(Reuters) - One man lost part of his leg and four other people were injured by flying debris as they watched the planned implosion of an abandoned power plant in Bakersfield, California, early on Saturday morning, officials said.
The 43-year-old "suffered a traumatic partial amputation of one leg and major injuries to the other," the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.
Shrapnel from the blast also hit four other spectators, causing minor injuries, said Kern County Fire Department fire engineer Leland Davis, adding there were at least 1,000 onlookers.
Police said only two other spectators were injured and had not revised their tally.
One officer along the east perimeter heard screams for help at the 6 a.m. implosion, said police, who were on scene helping to control traffic and crowds.
The boiler facility, which belonged to Pacific Gas and Electric Company and was decommissioned in 1986, had two towers 140 feet tall and four 200,000-gallon (757?,082-liter) empty water tanks, company spokesman Denny Boyles said.
It was being removed so the property could be cleared for sale under an agreement with the city of Bakersfield, he said.
Demolition subcontractors worked with police to establish a 1,000-foot (305-meter) perimeter beyond which a crowd had gathered to observe the demolition, Boyles said. He said the injured people were apparently outside the perimeter.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured during the demolition," Boyles said, adding that the company and subcontractors are cooperating with local authorities investigating what went wrong.
The man with the leg injuries was taken to a local hospital and then to Fresno, California, for further treatment, police said. The four others who were injured received treatment at the scene, Davis said.
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Eric Walsh)
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Ryan Lochte and James Magnussen are back on top at the world swimming championships.
Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky just keep on winning.
After a disappointing start to the meet, Lochte looked more like himself Thursday night, pulling away to capture gold in the 200-meter individual medley.
Magnussen, who was viewed as a flop despite a silver medal at the London Olympics, rallied to win the 100 freestyle with a furious finishing kick, edging Americans Jimmy Feigen and Nathan Adrian.
But the Americans came through in the final event of the night.
No surprise there. Not with Franklin and Ledecky leading the U.S. team in the 4x200 free relay.
Ledecky put the Americans ahead at the start, and Franklin zipped away with a dominant anchor leg to win in 7 minutes, 45.14 seconds.
The 18-year-old Franklin is now 4 for 4 in Barcelona, with three events to go. Ledecky, only 16 and getting ready for her junior year of high school, is 3 for 3 with one race left.
No matter what, they will go down as two of the biggest stars of this meet.
Lochte barely celebrated after his race, letting out a deep breath as he squinted to see his winning time ? 1:54.98. Japan's Kosuke Hagino claimed the silver, more than a second behind, and Brazil's Thiago Pereira took bronze.
"The first two days I wasn't myself," Lochte said. "I was too worried about the outcome of each race, about finishing first, about my times, and that's not me. I am a swimmer who is really relaxed and goes out there to have fun."
Magnussen was certainly having fun after winning the sport's glamour event ? a victory he was denied last summer. The Australian swimmer known as "The Missile" hopped on the lane rope, flexing his muscles for the crowd while the fans from Down Under shouted "Oi! Oi! Oi!"
"It was really emotional," Magnussen said. "That last sort of 15 meters I really used the last 12 months of experiences that I've gone through, and I was really aggressive toward the wall at the end. I'm just stoked that I got there."
Russia's Vladimir Morozov, who does much of his training in Southern California, was the leader at the turn, just ahead of Adrian, the Olympic champion.
Magnussen was nearly a second off the pace, but he powered through the water on the return lap to win in 47.71. Feigen also relied on a strong finish to get the silver in 47.82, leaving Adrian to settle for the bronze at 47.84. Morozov faded to fifth.
At the Olympics, Magnussen was a big favorite in the 100 free, but Adrian edged him for the gold medal by a hundredth of a second ? the smallest margin possible in swimming. The Missile also failed to make the final of the 50 free, becoming one of the symbols of an underachieving Australian men's team that didn't win even one gold medal.
The Aussie men already have two in Barcelona: Magnussen and Christian Sprenger in the 100 breaststroke.
Magnussen was asked if beating Adrian was especially sweet after what happened in London.
