Welcome home Atlantis

Atlantis Lands in Florida
Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:44:29 AM CST

Space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The STS-129 mission that included three spacewalks and more than six days at the International Space Station has been completed.

Michael Jackson's doctor returns to work in Houston

Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray, who is the subject of an investigation into the death of the singer, has returned to work.

The cardiologist has resumed work at his medical clinic in Houston for the first time since the late singer's death on June 25.

"He has not been able to earn a living since the death of Michael Jackson," his lawyer Ed Chernoff told the Associated Press. "His legal fees are enormous and his debts have mounted to the point where it is unclear whether he will be able to keep his house or support his family.

"His intentions are to attend to these patients who have continued to support him, despite the attention and despite the threats."

Houston - we don't have a problem - so why is that alarm sounding?

(CNN) -- Astronauts aboard the international space station and space shuttle Atlantis woke up to a worrying sound -- alarms indicating a fire and dangerous loss of pressure, NASA said Friday.

However, a check revealed no serious trouble.

Depressurization-caution alarms sounded just after 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday, waking the shuttle and station crew, NASA said. The flight control teams on the ground determined there was no depressurization and shut off ventilation fans.

The crew was never in any danger, NASA said, and teams on the ground are looking into the cause of the false alarm.
Flight control teams at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, were bringing the station back to normal soon after the alarms, but it was 10:15 p.m. by the time the crew was able to go back to sleep because they had to wait for the station's ventilation system to be reactivated, NASA said.

Crew members go back to work Friday when they'll be focusing on preparations for Saturday's spacewalk, NASA said. They'll have to recharge batteries, switch out spacesuits and review procedures.
They also will use the shuttle's robotic arm to grab a second cargo pallet of spare equipment Atlantis brought up in advance of its transfer to the space station Saturday, NASA said.

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:28:46 PM CST

Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of six astronauts are headed for space, ready to begin their 11-day mission to the International Space Station. The climb to orbit takes about 8 1/2 minutes.

Following a smooth countdown, with no technical issues and weather that steadily improved throughout the afternoon, the shuttle lifted off on time from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:28 p.m. EST.

NASA TV will air a post-launch news conference at no earlier than 3:30 p.m. EST, and on the Web at www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Ft. Hood survivor returns home to Clear Lake

By Jessica Willey

CLEAR LAKE, TX (KTRK) -- Thirteen people died and more than two dozen were wounded during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood. One of the wounded is Specialist Dayna Ferguson, who returned home to Clear Lake Wednesday.

There was no big party inside the Ferguson home, but there is a celebration.

"It's great to be here and have her here," Ferguson's mother, Leva, said.

Dayna Ferguson eased out of the car and into the arms of her fiancé. After spending six days in a hospital at Fort Hood, she is back home and talking about the nightmare.

"I saw him, and then he shot me, like, two seconds later," she said.

Ferguson was inside the processing center last Thursday afternoon, preparing for her deployment to Iraq later this month. She said she heard gunshots first before seeing the shooter, even though he was just two feet away.

"I got shot in my leg and arm, and it went through my chest and collapsed my lung," Ferguson said. "The one in my leg went up through my stomach, and they had to operate in my stomach."

It took more than seven hours for her parents to get any answers.

"(The situation was) just hell on earth," father Jim Ferguson said. "You don't know -- it's awful. You see that man's picture on TV and you think, 'This man just put some bullets in your baby girl.'"

Jim and Leva Ferguson immediately rushed to their daughter's side, but it took a little longer for her fiancé, soldier Randy Roscoe, to get there. A week ago, he was sitting in a tent in Iraq.

"I just felt hopeless," Roscoe said. "There's nothing I could do over there. I just wanted to get home."

Army officials were able to get him home Monday. Since then, Danya Ferguson has had another surgery and has met the president. Now home, her father doesn't want to ever let her go.

"I'm going to board her up in her room and not going to let her out again," Jim Ferguson said. "The army had their chance, now she's home, and I'm going to take care of her for the rest of my life, til I die."

They have yet to think about a homecoming beyond this quiet one of balloons and signs. They are just grateful, a feeling 13 other families do not have.

