title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Within the city, there are numerous parks including Hagerstown City Park, which is home to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Mansion House Art Gallery, Western Maryland 202 Locomotive Display and Museum, and the Hager House and Museum (once home of Jonathan Hager, founder of Hagerstown). Outside of the Park, Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum showcases exhibits of Hagerstown's early railroad history. Discovery Station, located downtown, is a hands-on science and technology museum featuring exhibits in numerous galleries and display areas, including the Hagerstown Aviation Museum.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Hagerstown is home to the Maryland Theatre, a symphony house that plays host to the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the annual Miss Maryland USA Beauty Pageants. The city also has the Washington County Playhouse, which does dinner theater performances. The new Academy Theatre Banquet & Conference Center, located downtown, houses the community theater group Potomac Playmakers. And the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts is a magnet school for gifted art students, located in downtown Hagerstown's arts and entertainment district on South Potomac Street.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Downtown Hagerstown recently has enjoyed a resurgence and now hosts several popular annual events. The Quad State Beer Fest is a craft beer and music festival that features regional breweries, rock music and entertainment held at various times throughout the year. The Interstate BBQ Festival is a Kansas City Barque Society sanctioned competition which hosts dozens of professional and backyard teams and draws thousands of spectators as a huge regional event. The city draws thousands every year around May–June to the Western Maryland Blues Fest, which showcases blues artists from around the country. The Augustoberfest celebrates Hagerstown's German heritage. And the annual Alsatia Mummers' Halloween Parade happens to be the largest nighttime parade on the East Coast.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Fairgrounds Park features recreational facilities such as the Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex and hosts various events throughout the year like the annual Hagerstown Hispanic Festival held in mid-September.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Professional baseball in Hagerstown dates to the late nineteenth century. Most recently, the Hagerstown Suns minor-league baseball team played from 1981 to 2020 at Municipal Stadium, a ballpark which stood from 1930 to 2022. Groundbreaking was held in October 2022 for a new baseball stadium intended for a new professional team in the Atlantic League.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: To the west of the city lies Hagerstown Speedway, a nationally known dirt-track racing venue. Another professional racing track, Mason-Dixon Dragway, is located just southeast of Hagerstown.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Hagerstown shares a radio market, the 166th largest in the United States, with Chambersburg and Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. The following box contains all of the radio stations in the area:


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Hagerstown is the base for three television stations and shares a Designated Market Area, the sixth largest in the United States, with Washington, D.C.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: Hagerstown used to have a high school called Hagerstown High School, which was located on Potomac Avenue between the years of 1927 and 1958, and became North Potomac Middle School after a new North Hagerstown High School was built on Pennsylvania Avenue and opened in 1958 (North High). Another high school, South Hagerstown High School (South High), was already established during the latter years of the old Hagerstown High School location.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: The Primary Cities are Hagerstown, MD and Martinsburg, WV. Other communities in the MSA include: Halfway, MD, Paramount-Long Meadow, MD, Fountainhead-Orchard Hills, MD, Robinwood, MD, Maugansville, MD, Boonsboro, MD, Smithsburg, MD, Williamsport, MD, Falling Waters, WV, Hedgesville, WV, Inwood, WV and Berkeley Springs, WV.


title: Hagerstown, Maryland

text: The metropolitan area's population in 2000 was 222,771. The 2008 estimate is 263,753, making Greater Hagerstown the 169th largest metropolitan area in the United States. The growth rate from 2000 to 2008 is +18.4%, the 48th highest among metropolitan areas in the entire country and the highest in Maryland (and in West Virginia). The growth is mostly due to the influx of people from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, MD.


title: Rico Yan

text: Rico Yan (; born Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan; March 14, 1975 – March 29, 2002) was a Filipino matinee idol, model, film and television actor, host, spokesperson and entrepreneur.


title: Rico Yan

text: Yan graduated from De La Salle University in 1997 with a degree in Marketing Management. He was the first official youth spokesman for the Department of Education, Culture and Sports in 1998, touring the Philippines for free to promote education among youths. As well as establishing Pinoy Yan Movement, a non-profit organization that aims to make young people stay in school and value education, Yan assisted the Are You a Forest King? Foundation, visiting many schools to promote the importance of tree growth and was associated in various foundations and initiatives that furthered the interests of the youth and leadership formation and studies, among them are the One Dream Foundation, the Blue Eagle Foundation for Sports Development, the Blue Eagle/KIDS/ODF Leadership, Athletic and Spiritual Summer Training, the Youth Study 2001 and the Leadership Research Center. Yan was also the first Philippine National Red Cross Pledge 25 spokesperson in 1999.


