Boeing CST-100 Selected as Next American Spacecraft

Boeing will receive an award of $4.2 billion from NASA to build and fly the United States’ next passenger spacecraft.

Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 is being developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which aims to resume U.S.-based flights to space by 2017. The CST-100 will transport up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth orbit destinations.

“Boeing has been part of every American human space flight program, and we’re honored that NASA has chosen us to continue that legacy,” said John Elbon, Boeing vice president and general manager, Space Exploration. “The CST-100 offers NASA the most cost-effective, safe and innovative solution to U.S.-based access to low-Earth orbit.”

Under the Commercial Crew Transportation (CCtCap) phase of the program, Boeing will build three CST-100s at the company’s Commercial Crew Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will undergo a pad-abort test in 2016 and an uncrewed flight in early 2017, leading up to the first crewed flight to the ISS in mid-2017.

Boeing recently completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) and Phase Two Spacecraft Safety Review of its Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, becoming the only competitor for NASA’s Commercial Crew program to pass a CDR as well as complete all CCiCap milestones on time and on budget.

“The challenge of a CDR is to ensure all the pieces and sub-systems are working together,” said John Mulholland, Boeing Commercial Crew program manager. “Integration of these systems is key. Now we look forward to bringing the CST-100 to life.”

Boeing press release

dj nakumatt uses his mouth to mix;;;;;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBTK5Nl2Z0Q

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Russia: We warned the Americans about Islamic State

A joke making the rounds among Russian officials and hacks who take a keen interest in what is going on in the Middle East these days goes something like this: How will the Yanks deal with the Islamic State group? They will create "Islamic State 2", a bigger and better armed group, and let it deal with the original Islamic State group. And what happens when "Islamic State 2" turns against them as it happened with the original Islamic State? They will create "Islamic State 3", and so on.

But seriously, the rise and spread of the Islamic State group is no laughing matter. Now that the US and its allies have finally woken up to the dangers of the spread of the extremist group, the worry in Moscow is that the hotheads in the Pentagon and at Nato headquarters in Brussels will decide to start hitting Islamic State positions in Syria along with "other targets" there as well - for instance, Syrian army positions.

US President Barack Obama has already announced his plan to deal with the group, promising to lead a "broad coalition" that will "roll back this terrorist threat". In Moscow, the fear is that the US will seize this opportunity to intervene in Syria.

The Libyan scenario

According to Valeriy Fenenko from the Moscow Centre for International Security, the US can actually use the presence of the Islamic State group in Syria as a pretext to implement the "Libyan scenario".

"The Americans are bound to try to compensate for their failure last fall," he says. "At first, it will be air strikes against terrorists and then, in parallel, it may amount to helping the moderate opposition. The US may start a creeping interference, like it happened in Bosnia," he said.

The feeling in Moscow is that the recent Nato summit in Newport in Wales missed out on a great opportunity to involve Russia in finding a solution to the spread of the Islamic State group and other militant groups associated with it across Iraq and the Middle East generally.

In any event, Russian diplomatic efforts are in full swing. According to one Russian source, Moscow is trying to prevent possible air strikes in Syria by the US, UK and others, in the same way it did last year when the danger of air strikes was growing by the day.

"Our people in Arab and European capitals were desperately trying to find some sort of solution last year," he said. "The threat of a regional war that could escalate into a world war was taken very seriously by the Kremlin. And this scenario is in the cards again."

The feeling in Moscow is that the recent Nato summit in Newport, Wales, missed out on a great opportunity to involve Russia in finding a solution to the spread of the Islamic State group and other militant groups associated with it across Iraq and the Middle East generally. Not to mention, the very real threat of these violent men entering European countries, and even reaching the US.

"The Russians have been warning the Americans ever since the civil war broke out in Syria that it was very dangerous to arm the opposition there," one former Russian general who was in charge of anti-terrorist operation told me. "There was no chance that the arms destined for the so-called moderate opposition would not end up with the likes of the Islamic State. Not to mention that lots of it was coming as well from 'liberated' Libya."

The same bandits

What worries Russian officials is the stubborn refusal of the Obama administration to talk to President Bashar al-Assad's government about a possible joint effort in defeating the Islamic State group in Syria. As Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said recently, it doesn't make sense for the West to help the Iraqi government to fight the Islamic State group but deny cooperation to Assad who is fighting "the same bandits".

Some Russian analysts are saying that the bigger problem of the current crisis is that the Islamic State group runs its recruitment campaigns not just in the Middle East but in Europe as well. Different figures are cited over the number of Europeans who have joined the ranks of the group in the past several months, but if you consider that the number of fighters has risen - according to Russian estimates, from about 6,000 in June to over 30,000 at present - it can be assumed that we are talking about thousands of young Muslims travelling from Europe to fight in what they believe is a holy war.

The senseless war in Gaza has probably indirectly boosted the Islamic State group's recruitment campaign, making it easier to claim that the West and Israel are hellbent on wiping out the Muslims in the Middle East. It remains unclear as to why Israel's armed forces attacked Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and conducted blanket air strikes that were bound to take a heavy toll on the civilian population.