"No," he said. "You know, if Adrian wasn't such a nice guy, it might be. You just can't hate him because he's so nice. I was just doing it for myself tonight."
The Americans were happy with their showing, especially Feigen. While Magnussen celebrated, a smiling Adrian put his arm around his teammate, who took the bulk of the blame for the U.S. settling for silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Despite a lack of international experience, Feigen was put on the anchor leg ? and couldn't hold on as France rallied for the victory.
Feigen was second again in the 100 free, but this time it felt more like a win.
"I started off a little shaky this whole worlds thing," he said. "I think it's coming together in the end."
Adrian knew it would be hard to hold off Magnussen.
"He's just an incredible competitor, and he's actually brought an entire new level to the 100 freestyle," Adrian said. "So it's a bummer, because without him we would be 1-2, but it's a good thing for the sport. It's exciting moving forward."
Lochte, who took a long break after London and cut back his training to work on a reality TV show, hardly looked in peak form while swimming the second leg of that 4x100 relay and laboring to a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle.
Then, he had a bit of an epiphany. Lochte said he had spent too much time worrying about results instead of just having fun. Sure, he wasn't in the best of condition, but he figured his racing skill would come through if he just relaxed a bit.
Well, he had every reason to scream "Jeah!" ? his nonsensical catchphrase ? after a dominating win in the 200 IM, a race he lost to Michael Phelps at last summer's Olympics.
Lochte trailed Pereira at the midway point, but he turned it on during the breaststroke leg and pulled away on the freestyle finish, gliding across the water to win by about a body length, 1.31 ahead of Hagino.
It was the 13th world championship gold of Lochte's career, his 21st medal overall.
He returned about 80 minutes later for the semifinals of the 200 backstroke. Lochte advanced to the final with the second-fastest time, trailing only teammate and reigning Olympic champion Tyler Clary.
In the relay, Ledecky led France's Camille Muffat at the first exchange, but the U.S. slipped back to second ? first behind the French, then Australia ? as Shannon Vreeland and Karlee Bispo took over for the middle legs.
But the U.S. was close enough when Franklin dove in for the final 200. She zipped by Australia's Alicia Coutts and won the gold easily. Australia settled for silver in 7:47.08, while France took the bronze in 7:48.43.
In the biggest surprise of the night, Denmark's Rikke Pedersen set a world record in the semifinals of the women's 200 breaststroke. She touched in 2:19.11, breaking the mark of 2:19.59 set by American Rebecca Soni at the London Games.
Soni is taking the year off but traveled to Barcelona for the championships.
China added to its medal haul with a pair of golds and a silver. Liu Zige won the women's 200 butterfly, edging the crowd favorite, Spain's Mireia Belmonte. Hungary's Katinka Hosszu took the bronze. Cammile Adams of the U.S. was seventh.
The Chinese went 1-2 in the 50 back, an event dropped by Franklin to focus on her other events. Zhao Jing won gold, with teammate Fu Yuanhui claiming the silver. The bronze went to Japan's Aya Terakawa. American Rachel Bootsma finished seventh.
___
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
Japanese vehicle delivers new hardware for NASA's Robotic Refueling MissionPublic release date: 2-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 301-286-4044 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
It may be called the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), but NASA's RRM was built to demonstrate much more than the clever ways space robots can fill up satellites.
With the launch of new hardware to the International Space Station on Aug. 3, RRM recently named a "Top Exploration Technology Application From the International Space Station in 2012" will be outfitted to practice a new set of satellite-servicing activities.
New Hardware for a New Era of Satellite-Servicing Demonstrations
Earlier in 2013, RRM demonstrated remotely controlled robots using today's technology could refuel satellites not designed to be serviced. RRM tests from January 14 to 25 culminated in a first-of-its-kind robotic fluid transfer.
Following the success of completing this namesake task, in 2014 RRM will demonstrate how space robots can replenish cryogen (a type of refrigerant) in the instruments of legacy satellitesexisting, orbiting spacecraft not originally designed to be serviced.
