Moment of Strange

Commander Chris Ferguson gently steered the 100-tonne spaceship high overhead, then nose-dived toward the swamp-surrounded landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center, a few miles (kilometers) from where Atlantis will go on display as a museum piece.

Double sonic booms shattered the predawn silence around the space center, the last time residents will hear the distinctive sound of a shuttle coming home.

Ferguson eased Atlantis onto the runway at 5:57 a.m. EDT, ending a 5.2 million-mile (8.4 million-km) journey and closing a key chapter in human space flight history.
"Mission complete, Houston," Ferguson radioed to Mission Control.

Astronaut Barry Wilmore from Mission Control answered back, "We'll take this opportunity to congratulate you Atlantis, as well as the thousands of passionate individuals across this great space-faring nation who truly empowered this incredible spacecraft, which for three decades has inspired millions around the globe."

Atlantis' return from the 135th shuttle mission capped a 30-year program that made spaceflight appear routine, despite two fatal accidents that killed 14 astronauts and destroyed two of NASA's five spaceships.

The last accident investigation board recommended the shuttles be retired after construction was finished on the space station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations. That milestone was reached this year, leaving the orbiting research station as the shuttle program's crowning legacy.
Details of a follow-on program are still pending, but the objective is to build new spaceships that can travel beyond the station's 250-mile (400-km) orbit and send astronauts to the moon, asteroids and other destinations in deep space.

Space Shuttle Atlantis touches down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Cape Canaveral, Fla., completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, early Thursday morning, July 21, 2011. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. (AP Photo/NASA - Bill Ingalls)

Several people in a hiking group at Yosemite that included three who were swept away and presumed dead had climbed over a barricade and were in the water about 25 feet from the edge of a waterfall, standing, playing and taking photographs, witnesses told Yosemite rangers.

One of the victims then slipped and fell, the second victim tried to rescue that person, and the third victim tried to save the other two, said Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman said.

The victims were not related, but were friends. About a dozen people were in the hiking group and had spent an hour at the top of Vernal Falls until tragedy struck. The presumed dead were identified Wednesday as Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto; Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock; and Ramina Badal, 21, of Modesto. Vernal Falls is marked with warning signs and barricaded off with a metal-bar guardrail that “takes some effort” to climb over, Gediman said.

Rangers are collecting statements and photographs from witnesses to try and garner more information about what happened, Gediman said. He emphasized that more than 1,000 visitors hike to the top of the falls each day without incident, and that it is a safe sight-seeing spot.

Two days after Warner Bros. released the first teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the third installment of the rebooted Batman franchise, Sony Pictures has released its first teaser trailer for the first installment of the rebooted Spider-Man franchise.

Like The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man won’t hit theaters until next summer, but fan interest in both are sky-high. In the latter case, the back story is also of interest: Sam Raimi, who directed the three most-recent Spider-Man films, featuring Tobey Maguire, was set to make a fourth installment, but decided he couldn’t do so and maintain artistic credibility. So, a mere nine years after the first Spider-Man in that series premiered, Sony decided to start over again with Spider-Man’s creation story.



The cast is different this time around, as is the director, Marc Webb. Andrew Garfield (who played Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network) plays Spider-Man, Emma Stone plays his love interest, Gwen Stacy, and Ryhs Ifans plays the villain, The Lizard.

The Reds took advantage of a pair of miscues from Pittsburgh shortstop Chase d'Arnaud to beat the Pirates 3-1 on Wednesday and avoid a three-game sweep. Johnny Cueto (6-3) gave up one run over six innings to whittle his ERA to 1.98 as Cincinnati found a little punch following two nights of futility against the surprising NL Central-leading Pirates.

Though Baker has stressed it's not time to panic, Cueto knows the Reds are at a critical point in their season. The defending division champions haven't won consecutive games in over a month and have dropped off the pace in the crowded Central race.

The Reds didn't exactly bust out against Pittsburgh starter Jeff Karstens (8-5), but they didn't let a little charity go to waste. An error by d'Arnaud on a routine play to start the game helped Cincinnati plate its first run since Sunday, and a bobble in the fifth extended the inning and allowed the Reds to put together the final margin.

Chris Heisey and Jay Bruce had two hits apiece for the Reds, who beat Pittsburgh for just the second time in nine tries this year. D'Arnaud made a pair of huge plays in a 2-0 win Monday. His diving stop in the hole got Pittsburgh out of a bases-loaded situation in the first inning and his first-to-third sprint in the fourth opened the door for a pair of Pittsburgh runs.

The 24-year-old, who was injured sliding into third Monday, sat out Tuesday's 1-0 victory as a precaution. He didn't exactly look comfortable upon his return. Heisey led off the game with a routine grounder that d'Arnaud threw into the stands. Heisey would later score on a sacrifice fly from Joey Votto to end Cincinnati's longest scoreless streak in over a year.

The head of the Congressional Black Caucus told Fox News on Wednesday that members are "furious" about the incident, saying he's going to speak with the Florida Republican about the matter. Shortly afterward, several female lawmakers held a news conference, at which they called on West to apologize.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) reiterated his controversial descriptions of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Wednesday in an email to supporters, and appealed for donations because "it's times like this that I need friends with me."

The fundraising email is titled "Vile, Despicable, and Unprofessional," and it echoes a letter West sent to Wasserman Schultz, copying congressional leaders, on Tuesday in which he called the DNC chair "vile, despicable and cowardly," and said she was "not a lady."

West has come under fire in the past 24 hours for the email, which some considered overly hostile. In fact, less than an hour after the email was sent, West told The Huffington Post's Jen Bendery that he had "just apologized" to Wasserman Schultz.

But Wasserman Schultz spokesman Jonathan Beeton said later that West still hasn't apologized. "He did not. Not in person, not via fax, not via phone," Beeton said.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on MSNBC just now, suggested she sympathized with Allen West because of the terrible "pressure" he's under for his position on budget cuts that could affect seniors and added insult to injury by addressing West who lives in her district, not his — as "a constituent of mine."

From the looks of it, Snooki, The Situation, Pauly D, Vinny, Deena, Sammi, JWoww and Ronnie are in for the most dramatic season yet, as the roommates do what they do best: go clubbing, hook up and fight.

"I'm going back to the Motherland," The Situation declares.

Jersey Shore Season 4 Trailer Game Played Release

Adds Pauly: "Every street sounds like my last name, DelVecchio."

Vinny has good intentions – "There's a lot of things I want to accomplish in Italy. I want to learn Italian. I want to master the language. I want to find a nice, real, traditional Italian girl," he says – but things go downhill fast.

Bottles will break, cars will crash and friendships will be tested. The stars will fall, feud and someone will go to the hospital. There may even be fresh romance somewhere between the bleeped-out tirades.

"It takes something really bad to happen in this house," JWoww says, "to realize how much we love each other."