Water leaks into astronaut’s helmet
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A spacewalking astronaut ended up with unwanted water in his helmet Wednesday after breezing through a cable and lube job outside the International Space Station.
The leak was scarily reminiscent of a near-drowning outside the orbiting complex nearly two years ago.
This time, the amount of water was relatively small – essentially a big blob of water floating inside Terry Virts’ helmet. In summer 2013, another spacewalking astronaut’s helmet actually flooded. He barely made it back inside.
Virts was never in any danger, Mission Control stressed, and he never reported any water during his 6½ hours outside.
This was the second spacewalk in five days for NASA astronauts Virts and Butch Wilmore.
NATO general warns of new Russian threat
WASHINGTON – The fighting in eastern Ukraine is “getting worse every day,” and Western efforts to deter Russian intervention are having little effect, NATO’s top military commander said Wednesday.
In appearances on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, gave a decidedly pessimistic account of the Ukrainian conflict. He also predicted that Russia’s success in destabilizing Ukraine would embolden President Vladimir Putin to sow divisions elsewhere as part of a strategy to weaken NATO politically and expand Moscow’s influence in the region.
With the Obama administration wrestling with the question of whether to respond more aggressively by providing arms to the Ukrainian government, Breedlove acknowledged that such a move would be a gamble. “I can’t tell you what is going on inside Mr. Putin’s head,” he said, adding that U.S. officials are unsure whether sending arms to Kiev would cause Russia to back down or escalate the war.
Snow avalanches kill scores in Afghanistan
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan – Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath.
The avalanches buried homes across four northeast provinces, killing those beneath, said Mohammad Aslam Syas, the deputy director of the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority.
The province worst hit appeared to be Panjshir province, about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, where the avalanches destroyed or damaged around 100 homes, Syas said.
The acting governor of Panjshir, Abdul Rahman Kabiri, said rescuers used their bare hands and shovels in an effort to reach survivors.
Associated Press and The Washington Post
