TYB
Waiting for him to start handing out flying freedom lariats
Sask. RCMP raid 'Queen of Canada' cult compound, arrest 16 adults
Sep 03, 2025 9:41 AM PDT
Saskatchewan RCMP arrested 16 adults, including cult leader Romana Didulo, in the village of Richmound on Wednesday after a firearms investigation.
At a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in Regina, Insp. Ashley St. Germaine said RCMP executed a search warrant at a privately owned decommissioned school in Richmound at around 4:30 a.m CST.
Didulo and her followers have been living for two years in the village of approximately 118 people, located 365 kilometres west of Regina, near the Alberta border.
St. Germaine said RCMP got a report on Aug. 25 of one of the building's occupants possessing a firearm. That led to the investigation that culminated in the raid.
"A team of skilled and experienced senior officers was established to oversee this large and complex operation," she said.
More than 30 police vehicles from multiple jurisdictions, including two tactical vehicles, were at the scene, St. Germaine said.
A livestream video, posted by Didulo to her followers on Telegram at 5:51 a.m. CST on Wednesday, captured the moment when two officers wearing tactical gear burst into a room where Didulo was standing.
"Leave the phone down. You're under arrest," one officer says in the video. Didulo surrenders to officers and the camera is pointed at the floor for a few minutes.
Voices off camera then remark that the phone is livestreaming before the video ends.
St. Germaine said all 16 arrests had been made by 6 a.m. CST.
The investigation is in its early stages, St. Germaine said, with investigators still searching the building and interviewing the arrested.
She said the identities of all the people and their connections to Didulo had not yet been confirmed. "At this time, no charges have been laid," St. Germaine said.
Richmound's village council declined to comment, deferring to RCMP.
'This is the best day of my life,' Richmound resident says
Vanessa Johnson, a resident of Richmound, said the raid came as a surprise. "We didn't really know that anything was going to happen," Johnson said.
Johnson said she was flooded with calls about the news and went to go witness the event. She said the RCMP's report about replica guns doesn't surprise her.
"One of the cult leaders was walking up and down my street, which is quite a bit," she said. "They really have talked about shooting people bringing boots on the ground."
Johnson said the news is a huge relief for a small community that has felt frustrated and scared.
"Our spirits are so lifted. I feel so happy," Johnson said. "This is the best day of my life."
Cult has been in Richmound for 2 years
Didulo and her followers have been living in the former school in Richmound for two years.
Christine Sarteschi, a professor at Chatham University who researches and monitors cults, said Didulo's followers believe she is the "Queen of Canada."
"[Didulo] tells them that she is the ultimate authority, that she is the ruler under natural law. She is effectively the supreme ruler of all the land.
She tells them they don't have to pay taxes," Sarteschi said in an interview on Wednesday. "It's anything Romana says and the followers truly believe what she says."
The cult began as part of the larger Q-Anon movement — which believes there is a secret cabal running the government — and has now evolved into a sovereign citizen movement, Sarteschi said.
Sovereign citizens, also known as freemen of the land, believe laws don't apply to them.
Didulo's followers also don't believe in vaccination and are convinced their leader has alien powers, Sarteschi said.
"I think that they're attracted to her because she says things that appeal to them," Sarteschi said.
Didulo's followers have disrupted local residents since settling in Richmound.
In July, the village office closed its doors to the public outside pre-arranged appointments, citing harassment and intimidation toward staff.
Rick Manz, the owner of the property and one of Didulo's followers, was charged in July with assault, resisting arrest and uttering threats.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/rcmp-richmound-didulo-1.7624038
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWcw719JJCs
NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care
Sep 04, 2025
As NASA plans future human exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, new and unique challenges emerge — like communication delays and limited return-to-Earth options — so enhanced medical care capabilities are critical.
Crews will need non-invasive imaging technology to diagnose medical conditions, like broken bones or dental injuries.
Scientists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are testing portable, handheld X-ray systems for use during future extended space missions.
Having portable X-ray capabilities aboard spacecraft would allow astronauts to immediately assess and treat potential injuries or identify equipment issues without having to disassemble the gear.
“Technological innovations like that of the mini-X-ray will help keep our astronauts healthy as we endeavor farther into space than ever before,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
“Future missions to the Moon and Mars will be safer due to the research of our scientists at NASA Glenn.”
NASA reviewed more than 200 commercial systems — analyzing size, weight, image quality, ease-of-use, cost, and safety — and selected three systems for further testing: MinXray, Remedi, and Fujifilm.
“We’re working to provide evidence on why a mini-X-ray system should be included in future space exploration,” said Dr. Chase Haddix, a senior biomedical engineering research contractor working for Universities Space Research Association at NASA Glenn.
“These X-rays could be used to detect both clinical and non-clinical diagnostics, meaning they can check an astronaut’s body or identify the location of a tear in an astronaut suit.”
NASA Glenn is collaborating with other centers, including NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and radiography experts at University Hospitals and Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.
“We’re fortunate to have enthusiastic medical and radiography experts right here in our community,” said Dr. Cy Peverill, project task lead at NASA Glenn.
“Their knowledge and experience are invaluable as we work to test medical technologies that could significantly improve management of astronaut health on future missions to the Moon or Mars.”
Cuyahoga Community College contributed anatomical phantoms, which are lifelike models of the human body, in its radiography laboratory on the Western Campus and dental hygiene clinical facility at the Metropolitan Campus.
