Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Science Lab Is Attached To the Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL -- Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.

French astronaut Leopold Eyharts announced its arrival. "Beautiful work," replied Mission Control.

It was a day-long affair that took more time than expected.

The grand finale -- the actual attachment of the 23-foot, 14-ton lab that was ferried up by Atlantis -- took place at the end of an extra-long spacewalk by Rex Walheim and Stanley Love. The astronauts shouted and cheered when the lab reached its destination.

Germany's recovering astronaut, Hans Schlegel, was stuck inside. He was supposed to float outside with Walheim to help with Columbus's hookup, but he got sick after last week's liftoff and was replaced by Love.

The crew switch prompted NASA to delay Columbus's installation by one day and lengthen Atlantis's space station visit. U.S. and European space officials have refused to divulge the illness.

Even though two Americans ended up doing all the outside work, it was still a momentous occasion for the European Space Agency, which waited years to see Columbus fly. The lab was supposed to go up in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the sailing of Christopher Columbus, but space station and shuttle problems delayed the mission.

Minn. Town Dips to 40 Below

MINNEAPOLIS -- It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero, a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the "Icebox of the Nation." The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That is just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January 1888, the weather service said.

Quake Hits Mexico Near U.S. Line

CALEXICO, Calif. -- A magnitude-4.9 earthquake rocked the northern Baja California region of Mexico near the U.S. border, just days after the region was hit by a magnitude-5.4 temblor, authorities said. The quake, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. Pacific time, was centered 20 miles southeast of the border town of Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Man Testifies in Lover's Death

CANTON, Ohio -- A former police officer accused of killing his pregnant lover sobbed on the witness stand that he accidentally hit her when she wouldn't let him out of her house. "I didn't mean to hurt her," Bobby Cutts Jr. testified. Cutts, 30, said he was at Jessie Davis's home to pick up his 2 1/2 -year-old son Blake and was telling her to hurry. He said that when she didn't move quicker to get her son ready, he started to go but Davis grabbed him and told him he couldn't leave. He said he pulled his arm away and threw his elbow back, striking her in the throat and causing her to fall.

River Water Used on Sugar Fire

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. -- A helicopter dumped tens of thousands of gallons of river water onto a gutted sugar refinery where six workers died and two remained missing from an explosion that continued to burn more deeply than officials first suspected. One of the Imperial Sugar refinery's three 100-foot storage silos blew up late Thursday, with exploding sugar dust the likely culprit. Sand will be used to take on the four-day-old fire if water drops don't work.

-- From News Services