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NASA Sets Coverage for White House National Space Council Meeting
Dec 20, 2023
NASA is participating in a meeting of the National Space Council on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Washington. The meeting, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, will focus on international partnerships and is the third council meeting held by the Biden-Harris Administration.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Artemis II and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will represent the agency at the meeting, which also includes other federal government agencies.
NASA will provide coverage of the meeting at 2 p.m. EST on the NASA+ streaming service via the web or NASA app. Coverage also will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
Deputy Administrator Melroy will provide remarks that will focus on the societal benefits of NASA’s space exploration, including the agency’s Earth science missions that provide open and transparent climate data for all people. Melroy also will discuss NASA’s space exploration with international partners to build a responsible and sustainable human presence in space.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-white-house-national-space-council-meeting/
Blue Origin launches New Shepard rocket, aces landing in 1st return to flight since 2022 failure
Dec 19, 2023
Blue Origin is back in action after a 15-month hold on launches.
Blue Origin successfully launched its first mission in more than 15 months on Tuesday (Dec. 19) after a series of delays, with an uncrewed manifest of NASA scientific payloads making it to space.
Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle lifted off from the company's West Texas site on Tuesday around 11:44 a.m. EST (1644 GMT) after brief holds on launch day. (Blue Origin also tried to launch the mission on Monday (Dec. 18), but scrubbed the attempt due to a "ground system issue" at its Launch Site One pad.)
The first stage of the rocket touched down nearby its launching site, as planned, and the spacecraft descended to Earth under parachutes in a livestream from Blue Origin. New Shepard is designed for both tourists and payloads, but the next flight with humans has not yet been announced.
Like the September 2022 flight, today's mission — known as NS-24, because it will be the 24th overall liftoff for New Shepard — was uncrewed. It carried 33 research payloads, more than half of them "developed and flown with support from NASA," Blue Origin wrote in a mission description.
"Others come from K-12 schools, universities, and STEAM-focused organizations," they added. (STEAM stands for "science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.")
Today's flight will also tote 38,000 postcards for Club for the Future, a nonprofit founded by Blue Origin that aims to get young people interested in space science and exploration.
While Blue Origin has not yet released its first launch date with humans on board, it is getting ready to fly a wider variety of customers. Launch commentators pointed out an elevator added to the launch tower, in a collaboration with accessibility company AstroAccess. (The company's founder, Dylan Taylor, was a Blue Origin customer himself on NS-19 on Dec. 11, 2021.)
"We have added an elevator; accessibility is really important here at Blue," launch commentator Erica Wagner said on the livestream.
Blue Origin's main competitor for space tourism, Virgin Galactic, has flown several missions in recent months. But Virgin is expected to pause its own monthly flight pace soon to upgrade its fleet. Once the upgrade is finished, Virgin may fly as frequently as once per month.
https://www.space.com/blue-origin-return-to-flight-mission-ns-24
United States Space Force
@SpaceForceDoD
Happy birthday to us! 🎂
Many aspects of life including intelligence, surveillance, missile detection, GPS, digital mapping & weather surveys rely on satellites that #Guardians ensure work properly. We couldn't have done it without you. #SemperSupra #SpaceForceBirthday
6:03 AM · Dec 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/SpaceForceDoD/status/1737473702499954741
British millionaire who was 'abducted by cartel for refusing to pay protection fee' is RESCUED in Ecuador after his girlfriend was 'saved by bomb squad who removed explosives vest kidnappers forced her to wear'
UPDATED: 09:16 EST, 20 December 2023
A British millionaire and former diplomat has been rescued after he was kidnapped in Ecuador.
Colin Armstrong, 78, was snatched from his villa alongside his girlfriend Katherine Paola Santos by 15 armed men on Saturday morning and was last seen being bundled into the back of a car.
A report has claimed that Mr Armstrong was targeted by a cartel after refusing to pay protection money.
During his ordeal, footage of Miss Santos emerged apparently showing bomb disposal police removing a vest 'filled with explosives' that her kidnappers allegedly forced her to wear. She reportedly said the vest would explode if a ransom wasn't paid.
But officers suspect she was part of the scam and police were quizzing Miss Santos over her kidnapping and how she came to be released.
On Wednesday, Cesar Augusto Zapata Correa, Ecuador's police chief, tweeted that Mr Armstrong had been found on a road near Manabi not far from Los Rios where he was snatched.
Police released a picture which showed him wearing a baseball cap, slightly out of focus, as per local law, flanked by two police officers. He appeared fit and well.
Mr Correa wrote: 'Our units released citizen Colin A., kidnapped a few days ago in Los Rios. At the moment he is safe and healthy.'
