NASA sends 3-D printer to astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is sending a 3-D printer to the International Space Station in hopes that astronauts will be able to one day fix their spacecraft by cranking out spare parts on the spot.
The printer, made by a Northern California company called Made in Space, is among more than 5,000 pounds of space station cargo that's stuffed into a SpaceX Dragon capsule that was supposed to lift off before dawn Saturday. Rainy weather forced SpaceX to delay the launch until today.
Besides real-time replacement parts at the station, NASA envisions astronauts, in the decades ahead, making entire habitats at faraway destinations like Mars.
"If we're really going to set up shop on Mars" we have to do this, Jeff Sheehy, NASA's senior technologist, said Friday. "We really can't afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time."
Chrysler recalls 189,000 SUVs from '11
DETROIT -- Chrysler is recalling almost 189,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos in the U.S. to fix a fuel pump problem that can cause the sport utility vehicles to stall.
But a safety advocate says the recall doesn't cover enough models, contending the same problem can happen in millions of other Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles.
The recall, posted Saturday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, covers some 2011 models with 3.6-liter V6 or 5.7-liter V8 engines. Chrysler says a relay can fail, increasing the risk of a crash, although the company said that as of Aug. 25 it wasn't aware of any crashes or injuries.
The recall covers SUVs built from Jan. 25, 2010, through July 20, 2011, according to safety agency documents. Dealers will replace the fuel pump relay for free starting Oct. 24.
The Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader, says the recall is inadequate because more than 5 million other Chrysler vehicles have the same fuel pump power control module as the Grand Cherokee and Durango.
"Chrysler should recall them all," Clarence Ditlow, the center's executive director, said Saturday.
Security at White House under review
WASHINGTON -- The Secret Service chief has stepped up security outside the White House after a man with a knife who jumped the fence made it into the presidential residence before being apprehended, officials said Saturday.
President Barack Obama and his daughters had just left the White House on Friday evening when Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, scaled the fence, darting across the lawn and through the unlocked North Portico doors before officers tackled him, the Secret Service said.
The incident has prompted the Secret Service to review all security and operational policies at the residence, officials said.
Officials initially had said Gonzalez appeared unarmed as he sprinted across the lawn. But a law enforcement official said Gonzalez had a folding knife with him and faces a weapons charge, among others. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Judge questions plea on terror charges
NEW YORK -- An Egyptian terrorism defendant pleaded guilty in Manhattan on Friday to charges he had helped Osama bin Laden pass messages that claimed responsibility for the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa.
But in an unusual step, the judge, Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court, did not immediately accept the guilty plea, saying he wanted more information about the government's decision to allow the defendant to plead guilty to three counts that carried a maximum sentence of 25 years.
The defendant, Adel Abdul Bary, who was brought to the United States from Britain in 2012 after a lengthy extradition battle, had faced more than 280 counts. Most were murder charges stemming from the nearly simultaneous attacks on the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Prosecutors have said that in 1997 and 1998, Bary led the London cell of a terrorist group called Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was headed by Ayman al-Zawahri, a deputy to bin Laden and now the leader of al-Qaida.
In August 1998, after the embassy attacks, Bary passed to the news media al-Qaida's claims of responsibility for the bombings and threats of future attacks.
He also arranged for messages to be sent to bin Laden and Zawahri, the government said.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 09/21/2014