On 12 October 1984 an assassination attempt was made by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on members of the British government, including the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Five people were killed and more than thirty injured; Thatcher was unharmed. The bombing was a key moment in the Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland between unionists and republicans, which took place in the late 20th century. The IRA decided to assassinate Thatcher during the 1981 hunger strike. Three weeks before the conference, the IRA member Patrick Magee planted a long-delay time bomb in the Grand Brighton Hotel, which the IRA knew would be occupied by Thatcher. The explosion dislodged a hotel chimney stack, which crashed through several floors (damage pictured). Thatcher decided to continue the conference as normal, which reopened six and a half hours after the explosion. A partial palm print was found on Magee's room registration card and after an eight-month investigation he was sent to prison for eight life sentences. (Full article...)
Europa Clipper is a space probe developed by NASA and scheduled for launch in October 2024. The largest spacecraft NASA has built for a planetary mission, Europa Clipper is designed to study Jupiter's moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter, with the goals of exploring Europa, investigating its habitability, and aiding in the selection of a landing site for the future Europa Lander. It is expected to reach its destination in 2030. This photograph shows a commemorative plate, 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters) in size and made of tantalum, that is attached to the outside of the space probe to seal an entrance to a vault designed to protect the electronics from Jupiter's radiation. The outer face of the plate, pictured here, is etched with waveforms of audio recordings of the word water translated into 103 languages, radiating outwards from the American Sign Language symbol for the same word. The inner face of the plate features a work by the American poet Ada Limón. Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech; photographed by Ryan Lannom
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