It has since been claimed that a feared criminal gang allied to a violent Mexican cartel which forces new recruits to eat raw human hearts has been linked to Mr Armstrong's kidnapping.
The brutal Los Tiguerones, whose members identify themselves with tattoos of beret-wearing tigers had been identified as the chief suspects overnight before police announced Mr Armstrong had been freed.
Officials were said to have been focusing on the group for allegedly snatching the 78-year-old president of agricultural distribution firm Agripac after he refused to pay them a monthly protection fee.
A well-placed source quoted in the Daily Telegraph said: 'It's the most likely reason for the kidnapping at this point.'
Police have confirmed nine suspects have so far been arrested, although they have not officially said whether they belong to Los Tiguerones.
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The shadowy gang was a small support unit of Los Choneros, one of the South American country's oldest organised crime groups, when they first began to be talked about in 2019.
Four years on, the organisation, which in its infancy had just 900 members, has expanded from its birthplace in the northern port city of Ecuador to become a leading player on the national scene as well as in neighbouring Peru.
Los Choneros were allied to El Chapo Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel and Los Tiguerones is known to be linked to Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The cartel is a Mexican organised crime syndicate known for its aggressive use of extreme violence.
Last year it emerged the CJNG gang was forcing new members into cannibalism and had started sharing videos of gang members feasting on the hearts of their enemies.
Meanwhile, in a statement to MailOnline family friend Leo Morris said: 'We can confirm that Mr Colin Armstrong has successfully been released and is currently with the police having interviews and then will be returning to his Family in Ecuador.
'All of the UK family, staff and friends are delighted with the outcome and look forward to a happier Christmas.
'We have no further news at present.'
Mr Armstrong's son Nick Armstrong, who helps run the family estate in North Yorkshire, had flown to Ecuador to help in the hunt.
The father and son are directors of the 500-acre Tupgill Park Estate near Leyburn in north Yorkshire, which has been the family home for more than 45 years.
Mr Armstrong's daughter Diana Armstrong-Bruns, an estate agent based in California, had told MailOnline earlier this week following his kidnapping: 'This is a critical time, we've been told not to say anything to anyone. We just want my father back.'
The wealthy businessman was snatched from his ranch called Rancho Rodeo Grande by up to 15 masked men reportedly disguised as police officers before being driven away in their black BMW which was later found abandoned by the roadside.
His glamourous girlfriend was also abducted alongside Mr Armstrong on Saturday. But 24 hours later, she was reportedly seen at the home of his son Nick, in a taxi wearing a bomb vest.
Police were alerted and video footage has since emerged apparently showing Ms Santos having the explosives vest removed by a bomb disposal expert at a property on the private gated estate in Samborondon near Guayaquil.
Ms Santos was yesterday being quizzed by detectives about her kidnapping, apparent release and whether she was forced to wear the bomb vest by Mr Armstrong's kidnappers so as to demand a ransom from his family.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12884643/Kidnapped-British-millionaire-RESCUED-Ecuador-Police-say-safe-healthy-nine-crooks-arrested-raid.html
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NBA G-Leaguer Chance Comanche confesses to murdering woman in Vegas with ex-girlfriend as plot revealed in grisly texts
Updated Dec. 20, 2023, 6:55 a.m. ET
A former pro basketball player choked a Washington medical assistant to death with an HDMI cord as he lured her to have “kinky sex” with him and another woman, who had planned the murder, newly released police records revealed.
Chance Comanche, 27, confessed that he was helping his ex-girlfriend, Sakari Harnden, 19, with the gruesome murder of Marayna Rodgers on Dec. 6, while he was in the area “between team activities,” according to Las Vegas police records obtained by KCRA.
Comanche played for the Stockton Kings, the NBA G League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings,
Rodgers, a 23-year-old from Lakewood, Wash., had traveled to Sin City on Dec. 1 with a friend with the “intent to engage in prostitution.”
That same night, Harnden began seeking her ex-beau’s help after there were reported issues between her and Rodgers.
Harnden and Rodgers, who both worked as prostitutes in the Vegas area, argued over a Rolex as Rodgers threatened to “smoke” Harnden if she didn’t give her the watch.
Comanche and Harnden then decided to kill Rodgers when they failed to hire a hitman for $3,000.
They discussed several different ways to commit the murder, which included poisoning, strangulation and a gun.
“I can snap her neck or just strangle the bitch,” Comanche allegedly wrote in a group message among Harnden and a third man, who had contact with someone who could get Rodgers “chipped.” “If you get a nice little thick piece of rope or sum sturdy I can do it from the backseat. Like how the killers do it in the movies.”
https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/sports/nba-g-leaguer-chance-comanche-confesses-to-murdering-marayna-rodgers-in-vegas-with-ex-girlfriend-as-plot-revealed-in-grisly-texts/