title: Rico Yan

text: He was an alumnus of Star Circle Batch 1 now ABS-CBN Corporation's Star Magic in November 1995. He started as commercial model under Cosmopolitan Modeling Agency and then became an actor. He was discovered while falling in line in one of the fast foods on his school De La Salle University when a talent scout asked him if he wanted to be a commercial model. Though surprised, Yan auditioned and got the part of his first television commercial debut in 1995.


title: Rico Yan

text: His preppy rich persona was used to effect in subsequent films such as "Radio Romance, Ama, Ina, Anak" and "Madrasta". After several television and movie parts, Yan became a household name when he played Ricky Salveron in "Gimik" (1996) and Gabriel Maglayon in "Mula Sa Puso" (1997). He had then spawned highly rated television shows amongst these are "Mara Clara" (1996), "'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila" (1996), "Saan Ka Man Naroroon" (1999), "Magandang Tanghali Bayan" (2001) and "Whattamen" (2001). Yan's remarkable films on Star Cinema add "Paano Ang Puso Ko?" (1997), "Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay" (1998), "Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita" (1998), "" (1999), "Mula sa Puso: The Movie" (1999) and "Got 2 Believe" (2002). In 2014, Star Cinema ranked him the No. 5 in the List of "The Kings of Star Cinema", twelve years after his death. Yan starred in commercially successful television and films with pairings opposite Judy Ann Santos and Claudine Barretto.


title: Rico Yan

text: Yan was also a successful strategist entrepreneur and owned several businesses, including Orbitz Pearl Shakes, Java Hut, Buddy Burger, Timbuktu Cafe and Tequila Joe Grill and Restaurants.


title: Rico Yan

text: Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan was born at The Medical City in Mandaluyong City, Philippines. Yan grew up in a family of soldiers and business men. He was the son of Roberto Yan Sr. (1947–2017) and Teresita Castro-Yan. He was the grandson of Manuel Yan (1920–2008), former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Ambassador to Thailand, Indonesia, and United Kingdom, and Colonel Isabelo Ruiz Castro. He has 3 siblings: Geraldine, Tina, and Bobby, a television host. His parents are business owners, owning a security agency for having military background in the family. Yan was an alumnus of Xavier School for his primary education in 1988 and high school from De La Salle Santiago Zobel School in 1992.


title: Rico Yan

text: Yan was a twenty-year-old senior student from De La Salle University when he got his first shot of popularity. He was one of the promising commercial models of Cosmopolitan Modeling Agency, picked to be the main man on his first television commercial for Master Facial Cleanser. It so happened that in screening committee was Johnny Manahan the Talent Center head. Manahan asked Yan if he wanted to be in the movies. Yan was reluctant in joining showbiz and was managed by Biboy Arboleda. He was then launched as one of the members of Star Circle Batch 1, composed of eight talents. While Yan was finishing his marketing thesis and trimesters in college, he was also enthralling public attention through his commercials and most magazine covers.


title: Rico Yan

text: 1996 marked as a compelling period on Yan's career; he became notable. As a matinee idol, he was most charming. In June 1996, Yan played the boy next door character in youth-oriented show "Gimik", named Ricky Salveron directed by Laurenti Dyogi shown on The Filipino Channel (TFC). The show was about the lives of a solid bunch of juvenile living in an imaginary village that tackles the experiences and fun of being young, alongside Judy Ann Santos, Jolina Magdangal, Giselle Toengi, Mylene Dizon, Patrick Garcia, Diether Ocampo and Marvin Agustin. The show ran tremendously for three years and was adapted in motion picture release, "GIMIK: The Reunion" in 1999, because of the outpouring on screen chemistry of Yan and Santos on Gimik the team up continued on television drama "Mara Clara", he played the young medical intern named Derrick Gonzales. In the same year, Yan became a co host on "'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila", a noon time variety show where he had a portion called Ricollection.


