ORR authorises new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston in the West Midlands
Thu, 19/03/2026 – 14:05
19 March 2026
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has authorised two new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston in the W…
Signalling overhaul nears completion, affecting services on the Leeds–Knaresborough route
An important milestone in a signalling upgrade project will affect passenger services between Leeds and Knaresborough on Sunday 22 March. Network Rail is carrying out improvement work between Horsforth station and Armley Junction from 19 January to 30 March. This involves replacing life-expired signal control cases, track circuit equipment and signals to improve the reliability […]
Meet the Platypi: NASA’s Newest Astronaut Candidate Class
Ten explorers are currently training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to become flight-eligible astronauts. Selected in 2025, the astronaut candidates are building the technical and operational skills needed for future missions to the International Space Station, the Moon, and eventually Mars. Now, NASA’s newest astronaut candidates have a class name: the Platypi. The name was selected […]
NASA’s Roman Observatory Passes Final Major Prelaunch Tests
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently blasted the observatory with extreme sound, shook it, and listened to its electronic hum. Roman passed all three assessments, which aimed to confirm that the observatory will withstand launch conditions and function as expected in space. The achievement keeps the mission on track for launch as early […]
How One Of The World’s Most Notorious Fraudsters Posed As A Pilot To Fly For Free
Made extra-famous through the hollywood film ‘Catch Me If You Can’, legendary conman turned security consultant Frank Abagnale managed to fly for free aboard some 250 flights by posing as a deadheading pilot – a flight crew member being repositioned to another city for operational purposes. In a speech posted to YouTube on January 15th, Abagnale discusses some of the tricks that fooled airlines into letting him travel on their flights. Since such fraudulent activity would be difficult to imitate now, in the 2020s, we thought it would be fun to go over some of Abagnale’s tricks for today’s video.