Faculty and students consulted with NASA researchers on essential imaging principles, including patient positioning, image acquisition, and image quality.
University Hospitals is partnering with NASA Glenn on a medical study with real patients to compare the performance of the X-ray systems against hospital-grade equipment, focusing on usability, image clarity, and diagnostic accuracy.
“Astronauts live and work in small quarters, much smaller spaces than in a hospital,” Haddix said. “The system must be easy to use since astronauts may not be experienced in radiography.
The data from these tests will guide the selection of the most suitable system for future missions.”
Using portable X-rays to improve health care in inaccessible areas is not new, with systems deployed to diagnose medical issues in places such as base camps in Nepal and remote villages in South Africa.
NASA researchers theorize that if these systems are successful in high elevations and extreme temperatures on Earth, perhaps they are durable enough for space missions.
Glenn researchers will continue to collect data from all collaborators, including from an X-ray system sourced by SpaceX that launched in April during the Fram2 mission.
The crew captured the first human X-ray images in space during their four-day mission to low Earth orbit. NASA plans to select a device near the end of 2025 and will test the chosen system aboard the International Space Station in 2026 or early 2027.
The Mars Campaign Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington and the agency’s Human Research Program at NASA Johnson fund this work as both organizations focus on pursuing technologies and methods to support safe, productive human space travel.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/nasa-glenn-tests-mini-x-ray-technology-to-advance-space-health-care/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/science-overview/science-explainers/what-are-active-galactic-nuclei/
What Are Active Galactic Nuclei?
September 4, 2025
Active galactic nuclei are active supermassive black holes that emit bright jets and winds, and shape their galaxies.
Based on extensive evidence, active galactic nuclei, also commonly referred to as AGN, are now understood to be active supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies that are emitting jets and winds.
Telescopes in space and on the ground detect these emissions of gas and dust as light all along the electromagnetic spectrum — from X-rays and visible light to infrared light and radio waves.
(In contrast, inactive or quiescent black holes do not emit light and remain undetected.)
Active Galactic Nucleus Animation
The formal term active galactic nuclei applies to several additional classifications, including quasars (also known as radio galaxies) and blazars, and Seyfert galaxies.
The differences between these groups begin with their distances from Earth: Seyfert galaxies are nearby, which means we can also easily see and study the galaxies that surround their active galactic nuclei.
Quasars, whose name is derived from the term “quasi-stellar radio sources,” are very distant, point-like sources, which is why they received this now slightly misleading moniker.
(We now know quasars’ bright active galactic nuclei are also surrounded by galaxies, but since the quasar is often much brighter than the galaxy, the galaxies’ light is difficult to differentiate from the quasars’ light.)
First, the Basics
How we detect active supermassive black holes and what NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is helping researchers reveal.
One reason we know so much about active galactic nuclei is through studies of the gas and dust that orbit supermassive black holes, which are known as accretion disks.
The particles in these ever-rotating accretion disks periodically rub together, creating heat and light. Some of this material is ejected along incredibly strong magnetic fields into jets and winds.
(Material that falls into the black holes is not in this mix — only the gas and dust that is just outside their event horizons.)
Gas and other material sent flying away in the form of jets can travel well beyond the galaxies’ star-filled arms. Winds travel far shorter distances.
Both jets and winds can cut off star formation, near their paths and much farther afield by heating up the galaxies’ gas.
These connections between active supermassive black holes — specifically, the activities driven by their active galactic nuclei — play a critical role in our understanding the origins of modern galaxies.
To date, we have a range of data about active galactic nuclei near and far, and Webb now offers high-resolution data in a range of infrared wavelengths for the first time.
This is critical for two reasons: For nearby targets, infrared light allows us to peer through the gas and dust clogging the centers of galaxies, where all the action is taking place.
For distant targets, the expansion of space has also led to the stretching of light for billions of years as it travels to Earth. The ultraviolet and visible light emitted by active galactic nuclei stretches over time into infrared light.
Webb’s large mirror and high-resolution infrared instruments allow us to observe faint, highly redshifted objects. With these observations, Webb provides insights about galaxies in the very early universe.
What Do We Know About the Cores of Nearby Galaxies?
The short answer is quite a lot, but we need Webb’s measurements to precisely model how active galactic nuclei impact their host galaxies.
Seyfert galaxies are closer to Earth, typically tens of millions of light-years away, which means we can observe their very bright active galactic nuclei as well as their surrounding galaxies.
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Seyfert galaxies aren’t as luminous and distant as quasars, but they are a convenient way to study similar phenomena in lower energy light, like infrared.
The extremely bright central regions of Seyfert galaxies often obscure the much dimmer stars in the disks near the galaxies’ centers, but observations made in a range of wavelengths of light have helped researchers begin to separate what’s happening around their active galactic nuclei and what is happening elsewhere in the interacting galaxies.
Some active galactic nuclei send out immense jets of gas and other particles in opposite directions.
These jets can travel up to millions of miles per hour and extend well beyond the widths of the galaxies themselves, creating giant lobes that are detectable in radio light.
Webb is helping us learn precisely what’s happening near and around active galactic nuclei. Take, for example, NGC 7319, the topmost galaxy in Stephan's Quintet, which harbors an active galactic nucleus.
Webb revealed hot gas near the active black hole and measured the velocity of bright outflows — the most detail captured by this point.
How Can We Study Extremely Distant Sources?
Webb helps separate the bright, central light emitted by quasars and blazars from their surrounding galaxies’ light, helping us begin to untangle the activities of early galaxies.
