Special to HarpBlaster.com
VANDENBERG, Calif. — NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft is the first mission dedicated to the exploration of mysterious ice clouds that dot the edge of space in Earth’s polar regions.
AIM successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 1:26 p.m. PDT on April 25.
The mission will study clouds [...]

PRNewswire-USNewswire
HOUSTON, April 26, 2007 — After several months working aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Suni Williams will come back to Earth aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch June 8.
That shuttle mission, STS-117, will carry her successor, astronaut Clay Anderson, to the station to begin his duty as an Expedition 15 flight [...]

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Ongoing NATO military and reconstruction operations are helping erode Taliban militants’ power in southern Afghanistan, a senior Dutch officer said today.
The behavior of the Afghan people is perhaps the most convincing indicator of the Taliban’s waning influence in southern Afghanistan, Royal Netherlands Army Maj. [...]

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Disenfranchised populations lacking hope and self-esteem pose a significant terrorist threat to countries around the world, a top defense official said today.
“Populations who don’t have essential services, quality of life or education (offer) no ladder for (people) to climb out,” Marine Lt. Gen. John [...]

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – A major clearing operation that wrapped up last week in Baghdad succeeded in preventing 3,200 roadside bombs, jailing 42 terrorists, and seizing enough weapons and explosives to outfit an enemy infantry battalion, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team reported [...]

By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Nathan Potts was one of about 50 seriously wounded servicemembers who went for a two-day, 110-mile bike ride this weekend, just to show they could.
“The ride proves that I can still do something. I’m not going to waste away to nothing,” Potts, 33, said. [...]

American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Four U.S. soldiers and one Marine died in Iraq over the past three days, and one soldier was wounded, military officials reported. The Defense Department released the identities of three soldiers and one Marine who died recently.
– Three Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers died yesterday and another was [...]

American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Coalition forces killed 136 Taliban combatants and captured two suspects during operations in Afghanistan over the past four days.
During a raid this morning in the Khowst district of Khowst province, coalition forces detained two men at a suspected al Qaeda safe house. Upon arriving at the site, [...]

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – National Guard members today commenced a hurricane emergency preparedness and response exercise involving five states in the northeastern United States, a National Guard Bureau spokesman said.
Code-named HURREX, the 11-day, command-post exercise involves Guard members from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, [...]

American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – Coalition forces nabbed about 94 suspects and discovered several weapons caches during raids across Iraq in the past three days.
Coalition forces detained 11 suspected al Qaeda in Iraq members today, nabbing 10 suspects in Samarra and another in Baghdad. Intelligence reports indicate the suspect detained in the [...]