KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (BNO NEWS) — Four NASA astronauts boarded the space shuttle Atlantis on Friday morning as the crew prepares for the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, although weather remains a concern that could delay the launch.

Atlantis’ Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, are scheduled to begin a 12-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with a launch at 11.26 a.m. EDT on Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

But with less than 2 hours before launch, there was only a 30 percent chance of favorable weather conditions at 11.26 a.m. EDT. Launch Director Mike Leinbach told the launch team earlier that NASA would “have a shot at this” on Friday, but some feared the weather could postpone the launch until a later point.

Nonetheless, NASA’s countdown clock continued and all four astronauts were aboard Atlantis in preparation of the flight. The hatch for flight was closed at about 9.21 a.m. EDT and the agency said there were no major technical issues that could threaten the launch.

Atlantis’ STS-135 12-day mission will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain ISS space station operations after the space shuttles are retired. The mission also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space.

The crew also will return an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft.

STS-135 is the 135th shuttle mission, Atlantis’ 33rd flight, and the last scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle Program which began with STS-1 in April 1981 with the launch of the space shuttle Columbia. The program has seen scores of historic milestones, although its existence has also been marked by several disasters that nearly caused the cancellation of the program.

In January 1986, all 7 crew members of the space shuttle Challenger were killed when their spacecraft broke apart during launch and disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida. And in February 2003, another seven astronauts were killed when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Debris from the spacecraft fell over parts of the United States.

After the end of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA will put its focus on deep space missions with the to-be-built, heavy-lift Space Launch System which will carry its astronauts out of low Earth orbit. Future missions will include an unmanned mission to an asteroid in 2016 and eventually to Mars.

“We are not ending human space flight, we are recommitting ourselves to it and taking the necessary — and difficult — steps today to ensure America’s pre-eminence in human spaceflight for years to come,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said earlier this month. “We have to get out of the business of owning and operating low-Earth orbit transportation systems and hand that off to the private sector, with sufficient oversight to ensure the safety of our astronauts. American companies and their spacecraft should send our astronauts to the ISS, rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments.”

He added: “Our destinations for humans beyond Earth remain ambitious. They include: the moon, asteroids, and Mars. The debate is not if we will explore, but how we’ll do it.”

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MIAMI, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — Prosecutors on Thursday announced that a Colombian drug kingpin was sentenced to 22 years in prison by a Miami Court over drug trafficking charges.

Edgar Vallejo-Guarin, 50, pleaded guilty to having organized and directed drug shipments totaling thousands of kilograms cocaine from Colombia to the United States, which were smuggled via motor boats, freighters, and airplanes into Miami, San Juan, New York City and Houston.

The Colombian national was extradited to the United States in 2010 after he was arrested in Spain by the Guardia Civil, one of the Spanish national police agencies. He was located in the European country by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in September 2008.

Vallejo was indicted in 2001 after law enforcement officers in the U.S. and Colombia determined that he was the owner of a large cocaine shipment seized in the Caribbean two years before.

In June 1999, U.S. Coast Guard officers traveling aboard a British Royal Navy warship located and seized a freighter which was carrying more than 4,000 kilos of cocaine. Vallejo had been at large until his 2008 arrest.

After his extradition, the Colombian drug kingpin admitted running criminal organizations dedicated to distributing cocaine in various U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Detroit and Miami.

The illegal proceeds of the drug trafficking enterprises were sent to him in Colombia. Vallejo acknowledged running these criminal drug organizations between 1987 and 2001, when he was indicted and became a fugitive.

In addition to his prison term, the defendant was ordered to pay a $1 million fine. Under Federal law, Vallejo will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence in a United States prison.

Furthermore, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been able to seize and forfeit an airplane worth more than $2 million, and bank accounts in the United States, Switzerland, and Austria holding more than $10 million in drug proceeds.

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PENSACOLA, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — More than two dozen men have been arrested in northwest Florida during a week-long operation targeting sexual predators who traveled to a local home in order to have sex with a child, police said on Wednesday. It is the second such operation in Florida this month.

Operation Blue Shepherd began on June 20 at a house in the northeastern part of Pensacola, a city in Escambia County, when officers from local, state, and federal agencies began using social networking and e-commerce sites to respond to advertisements of a sexual nature and to place similar advertisements.

According to Pensacola Police Captain Paul Kelly, the suspects described in graphic detail about the various sexual acts they were planning to perform on the male and female children who they believed were between the ages of 12 to 14. All of the suspects, except one who took a taxi, drove to the undercover house with the intent to perform these sexual acts with the children.

