclipses are among the most accessible astronomical events out 
there: When Earth casts its shadow on the full moon’s disk, half the 
world can watch it — and the show usually lasts for an hour or more, in 
contrast to the mere minutes of duration for a total solar eclipse.<br />
This eclipse is making headlines in part because it takes place when 
the full moon’s apparent size is at its maximum for the year — a 
so-called supermoon. Supermoons are about 7 percent bigger and 16 
percent brighter than the average full moon. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-scientist-sheds-light-on-rare-sept-27-supermoon-eclipse">NASA says the most recent supermoon lunar eclipse was in 1982</a>, and the next time will be in 2033. (However, depending on your definition of a “supermoon,” such an eclipse came in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_1997_lunar_eclipse">1997</a> and is due in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2021_lunar_eclipse">2021</a> as well.)<br />
For Seattleites, Sunday’s show begins with moonrise at 6:54 p.m. PT, 
when the eclipse’s partial phase is already well underway. If you’re 
lucky, you can catch the show’s climax at 7:11 p.m., when the last 
sliver of the moon’s bright disk gives way to a dull red glow.<br />
That “blood moon” appearance — plus the fact that this is the last of an unusual <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/27mar_tetrad/">tetrad of four lunar eclipses</a> — gave rise to <a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/four_blood_moons_prophecy_supe.html">a round of doomsday predictions</a>.
 But the only thing you have to fear from this eclipse is the risk of 
missing the key moment, either because you’re in the wrong place or 
because of Seattle’s fickle weather.<br />
On the weather front, the outlook is hopeful: Sunday’s forecast calls
 for clear or mostly clear skies that evening. The main issue has to do 
with your viewing location. Because the total eclipse occurs so soon 
after sunset, you should find a place with a clear view to the eastern 
horizon.<br />
“You want to watch the beginning, so that means you want to be 
east-facing,” Enevoldsen said. For her, that means meeting up with 
friends at the corner of 47th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Edmunds 
Street. But there are plenty of good vantage points in the area, 
including Seattle’s <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=454">Hamilton Viewpoint</a>, <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/Parks/park_detail.asp?id=362">Boren Park</a> and <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=412">Lake Washington Boulevard Park</a> as well as the Eastside’s <a href="http://www.newcastlegolf.com/">Newcastle Golf Club</a>.<br />
Because this eclipse comes so close to the autumn equinox, the moon 
should rise almost due east — which makes it easier for photographers to
 plan what else they want to get in the picture. For example, to get the
 eclipsed moon rising over Mount Rainier, you’ll want to find a clear 
eastward view from, say, Olympia. For more about snapping eclipse pics, 
check out <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/shoot-the-supermoon-eclipse-like-a-pro">NASA photographer Bill Ingalls’ tips</a>. (Share your pictures on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cosmic.blogger">Cosmic Blog Facebook page</a>.)<br />
Wherever you are, take plenty of time to enjoy the show: The eclipse 
reaches its peak point at 7:47 p.m., and starts moving out of Earth’s 
shadow at 8:23 p.m. By 10:22 p.m. Sunday night, the best supermoon of 
the year will be shining in its full glory.<br />
<i>Thanks to photographer <a href="http://clanegessel.com/">Clane Gessel</a> for sharing his picture of the 2008 lunar eclipse over Seattle’s Space Needle. For more about the lunar eclipse, check out <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/get-ready-for-sunday-nights-total-eclipse-of-the-moon/">Sky & Telescope’s preview</a>.</i></div>
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Supermoon Sunday! How to make the most of the total lunar eclipse

Sunday’s super-sized total lunar eclipse is special for a couple of reasons, but it’s extra-special for places like Seattle, where the ...

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