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SpaceX, the aerospace
company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk , has
landed another rocket on its drone ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning, lifting a
Japanese communications satellite called JCSAT-16 into geostationary
orbit.
Around nine minutes later,
after depositing the satellite, the Falcon 9 became the sixth rocket to land
safely on SpaceX's converted barge in
the Atlantic.
The landing is significant
because it means SpaceX has now landed more rockets than it has crashed.
Overall
the company has attempted to land 11 rockets, with five of them
failing. Prior to the launch, SpaceX had
warned that this landing would be difficult, because JCSAT-16 had to be carried
into a highly elliptical orbit some 22,300 miles above the Earth's
equator.
"The first stage will be subject
to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing
challenging," it said.
While safely landing rockets is
an important step in the development of space travel, SpaceX is yet to attempt
reusing one of these rockets. However, this may not be far off,
as Elon Musk said in June that one of the Falcon 9s would be reused for the
first time in "September/October".
Musk has previously
expressed his desire for SpaceX to be the first private company to land on
Mars - with plans to to send his Dragon
spacecraft to the Red Planet by 2018.
"I think it really quite
dramatically improves my confidence that a city on Mars is possible," he said,
following the first successful Falcon 9 landing. "That's what all this is
about."
SpaceX is not the only
company pursuing reusable rocket technology. Blue Origin, the company founded by
Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, launched and landed a reusable rocket
booster for the third time in April.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket
launched into suborbital space from the company's West Texas test site, then
descended gracefully back to Earth and landed vertically - on the same launchpad
it had lifted off from only minutes earlier.
As well as space tourism,
suborbital spaceflight opens the door to a range of scientific research and
technological development - from biotech and materials science to fluid physics
and engineering.
By Sophie Curtis With many thanks to the Mirror
UK
The Rat Pack were the icons of the swing era. Sharp
dressers, heavy drinkers, and soulful singers, this group of friends
made it from New York to Las Vegas, turning American culture upside down
as they went.
The story behind the Rat Pack name says all you need to know
about the group’s work-hard, play-hard ethos. The story goes that one
night the friends came straggling in from a night of carousing. Humphrey
Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall exclaimed, “You look like a goddamned rat
pack!” The name stuck.
Frank became the nominal leader of “the clan” following
Bogie’s death in 1957. Soon after, the Rat Pack – or as Frank preferred,
“the Summit” – made their home at the Copa Room in Jackie Entratter’s
Sands Hotel and Casino on the famed Las Vegas Strip.
Frank Sinatra was joined on-stage by Joey Bishop, Sammy
Davis, Jr, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford. Together they put on one hell
of a show. For two shows each evening the entertainers would appear on
stage to sell-out crowds. Word spread quickly about the Summit’s raucous
performances – they parodied each other, pulled off incredible dance
numbers and poured drinks from a bar cart they rolled onstage. The
American public couldn’t get enough of them.
By 1960, the Rat Pack were unstoppable. By night they stood
in front of huge audiences, by day they stood in front of the cameras
while they filmed their first movie – Ocean’s 11.
Despite a lukewarm critical reception, the movie was a huge hit with the
American public. As Sinatra said, “We are not setting out to make
Hamlet or Gone with the Wind. We are out to make films the people enjoy.
It’s called Entertainment.”
But how did this unlikely group of entertainers become a
worldwide sensation? The answer is simple: post-war America was hungry
for change, and the Rat Pack offered it by the bucketload.
The group bucked trends left, right and centre. It was made
up of one African American, one Jew, two Italians, and one feckless
Hollywoodised Brit. Self-assured, successful and daring, these men
challenged traditional notions of race and class to make music that
liberated the American public.
Darlene Love will return to the studio for her first non-holiday
album in decades with the ironically titled Introducing Darlene
Love. Love
has been one of the most sought after singers since her start in the early-60’s
working with Phil Spector. Her voice is heard as the lead singer on the Crystals
He’s a Rebel although she was never given credit for the recording. She also
sang backup on a long string of 60’s hits for Johnny Rivers, the Ronettes, Frank
Sinatra and many more. Her long career as a backup singer was documented in the
Oscar winning film 20 Feet From Stardom. Her
best known recording, though, is the song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) that
was part of Phil Spector’s album A Christmas Gift For You. She performed the
song regularly every holiday season on David Letterman’s show for almost three
decades. (below). Her
new enterprise came about through her long friendship with guitarist and actor
Steven Van Zandt. She has signed with Steven’s Wicked Cool Records which will
partner with Columbia for the release of the new album. Van Zandt will also be
arranging and producing the album which will have guest appearances from Elvis
Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Van Zandt, Jim Webb, Linda Perry, Desmond Child,
Joan Jett, and the legendary songwriting team Barry Mann and Cynthia
Weil. Van
Zandt said of the album “Darlene’s legendary status is well deserved but I felt
the time was long overdue to show a younger generation WHY she has earned that
reputation. Partnering with Columbia Records is a dream come true because now I
know the world will hear her.”