A total of 25 men – ages between 18 and 56 – were arrested during the week-long operation when they arrived at the home. They were questioned by police and subsequently charged with a number of felonies such as using a computer to solicit parental or guardian consent to have sex with a child or use a computer to seduce, solicit, or lure a child

Kelly said officers were surprised to find so many eager participants from the immediate Pensacola area. “We expected to have more violators traveling from outside the area. What this tells me is that these violators do not have to travel far to find their victims. They are much closer to home than we imagined. Most of them were not reluctant or frightened to approach the door of a stranger’s house. They literally pulled up to the house and walked quickly to the door eager to meet the child,” Kelly said.

The large child sex sting follows a similar operation in central Florida earlier this month, in which a total of 32 men were arrested. Both operations were similar to that of NBC’s ‘To Catch a Predator’, a popular but highly controversial television series in which potential sex predators were lured to a home under the pretense of having sex with a child. The operations in Florida were conducted by law enforcement alone.

In the operation in Lake County earlier this month, one of the men arrested was armed with a handgun which was concealed in his pants. Another suspect drove from Georgia with his two children – ages 8 and 6 – still in the car. “These suspects came to that house with the intention of having sex with a child. Instead they went to jail,” said Sheriff Gary Borders last week.

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VALPARAISO, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — A small civilian airplane crashed in Eglin, Florida on Thursday killing two people, officials said.

The accident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. local time, when a small BE-C24R Sierra four-seat aircraft manufactured by Beechcraft crashed near one of the runways at the Eglin’s Aero Club, killing the pilot and a passenger, officials from the Eglin Air Force Base told the Tallahassee Democrat.

The fatal victims of the crash were identified as David A. Miles of Shalimar, Florida, a retired Air Force Colonel who was piloting the aircraft, and passenger Thomas E. Lewis of Apalachicola, Florida. According to reports, they were flying routine training maneuvers in Eglin’s traffic pattern prior to the crash. No distress calls were made to air traffic controllers during the incident.

The aircraft was assigned to Eglin Aero Club, which is a civilian flight school and aircraft rental facility that operate at many military bases, providing flight training and small rental aircraft to qualified military and civilian pilots.

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TAMPA, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — Grammy-winning reggae artist Buju Banton on Thursday was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for cocaine trafficking, prosecutors said.

Buju Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was convicted in a jury trial in Tampa, Florida, on February 22. The popular singer was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison by United States District Judge James Moody.

Myrie, 37, of Jamaica, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and a concurrent term of 48 months for aiding and abetting the use of a communication device during a drug trafficking crime.

Furthermore, the Jamaican star avoided five additional years behind bars after Judge Moody granted a defense motion to dismiss a firearm charge. Last year, a trial on the same charges ended in mistrial as jurors deadlocked.

According to court documents, Myrie introduced a co-conspirator to a confidential source which resulted in the undercover sale of five kilograms of cocaine for $135,000. The incident took place during an investigation by y the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Sarasota Police Department.

Buju Banton is widely recognized as an international reggae star. He has won four Grammy Awards for his records Rasta Got Soul (2009), Too Bad (2007) Friends for Life (2004) and Inna Heights (1999).

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CLERMONT, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — More than 30 men have been arrested in central Florida during a week-long operation targeting sexual predators who traveled to a home in order to have sex with a child, police said on Wednesday.

The operation in Clermont, a city in Lake County, began on June 12 when the Sheriff’s Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) began establishing surveillance teams, take-down teams, transport teams, interview teams, and chat teams.

The chat teams were responsible for initiating contact with persons who would agree to or were soliciting sex with children. “They began initiating the chats on Tuesday, and as these guys would agree or solicit sexual activity the arrangements would be made to meet them at the home,” said John Herrell, a spokesman for the Lake County’s Sheriff’s Office.

The detectives posed as either children between the ages of 9 and 14 or as a parent of such a child who would allow the suspect to have sex with the child. After the suspects agreed to have sex with a child, meetings were set up.

Herrell said detectives had rented a vacant vacation home in Clermont where the meetings took place. “Typically what they would do, the detectives would of course obtain a name for the suspects and they would use the resources that we have available to us to either pull up a driver’s license record, somehow get a photo of this person, and be able to have a description of them, know what they look like,” he said.

The operation was similar to that of NBC’s ‘To Catch a Predator’, a popular but highly controversial television series in which potential sex predators were lured to a home under the pretense of having sex with a child. The operation in Florida was conducted by law enforcement alone.

“As they would make their way up to the front door, the surveillance team would be able to spot them and confirm their identity and once they knocked on the door they were taken into custody,” Herrell said.

A total of 31 men were arrested between Wednesday last week and Sunday, and one additional suspect was arrested on late Monday evening. “The one that we got [on Monday] night was just outside the time frame of the operation. Somehow he got away and we walked a warrant through and went and picked him up,” Herrell explained, adding that all the suspects are between the ages of 19 and 60.