"We're very fortunate," Leva Ferguson said. "Watching that memorial and thinking that we could have been there."

Doctors said Danya Ferguson should make a full recovery. Her father said that she bears no ill will toward Maj. Nadal Hasan. For now, he said, she plans to take some time off and rest, and she and Roscoe are still planning for an April wedding.


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U,S, government seizing Iranian mosques

The U.S. government seeks forfeiture of at least three mosques, including this one in Houston, Texas

New York (CNN) -- The federal government said Thursday it is seeking forfeiture of properties belonging to the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp. -- accused of transferring money to a bank owned by the Iranian government -- including a Manhattan skyscraper and at least three mosques.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced

Thursday's filing of an amended civil complaint seeking forfeiture of the Alavi Foundation's interest in the 36-story office tower located on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

The building is owned by 650 Fifth Avenue Company, a partnership between the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., the Justice Department said in a news release. The amended complaint alleges that the Alavi Foundation provided services to the Iranian government and transferred money from 650 Fifth Avenue Company to Bank Melli, which is owned and controlled by the government of Iran.

The amended complaint seeks forfeiture of all assets of the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., including bank accounts owned by 650 Fifth Avenue Company, the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp.; and properties owned by the foundation in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and California.

Less Than Two Weeks to Launch

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:47:40 AM CST

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Launch Pad 39A technicians are loading space shuttle Atlantis' two, mass-memory units today. Located in the middeck's two avionics bays, each reel-to-reel digital magnetic tape storage device holds basic flight software for the shuttle's general purpose computers and can store additional data.

Preparations for final ordnance installations and connections at the pad will begin today and are expected to wrap up this weekend.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-129 mission's six astronauts will be given their L-10 physicals today. They'll also practice integrated entry procedures in Johnson's motion base simulator.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch on its 11-day supply mission to the International Space Station at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.

Cops, using GPS, find theft suspect

By Nick Cenegy / The Daily News

LEAGUE CITY, Texas — League City police are pretty certain they know the man responsible for several car burglaries outside area day cares during the last month. They’re confident because they know exactly where the man has been.

It was, in part, good police work. An off-duty officer called in a suspicious green van hanging around his child’s day care weeks ago.

It was, in part, the work of investigators who doggedly ran down leads in nine car burglary cases, eventually turning up surveillance footage from one of the day cares.

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But the break that brought the case together was that David Lee Routt, 38, the man who has been charged with the crimes, was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet tracking his whereabouts pending a parole revocation hearing.

Investigators allege that, on at least nine occasions in the past month, Routt waited outside day care centers between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. as parents walked their children inside.

The residents would leave their purses or wallets inside their cars, which often were left unlocked or running, and return minutes later to find them gone, Sgt. John Jordan said.

The profile of each case was nearly identical. Nothing except the purses ever was stolen, Jordan said.

Immediately after the theft, before the victim had the chance to report anything missing, the credit cards would be used at nearby gas stations. The person using the cards wouldn’t risk going inside the store, so there was no surveillance footage that might reveal his face.

Week after week went by with no leads. Police put together an operations plan to step up their efforts. The thefts were happening daily, Jordan said.

Jordan said surveillance video from a day care showed a green van pulling up next to a car that had been reported burglarized and a man getting out.

After running the van’s description through police records, they found a suspicious vehicle report logged weeks before by an off-duty patrolman.

Jordan said investigators used license plate information to find the van’s owner. The owner told authorities she had given the van to a family member who was back in jail.

Police found Routt in Harris County Jail and contacted his parole officer. The parole officer told them about the GPS anklet and arranged to check on Routt’s whereabouts during the burglaries.

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STS-19 set for Nov 16

Atlantis and Crew Prepare for Flight
The STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles O. Hobaugh and piloted by Barry E. Wilmore. Mission Specialists are Robert L. Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips to space.

Atlantis and its crew will deliver two control moment gyroscopes, equipment and EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 and 2 to the International Space Station. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Atlantis also will return station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth and is slated to be the final space shuttle crew rotation flight.

Atlantis will launch on the STS-129 mission at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.

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