Russia Says 'Nyet' To NASA
Russia cast doubt on the long-term future of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation, as it retaliated on Tuesday against U.S. sanctions over Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. request to prolong the orbiting station's use beyond 2020. It will also bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites.
Moscow took the action, which also included suspending operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory from June, in response to U.S. plans to deny export licences for high-technology items that could help the Russian military.
Read MoreUS sanctions may be inflicting limited pain on Russia
"We are very concerned about continuing to develop high-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicizes everything," Rogozin told a news conference.
Washington wants to keep the $100 billion, 15 nation space station project in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target.
Moscow's plan to part ways on a project which was supposed to end the "space race" underlines how relations between the former Cold War rivals have deteriorated since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March.
Since the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle project, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been the only way astronauts can get to the space station, whose crews include mostly Americans and Russians, as well as visitors from other countries.
At a time when Moscow is struggling to reform its accident-plagued space program, Rogozin said U.S. plans to deny export licences for some high-technology items were a blow to Russian industry. "These sanctions are out of place and inappropriate," Rogozin said. "We have enough of our own problems."
Read MoreThe US jet fighter that can do it all—maybe
Moscow's response would affect NK-33 and RD-180 engines which Russia supplies to the United States, Rogozin said. "We are ready to deliver these engines but on one condition that they will not be used to launch military satellites," he said.
RD-180 engines are used to boost Atlas 5 rockets manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that holds a virtual monopoly on launching U.S. military satellites.
ULA on Tuesday said it was not yet aware of any restrictions and hopes talks will resolve any issues that do arise. It added that it can use other launch vehicles and has a two-year supply of engines to smooth over any transition.
"ULA and our Department of Defense customers have always prepared contingency plans in the event of a supply disruption," ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in a statement. - CNBC
**********
Strange Incidents at the Lake
When I was in college I worked a couple of odd jobs to help pay the bills. They were mostly mundane, but one shook me to my core. I was working for the city parks and lakes division at a local lake. It was a job that did involve some hard work, cleaning and repairing the boats and motors, but it also had more than enough down time. When ever there was no work to do my co-workers and I would sit around in the shade on the dock and talk. When I first started it was mostly the other guys telling me stories about the lake. Most of them were your run of the mill fisherman stories, but there were a few with a much darker feel. It wasn't long before I started to have my own odd enounters in the park.
I split my time working there between the boat dock and working night security in the campgrounds. One night as I was driving the work truck around the lake into the campgrounds, part of my hourly patrol, I saw a pale blue light just above the road probably 100 feet in front of my truck. As I got close the light grew in intensity, then when I was about 30 feet away it took on a smokey appearance and dissipated in the night sky.
That incident was definitely odd, but not at all in a scary sort of way. The next two incidents I had during the night shift, which led to me refusing the work the shift anymore, were definitely more disturbing and physical. Maybe a month after I saw the floating light I was driving down the hill from the campground back to the lake when I saw a man run out of the bushes. He was dirty, terrified, and wearing only his underwear. The first thought I had was that he was on drugs. The campground was cheap so we did get our fair share of homeless drug addicts. I quickly realized that wasn't the case, however. The second he saw my truck he came running towards me, clearly not looking to hurt me but rather for me to save him. When he was still a few yards away I was going to open my window to ask what was wrong when suddenly I saw a second person run out of the bushes. This time it was a woman. Her T-shirt was torn and dirty, her legs scratched from running through the bushes without pants on. I was confused to say the least, but the confusion quickly turned to anxiety when I saw she was carrying a large knife. Obviously this is what the man was running from. He didn't seem to notice her at first so I motioned to the passenger door, hoping he would get it so we could drive off and call the police before she got too close. As I was motioning to him was when he spotted her. He looked me in the eyes, and I could tell he knew he should run to the truck, but I watched as the panic overtook him, and he ran. The woman chased after, both heading across the road down into the brush towards the lake. I drove off to the park ranger station and called the police. I could her the echoes of the man's screaming and the woman's yelling. I talked to the police after they handled the situation. The man had been stabbed, but he would live. I went home, obviously shaken.
Two months after that I was driving the truck through the campground and I saw what looked like a military style duffel bag hanging from a tree. The closer I got the more definition the shape took. By the time I was at the campsite I already had the police on the phone. I could hear the wife sleeping in the tent, but I decided I would let the police wake her and inform her that her husband had hanged himself.