Quasars are significantly farther away than Seyfert galaxies. While they are found at many distances, some are so far away that we are seeing them as they were when the universe was several hundred million years old.
Quasars’ two opposing bright jets have been observed pointing at a variety of angles. Blazars, which are a sub-class of quasars, have one of their jets pointing at Earth (the other, which is not directly observed, points away).
Relativistic effects beam light from the narrow jet towards us, making blazars appear to be very bright and variable. They can significantly change in brightness over as little as a few months, which is why they were once thought to be a type of variable star decades ago.
Quasars pour out 100 to 1,000 times as much light as an entire galaxy containing 100 billion stars (which is the estimated number of stars in our Milky Way galaxy).
Since quasars are so distant, existing observations of their central light sources typically wash out the galaxies around them. (Imagine a car’s headlight obscuring nearby fireflies.)
Plus, their distances from Earth mean the light we observe has taken billions of years to travel to us, so we are actually seeing snapshots of galaxies as they formed billions of years ago (not what they look like today).
To add yet one more wrinkle, evidence has shown that some quasars are also two or more colliding galaxies, like some nearby Seyfert galaxies, which may mean that they have more than one active galactic nucleus spouting bright jets of material.
Researchers have combed the data and found that quasars can have an oversized influence on the galaxies in which they live. Researchers have found that jets and winds launched by active galactic nuclei heat the galaxies’ cold gas, which temporarily stops star formation.
The gas eventually cools and star formation resumes. Quasars may be relatively short-lived phenomena. However, it’s important to note that the duration of these mechanics remains unsettled.
Do most quasars flare up for the first 100 million years or so of a galaxy’s life? Or are quasars long-lived and rare?
These questions are only two of the many reasons why researchers are so excited for Webb to observe more targets with active galactic nuclei.
The observatory’s high-resolution images and data can be separated, showing only the light from the active galactic nuclei of some distant quasars from the light of their host galaxies despite their small sizes.
Researchers are actively analyzing Webb’s data, with the goal of answering how black holes can grow so big so early in the universe’s development.
As more targets are observed, they will also look for a relationship between the masses of distant galaxies and the masses of their black holes, like we see in the nearby universe.
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NASA, SpaceX Complete Dragon Space Station Reboost
September 3, 2025
On Wednesday, Sept. 3, SpaceX’s Dragon completed an initial burn to test the spacecraft’s new capability to help maintain the altitude of the International Space Station.
Two Draco engines located in the trunk of Dragon, which contains an independent propellant system, were used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a maneuver lasting five minutes, three seconds.
The initial test burn increased the station’s altitude by around one mile at perigee, or low point of station’s orbit, leaving the station in an orbit of 260.9 x 256.3 miles.
The new boost kit in Dragon will help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude through a series of longer burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025.
This Dragon spacecraft, which is supporting NASA’s SpaceX 33rd commercial resupply mission, arrived at the orbital complex on Aug. 25.
Dragon is scheduled to remain at the space station until late December or early January before returning to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/09/03/nasa-spacex-complete-dragon-space-station-reboost/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/
Glittering Glimpse of Star Birth From NASA’s Webb Telescope
Sep 04, 2025
This is a sparkling scene of star birth captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
What appears to be a craggy, starlit mountaintop kissed by wispy clouds is actually a cosmic dust-scape being eaten away by the blistering winds and radiation of nearby, massive, infant stars.
Called Pismis 24, this young star cluster resides in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius.
Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Pismis 24 provides rare insight into large and massive stars.
Its proximity makes this region one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve.
At the heart of this glittering cluster is the brilliant Pismis 24-1. It is at the center of a clump of stars above the jagged orange peaks, and the tallest spire is pointing directly toward it.
Pismis 24-1 appears as a gigantic single star, and it was once thought to be the most massive known star. Scientists have since learned that it is composed of at least two stars, though they cannot be resolved in this image.
At 74 and 66 solar masses, respectively, the two known stars are still among the most massive and luminous stars ever seen.
Image A: Pismis 24 (NIRCam Image)
Captured in infrared light by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), this image reveals thousands of jewel-like stars of varying sizes and colors. T
he largest and most brilliant ones with the six-point diffraction spikes are the most massive stars in the cluster.
Hundreds to thousands of smaller members of the cluster appear as white, yellow, and red, depending on their stellar type and the amount of dust enshrouding them.
Webb also shows us tens of thousands of stars behind the cluster that are part of the Milky Way galaxy.
Super-hot, infant stars –some almost 8 times the temperature of the Sun – blast out scorching radiation and punishing winds that are sculpting a cavity into the wall of the star-forming nebula.
That nebula extends far beyond NIRCam’s field of view. Only small portions of it are visible at the bottom and top right of the image.
Streamers of hot, ionized gas flow off the ridges of the nebula, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks.
Dramatic spires jut from the glowing wall of gas, resisting the relentless radiation and winds. They are like fingers pointing toward the hot, young stars that have sculpted them.
The fierce forces shaping and compressing these spires cause new stars to form within them. The tallest spire spans about 5.4 light-years from its tip to the bottom of the image.
More than 200 of our solar systems out to Neptune’s orbit could fit into the width its tip, which is 0.14 lightyears.
In this image, the color cyan indicates hot or ionized hydrogen gas being heated up by the massive young stars. Dust molecules similar to smoke here on Earth are represented in orange.
