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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station

Orbital Sciences Cygnus CRS Orb-1

CygnusHaving successfully demonstrated a working model of the Cygnus unmanned cargo spacecraft in 2013, Orbital Sciences delivers its first Cygnus vehicle under a new commercial resupply contract with NASA. The S.S. C. Gordon Fullerton (named for one of the earliest Shuttle astronauts, now deceased) cargo ship lifts off from Wallops Island, carrying nearly 2,800 pounds of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. It will remain docked at the ISS for 36 days.

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Science & Technology

A 90% chance of iron rain

Luhman 16bA team of scientists publishes a report in the journal Nature revealing that, using Doppler observations, they have achieved a very basic map of the “weather” patterns on the dim brown dwarf star Luhman 16B, discovered in 2013 at a distance of only 6.5 light years from Earth’s solar system. The observations reveal that the high temperature is likely to be 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, with a very good chance of violent storms raining molten iron onto Luhman 16B’s surface in the forecast.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Tremors

ArrowThe 35th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) and Nicholas Lea (The X-Files) guest star.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Heir To The Demon

ArrowThe 36th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), and Nicholas Lea (The X-Files) guest star.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death Star Trek Television

Cliff Bole, frequent Star Trek director, dies

Star Trek: TNGDirector Cliff Bole, a Hollywood veteran with episodes of such classic shows as The Six Million Dollar Man, MacGyver, and Spenser: For Hire under his belt, dies at the age of 75. Best known for his very frequent returns to the Paramount lot, Bole directed episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, including the all-time fan favorite TNG two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds (1990). He also directed other genre shows such as The X-Files, Supernatural, and Millennium.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

Dale Gardner, shuttle astronaut, dies

Dale GardnerShuttle astronaut Dale Gardner, who flew aboard space shuttle Challenger’s STS-8 mission in 1983 and the STS-51A mission aboard Discovery in 1984, dies unexpectedly. As a Mission Specialist aboard both flights, he participated in the risky task of manually retrieving a wayward satellite that was considered too large a target to risk snagging with the shuttle’s remote manipulator arm on the Discovery mission. Using one of the Manned Maneuvering Units that would fall out of favor during post-Challenger-disaster safety reviews, Gardner manually captured the satellite and helped to berth it in Discovery’s cargo bay (and then held up a “for sale” sign for the camera). Gardner left NASA and returned to the Air Force and then to civilian life following the Challenger disaster, and had recently retired just over a year before his death. He was 65.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters star/writer, dies

Harold Ramis as EgonWriter, director and actor Harold Ramis dies after several years of battling vascular disease. An SCTV comedy veteran who went on to co-write Stripes, Animal House and Caddyshack, Ramis gained genre fame in 1984 for co-writing Ghostbusters, and starring in it as Dr. Egon Spengler, the brains of the ghostbusting operation. He did both again for the less successful Ghostbusters II in 1989, but went on to write and direct such films as Groundhog Day and Analyze This. Ramis was 69.

More about Harold Ramis in Scribblings

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Time Of Death

ArrowThe 37th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) and Alex Kingston (Doctor Who) guest star.

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-12M

Soyuz TMA-12MPart of the 39th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-12M. Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steven Swanson take up residence on the ISS for 169 days, becoming part of the Expedition 39 and 40 crews. This crew returns to Earth in September 2014 aboard the same vehicle.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Birds Of Prey

ArrowThe 40th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Jessica De Gouw (Dracula) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Deathstroke

ArrowThe 41st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: The Man Under The Hood

ArrowThe 42nd episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station

Dragon CRS-3

SpaceX DragonThe third SpaceX Dragon unmanned resupply mission to the International Space Station lifts off, testing a new version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster rocket which incorporates landing legs and an attitude control system designed to return the booster’s first stage safely to Earth for possible reuse. The attitude control system succeeds in cancelling out the booster’s roll and brings the first stage down for a controlled splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The Dragon capsule goes on to dock with the ISS two days later.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Streets Of Fire

ArrowThe 45th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. John Barrowman (Torchwood, Doctor Who) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Unthinkable

ArrowThe 46th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest stars in the second season finale.

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-13M / ISS Expedition 40

SoyuzThe 122nd Soyuz vehicle launched, Soyuz TMA-13M, lifts off from Russia to the International Space Station, carrying the station’s 40th crew to its stay in orbit. Aboard are flight engineers Maksim Surayev, Greg Wiseman and Alexander Gerst; of the three, only Surayev has previous spaceflight experience, and he will become the ISS Commander upon the departure of Expedition 39. Expedition 40’s stay aboard the ISS is slated to last six months, and Soyuz TMA-13M will be used as a return vehicle by the crew of Expedition 41 later in 2014. Though Soyuz TMA-13M was intended to use the recently developed six-hour fast-track launch trajectory to reach the station the same day it launched, technical glitches delayed its arrival at the ISS until May 28th.

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Crewed Spaceflight SpaceX Dragon

Dragon V2 unveiled

DragonSpaceX founder Elon Musk unveils the Dragon V2 manned spacecraft, an evolution of the unmanned Dragon capsules that have been ferrying cargo to the International Space Station. With room for seven astronauts and 3-D printed engines that can output 16,000 pounds of thrust, Dragon V2 is said to be fully reusable and should be capable of landing propulsively on land rather than splashing down in a body of water. While many of the vehicles impressive specifications are revealed, no announcements are made of when NASA might permit a manned test flight to the ISS, or how far along Dragon V2 is in meeting NASA’s exacting standards for manned spacecraft.

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Buran Crewed Spaceflight

Moving Buran

BuranOne of the last remaining prototypes of the Soviet-era Buran space shuttle is transported over land (and in pieces) from Gorky Park to an exhibition center in the center of Moscow to become part of an exhibit of Russian technological accomplishments. The unfinished Buran spaceframe had served numerous uses during its 30+ stay in Gorky Park, ranging from an impressive display piece to a diner (!).

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station

Orbital Sciences Cygnus CRS Orb-2

CygnusOrbital Sciences and NASA launch the second Cygnus unmanned cargo freighter to the International Space Station. Named after a recently deceased Shuttle astronaut, the S.S. Janice Voss carries over 3,000 pounds of new equipment and supplies to the station, where it remains docked for a month.

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Computers Deaths Matters of Life & Death Video Games

Douglas E. Smith, Lode Runner creator, dies

Lode RunnerThe creator and programmer of Lode Runner, Douglas E. Smith, dies at the age of 53. A spare-time creation that became an all-consuming passion for Smith, Lode Runner sparked a nearly unprecedented bidding war among major computer game publishers in 1983. At the time of Smith’s death, Lode Runner has been ported to most major game and computer systems over the past 31 years.