One of the men arrested was armed with a handgun which was concealed in his pants. Another suspect drove from Georgia with his two children – ages 8 and 6 – still in the car. “These suspects came to that house with the intention of having sex with a child. Instead they went to jail,” said Sheriff Gary Borders.

Herrell said his department often works similar cases, but it was the first time in the county that such a large operation took place. “We are always working these cases but we never set out to conduct an operation especially at this scale, of this magnitude,” he said.

The spokesman said the department expects to conduct similar operations in the future. “There were so many that obviously the threat is real. We recognize it as a legitimate and credible threat to the children in our community so yeah we will probably, most likely, do this again.”

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TAMPA, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, on Friday died after suffering a heart-attack while driving in Tampa, Florida.

According to TMZ, Savage was driving his 2009 Jeep Wrangler when he suffered heart-attack, losing control of the vehicle and veering across a concrete median. The jeep collided head-on with a tree.

Savage, 58, was transported to the Largo Medical center along with his wife Lynn Poffo. The former wrestler died shortly after due to the wounds sustained. His wife had survived with minor injures only.

The Florida Highway Patrol said that the accident took place at about 10:00 a.m. local time and both individuals were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the collision. Police added that alcohol was not a factor in the incident.

Savage, whose real name was Randall Poffo, was one of the most recognized wrestlers in history. He was known for his deep voice and colorful costumes as well as his aggressive wrestling style.

During the late 80′s and early 90′s, Savage was fundamental for the success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), currently known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) the biggest wrestling company worldwide.

He is also remembered for his feuds with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat as well as his Wrestlemania III match. He left WWF/WWE in 1994 for the then rival WCW, owned by TNT.

Since then, he was never mentioned again in WWE programming despite his contribution to the company’s success. Many rumors circulated for years in regards to Savage’s ban from WWE.

However, he was recently included in the 2010 video game WWE All Stars which was an indication that the problems between Savage and WWE’s owner Vince McMahon might have been over.

In 2011, it was rumored that Savage could return to WWE programming or even be an inductee for the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame. After his wrestling career, he played small roles in films, most notably in Spiderman (2002).

Savage married two times but had no children. He first got married in 1994 to Elizabeth Ann Hulette, who alter became his valet in WWF. They divorced in 1992 and Hulette died due to an overdose in 2003. Savage was a recovered alcoholic and cocaine user.

On May 10, 2010, Savage married his long time girlfriend, Lynn Payne. The couple just recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary.

(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

TAMPA, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, on Friday died after suffering a heart-attack while driving in Tampa, Florida.

According to TMZ, Savage was driving his 2009 Jeep Wrangler when he suffered heart-attack, losing control of the vehicle and veering across a concrete median. The jeep collided head-on with a tree.

Savage, 58, was transported to the Largo Medical center along with his wife Lynn Poffo. The former wrestler died shortly after due to the wounds sustained. His wife had survived with minor injures only.

The Florida Highway Patrol said that the accident took place at about 10:00 a.m. local time and both individuals were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the collision. Police added that alcohol was not a factor in the incident.

Savage, whose real name was Randall Poffo, was one of the most recognized wrestlers in history. He was known for his deep voice and colorful costumes as well as his aggressive wrestling style.

During the late 80′s and early 90′s, Savage was fundamental for the success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), currently known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) the biggest wrestling company worldwide.

He is also remembered for his feuds with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat as well as his Wrestlemania III match. He left WWF/WWE in 1994 for the then rival WCW, owned by TNT.

Since then, he was never mentioned again in WWE programming despite his contribution to the company’s success. Many rumors circulated for years in regards to Savage’s ban from WWE.

However, he was recently included in the 2010 video game WWE All Stars which was an indication that the problems between Savage and WWE’s owner Vince McMahon might have been over.

In 2011, it was rumored that Savage could return to WWE programming or even be an inductee for the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame. After his wrestling career, he played small roles in films, most notably in Spiderman (2002).

Savage married two times but had no children. He first got married in 1994 to Elizabeth Ann Hulette, who alter became his valet in WWF. They divorced in 1992 and Hulette died due to an overdose in 2003. Savage was a recovered alcoholic and cocaine user.

On May 10, 2010, Savage married his long time girlfriend, Lynn Payne. The couple just recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary.

(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (BNO NEWS) — The space shuttle Endeavour launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on early Monday morning to begin its final mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center at 8.56 a.m. local time after several weeks of delay due to a short in the heater circuit associated with the spacecraft’s hydraulic system. The problem was discovered on April 29, just hours before the first scheduled launch attempt.