Red signifies cooler, denser molecular hydrogen. The darker the red, the denser the gas. Black denotes the densest gas, which is not emitting light. The wispy white features are dust and gas that are scattering starlight.
Video A: Expedition to Star Cluster Pismis 24
Video B: Zoom to Pismis 24
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/glittering-glimpse-of-star-birth-from-nasas-webb-telescope/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goWpAouKZDk
NASA astronauts Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman pose for a portrait in the Unity module
Sep 04, 2025
NASA astronauts Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman, both Expedition 73 Flight Engineers, pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station‘s Unity module during a break in weekend housecleaning and maintenance activities.
Kim and Cardman are both part of NASA Astronaut Group 22 selected in June 2017 with 12 other astronauts, including two Canadian Space Agency astronauts, and affectionately nicknamed “The Turtles.”
In its third decade of continuous human presence, the space station has a far-reaching impact as a microgravity lab hosting technology, demonstrations, and scientific investigations from a range of fields.
The research done by astronauts on the orbiting laboratory will inform long-duration missions like Artemis and future human expeditions to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-astronauts-jonny-kim-and-zena-cardman-pose-for-a-portrait-in-the-unity-module/
Earth Science Data Roundup: September 2025
Sept. 4, 2025
Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC)
ARCSIX LaRC G-III HALO Dataset Released
NASA’s ASDC released High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) data collected onboard the LaRC G-III aircraft during the Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction EXperiment (ARCSIX) campaign.
The HALO instrument provides nadir-viewing profiles of water vapor, methane columns, and profiles of aerosol and cloud optical properties. Data collection for this product is now complete.
ARCSIX is a NASA field campaign aimed at quantifying the contributions of surface properties, clouds, aerosol particles, and precipitation to the Arctic summer surface radiation budget and sea ice melt.
The campaign’s primary objective was to enhance long-term space-based monitoring and predictive capabilities of Arctic sea ice, cloud, and aerosols by validating and improving remote sensing algorithms and model parameterizations in the Arctic.
PACE-PAX ER-2 In-Situ Meteorology and Navigation Data Now Available
PACE-PAX ER-2 In-Situ Meteorology and Navigation Data, the in-situ meteorology and navigation data collected onboard the ER-2 aircraft during the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX) campaign, is now available from ASDC.
The PACE-PAX campaign was conducted in September 2024 over southern and central California and nearby coastal regions to gather data for the validation and refinement of data products generated by the PACE satellite mission.
Scheduled for roughly 9 months after the launch of PACE, 60 flight hours were planned for each of the 2 aircraft (NASA’s ER-2 high-altitude aircraft and the CIRPAS Twin Otter aircraft) used for in-situ sampling.
Flights were coordinated between the two aircraft, PACE satellite overpasses, and ground- and ocean-based observations.
With a robust suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments and ground-based observations, PACE-PAX validated and refined PACE data products and identified any potential errors or biases in the measurements, which is essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the PACE data products and maximizing the scientific value of the mission.
Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC)
ALOFT Campaign Datasets Released
NASA's GHRC DAAC released three datasets from the Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT) campaign, a field campaign conducted by NASA and the University of Bergen.
Its primary goals were to observe terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows in thunderstorms to collect Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) validation from the Fly’s GLM Simulator (FEGS), and to validate observations from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) aboard the International Space Station. The datasets include:
The ALOFT Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) Dataset, which consists of brightness temperature measurements collected by the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) aboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft.
AMPR provides multi-frequency microwave imagery with high spatial and temporal resolution for deriving cloud, precipitation, water vapor, and surface properties.
Data files are available from June 15, 2023, through July 31, 2023, in netCDF-4 format.
The ALOFT Cloud Radar System (CRS) Dataset, which consists of calibrated radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity, linear depolarization ratio, and normalized radar cross-section estimates collected by the Cloud Radar System (CRS) onboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft.
Data files are available from June 15, 2023, through July 31, 2023, in HDF-5 format.
The ALOFT ER-2 X-Band Doppler Radar (EXRAD) Dataset, which consists of radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity estimates collected by the EXRAD onboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft.
Data files are available from June 15, 2023, through July 31, 2023, in the HDF-5 format.
loooong cont.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/earth-science-data-roundup-september-2025
Astonishing Restored Photos Show NASA's Pre-Apollo Missions In All Their Glory
September 4, 2025
When people think of NASA, despite all the work it does monitoring the Earth's climate and exploring the bodies of the Solar System, most people's minds go to the Apollo era, when the US space agency repeatedly put humans on the Moon.
But Apollo was not the agency's first steps into space, as newly restored photos from the pre-Apollo era show. Imaging specialist Andy Saunders, notable for being the person to find astronaut Alan Shepard's lost golf ball on the Moon, has carefully restored images from these earlier missions for a new book, Gemini and Mercury Remastered.
Project Mercury was the US's first spaceflight program, with the initial aims of putting humans into orbit around the Earth and figuring out how to live and work in space.
While that may be fairly routine now, with even private missions orbiting over the planet's poles, these were early days, and plenty of surprises were in store.
Alan Shepard became the first American in space, and the second human after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
He took his trip on May 5, 1961, after a lengthy wait on the launchpad, the result of NASA identifying a potential problem with pressure in the liquid oxygen tanks.
Shepard waited for over four hours on the launch pad, which is less than ideal for several reasons. One was that NASA hadn't yet thought about peeing and pooping in space too much, and made no plans at all for if he needed the bathroom.
