CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts started inspecting their ship Monday just hours after blasting into orbit.
A few pieces of foam insulation broke off the fuel tank at launch. But there was no indication anything hit the shuttle.
The astronauts pulled out a 100-foot, laser-tipped boom late Monday to survey Endeavour’s heat shield. They want to make sure nothing penetrated the wings or nose during Monday morning’s liftoff.
A foam strike brought down Columbia in 2003.
Endeavour is delivering a new room to the International Space Station as well a domed compartment that contains the biggest window ever launched.
There are just four more missions scheduled this year before the shuttles are retired.
Texas: Church fires said to be arson
A federal official said a fire that destroyed a church last week was the eighth case of arson against a house of worship in Texas this year; the number became 10 later in the day. A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the fire Thursday at the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church sanctuary in Wills Point was deliberately set. Later, after the announcement, two more church fires were reported in east Texas, both near Tyler. There have been no reported injuries or arrests in any of the blazes. Federal officials aren’t saying if there’s a connection.
D.C.: New climate agency
The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate with NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.
Nevada: Horse roundup delayed
Federal land managers said Monday they’ll delay a roundup of most of the nearly 600 wild horses in a range in eastern Nevada at least until after the herd’s spring foaling season. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management planned to begin a roundup next week of almost 500 mustangs in the Eagle Herd Management Area.
California: Older mothers more likely to have autistic kids
Women who give birth after age 40 are nearly twice as likely to have a child with autism as those under 25, California researchers reported Monday. Surprisingly, the age of the father plays little role in the likelihood of the disorder unless the mother is younger than 30 and the father is over 40, according to the analysis of all births in California in the 1990s. But the authors of the paper, from the University of California, Davis, calculate that older mothers account for less than 5 percent of the increase in autism diagnoses.
Pakistan: Suspected militants targeting Americans arrested
Authorities arrested six suspected Taliban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way Monday to attack the five-star Pearl Continental hotel and kill Americans in Lahore, police said. The alleged militants arrested Monday included a 14-year-old boy and a prayer leader from Pakistan’s Khyber tribal area near the Afghan border, police said.
Netherlands: Case against Darfur rebel dismissed
International war crimes judges dismissed the case against a Sudanese rebel leader Monday, ruling that prosecutors failed to provide enough evidence to put him on trial for the deaths of 12 international peacekeepers. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda was accused of planning and participating in the attack in Sudan’s Darfur region in 2007 .
From Herald news services
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