] The check made by the crew found no changes either
] in the equipment section or the atmosphere of the
] station, which would have changed instantly if the
] station's skin were punctured, Gorbunov said.
]
] The sound might have come from some of the
] station's equipment, not a collision, he said.
] However, a spokesman for the Russian Space
] Forces, which focus on monitoring the Russian satellite
] fleet but also keep track of the space station, said the
] station collided with a piece of space junk.

Orbital debris is a hazard that we have yet to truly address or contend with in LEO as of this time - it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Speculating that orbital debris was the cause of the mysterious crunch, it would have to be moving at a very low relative speed NOT to cause a catastrophe.

Debris hits space station; no damage

] We believe what the mission team can do is not to give up
] but to do the best until the very last moment toward
] responding the expectation of the people including those
] who kindly left their desires to this spacecraft.

Another surreal press release from a foreign space agency - this time Japan is politely pleading that everyone stop hassling them about Nozomi and whether or not that stricken probe will make an unplanned entry into the Martian atmosphere.

Status of Japan's Mars Explorer

] In December 2003, Warp will make our entire back
] catalogue and all new releases available as high quality,
] pay-per-track MP3 downloads.
]
] bleep.com will be the quickest and easiest method of
] downloading Warp music from the internet. Unlike p2p file
] sharing (or even iTunes), bleep.com does not require
] users to install proprietary software to access MP3
] downloads.
] Warpmart will of course continue to sell all formats of
] music, merchandise and films.
]
] More information to come soon!

WARP RECORDS

To help improve the Air Force’s ability to foresee the implications for safety, aircraft availability, and cost of its plans to retain aircraft fleets for service lives that may be as long as 80 years, and to identify actions that will mitigate or avoid some of the more severe consequences, this study measures how the USAF aircraft fleets’ ages relate to maintenance and modification workloads and material consumption.

Aging Aircraft: USAF Workload and Material-Consumption Life-Cycle Patterns

] Illinois groundwater scientists have found microbial
] communities thriving in the slag dumps of the Lake
] Calumet region of southeast Chicago where the water can
] reach extraordinary alkalinity of pH 12.8. That's
] comparable to caustic soda and floor strippers -- far
] beyond known naturally occurring alkaline environments.

World's Most Alkaline Life Forms Found Near Chicago | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

] Let me reiterate. Merely announcing a bold new plan to
] travel to the Earth's Moon or to Mars is not sufficient.
] If the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia merely results
] in that proposal, we will have failed the memory of our
] brave astronauts who lost their lives aboard both
] Challenger and Columbia. And we will have failed our own
] future.
]
] Unfortunately, our current charge is more difficult. We
] must challenge our assumptions, question our decisions
] and designs, revisit our approaches, and rethink our
] Nation's ambitions and goals for space. We must submit
] ourselves to the discipline to begin anew. The future of
] space and our Nation's reputation that we carry into
] history rests in the balance.

U.S. Senator Ernest F. Hollings' Floor Speech on Introduction of the National Space Commission Act of 2003 | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

] The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from
] congressional Democrats about how the administration is
] using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient
] solution: It will not entertain any more questions from
] opposition lawmakers.
]
] The decision -- one that Democrats and scholars said is
] highly unusual -- was announced in an e-mail sent
] Wednesday to the staff of the House and Senate
] Appropriations Committees. House committee Democrats had
] just asked for information about how much the White House
] spent making and installing the "Mission Accomplished"
] banner for President Bush's May 1 speech aboard the USS
] Abraham Lincoln.

Further proof that the Bush administration is off its rocker... as if we needed any further proof.

White House Puts Limits on Queries From Democrats (washingtonpost.com)

] I am skeptical that the U.S. Government can be counted on
] to make such a "sustained commitment" absent
] unanticipated circumstances comparable to those of the
] late 1950s and early 1960s. Therefore, I have spent much
] of the last decade exploring what it would take for
] private investors to make such a commitment. At least it
] is clear that investors will stick with a project if
] presented to them with a credible business plan and a
] rate of return commensurate with the risk to invested
] capital. My colleagues at the Fusion Technology Institute
] of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
] Interlune-Intermars Initiative, Inc. believe that such a
] commercially viable project exists in lunar helium-3 used
] as a fuel for fusion electric power plants on Earth.

For those who may not know, the Hon. H. "Jack" Schmitt was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 17, one of the last two humans to set foot on the moon, and the only professional geologist to visit the moon.

Some interesting stuff in here.

Testimony of Hon. Harrison H. Schmitt: Senate Hearing on Lunar Exploration

] The Voyager spacecraft is now approaching the edge of the
] solar system. Near the boundary between the solar system
] and the interstellar medium we find that an unstable
] ``jet-sheet'' forms.

Probing the Edge of the Solar System: Formation of an Unstable Jet-Sheet | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

] Mr. Perle said he sought authorization from C.I.A.
] officials to meet with the Iraqis, but the officials told
] him they did not want to pursue this channel, and they
] indicated they had already engaged in separate contacts
] with Baghdad. Mr. Perle said, "The message was, `Tell
] them that we will see them in Baghdad.' "

Diplomacy: Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War