The trip around the Earth was only supposed to be short, so they figured he'd be able to hold it. However, due to the delays, Shepherd had to wait on the launchpad for hours and ended up having to pee himself.
Eventually, he lost a little patience and told NASA "why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?”, referring to his spacecraft.
Eventually, he did launch, spending 15 minutes and 28 seconds ascending to space and then splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.
After six manned Mercury missions came Project Gemini. Buoyed by the success of Mercury, NASA attempted more ambitious tasks in space.
"Project Gemini was the training ground for the Moon missions of Apollo," NASA explains, adding that they began a streak of space firsts.
"Gemini 5 marked the first time fuel cells were used to provide electrical power to a spacecraft, allowing an eight-day mission.
Gemini 6 crew members Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford met up with Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell and the two crews carried out the first space rendezvous. The Gemini 7 mission lasted a record two weeks."
As well as these missions being important first steps into space for NASA, the trips offered us a new perspective on our planet.
The entire Earth would not be seen in one frame until Apollo 17 with the iconic Blue Marble image. But photos taken by astronauts on these early missions sure beat the first black and white images taken on October 24, 1946, by an uncrewed V-2 rocket.
“These missions proved all of the fundamentals necessary to allow NASA to reach for the Moon: getting into space and back safely, long-duration missions, rendezvous and docking, surviving outside the spacecraft,” Saunders told SWNS.
“They also show what real progress looks like: messy, imperfect, and hard-fought. In today’s world of instant gratification, these stories remind us that the most meaningful achievements come from resilience, creativity, and doing hard things that matter.”
These beautifully restored pictures, along with many others, are available in Saunders' Gemini and Mercury Remastered: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/456283/gemini-and-mercury-remastered-by-saunders-andy/9780241638194
https://www.iflscience.com/astonishing-restored-photos-show-nasas-pre-apollo-missions-in-all-their-glory-80663
Israel spy satellite launch sparks 'brief panic' as residents mistake rocket for missile: reports
September 3, 2025
A surprise rocket launch in Israel caused "brief panic" in some parts of the country, according to local news reports.
Israel launched the Ofek 19 spy satellite atop a Shavit rocket, used to loft small satellites, at 10:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EDT or 1930 GMT) on Tuesday (Sept. 2) from Palmachim Airbase on the nation's Mediterranean coast, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) south of Tel Aviv.
After launch, the satellite successfully entered orbit and began transmitting data, according to an update from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
While the launch of the spy satellite was successful, it was not without a hitch. According to the Times of Israel, the unannounced launch "caused brief panic in Tel Aviv and central Israel" as residents "mistook the satellite for an interceptor missile."
Israel has been engaged in a war with Gaza since a deadly 2023 terrorist attack on Israeli soil, which has seen ballistic missiles and rockets fired at the country.
The satellite will be used by Israel's military to collect visual intelligence throughout the Middle East region. Ofek 19 is designed to provide images of objects on Earth as small as 20 inches (50cm), according to the Times of Israel.
Following the launch and successful test of the satellite, Israeli defense officials took to social media to praise the mission and what it means for the nation's military capabilities.
"The launch of the 'Ofek 19' satellite yesterday is an achievement of the highest global level. Few countries possess these capabilities," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
"This is also a message to all our enemies, wherever they may be — we are keeping an eye on you at all times and in every situation."
Ofek 19 is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, a type of craft that can provide detailed, high-resolution imagery of objects on Earth and can see down to the planet's surface through clouds and in all lighting conditions.
SAR sensors aboard satellites and other spacecraft are becoming a powerful tool not only in military surveillance but also disaster response and environmental monitoring, thanks to their ability to detect very small changes in objects' positions and work in conditions that optical satellites cannot.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/israel-spy-satellite-launch-sparks-brief-panic-as-residents-mistake-rocket-for-missile-reports
https://spacenews.com/senate-hearing-raises-doubts-about-nasas-ability-to-get-astronauts-to-the-moon-before-china/
Senate hearing raises doubts about NASA’s ability to get astronauts to the moon before China
September 3, 2025
A former NASA administrator told senators he believed it was “highly unlikely” the agency would return astronauts to the moon before China landed astronauts there.
During a Sept. 3 hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee about the perceived space race between the United States and China, former administrator Jim Bridenstine said NASA’s choice of SpaceX’s Starship puts the agency at risk of falling behind China in lunar exploration.
“Look at the architecture that we have developed to land American astronauts on the moon,” he said, describing it as very complex. “It is highly unlikely that we will land on the moon before China.”
The issue he saw with that complex architecture was Starship, the reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle SpaceX is developing. A variant of Starship will serve as the lander for the Artemis 3 and 4 missions.
A Starship lunar mission will require additional Starship launches — perhaps a dozen or more — of tankers to fill a propellant depot in low Earth orbit that will be used to fuel the lander for its mission to the moon.
Starship is an important vehicle for the United States, Bridenstine said, but he argued NASA erred in selecting it in early 2021 for the Human Landing System (HLS) program. “It’s a problem that needs to be solved, and that puts us as a nation at risk.”
Bridenstine suggested part of the problem was the timing of the NASA selection, which took place when NASA had only an acting administrator, Steve Jurczyk, in place.
“I don’t know how this happens, but the biggest decision in the history of NASA, at least since I’ve been paying attention,” he said, “happens in the absence of a NASA administrator.”
“This is an architecture that no NASA administrator that I’m aware of would have selected if they had a choice,” he said later in his remarks.
