Top Story USA
28 February 2007
Hail delays Atlantis launch
NASA has postponed next month's launch of US space shuttle Atlantis
after damage to the shuttle's fuel tank.
A hailstorm late on Monday left hundreds of small dents on the
spacecraft's external fuel tank and on a wing.
The shuttle that had been positioned on a launch pad in preparation
for the flight, will now be shifted to a hangar at the Kennedy
Space Centre to repair the damage.
The launch, which had been set for March 15, would be delayed
by at least a month.
The bottom line is, at this point we do not believe we can make
the launch window for March, "said Wayne Hale, manager
of the Space Shuttle Program.
"It will probably be about a month before talking about
being in a launch posture, sometime in late April," Hale
said. "We are going to work toward the late April kind
of launch date."
NASA has spent more than $1-billion to fixing problems with
the space shuttle fuel tanks since ill fated shuttle Columbia
was destroyed in 2003 as it returned to Earth killing seven
astronauts aboard.
Fidel Castro Makes Public Appearance
in 6 Months
Cuban President Fidel Castro has made his appearance in a live
broadcast for the first time since falling ill six months ago.
US professor, wife in Cuba spy case
Convicted ex-Florida International University academics Carlos
and Elsa Alvarez apologized as a pair of tearful defendants,
expressing regret for a secret life of informing on Miami's
exile community for Cuba.
U.S. to join Iran, Syria in Iraq talks
The United States would attend a regional conference in Iraq
next month that will include representatives from Iran and Syria.
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