title: Rico Yan

text: In 1997, Yan played the protagonist Gabriel Maglayon in successful primetime television drama "Mula sa Puso", an assiduous cab driver who is willing to give up everything for the family and loved one, alongside Claudine Barretto. The series ran auspiciously for 2 years and was adapted for motion picture release, Mula sa Puso: The Movie in 1999. Playing Gabriel was one of Yan's unforgettable characters on television.


title: Rico Yan

text: On "Star Drama Presents", Yan did showcased his versatility with depth as an actor by playing off beat characters that was not his typical. He was one of the few Talent Center artists who had numerous appearances in the series, starring in twelve, as featured artist in March 1997 and April 1998.


title: Rico Yan

text: In 1999, Yan next starred on television drama "Saan Ka Man Naroroon" opposite Claudine Barretto. He was the agriculturist named Daniel Pineda, an uncomplicated young man but when love transpired, acquired uncertainty with how life's been hard on him. Married a rich old maid to ameliorate living, nevertheless, the union was tormented with lies and deceit.


title: Rico Yan

text: Yan worked with Director Chito S. Roño in a mini series titled Detour (2000), making it as his third starring role for Star Drama Presents. He was Carl, an eccentric rich young man who was dying and in journey through life. Carl bumps into all sorts of equally weird characters emerging as a better person at the end of the road. Wearing all the prosthetics during summer of 2000 where the temperature shoots up to 38 degrees Celsius. Yan being the professional and thespian, did his job without a single complaint and gave a profound depiction of the said character.


title: Rico Yan

text: In movies, Yan moved up to be a leading actor. In 1996 and 1997, he did "Paano Ang Puso Ko?", as Jason Delgado, a free-spirited, mischievous and playful repatriate. Indisposed but want to live a normal and enjoy life to the fullest. And Joel Bernabe, a sedulous merchandiser in the two-part film "Flames: the Movie".


title: Rico Yan

text: In the film "Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay", a romantic drama, directed by Rory Quintos In September 1998, Yan played Alex Medina, an aspiring businessman whose only dream is to open his own restaurant. Paired opposite Judy Ann Santos whose character needs to choose between family and Alex, the movie was Yan's first full-length role as a leading man, shot in one of the most romantic place Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines.


title: Rico Yan

text: In June 1998, following the success of "Mula sa Puso" then came "Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita". Yan played Miguel Quirino, an elitist, methodical student council president that has exceptionally high standards, whose character was constantly pissed and flirted by Mela (Claudine Barretto) just to get his attention. The film received a positive response critical and commercial.


title: Rico Yan

text: In 2001, Yan maneuvered to a different genre from leading man to be part of a comic triumvirate called Whattamen whom initially started on Gimik. In September 2001, he showed his humorist side by playing the pleasant and witty Castro in an all-male comedy sitcom, focusing in three characters on "Whattamen" alongside, Dominic Ochoa, Marvin Agustin and Ai Ai De Las Alas. A restaurant possessor, who is the charming guy, is all charms and the sane one in the group. Later on the trio had a spin-off from sitcom to daily afternoon show "Magandang Tanghali Bayan", where Yan was launched as one of the new hosts.


title: Rico Yan

text: In February 2002, Yan filmed his last movie "Got 2 Believe", a romantic comedy directed by Olivia Lamasan, which was a huge box office hit and received a gold record award for the official soundtrack before his death, were Yan recorded a duet, alongside Claudine Barretto as one of the theme songs, Got to Believe in Magic. Yan played Lorenz Montinola a commitment-phobic photographer whose only dream is to be an international one.


title: Rico Yan

text: When he died, Yan had been marked to do three more motion picture films that year under his film outfit Star Cinema after his box office hit movie "Got 2 Believe". He was chosen by screenwriter Ricky Lee and director Marilou Diaz-Abaya to play a lead role in the movie sequel of "Moral". A major role for the play "Sinta" in Dulaang Sibol of Ateneo theater by Director Johnny Manahan and an addition on Fernando Poe Jr. and Judy Ann Santos movie sequel of "Isusumbong Kita sa Tatay Ko".