Technicians eventually determined that the problem was most likely inside a switchbox in the shuttle’s aft compartment and associated electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. The heater circuits prevent freezing of the fuel lines providing hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry.

The faulty box was replaced on May 4 and, since then, technicians have installed and tested new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring and confirmed the heater system is working properly. They also completed retests of other systems powered by the switchbox and closed out Endeavour’s aft compartment.

Endeavour’s launch is followed closely for a number of reasons, including the attendance of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is still recovering from being shot in the head during an assassination attempt in January.

But Monday’s launch was also the last ever launch of Endeavour before its retirement, which it will spend at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Space shuttle Atlantis will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, after it will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex.

“Looks like a great day to launch Endeavour for the final time,” Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach radioed Endeavour Commander Mark Kelly and his crew after the launch and flight teams and Mission Management Team gave their “go” for liftoff.

“This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration,” Kelly said shortly before liftoff. “It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop. To all the millions watching today including our spouses, children, family and friends, we thank you for your support.”

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Monday’s launch of Endeavour is a “testament to American ingenuity and leadership” in human spaceflight. “As we look toward a bright future with the International Space Station as our anchor and new destinations in deep space on the horizon, we salute the astronauts and ground crews who have ensured the orbiter’s successful missions,” he said. “The presence of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at the launch inspired us all, just as America’s space program has done for the past 50 years.”

Hundreds of thousands of people, up to half a million, traveled from across the country and around the world to witness Endeavour’s launch themselves. It was also aired live on TV channels around the world.

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly (Gifford’s husband), Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. Vittori will be the last international astronaut to fly aboard a shuttle.

During their 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station, including two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot. AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter.

The crew also will transfer Endeavour’s orbiter boom sensor system to the station, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station’s robotic arm.

Endeavour is scheduled to dock to the station at 6:15 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday and the 16-day mission will also include a total of four spacewalks.

After undocking to return to Earth, Kelly and Johnson will ease the shuttle back toward the station to test new sensor technologies that could facilitate the docking of future space vehicles to the station. The shuttle’s first landing opportunity at Kennedy is scheduled for 2:32 a.m. Eastern time on June 1st.

Endeavour went on its first mission, the STS-49 mission, in 1992 to retrieve a stranded communications satellite called Intelsat VI and attach a new engine to it. But when the satellite balked at being caught the way astronauts planned, the crew and ground controllers had to improvise a spacewalk calling for three astronauts positioned in the cargo bay and actually grabbing the bottom of the satellite with their gloved hands. With the spacewalkers in place, Commander Dan Brandenstein maneuvered Endeavour beneath it and the astronauts grabbed the satellite as planned.

The shuttle in 1993 hosted the first mission to repair and service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In 1998, Endeavour carried the first American section of the ISS into orbit and conducted the program’s first construction mission.

But despite setting numerous historic milestones, the space shuttle program was also marked by several disasters that almost caused the cancellation of the program. In January 1986, all 7 crew members of the space shuttle Challenger were killed when their spacecraft broke apart during launch and disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida.

And in February 2003, another seven astronauts were killed when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Debris from the spacecraft fell over parts of the United States.

“In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth,” U.S. President George W. Bush said during a presidential address from the White House in the hours after Columbia’s disaster. “These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.”

Bush added: “The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.”

The space shuttle program was suspended due to the accident but resumed more than 2 years later with the launch of the space shuttle Discovery on July 26, 2005. The future of the space shuttle program after Atlantis’ last planned shuttle mission in June is still unclear.

(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

OVIEDO, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — A Florida man who performed puppet shows at a local church was arrested on child molestation charges, local authorities said Friday.

Michael Henderson, 29, of Oviedo, Florida, allegedly began communicating with a 14-year-old girl through social networking website Facebook, before meeting with her at a local church and later at her home, Oviedo Police Department Lt. Mike Beavers told WESH.

According to reports, police accessed to 44 pages of online communication between Henderson and the girl. Much of the communication, Beavers said, was sexually explicit.

During one of their meetings at at Trinity Assembly Church in Chuluota, where Henderson volunteered as a leader of a puppet show, he took a photograph under the girl’s skirt at least once and without the girl’s knowledge, and when he acknowledged the fact during the court hearing, he said it came out blurry.

Henderson appeared at a court hearing on Friday in which Judge Kenneth Barlow explained he had also inappropriately touched her and ‘fondled’ with the girl’s breasts under her clothing when they met at her house.

After learning about the situation, the girl’s grandmother contacted the police, which resulted in Henderson’s arrest.

Henderson is now facing charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a victim between 12 and 16 years old, as well as video voyeurism and using a computer to solicit a minor. He is currently held under custody on a bond of over $25,000.

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