Space Capsule

And then there were two. The death Thursday of Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr. at age 84 spurred fond memories of those halcyon days of early space flight when he and six others became America's first astronauts. These men, the Mercury 7, had "the right stuff," as novelist Tom Wolfe later dubbed it. They became Cold War heroes. Gone now are Schirra, Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, L. Gordon Cooper, and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. Only John Glenn and Scott Carpenter still walk on Earth.

If the late Yuri Gagarin, the first space traveler, is still out there somewhere, he must have looked on in amazement at what happened here yesterday. In the first such auction ever, Sotheby's sold more than 200 items from the heyday of the Soviet space program, including a dozen pieces of memorabilia connected with Gagarin's historic, 108-minute flight April 12, 1961. Gagarin's widow, Valentina, was on hand, watching from a VIP box above the auction floor as everything from a Soyuz space capsule to moon rocks were auctioned off to bidders jamming the room and phoning from around the world.

ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE HAVE INVADED U.S. SENATE! A dozen U.S. senators have been "exposed" as space aliens, and many of them - tongues firmly planted in cheeks - have admitted it. The news, such as it is, comes from the June 7 issue of the Weekly World News, a supermarket tabloid. "It's all true," it quotes Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Texas) as saying. "We are space aliens. I'm amazed that it's taken you so long to find out. " Others named as space aliens are: Sens. Dennis DeConcini (D., Ariz.

Twenty-five years after the historic flight in Friendship 7 that made him the first American to orbit the Earth, Sen. John Glenn (D., Ohio) is ready to return to space. "When they get around to doing geriatric studies," said Glenn, now 65, "I'm number one in line, and don't forget it. " He was 40 on Feb. 20, 1962, when he made three orbits of Earth, a trip that he said opened many opportunities for him - helping make him a millionaire and a senator, although he did not win his seat until his third race, in 1974.

SEATTLE - Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan are building the world's biggest plane to help launch cargo and astronauts into space, in the latest of several ventures fueled by technology tycoons clamoring to write America's next chapter in spaceflight. Their plans, unveiled Tuesday, call for a twin-fuselage aircraft with wings longer than a football field to carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and drop it, avoiding the need for a launchpad and the expense of additional rocket fuel.

"Apollo 13" is one of the big movie hits of the summer, right up there with "Batman Forever" and "Pocahontas. " It deserves to be. Rather than being a multimillion-dollar cartoon strip that talks, it is solidly based in reality - a 1969 moon walk mission that went bad and very nearly left three astronauts stranded in space, with no escape or rescue possible, as a horrified nation looked on. The averting of that disaster, the details of which the...

The catastrophe at Cape Canaveral has rocked the country in a special way. The 10th flight of the space shuttle Challenger was to most Americans, other than the families and friends of the six other brave people on board, the flight of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, N.H. Bound for glory, she was killed 74 seconds after takeoff, almost 10 miles up. She never made it to outer space. The question is: Why was she there? She wanted to be, no question. She had eagerly participated in NASA's contest to choose the first teacher to be blasted off the earth.

Three or four recent news stories have saturated every form of journalism to the extent that redundant reporting has itself become redundant. Surprisingly though, there have also been a few slow news days, providing an information respite, in much the same way the New York Stock Exchange paused to catch its breath by closing a few hours early. During one recent lull in the news, I decided to focus my attention on news items on days not dominated by an important breaking story of an array of endless redundancies masquerading as "in depth" reporting.

Three astronauts back from station ALMATY, Kazakhstan - A Soyuz space capsule carrying two Russians and an American touched down safely Friday on the sweeping steppes of central Kazakhstan, ending the men's 163-day stay on the International Space Station. Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin, and NASA's Daniel Burbank returned to Earth as the Russian-made module landed on schedule at a remote site north of Arkalyk. - AP Denmark nabs 3; terror plot alleged COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Three men have been arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of plotting a terror attack after police found them with automatic weapons and ammunition, Denmark's intelligence service said Friday.

