On July 21 2005, there was an attempt to paralyze London’s transport system and kill a large number of people. Mercifully, four bombs planted at three Tube stations and on a bus failed to explode, but the memory of the fatal London 7/7 bombings two weeks before was fresh and security forces were jumpy. With …
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s rather dull designation of its first space worthy shuttle was OV-102 (for Orbiter Vehicle). But to the wider world it would always be Columbia, pioneer of an entirely new sort of space flight from the USA. NASA launched Columbia for the first time in 1981 and it would go …
When an EA-6B Prowler aircraft left the Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy on February 3 1998, it was a routine assignment for pilot Captain Richard Ashby, his navigator Captain Joseph Schweitzer and two crew members. The Prowler – call sign ‘Easy 01’ – was a twin-engine jet used for electronic warfare belonging to the …
By the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union was creaking. The Communist Party’s absolute control from Moscow had failed to deliver for assorted nations that had been forcibly combined to create the Russianized superstate. The economy was stagnant, poverty was endemic and the tightly controlled peoples of this disparate empire were getting restive. Cometh the moment, cometh …
The Hajj is the world’s largest pilgrimage, drawing a vast crowd to Mecca every year. It is the fifth pillar of Islam and demonstrates the solidarity of Muslims everywhere. Attending the Hajj at least once in a lifetime is an obligation for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the trip – an edict that has …
Spend billions of dollars, utilize the cutting-edge design and engineering capabilities of the world’s most technologically advanced nation and what have you got? For NASA (the USAS National Aeronautics and Space Administration) the answer was a snappy acronym – STS. The Space Transportation System has at its heart the iconic space shuttles – reusable craft …