The source selection authority — the NASA official responsible for the procurement decision — for HLS was Kathy Lueders, the associate administrator for human exploration and operations at the time.
She justified the decision on the far lower price offered by SpaceX over competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics.
That decision was upheld by the Government Accountability Office in a bid protest by the losing companies, and later by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims after Blue Origin filed a lawsuit against NASA.
Neither Bridenstine nor others at the two-hour hearing offered specific recommendations to address the problem he saw with the lander.
In her opening statement, the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she was concerned about the overall plan for Artemis.
“I would love to see the continued focus on dual landers given how important they are going to be for the future,” she said. NASA selected Blue Origin for a second HLS award in 2023.
Ceding the moon
Other witnesses and senators expressed more general concerns that the United States was in danger of falling behind China in spaceflight, in both low Earth orbit and at the moon.
“Without a successful Artemis program, we risk ceding the moon to China,” said Allen Cutler, president and chief executive of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, an industry group whose members include many of the companies working on Artemis.
He argued that the United States was behind China in the development of a crewed lander, citing recent terrestrial tests of a Chinese lunar lander prototype.
Another issue is a continued presence in low Earth orbit.
Mike Gold, president of civil and international space at Redwire, worried that proposed budget cuts could reduce the crew size on the U.S. segment of the International Space Station from the current four to three or two, just as biomedical and pharmaceutical research on the station is bearing fruit.
“There is no question in my mind that microgravity manufacturing will transform the pharmaceutical and biotech fields. The only question is, will those benefits be enjoyed in China or here in the United States?” he asked.
“We will lose the momentum, if not these capabilities entirely, if we drop from four to three astronauts,” he said later in the hearing, which did not explore proposed changes in NASA’s strategy for supporting commercial space stations that could mark an end to a goal of a permanent NASA human presence in low Earth orbit.
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Throughout the hearing, both witnesses and senators described China as almost an implacable foe, relentlessly moving forward in space without suffering technical, programmatic or other setbacks.
They contrasted that with concerns about the Artemis architecture as well as funding for NASA. “While China may be projecting 2030” for a human lunar landing, Cantwell said, “there’s nothing to say they won’t go sooner.
There are people we talk to, who are trying to brief the press about this today, who are betting that they are going to go sooner and that they are going to beat us.”
John Shaw, a retired Space Force lieutenant general, advocated for a “unified grand space strategy” for the United States that would combine economic, exploration and national security objectives.
“It is clear to me that the Chinese Communist Party is already employing its own integrated grand strategy for the Earth-moon system,” he said.
“If we don’t unify and synchronize our efforts, we may find ourselves, rather than in a leadership position, in a position of increasing disadvantages.”
Those concerns extended to some in the audience at the hearing. “I think the Chinese space program, getting the moon, is way ahead of the United States right now,” said Bill Nye, chief executive of The Planetary Society, in an interview after the hearing.
He put much of the blame on the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which proposed cutting NASA’s overall budget by a quarter in fiscal year 2026, with science cut by nearly 50%. “That’s a formula for falling behind.”
“China will put its flag on the south pole of the moon. It will be on every newspaper in the world. That will be dispiriting,” he concluded.
Lack of a commercial voice
None of the witnesses at the hearing were from the two HLS companies, Blue Origin or SpaceX, or from organizations representing them.
That was not originally the case. In a change publicly announced less than 24 hours before the hearing started, the committee added Gold and Shaw to the roster of witnesses, joining Bridenstine and Cutler.
The committee also removed one witness previously announced for the hearing, Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation. The committee did not give a reason for the change.
Cavossa, contacted by SpaceNews Sept. 1, before the change was announced, said he was informed by the committee several days earlier that they were moving him to a future hearing on commercial space issues.
He said he did not receive any other explanation for the change.
Some industry sources speculated that the committee made the change because of worries that Cavossa might advocate for commercial alternatives to the Space Launch System, one of the central elements of Artemis.
The administration’s budget proposal for NASA has called for ending SLS and Orion after Artemis 3 and using commercial vehicles for later lunar missions.
The budget reconciliation bill passed in July, though, included $4.1 billion to purchase two SLS vehicles for Artemis 4 and 5.
That effort was spearheaded by the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who used his opening remarks to support continuing SLS and Orion as well as the lunar Gateway, also funded in the bill.
“Any drastic changes in NASA’s architecture at this stage threaten United States leadership in space,” he said. “Delays and disruptions only serve our competitors.”
He then cited the funding for Artemis in the budget reconciliation bill. “These missions rely on the Space Launch System and Orion capsule to reach the moon and to reach the Gateway station,” he said.
“It would be folly to cut short these missions after much of the hardware has already been purchased and, in some cases, delivered, and with no commercial alternative readily available.”
“We have seen overwhelming support for maintaining these programs,” he said, from senators on both sides of the aisle.
“Congress supports NASA’s exploration goals and we do not want sudden or disruptive changes that undermine America’s leadership.”
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SpaceX Starlink Mission
September 4, 2025
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 28 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the 27th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and 22 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-10-57
NASA and Space Force to hold training exercise at Kennedy Space Center
11:37 AM ET Sep. 03, 2025
From 5:30 p.m. ET to 8:30 p.m. ET, NASA and Space Force “protective services teams” will take part in a training exercise at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, stated Danielle Sempsrott, NASA’s media operations lead, in an email to the media.
The visitor complex closes to the public at 5 p.m. ET.
In a separate email to Spectrum News, Sempsrott shared the type of teams that will be involved.