"Just like robotic refueling, there were a lot of folks who said that this simply couldn't be done," says Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
"But that's the whole point of the RRM demonstrations and the beauty of being able to execute them on such an extraordinary test bed as the space station. RRM is allowing us to show that the robotic satellite-servicing tools, technologies and techniques are mature and ready, because we've proven them on orbit."
Delivery to Space Station and Installation
New hardware deliveries to the space station will outfit the RRM module for this upcoming set of operations.
The Japanese HTV cargo vehicle, currently scheduled to launch on Aug. 3, will deliver a new task board and the RRM On-orbit Transfer Cage (ROTC), an original device designed to transfer hardware outside of the space station. Astronauts will mount the ROTC on the sliding table within the Japanese airlock and then install the task board onto the ROTC, giving the Canadian Dextre robot an easy platform from which to retrieve and subsequently install the new hardware.
A second shipment in 2014 will bring a second task board and a new device called the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot (VIPIR). This SSCO-built borescope inspection tool provides a set of eyes for internal satellite repair jobs. Both also will be transferred and installed on RRM via the Japanese airlock, ROTC and Dextre.
With the help of the twin-armed Dextre robot, the newly installed RRM task boards, and the RRM tools, the RRM team will then work its way through intermediate steps leading up to cryogen replenishment. After retrofitting valves with new hardware, peering into dark places with the aid of VIPIR and creating a pressure-tight seal, the RRM and Dextre duo will stop short of actual cryogen transfer for this round of tasks.
RRM Phase 2 operations are scheduled to begin in 2014. Initial activities to demonstrate this in-orbit capability cutting wires and removing caps were completed in 2012 with the aid of the original RRM tools and activity boards.
Expanding Capabilities and Fleet Flexibility in Space
Cryogenic fluids are used on the ground and in space to make very sensitive cameras work better. However, in time this extremely cold substance leaks out, and the camera no longer performs well. Robotically replenishing these reserves, explains Reed, would allow spacecraft instruments to last past their expiration date and ultimately permit satellites to perform longer.
"It's all about expanding options for fleet operators, in both the government and the commercial sectors," Reed said. "Instead of retiring an aging observatory or spacecraft and perhaps launching a new, costly, one [operators] could choose to extend their lives by calling on a future cryogen-toting space tow truck. The RRM demonstrations are an important step to eventually enabling this capability."
Preparing for a Servicing-Enabled Future
"Since its launch to the ISS in 2011 on the last shuttle mission, RRM has been steadily practicing robotic satellite-servicing activities on orbit," says Jill McGuire, RRM project manager at SSCO. "A joint effort with the Canadian Space Agency, RRM uses the space station as a test bed for technology research and development."
On July 17, RRM was named a "Top Exploration Technology Application from the International Space Station in 2012" at the second international ISS Research and Development Conference in Denver. McGuire accepted on behalf of the team.
NASA developed RRM to demonstrate how remotely-operated robot mechanics could extend the lives of the hundreds of satellites residing in geosynchronous-Earth orbit (GEO). Costly assets traveling about 22,000 miles above Earth, GEO spacecraft deliver such essential services as weather reports, cell phone communications, television broadcasts, government communications and air traffic management. Servicing capabilities could greatly expand the options for government and commercial fleet operators in the future. They could potentially deliver satellite owners significant savings in spacecraft replacement and launch costs.
NASA continues to test capabilities for a new robotic servicing frontier. In conjunction with RRM, the SSCO team has been studying a conceptual servicing mission while building the necessary technologies, including an autonomous rendezvous and capture system, a propellant transfer system and specialized algorithms to orchestrate and synchronize satellite-servicing operations.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Japanese vehicle delivers new hardware for NASA's Robotic Refueling MissionPublic release date: 2-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 301-286-4044 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
It may be called the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), but NASA's RRM was built to demonstrate much more than the clever ways space robots can fill up satellites.
With the launch of new hardware to the International Space Station on Aug. 3, RRM recently named a "Top Exploration Technology Application From the International Space Station in 2012" will be outfitted to practice a new set of satellite-servicing activities.