In the opinion of Russian experts, this looked more like a smokescreen for US failures in Iraq and Libya rather than an attempt to wipe out Hamas' arsenal and top commanders. From a military point of view, Benjamin Netanyahu's war achieved absolutely nothing, except perhaps giving Hamas a boost in popularity. 

The danger for Russia from the Islamic State group is that some of its members come from Chechnya and Dagestan, the two Muslim republics in the south of Russia, and there is a risk that the group can find sympathisers and supporters there and even start to build a network across the Caucasus. That is why Moscow is now calling on all parties to make a joint effort to destroy the Islamic State group before it becomes truly international.

However, as the president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Konstantin Sivkov points out, the military option is only part of the solution in tackling the Islamic State group. He says that air strikes would not be enough and that it's crucial to also fight its ideology and cut off its finances that are now flowing through perfectly legal banking channels.    

The war against the Islamic State group is fraught with dangers. It might get out of control and drag the whole region into a much wider conflict.

Alexander Nekrassov is a former Kremlin and government adviser.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Wow! Worlds longest bridge ‪#‎26miles‬: LINK

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Jaji Masipa atishiwa baada ya uamuzi

Mashirika ya kisheria nchini Afrika Kusini, yameelezea wasiwasi kuhusu vitisho dhidi ya jaji aliyetoa uamuzi katika kesi inayomkabili mwanariadha mlemavu wa Afrika Kusini Oscar Pistorius.

Jaji Thokozile Masipa alimpata Pistorius na hatia ya kuua bila kukusudia wala sio mauaji ya kusudi.

Jaji huyo amekuwa akikosolewa tangu kutoa uamuzi wake kuwa Pistorius alimuua mpenzi wake kwa bahati mbaya.

Baadhi ya matamshi yaliyotolewa ni ya chuki , kumlimbikizia lawama na hata kwenda kinyume na mahakama.

Bi Masipa amewekewa ulinzi tangu kutoa uamuzi wake, kwa mujibu wa jarida la City Press.

Maafisa wa polisi wamekuwa wakishika doria nje ya nyumba yake na pia wamekuwa wakimsindikiza kila anapokwenda.

Pistorius alikana kosa la kumuua mpenzi wake Reeva Steenkamp kwa kukusudia.

Wataalamu wa maswala ya kisheria wamekosoa uamuzi wa jaji Masipa ambaye alichukua wadhifa wake mwaka 1998 na kuwa mwanamke wa pili mweusi kuwahi kushikilia wadhifa huo.

Taarifa ya wanasheria hao ilisema kuwa uamuzi wa jaji Masipa ilikuwa sawa kuambatana na sheria na pia kulingana na ushahidi uliotolewa Masipa.

Viongozi wa mashitaka walilaani uamuzi wa jaji Masipa wakisema kuwa Pistorius alipaswa kupataikana na hatia ya kumuua mpenzi wake kwa kukusudia.

Iconic scene from Kai Tak International Airport

Iconic scene from Kai Tak International Airport -- a Cathay Pacific jet between apartment buildings in Kowloon City. "This photo was taken in To Kwa Wan just at the entrance of the airport tunnel (now Kai Tak tunnel)," recalls photographer Daryl Chapman. 
Some 15 years after it closed down, Kai Tak is reopening this week as Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Can airliners really fly upside down?

Searchers investigate wreckage from United Airlines Flight 232 after it crash landed in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Aviation buffs question authenticity of Denzel Washington movie "Flight"
• Film's pilot consultant: Director Robert Zemeckis claimed artistic license
• United Flight 232 pilot Al Haynes describes losing flight control
• 1989 Sioux City, Iowa, disaster among aviation's most remarkable crash landings

(CNN) -- The pilot turned his airliner upside down. On purpose. And it saved nearly a hundred lives.

That's the idea behind one of the most intense movie moments of the holiday season: the core scene of "Flight," starring Denzel Washington as pilot Whip Whitaker. Hollywood sure likes Washington's performance. The role earned him an Oscar nomination Thursday on the heels of a Golden Globe nod in December. The film also received a nod for best original screenplay.

Spinning movie sets combine with CGI to make the scene "more than gut-wrenching," wrote CNN's Tom Charity. Hitflix ranks it among the "most harrowing plane crashes ever seen."

(By the way, no spoilers here.)

Thanks to masterful editing, we see a series of jerky, split-second glimpses of an "engine failure" panel light and then an uncontrolled dive and a plunging altimeter. In a stunning command decision, Washington's character rolls the plane over on its back. We see tumbling passengers and tossed luggage and finally a smoky crash landing in an empty field.

The scene stands as a breathtaking masterpiece of Hollywood's dream machine, but it pales in comparison with United Flight 232, a deadly real-life airline disaster that -- like the movie --- could have been much worse if not for remarkable efforts by heroic crew members.

Movie Pass: 'Flight'

Kelly Reilly talks working with Denzel

Denzel Washington hails real heroes

Movies not to show on a plane

But first, is it possible to fly a commercial airliner upside down? Would excessive G-forces destroy it? That debate is raging right now on aviation Twitter feeds and websites.