Three astronauts back from station ALMATY, Kazakhstan - A Soyuz space capsule carrying two Russians and an American touched down safely Friday on the sweeping steppes of central Kazakhstan, ending the men's 163-day stay on the International Space Station. Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin, and NASA's Daniel Burbank returned to Earth as the Russian-made module landed on schedule at a remote site north of Arkalyk. - AP Denmark nabs 3; terror plot alleged COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Three men have been arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of plotting a terror attack after police found them with automatic weapons and ammunition, Denmark's intelligence service said Friday.

SEATTLE - Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan are building the world's biggest plane to help launch cargo and astronauts into space, in the latest of several ventures fueled by technology tycoons clamoring to write America's next chapter in spaceflight. Their plans, unveiled Tuesday, call for a twin-fuselage aircraft with wings longer than a football field to carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and drop it, avoiding the need for a launchpad and the expense of additional rocket fuel.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - On black-armband days like this, you think dark thoughts of loss, the sudden taking of comrades with whom you shared days, weeks, months, years, decades and generations, traveling with a ballclub as many intertwined lives were weathered like driftwood on a tropical beach that suddenly became storm-tossed and gray. Rich Ashburn was taken from us after a Phillies victory in Shea Stadium Sept. 9, 1997. We all know where we were and what we were doing when news of his death in a Manhattan hotel room broke on Angelo Cataldi's WIP morning show.

And then there were two. The death Thursday of Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr. at age 84 spurred fond memories of those halcyon days of early space flight when he and six others became America's first astronauts. These men, the Mercury 7, had "the right stuff," as novelist Tom Wolfe later dubbed it. They became Cold War heroes. Gone now are Schirra, Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, L. Gordon Cooper, and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. Only John Glenn and Scott Carpenter still walk on Earth.

"Ready?" Bill Graham, the technician, shouted from the platform below. "Ready," the engineers called back. Graham ran to the control panel, set the r.p.m. dials for 180, and pressed the clear plastic button that said: Start. Immediately, the cavernous building filled with an electric hum, then the accelerating swish, swish of the two huge propellers at one end. Small objects became airborne. A ladder blew over. And as the humid indoor windstorm gathered into a 60-m.p.h., coat-flapping gale, engineer Don R. Riley flashed a look that said: Terrific, huh?

"Apollo 13" is one of the big movie hits of the summer, right up there with "Batman Forever" and "Pocahontas. " It deserves to be. Rather than being a multimillion-dollar cartoon strip that talks, it is solidly based in reality - a 1969 moon walk mission that went bad and very nearly left three astronauts stranded in space, with no escape or rescue possible, as a horrified nation looked on. The averting of that disaster, the details of which the...

Their cheeky name sounds oddly prophetic now. They Might Be Giants, the eccentric rock duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, keeps getting bigger and bigger. In more ways than one. The Giants have outgrown the smaller venues. In 1992 the band packed the Troc to capacity, with kids bouncing off the walls - and singing along - to the duo's tightly constructed pop songs. On Sunday, they graduate to the Tower, topping a bill that features the winsomely jazzy Frente! and former Pixies leader Frank Black.

ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE HAVE INVADED U.S. SENATE! A dozen U.S. senators have been "exposed" as space aliens, and many of them - tongues firmly planted in cheeks - have admitted it. The news, such as it is, comes from the June 7 issue of the Weekly World News, a supermarket tabloid. "It's all true," it quotes Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Texas) as saying. "We are space aliens. I'm amazed that it's taken you so long to find out. " Others named as space aliens are: Sens. Dennis DeConcini (D., Ariz.

If the late Yuri Gagarin, the first space traveler, is still out there somewhere, he must have looked on in amazement at what happened here yesterday. In the first such auction ever, Sotheby's sold more than 200 items from the heyday of the Soviet space program, including a dozen pieces of memorabilia connected with Gagarin's historic, 108-minute flight April 12, 1961. Gagarin's widow, Valentina, was on hand, watching from a VIP box above the auction floor as everything from a Soyuz space capsule to moon rocks were auctioned off to bidders jamming the room and phoning from around the world.