--part1_47bd3b96.24eb5e3d_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_47bd3b96.24eb5e3d_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; name="NEWS.TXT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="NEWS.TXT" *** Iridium consortium files Chapter 11 NEW YORK (AP) - Iridium LLC, the ambitious satellite-based mobile phone network, is finally relenting to the call of bankruptcy court. With a shove from its creditors and a reassuring nod from parental guardian Motorola, the consortium announced Friday that it would restructure a crushing $3 billion debt load under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. The move hardly came as a surprise, since there was no chance the venture would meet the subscriber targets stipulated by its loan agreements. Many observers were expecting that Iridium would miss a $90 million interest payment due Sunday. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3D2560701215-075 *** Cassini to buzz Earth on Saturn trip PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - A two-story, $3.4 billion spacecraft carrying a load of deadly plutonium will zoom within 725 miles of Earth this week to gain momentum for the final leg of its meandering, seven-year voyage to Saturn. Cassini's return, two years after NASA launched the largest and most expensive unmanned spacecraft ever, poses virtually no risk, mission officials say. But anti-nuclear activists, concerned over the 72 pounds of carcinogenic cargo, aren't so sure. "The fact is space technology can and does fail," said Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. "And when you start using nuclear materials in increasing numbers, the odds of an accident increase." See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3D2560710429-960 *** Also: 'Gravity assist' helps Cassini fly, see http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3D2560710930-46c *** Launch makes Collins more celebrated CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Eileen Collins used her strongest, loudest voice when Columbia's master alarm went off, just seconds into what proved to be the most menacing space shuttle launch in years. Problem with a fuel cell, she called to Mission Control. Her voice was muffled by the roaring rockets and rattled by the fierce vibration. Many bystanders froze, fearful of what was happening. The 42-year-old Air Force colonel has listened to the launch tape many times since returning from the successful telescope-delivery mission. And she admits her voice sounds surprisingly faint and light, perhaps because it's female. Until Collins' debut as America's first female space commander July 23, only male voices boomed from the cockpit during liftoff. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3D2560722054-3e0 --part1_47bd3b96.24eb5e3d_boundary--