In the film, the pilot rolls the plane over to keep it flying longer. He avoids crashing into a neighborhood, saving countless lives.

"Flight" director Robert Zemeckis, creator of the "Back to the Future" series, enjoyed a bit of artistic license here, said Larry Goodrich, the film's pilot consultant.

Goodrich, a 32-year pilot -- first with the Air Force, then with Delta Air Lines -- trained pilots to fly MD-88s, which the movie's plane most resembles.

During production, Goodrich said he reminded Zemeckis and Washington that "you can turn an airplane like this over, but it's not going to fly like this very long. It's gonna go down."

"He looked at me and he said, 'Can it fly upside down for a little bit?' I said, 'Yeah a little bit, but eventually you're gonna lose lift in the wings and you won't have the power to keep the airplane up.'"

"It's hard to do and the planes aren't built for it," said another veteran commercial airline pilot. "But when you're in that situation you'll do anything you can to save the airplane," said the pilot, who asked not to be named because he's not authorized by his airline to speak with the news media.

When asked about flying upside down, Boeing, which inherited the MD-80 series after its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, issued a no-nonsense statement.

"The MD-80 cannot sustain inverted flight," the statement said. "The MD-80, as with all commercial airliners, was designed to fly upright. Commercial airliners are only tested and certified for upright flight."

Another thing that didn't ring true with Goodrich was the pilot leaving the cockpit during an emergency, as Washington's character did. Goodrich said he advised Zemeckis this scenario wasn't likely.

The interaction between Washington's character and the co-pilot rubbed commercial airline pilot and blogger Patrick Smith the wrong way.

"Washington's character is arrogant and flip and condescending and his co-pilot's character is meek and weak and at times even scared and clueless," said Smith. "This isn't how pilots behave. It reinforces the myth that the co-pilot is some sort of apprentice pilot."

The real deal

But as we all know, there's Hollywood -- and then there's the real deal.

As one commenter on airspacemag.com put it, "Hollywood could learn a lot from true life, i.e., United 232." That's because when it comes to a real life loss of airliner flight control, situations don't get much worse than Flight 232.

Al Haynes commanded the DC-10 that hot July day in 1989. The plane was about 75 miles north of Sioux City, Iowa, en route from Denver to Chicago with 11 crew and 285 passengers, when one of the plane's three engines failed. "There was a loud BANG," Haynes said. The bang, he said, "was followed by a large vibration lasting a few seconds."

There was a loud BANG.
Capt. Al Haynes, United Airlines Flight 232

The noise was the sound of a cracked engine fan disk shooting out of the tail engine and freakishly hitting in the worst possible spot. The disk severed all the plane's hydraulic lines, virtually cutting off all steering and speed control.

Read federal investigators' report on the crash (PDF)

For the next 45 minutes, Haynes, First Officer Bill Records, engineer Dudley Dvorak and instructor Dennis Fitch would need all their strength and good ideas to re-invent how to fly the DC-10.

But unlike the movie, flying upside down was not the solution to escaping this emergency.

"When the engine failed, the airplane started to turn to the right and started to roll," said Haynes. "If we had not stopped that and it had rolled over on its back, I'm sure the nose falling down would have increased the airspeed so fast that there's no way we could have controlled it."

"If we had gotten upside down, the party was over."

They learned how to steer the plane by adjusting the power in the aircraft's two remaining engines. It was like trying to drive a car without power steering, said Haynes, only harder.

The captain and Records struggled with the control wheel circling it steadily in right turn circles toward Sioux City airport. "It was very tiring," Haynes said. At the same time, Fitch struggled on his knees as he was forced to use both hands to muscle the plane's throttle levers, which also had become hard to move.

"I'll tell you what, we'll have a beer when this is all done," Fitch told Haynes, according to the flight recorder transcript. "Well, I don't drink," the captain replied, "but I'll sure as hell have one."

In the cabin, flight attendants worked to calm passengers and prepare them for a crash landing. "One passenger thought she was having a heart attack and the flight attendants calmed her down, and it turned out she wasn't having a heart attack, she was just very nervous," Haynes said.

As the plane neared the ground at a much-too-fast speed, passengers were warned to brace for impact. Video of the DC-10's fiery cartwheel landing was plastered across TV news channels for months after the disaster.

"The minute we hit the ground, I was knocked out," Haynes recalls. "I woke up in the cockpit talking to Dudley, I only remember bits and pieces of the conversation. I remember when the rescuers found us, someone asked, 'Are there really four of you in there?'"

One-hundred-ten passengers and one crew member -- flight attendant Rene Le Beau -- died in the crash. One-hundred-eighty-five passengers and crew survived.

In the months after the disaster, authorities recreated the emergency in flight simulators. But the simulator pilots were unable to maintain control of the plane all the way through to landing.

Sometimes life produces real events that rival Hollywood's wildest imaginations. That's what happened in 1989, when the crew of United Airlines Flight 232 achieved the nearly impossible.