The BBC are apparently rather confused about Saddam Hussein’s executed status.

<%image(20061230-deadoralivew.png|403|301|Saddam - Dead or Alive?)%>

Or perhaps the BBC are just keen to propagate the ’spirited away’ conspiracy theory in order to have material to report on News 24

Either way, you won’t hear about anything else today on any news channel.

The US Space Shuttle Discovery has returned from orbit safely after mission STS-116 to the International Space Station.

Just prior to landing, the weather at the primary landing site (Kennedy Space Center) seemed like it would be outside of NASA’s limits and the secondary landing site at Edwards Airforce Base looked to have the same problem. This would have meant a landing at the seldom-used (for Shuttles anyway) Northrop strip at White Sands, New Mexico.

However, in the event, after loading several different re-entry target packages into the Shuttle’s computers, Discovery made it’s landing at dusk at KSC.

<%image(20061224-shuttle_discovery_landing.jpg|400|267|US Space Shuttle Discovery Landing at KSC after STS-116)%>
Image credit: NASA

It seems that the US Space Shuttle Discovery currently trying to return to Earth from mission STS-116 is having some trouble closing it’s port payload bay door.

A radio call from the Shuttle to the MCC in Houston TX suggest that the port door did not fully close when first attempted. The aft latch showed not ready to latch when the door closed.

The Space Shuttle has to close it’s payload bay doors in order to re-enter the atmosphere.

Currently they’re using internal payload bay cameras to inspect the port door at the aft bulkhead. You can follow the proceedings online at NASA TV

UPDATE: Problem solved. The not-latched indication appears to have been a faulty microswitch.

The BBC is set to offer episodes of it hit shows such as Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and Little Britain via the Azureus peer-to-peer network.

However, license fee payers should not get excited, they will not be offered this service (unless they want to pay on top of their £130 premium) for the new service will be chargeable and the video files will be crippled with DRM.

This service is apparently being aimed at the US market. So, the folks in the states can, for a fee, access digital (albeit crippled) video on demand from the British Broadcasting Corporation. Mean while, the folks in Britain, for a large fee (mandatory if you own a TV) can access the usual muck which is piped over the barely-adequate DVB system and only dream about downloading and watching their favorite shows of yesteryear*

*That is unless they download ‘illegal’ non-crippled copies of said shows via torrents.

Just about now, the US Space Shuttle Discovery is docking with the International Space Station. (You can watch these things live over the web on NASA TV by the way).

Just to reinforce that spaceflight is never mundane (or particularly risk-free), Discovery with a mass of 100 tons and the ISS with a mass of 200 tons are orbiting the earth at an altitude of about 190 nautical miles while travelling at 17,500mph. For all this, the Space Shuttle will make it’s final approach at a relative velocity of just 1/10th of a foot per second for a gentle docking.

Even then as I understand it, as the shuttle docks, a rapid assessment of the induced oscillation to the ISS structure is made with the option to immediately undock the shuttle again if it is judge to be too great (Somebody correct me if this is wrong).

Update: Discovery has now colli^H^H^H^H^Hdocked with the ISS.

Well, here I am, on my break at work, tapping away on the screen of my new Nokia 770 which is connected to the web via my Orange pay as you go Nokia 7650 (which a guy threw off an Ark to me).

The connection basically runs from 770 Bluetooth > 7650 > GPRS > the big wide world.

More on this later!

Also, congratulations to the crew of STS-116 on their successful launch.