“The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Security Police and Fire Departments, along with the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Explosive Ordinance Disposal team, will be conducting a training exercise at the KSC Visitor Complex,” she stated.
About 30 people from both NASA and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will be taking part in the exercise, Sempsrott added.
“This type of training ensures the team is ready to respond to varying emergency scenarios,” she wrote, adding, “NASA’s Office of Protective Services ensures their team is prepared throughout the year by engaging in various trainings and exercises to hone their skills.”
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office has been made aware of the exercise, according to Sempsrott.
https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/space/2025/09/03/nasa-and-space-force-to-hold-training-exercise-at-kennedy-space-center
NDIA SWF: USSPACECOM leaders emphasize allied, commercial integration as critical to counter space threats
Sept. 3, 2025
U.S. Space Command leaders convened at the National Defense Industrial Association Space Warfighting Forum, Colorado Springs, August 26-28.
The three-day forum brought together industry, allied military space professionals and leaders from across the Department of Defense for both a classified and an unclassified day.
The classified day focused on threats, and participants received a tour of USSPACECOM’s Capability Assessment and Validation Environment and the Joint Commercial Operations cell.
The unclassified day’s discussion focused on the importance of leveraging commercial capabilities and the role of technology.
During USSPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting’s closing remarks he emphasized the need to prepare for potential conflict with near-peer adversaries in space.
“If we have a near peer fight, we know that that will include space conflict,” Whiting said. “I don't like to say a space war, because that conflict in space will be part of the broader war, but it'll be the first time that we truly have had space be contested by near-peer actors.”
Whiting laid out a stark warning about the evolving nature of space, shifting from a primarily supporting domain to a potential battleground. He emphasized that space operations are no longer simply about enhancing terrestrial fights, but about orbital warfare itself.
Understanding the deployment of both friendly and adversarial systems in orbit is crucial for effective defense.
This sentiment was echoed by Lt. Gen. Tom James, USSPACECOM deputy commander, who emphasized the fundamental need to safeguard space capabilities by highlighting a recent quote from U.S. Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, at the NDIA’s annual Emerging Technologies Conference.
“He was asked what's the most important technologies we should focus on. He said, ‘anything in space.’ That's a lot of stuff. Space is the most important domain. It will enable everything terrestrial,” James said.
To succeed in this threat environment, Whiting outlined the "Elements of Victory," five key objectives essential to the U.S. and its partners’ integrated space enterprise to ensure success.
He also stressed that ‘no one command, service, department, agency or company’ can do all of what the U.S. must do in space, and he called for the integration, deconfliction and synchronization of all capabilities.
“We've got to have the concepts, the systems–and having rehearsed all of that–to be ready to execute on the worst day that any of our nations have ever faced in space,” Whiting said.
Thomas Lockhart, USSPACECOM director of the Capability and Resource Integration Directorate (J8), and Richard Palmer, deputy director of the J8, reinforced the importance of integrating capabilities and modernizing command and control during panel discussions.
Lockhart addressed the need for threat-informed technology development. He highlighted the CAVE as a tool for commercial partners to integrate and test their technology within a realistic environment to improve decision-making.
The CAVE is a versatile, integrated platform that provides model-based engineering and mission engineering, analysis, simulations and visualization tools to support a wide range of activities, from mission planning to communicating threats to stakeholders.
It brings different levels of analysis and modeling together in a unified environment, adapting to the specific needs of the users.
Lockhart also emphasized the importance of the JCO cell. The JCO includes commercial mission partners in the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, who provide Space Domain Awareness information to the joint force, allies and partner nations’ warfighters.
Recent discussions have further emphasized the need for continued international collaboration in space security. Lockhart shared USSPACECOM’s efforts to address this critical area.
“I'd say that we're working to achieve ‘allied by design’ on USSPACECOM’s Multination Force Operation Olympic Defender.
MNF OOD is still in early expansion for multinational space defense, breaking down policy barriers to enhance allied integration and expand Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales in Space.
Achieving ‘allied by design’ will unify an effective coalition strategy focusing on the space fight in a more cohesive and comprehensive manner.”
Looking ahead, Whiting said he aims to synergize efforts across stakeholders and bolster the resilience of space architectures.
He also wants to explore ways the U.S. can collaborate with a broader range of partners, including advancing MNF OOD.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4292734/ndia-swf-usspacecom-leaders-emphasize-allied-commercial-integration-as-critical/
Xi, Putin and Kim joke about living to 150 in hot-mic chat
3 Sep, 2025 20:47
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been caught on a live microphone sharing a rare unscripted chat about longevity and biotechnology.
The conversation took place on Wednesday, as Putin and Kim joined Xi in Beijing to view a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of imperial Japan’s defeat in World War II.
A live feed of the event briefly carried their exchange as they walked up to the Tiananmen Gate, and was quickly flagged by social media users following the event. Bloomberg later published a clip from the broadcast.
The audio, patchy and lasting under a minute, began with Xi saying in Mandarin that “these days” reaching 70 years was no longer unusual.
A Russian interpreter was then heard relaying his remark: “Earlier, people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 years you are still a child.”
Putin then responded with a comment not clearly picked up on the feed, though an interpreter’s Mandarin version suggested the Russian leader spoke about biotechnology.
“With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality,” the interpreter was heard saying.
The statement rendered into Korean also referenced organ transplants.
