Good Morning MOTleyville, It's Friday July 5th, 2013
MOT should be here @ 6:30 am
How do the space station astronauts spend July 4th?
While people across the United States celebrate Independence Day with cookouts, swimming and fireworks, NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy the two Americans on the International Space Station — will join in on the fun in a different way.
"It's one of the selected holidays for the whole crew, so they are off duty," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly wrote in an email. "Nothing else special planned."
They may have the day off from work, but Nyberg and Cassidy can certainly spend some quality time with their families if they choose for the July Fourth holiday. The astronauts have access to an Internet Protocol phone to call friends and family on Earth, and they can set up video conferences and log on to the Internet from orbit as well.
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Hubbe News
The Comet ISON shines like a cosmic skyrocket in a new video from the Hubble Space Telescope as the icy wanderer, which some astronomers have billed as a potential "comet of the century," streaks through our solar system at a staggering 48,000 mph.
The new Comet ISON video, which NASA released Tuesday (July 2), is a time-lapse view created from images of the comet obtained using the Hubble telescope on May 8. At the time, the comet was about 403 million miles (648 million kilometers) from Earth and crossing between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. NASA officials likened the comet's extreme speed to a skyrocket on the Fourth of July.
"The movie shows a sequence of Hubble observations taken over a 43-minute span and compresses this into just five seconds," NASA officials explained in a video description. "The comet travels 34,000 miles in this brief video, or 7 percent of the distance between Earth and the moon. The deep-space visitor streaks silently against the background stars."
Subway rescue in Atlanta
An Atlanta police officer and a good Samaritan helped save a man who had fallen onto the tracks of the MARTA subway shortly before a train was scheduled to arrive, 11Alive.com reports.
Kenneth Hunter was pulled from the tracks by transit police officer Deonte Robinson and assisted by Rob Roberts, who jumped onto the tracks to help get the man to safety.
Robinson was one floor above the platform on Monday when he heard screaming. He ran down the escalator and saw a man on the tracks as well as a train approaching the station, according to 11Alive.com.
Being familiar with the Atlanta rail system, Robinson knew that he had to avoid contact with the electric third rail. "I didn't know when I came down if the power had been cut or not. I just saw a patron in distress," Robinson told 11Alive.com on Tuesday.
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Weather story from Alaska
While most of the United States may find temperatures in the mid-80s comfortable, for my town, Sterling, in south central Alaska, it's like being a fish on the fire--literally, because many of the fish-belly white residents have burned badly.
My husband, three boys, and I have enjoyed the sunshine and record-breaking temperatures with a few rare warm-lake swims, but personally we'd love to see more wind and rain, and not just because we're melting and considering shaving our giant Malamute dog.
The extreme heat hitting our state brings high risk for forest fires, especially with the flood of inexperienced campers that ride in with the summer tourist season. The warm weather has also made the climate more enjoyable for the Asian Tiger mosquito.
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Deer herd & a fence video
Why?