Free Republic

Two of Russia’s nuclear radiation monitoring stations went silent two days after a mysterious explosion that led to a radiation spike in northern Russia earlier this month. Russian officials say at least five nuclear engineers were killed during a rocket test involving “isotope power sources” on a platform in the White Sea, leading to outside speculation that the accident involved a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Four international stations designed to monitor nuclear activity had detected “an event coinciding with the [Aug. 8] explosion in Nyonoksa, Russia,” the world’s main nuclear test-ban body said on Aug. 10. The Dubna and Kirov stations...

With NASA’s announcement that aerospace firm Lockheed Martin will build its shuttle successor Orion, the agency is forging ahead with a test flight plan for the rockets to launch those future vehicles spaceward. NASA is targeting April 2009 to test the first stage of its Ares 1 rocket, a five-segment booster evolved from its four-segment solid rocket boosters (SRBs) used to launch space shuttles into orbit. The rocket will launch astronaut crews into orbit to either dock at the International Space Station (ISS) or press onward to the Moon – though the latter would require rendezvous with a lunar lander...

Air-quality regulators planned to sample the air around the Santa Susana Field Lab late Thursday for contamination that may have been released when the Topanga Fire roared through the hilltop lab. Thursday was supposed to be the day of the final rocket test at the field lab, ending testing operations at the hilltop site. Instead, it was at the center of a massive brush fire that stretched miles through the rugged area. Several vacant buildings at the site were burned, and an office and machine shop were damaged by the flames. But hazardous waste and radioactive facilities were not affected,...