Whether it's setting out milk and cookies for Santa or hanging stockings above the fireplace, there are countless Christmas traditions that are integral to the celebrations of families across the United States. However, while some of these traditions may seem as American as apple pie, their origin stories are anything but. From those that spring from Druid fertility practices to ones that have their roots in Roman rituals, keep reading to find out which countries are responsible for your favorite traditions. Read More...
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Popovkin, former head of the Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, passed away on Wednesday from an undisclosed illness at the age of 57, a Roscosmos press release said.
Popovkin, who presided over the space program for over two years after his appointment in 2011, was replaced by Oleg Ostapenko in October 2013. He was born in Dushanbe in 1957 to a military family, and graduated from the elite Leningrad military engineering institute, walking into a job at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the launch site for most of Russia's spacecraft. There, he rose through the ranks from a lowly engineer to commander of the same launch pad that Yury Gagarin himself launched from in 1961. Read More...
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Globalstar is borrowing $199 million through a loan arranged by its controlling shareholder Thermo and fleet operator EchoStar. Globalstar said it will use the funds to pay off a $66 million loan arranged in June, and to make pre-payments towards a separate $152 million loan. Globalstar has rights to global S-band satellite spectrum, which it is seeking to use for terrestrial connectivity. Read More...