Wednesday, September 09, 2009 WASHINGTON: The space shuttle Discovery dated at: 0356 PST,undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday and began its journey back to Earth after a successful mission.Discovery undocked from the ISS at 1926 GMT and circled the space station to survey and photograph its exterior -- customary practice to end such missions -- before returning to Earth for a scheduled Thursday landing in Florida.Before their second and final burn away from the station, the crew used a robotic arm and high-definition cameras to ensure the shuttle's heat shield had not been compromised by orbiting debris and small meteorites.The shield must be intact to prevent Discovery from disintegrating as it enters the Earth's atmosphere at high speed.During their eight days aboard the ISS, the Discovery crew has transferred 6.9 tonnes of equipment, including new sleeping quarters, a treadmill, and a refrigerator that will store materials for experiments.They also delivered and installed a new 800 kilogram external tank containing liquid ammonia, which is used to cool the station's navigation system.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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