New Hardware for a New Era of Satellite-Servicing Demonstrations
Earlier in 2013, RRM demonstrated remotely controlled robots using today's technology could refuel satellites not designed to be serviced. RRM tests from January 14 to 25 culminated in a first-of-its-kind robotic fluid transfer.
Following the success of completing this namesake task, in 2014 RRM will demonstrate how space robots can replenish cryogen (a type of refrigerant) in the instruments of legacy satellitesexisting, orbiting spacecraft not originally designed to be serviced.
"Just like robotic refueling, there were a lot of folks who said that this simply couldn't be done," says Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
"But that's the whole point of the RRM demonstrations and the beauty of being able to execute them on such an extraordinary test bed as the space station. RRM is allowing us to show that the robotic satellite-servicing tools, technologies and techniques are mature and ready, because we've proven them on orbit."
Delivery to Space Station and Installation
New hardware deliveries to the space station will outfit the RRM module for this upcoming set of operations.
The Japanese HTV cargo vehicle, currently scheduled to launch on Aug. 3, will deliver a new task board and the RRM On-orbit Transfer Cage (ROTC), an original device designed to transfer hardware outside of the space station. Astronauts will mount the ROTC on the sliding table within the Japanese airlock and then install the task board onto the ROTC, giving the Canadian Dextre robot an easy platform from which to retrieve and subsequently install the new hardware.
A second shipment in 2014 will bring a second task board and a new device called the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot (VIPIR). This SSCO-built borescope inspection tool provides a set of eyes for internal satellite repair jobs. Both also will be transferred and installed on RRM via the Japanese airlock, ROTC and Dextre.
With the help of the twin-armed Dextre robot, the newly installed RRM task boards, and the RRM tools, the RRM team will then work its way through intermediate steps leading up to cryogen replenishment. After retrofitting valves with new hardware, peering into dark places with the aid of VIPIR and creating a pressure-tight seal, the RRM and Dextre duo will stop short of actual cryogen transfer for this round of tasks.
RRM Phase 2 operations are scheduled to begin in 2014. Initial activities to demonstrate this in-orbit capability cutting wires and removing caps were completed in 2012 with the aid of the original RRM tools and activity boards.
Expanding Capabilities and Fleet Flexibility in Space
Cryogenic fluids are used on the ground and in space to make very sensitive cameras work better. However, in time this extremely cold substance leaks out, and the camera no longer performs well. Robotically replenishing these reserves, explains Reed, would allow spacecraft instruments to last past their expiration date and ultimately permit satellites to perform longer.
"It's all about expanding options for fleet operators, in both the government and the commercial sectors," Reed said. "Instead of retiring an aging observatory or spacecraft and perhaps launching a new, costly, one [operators] could choose to extend their lives by calling on a future cryogen-toting space tow truck. The RRM demonstrations are an important step to eventually enabling this capability."
Preparing for a Servicing-Enabled Future
"Since its launch to the ISS in 2011 on the last shuttle mission, RRM has been steadily practicing robotic satellite-servicing activities on orbit," says Jill McGuire, RRM project manager at SSCO. "A joint effort with the Canadian Space Agency, RRM uses the space station as a test bed for technology research and development."
On July 17, RRM was named a "Top Exploration Technology Application from the International Space Station in 2012" at the second international ISS Research and Development Conference in Denver. McGuire accepted on behalf of the team.
NASA developed RRM to demonstrate how remotely-operated robot mechanics could extend the lives of the hundreds of satellites residing in geosynchronous-Earth orbit (GEO). Costly assets traveling about 22,000 miles above Earth, GEO spacecraft deliver such essential services as weather reports, cell phone communications, television broadcasts, government communications and air traffic management. Servicing capabilities could greatly expand the options for government and commercial fleet operators in the future. They could potentially deliver satellite owners significant savings in spacecraft replacement and launch costs.
NASA continues to test capabilities for a new robotic servicing frontier. In conjunction with RRM, the SSCO team has been studying a conceptual servicing mission while building the necessary technologies, including an autonomous rendezvous and capture system, a propellant transfer system and specialized algorithms to orchestrate and synchronize satellite-servicing operations.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 2-Aug-2013
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