I never worked the night shift again. I thought if I worked strictly during the day on the boat dock all this would stop. I was wrong. I did work an entire summer without incident, but it was in the winter that it happened. It was a cold winter, by San Diego standards at least. Many times my shift would start before the sunrise, having to get the boats ready for all the fisherman coming in the early morning hours trying for trout. On one particular morning I got to work around 5am. It was cold, in the mid 30s, with frost still on the ground. I walked straight onto the dock and into the shed we used as a workshop. Most of the mornings the only employees at the park were me, a young woman who worked the concession stand, and a park ranger. Often the park ranger would come down to the dock about 20 minutes into my shift to make sure I had everything I needed. On this morning I was inside the workshop with the door closed, space heater on, and was working on a broken motor. I could tell when another person walked onto the dock because it would make the whole dock bob slightly in the water. I felt the dock rise and fall beneath my feet and kept at my work, assuming it was just the ranger. I could tell the footsteps went up to the door, paused for a second, then continued towards the end of the dock. After about five minutes without feeling the footsteps return I opened the door to see what the ranger was up to. I looked to the end of the dock and no one was there. I assumed I must have mistaken the slight waves of the water for footsteps, but noticed the water was smooth as glass, and that all the boats were tied up. I took a step out of the shop to get a better look and could hear the crunch of frost under my feet. When I looked down I noticed that there were two sets of footprints. One was mine, going from the shore straight to the shop. The second went past the shop, down the edge of the dock, and stopped. There were no prints going off the dock. I turned and saw the ranger walked towards the dock down the shore. I quit once he got within earshot. - Reddit.com
**********
I-Team: Man who exposed Area 51 defends UFO information
LAS VEGAS -- It has been 25 years to the day since a live interview with a shadowy guy named "Dennis" changed everything for America's most secret military base.
"Dennis" turned out later to be a man named Bob Lazar, who claimed he worked at a secret facility built into a mountainside just south of Area 51's main facilities.
The story started a UFO stampede that continues to this day. Lazar has tried to put the UFO tales behind him, and has been discredited in the eyes of some critics, but it is a story that simply won't go away.
The I-Team's George Knapp coaxed Lazar into talking about the last quarter century of UFO craziness.
The story that Bob Lazar told 25 years ago this week has gone around the world many times over, inspiring books and TV shows, and movies. Who knew that Indiana Jones' warehouse is out at Area 51?
Another repository of Area 51 lore is the exhibit at the Atomic Testing Museum. While in town recently for the interview, Lazar took the tour. He watched tapes of the first interviews he ever gave about his time working at S-4 and plowed through boxes of paperwork about his claims. Lazar re-iterated his preference that people don't believe his story.
"Look, I'm not out there giving UFO lectures, producing tapes. This is not a business of mine. I am trying to run a scientific business, and if I'm the UFO guy, it makes it really difficult, it is to my benefit that people don't believe the story," Lazar said. Read more at 8 News Now
**********
Pope would baptize aliens
Pope Francis has stated that he would welcome alien life forms into the open arms of the Catholic Church, should they be willing to convert. He put forward his official stance on Martians - among other intergalactic travelers - at a homily on Monday.
Francis proclaimed that the Catholic Church was one of “open doors” and it was the independent choice of each Christian to accept the Holy Spirit into their lives.
“If tomorrow an expedition of aliens from Mars arrives…and one of the green ones with long nose and big ears, like those which children draw, comes and says, ‘I want a Baptism!’ What would happen?” Francis asked rhetorically.
The Pontiff then pointed out that St. Peter himself had assuaged doubts of his critics by stating that: “If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us for believing in the Lord Jesus, who was I to hinder God?”
According to the Bible, Peter had been criticized by Christians in Jerusalem for contacting ‘unclean’ Pagans. Francis used the passage to illustrate that at the time, it had also been considered ‘unthinkable.’
“When the Lord shows us the way, who are we to say, ‘No, Lord, it is not prudent! No, let's do it this way.’ Who are we to close doors?” Francis added.
He made the comments at a Monday morning mass at the Casa Santa Maria residence at the Vatican, according to Vatican Radio.
While the statements may seem a little far-fetched, it is not the only time the Vatican has discussed the baptism of alien life forms.
At the British Science Festival in 2010, one astronomer for former Pope Benedict XVI, Guy Consolmagno, stated that he would be prepared to baptize an alien if it asked. “Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul,” Consolmagno stated. - RT
**********
Thanks to all for continuing to support us by purchasing our 2 books - Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters and Phantoms & Monsters: Strange Encounters - I also noticed that purchases by our readers in the United Kingdom has dramatically increased over the past few months. Lon
**********
TODAY'S TOP LINKS
Chris Halton - Haunted Earth TV
10 death-defying trails you’ll still want to hike - whoa!
Poltergeist Borrows Our Knives
Cattle-Mutilations and a Curious Movie
Scientists Discover the Glistening Cosmic Web
Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History
Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers
Cryptozoology A To Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature
