Spaceship broke apart after system designed to slow descent deployed too soon
LOS ANGELES — An experimental rocket ship broke apart in flight over California’s Mojave Desert after a device to slow the space plane’s descent deployed too soon, federal investigators said.
The cause of Friday’s crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has not been determined, but investigators found the “feathering” system — which rotates the twin tail “feathers” to create drag — was activated before the craft reached the appropriate speed, National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Christopher Hart said.
The system requires a two-step process to deploy. The co-pilot unlocked the system, but Hart said the second step occurred “without being commanded.”
“What we know is that after it was unlocked, the feathers moved into the deploy position, and two seconds later, we saw disintegration,” Hart said.
The finding moves away from initial speculation that an explosion brought down the craft.
Egypt, Gulf Arab allies considering military alliance to take on Islamic militants
CAIRO — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are discussing the creation of a military pact to take on Islamic militants, with the possibility of a joint force to intervene around the Middle East, The Associated Press has learned.
The alliance would also serve as a show of strength to counterbalance their traditional rival, Shiite-dominated, Iran. Senior Egyptian military officials said two countries are seen as potential theaters for the alliance to act: Libya, where Islamic militants have taken over several cities, and Yemen, where Shiite rebels suspected of links to Iran have seized control of the capital.
The discussions reflect a new assertiveness among the Middle East’s Sunni powerhouses, whose governments — after three years of post-Arab Spring turmoil in the region — have increasingly come to see Sunni Islamic militants and Islamist political movements as a threat.
Three Egyptian military officials discussed details of the talks and a fourth confirmed their comments.
ISIS slaughters more families in Iraqi Sunni tribe; over 200 recently slain
BAGHDAD — Islamic State group militants shot and killed 36 Sunni tribesmen, women and children in public Monday, an Iraqi official and a tribal leader said, pushing the total number of members slain by the extremists in recent days to more than 200.
Sheik Naim al-Gaoud, a senior figure in the Al Bu Nimr tribe, said the militant group killed 29 men, four women and three children, lining them up in the village of Ras al-Maa, north of Ramadi in Anbar province.
The tribal leader said that 120 families were still trapped there.
“These massacres will be repeated in the coming days unless the government and its security forces help the trapped people,” al-Gaoud said.
An official with the Anbar governor’s office corroborated the account of Monday’s killings. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief journalists.
Russian support for Ukrainian separatist vote to drag out sanction pain
KIEV, Ukraine — Moscow offered warm support Monday for rebel-organized elections in eastern Ukraine — an endorsement that could only serve to keep the West’s sanctions against Russia in place.
Pro-Russian separatist authorities said Sunday’s vote, which saw two rebel leaders easily reconfirmed in their roles, gives them a powerful mandate to slip further from Ukrainian rule.
Plans for the election had been condemned by the European Union and the United States, which said it violated Ukrainian law and undermined a 2-month-old cease-fire deal that has existed only on paper.
“The United States deplores and does not recognize yesterday’s so-called separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, nor do we recognize any of the leaders chosen in this illegal vote,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington on Monday. “If Russia were to recognize the so-called elections, it would only serve to isolate it further. “
By wire sources