Xi then said: “Predictions are, this century, there’s a chance of also living to 150.” The camera cut away as he finished. Xi and Putin are both 72, while Kim is 41. Later on, Putin confirmed the conversation when asked about it by Russian reporters.
“Modern medical developments, including surgery to replace organs, give rise to expectations that life expectancy will increase significantly,” he said, adding that such changes would have “social, political, and economic consequences.”
https://www.rt.com/news/624088-putin-xi-kim-immortality/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFhau_j6t_U
At least 15 dead after world famous tram crashes in Lisbon
3 Sep, 2025 19:56
At least 15 people died and 18 more were injured when a car on Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railway derailed and crashed on Wednesday, an emergency medical service spokesman has said.
According to media reports, the crash occurred around 6pm, at the start of evening rush hour.
Carris, the public transportation company that operates the funicular, said it “immediately contacted emergency and security forces” without elaborating on the possible reasons that caused the crash.
Footage from the site shows the tram-like funicular, popular among tourists, practically destroyed, while emergency workers can be seen pulling people out of the wreckage.
In a statement, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he “deeply regrets the accident that occurred this afternoon with the Gloria Elevator in Lisbon, in particular the fatalities and serious injuries, as well as the several minor injuries.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences to the families of the victims in a statement in Portuguese published on X.
The line, which opened in 1885, connects Lisbon’s downtown area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter).
According to reports, the tram transports more than three million passengers every year. Its two cars are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors.
The car at the bottom of the line was presumably undamaged, but CNN Portugal said passengers had to jump out of the windows when the incident happened.
https://www.rt.com/news/624087-15-dead-gloria-tram-lisbon/
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1963325007284900096
https://x.com/EmekaGift100/status/1963338715863937291
is a yellow gondola kinda like a yellow submarine?
Ukrainian drones pound Russian oil facilities 17 times in August
04.09.2025 12:57
In August, units of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in cooperation with other components of the Defense Forces, carried out 17 strikes on Russian oil refining infrastructure.
Major Robert Brovdi, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, reported this, according to Ukrinform.
Targets hit included oil refineries, fuel and lubricant depots, and oil pumping stations. Some facilities were struck twice during the month.
The refineries produce petroleum products for the Russian military — gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and kerosene. The strikes are aimed at reducing the enemy’s offensive potential and complicating its fuel logistics.
Brovdi noted that the 14th Regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces and the Hraf group took part in the operations against Russian refineries.
As reported, the Birds of Madyar brigade and the 20th UAV Regiment K-2 have recently completed their integration into the AFU Unmanned Systems Forces.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4032830-ukrainian-drones-pound-russian-oil-facilities-17-times-in-august.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGEA-oG1eo
15 killed, 26 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over past day
September 4, 2025 12:20 pm
At least 15 civilians were killed and 26 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine over the past 24 hours, regional authorities reported on Sept. 4.
Ukraine's Air Force said Russian forces launched 112 Shahed-type attack and decoy drones overnight, with air defenses intercepting 84.
Another 28 drones struck 17 locations, while debris hitting five more, the military added.
Donetsk Oblast was hit hardest, where 11 civilians — nine of them in Kostiantynivka — were killed and 16 injured, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Two civilians were killed and two more injured in Kherson Oblast, where residential areas and critical infrastructure were hit, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.
In Kharkiv Oblast, Russian strikes killed one person and injured six as the city of Kharkiv and 11 settlements came under fire, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, one man was killed and a 49-year-old woman injured, according to Governor Serhii Lysak.
Russian attacks on Sumy Oblast injured one woman, with local authorities recording 133 strikes on 41 settlements.
The strikes come as peace efforts enter their eighth month without results.
Moscow has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire, escalating its use of drones and missiles against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
https://kyivindependent.com/15-killed-26-injured-in-russian-attacks-across-ukraine-over-past-day/
Magura naval drones destroy at least six enemy jets, helicopters – intelligence
17:14 04.09.2025
Magura naval drones destroyed four helicopters of the Russian occupiers and shot down two enemy aircraft, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported during the ceremony of transferring drone models to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II on Thursday.
"Two helicopters were destroyed, and one was hit by a Magura V6, it had 73 missiles on it. And two aircrafts were shot down by a Magura V7," said the commander of the special unit Group 13, answering the question of how many helicopters were destroyed by Magura drones.
As reported by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the commander also noted that the smallest Magura V5 drone hit and sank 16 enemy ships.
Intelligence representative Andriy Yusov added that a combat helicopter was also located on one of the sunken Russian ships. "There was a helicopter on the Kotov and it went with the ship," the unit commander noted.
Sergey Kotov is the fourth corvette in the series of patrol ships of the project 22160 class Vasil Bykov. Carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles.
As reported, in December 2024, Ukrainian soldiers of the special unit Group 13 for the first time in history destroyed an air target using a Magura V5 naval drone equipped with missile weapons.
https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1102026.html
IDF says it already controls 40% of Gaza City ahead of main offensive
September 5, 2025 8:25 pm
IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says the military currently controls about 40% of Gaza City as it presses ahead with plans to fully capture the city, noting that Israeli forces are nearing control of half its territory.
Israel declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, a combat zone last week. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones,” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
Defrin also rejects reports that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir opposes the operation, saying Zamir fully supports the plan to seize Gaza City.
He adds that Zamir has made clear that if no alternative framework emerges for the “day after the war,” Israel will establish a military government in the Gaza Strip.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-it-already-controls-40-of-gaza-city-ahead-of-main-offensive/