Free Republic

There were reports that his destination was Moscow. Yet, it appears as if his plane has disappeared. We don’t know if this is a diversion or a case of an aircraft being misidentified. We’ll update accordingly if anything changes, but for now, it seems as if the ousted Syrian leader’s aircraft dropped off the radar and is now missing near Homs.

Reports are coming in of a helicopter crash in western Iran, carrying Iranian leaders and Houthis. Also to go along with this headline is the one below.No official word on casualties yet as investigations continue.Source: Al Jazeera

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities rushed to evacuate people from more than 10 villages in the region of Ryazan on Wednesday after a blaze broke out at an ammunition depot, sending thick smoke belching into the air, the Interfax news agency reported. Munitions could be heard detonating at the depot in footage circulated on social media. A witness in one of the videos said shrapnel and ash was falling from the sky.

Remember NASA’s Teacher in Space program, from over twenty years ago? In an effort to communicate the spaceflight experience in alternate ways—not to mention gain some positive press—NASA had decided to fly a teacher on a space shuttle mission. The effort indeed generated lots of media attention, as well as applications from over 11,000 teachers nationwide. By the time NASA chose Christa McAuliffe in mid-1985 to be the first teacher in space, the program was seen as a forerunner of a continuing program to fly people outside of the typical test pilot or scientist mold—such as journalists, artists, and poets—who,...