Russian rocket fails after launch
Russian rocket fails after launch
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian rocket carrying a Mexican satellite malfunct-ioned Saturday shortly after its launch — the latest mishap to hit Russia’s troubled space industry, whose Soviet-era glory has been tarnished by a series of launch failures.
The rocket, a Proton-M, was launched from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, said a problem involving steering engines occurred in the rocket’s third stage about eight minutes into its flight, 97 miles above the Earth. The agency said the rocket and satellite did not reach their planned orbit and almost all of the debris from the two burned up in the atmosphere.
A search for possible debris was conducted in the Zabaikalsky region of eastern Siberia bordering Mongolia and China. The federal agency leading the search said no debris had yet been found.
German train crash claims two
BERLIN (AP) — A train hit the trailer of a tractor Saturday at a road crossing in western Germany, killing the train driver and one passenger and injuring at least 20 others, police said.
Police spokesman Jochen Laschke said a regional train heading to the small town of Ibbenbueren from the city of Osnabrueck collided with the trailer of a farmer’s tractor that was loaded with a tank full of manure. Laschke said the accident took place in a rural area near Ibbenbueren, 275 miles west of Berlin.
Three of those injured were in severe condition, police said.
Doctors remove ingested splinters
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — Several wooden splinters found inside a toddler’s digestive tract have led to charges against the boy’s parents.
The Johnson City Press reported that Joseph A. White, 34, and Heather Coomer-White, 32, are charged with one count of child abuse and neglect.
According to court documents, the Johnson City couple took their 2-year-old son to Niswonger Children’s Hospital last week due to gastric distress. Doctors suspected a bowel obstruction, and an exploratory surgery led to the removal of several wooden splinters in the boy’s stomach, intestine and colon.
According to court records, the couple told doctors the boy had been eating his crib.
They were charged after police visited the home and found splinters littering the floor in the child’s room.
Sailors race in Havana Challenge
HAVANA (AP) — U.S. sailors raced across the Florida Straits to Cuba on Saturday in a regatta propelled by strong winds and an easing of tensions between the two countries.
An amateur race billed as the “Havana Challenge” took place for the first time with U.S. government authorization thanks to the historic easing of tensions that began in December.
Five 16-foot catamarans departed early Saturday, along with 14 support boats, from Key West. They began to reach Marina Hemingway in Havana by sunset, propelled by strong winds on the 90-mile-wide Florida Straits.
They planned to race Cuban sailors on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a historic event, a reunion of the sailing communities of Cuba and Florida,” said Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, commodore of the Cuban Nautical Club