title: Rico Yan

text: Before joining the entertainment industry in 1995, Yan was a commercial model known for his astringent advertisement for Eskinol Master Facial Cleanser with the tag line "Sikreto Ng Mga Gwapo (Secret of the Handsome)", which led to his being called "Crush Ng Bayan". As a product endorser, Yan was ranked No. 11, "List of 15 Commercial Models Turned Celebrities" in 2010 of SPOT. Under Cosmopolitan Modeling Agency, Yan did modeling stints for "Johnson's Face Powder" , "Sterling Notebook" , "Presto Wannabe" and "PLDT MCI 105-15". Yan became the first image model of several products amongst these are "Eskinol Master Facial Cleanser" , "Nissin Eggnog Cookies", Greenwich Pizza , Talk 'N Text, Timex and "Rain Forest Water". He also became the endorser of various apparels like "Molecules Shirts", "PROmac athletic shoes", "Bleue Tab Jeans" and "Genre Shirts". He had several sponsors like United Colors of Benetton Blue Family, Salon de Manila, Ritazzo, Studio Ritratto, Cinderella, Sari-Sari Store, Hangten, Diesel Footwear, Adidas Sports, Ray-Ban, Mendrez Footwear and Planet Fitness. He was filming the Talk 'n Text commercial series when he died and was set to make three more commercials.


title: Rico Yan

text: On March 29, 2002, Yan was found dead inside his hotel room by his friend, actor Dominic Ochoa at the Dos Palmas Resort in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. He died of cardiac arrest due to acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis.


title: Rico Yan

text: His public wake was held in La Salle Green Hills. An estimated 10,000 people attended his last funeral rites in Metro Manila. His funeral was also televised live on ABS-CBN, countless television tributes were given to honor him. Gary Valenciano moved people to tears on his rendition of The Warrior is a Child, Yan's requested song. He was buried in Manila Memorial Park, Parañaque. Yan's burial was ranked No. 6, "List of Most Attended Funerals in Philippine History" by SPOT.


title: Rico Yan

text: A portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales of his last movie, "Got 2 Believe", his documentary "Forever Young: Remembering Rico", and his other movie "Dahil Mahal Na Mahal Kita," contributed to the Rico Yan Youth Foundation.


title: Rico Yan

text: Fr. Tito Caluag, who was Yan's spiritual adviser before his death, disclosed that Yan wanted to become president. "Rico wanted to be a leader but never mentioned leadership because he only wanted to serve. He wanted to be like JFK who gave America a sense of pride and class, and inspired his people." said Caluag.


title: Rico Yan

text: From 1998 to 2002, Yan dated actress Claudine Barretto, who was his on-screen partner beginning in 1996, when they co-starred on "Madrasta". They broke up in 2002, weeks before his death.


title: Spaceflight

text: Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflight operates either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs, with currently the International Space Station as the main destination of human spaceflight missions while China's Tiangong Space Station is under construction.


title: Spaceflight

text: Spaceflight is used for placing in Earth's orbit communications satellites, reconnaissance satellites, Earth observation satellites, but also for space exploration such as space observatories and space probes, or even for space tourism.


title: Spaceflight

text: Spaceflight can be achieved with different types of launch systems, conventionally by rocket launching, which provide the initial thrust to overcome the force of gravity and propel a spacecraft from the surface of the Earth. Once in space, the motion of a spacecraft—both when unpropelled and when under propulsion—is covered by the area of study called astrodynamics.


title: Spaceflight

text: Some spacecraft remain in space practically indefinitely, which has created the issue of space pollution in the form of light pollution and space junk, which is a hazard to spaceflight. Otherwise spacecraft are terminated by atmospheric reentry, in which they disintegrate, or if they do not, their reentry is mostly controlled to safely reach a surface by landing or impacting, often being dumped in the oceanic spacecraft cemetery. As such spacecraft have been the subject of some space traffic management.


title: Spaceflight

text: A space mission refers to a spaceflight intended to achieve an objective. Objectives for space missions may include space exploration, space research, and national firsts in spaceflight.


title: Spaceflight

text: Space transport is the use of spacecraft to transport people or cargo into or through outer space. This may include human spaceflight and cargo spacecraft flight.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first theoretical proposal of space travel using rockets was published by Scottish astronomer and mathematician William Leitch, in an 1861 essay "A Journey Through Space". More well-known (though not widely outside Russia) is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's work, "" ("The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices"), published in 1903.


title: Spaceflight

text: Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard's publication in 1919 of his paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes". His application of the de Laval nozzle to liquid fuel rockets improved efficiency enough for interplanetary travel to become possible. He also proved in the laboratory that rockets would work in the vacuum of space; nonetheless, his work was not taken seriously by the public. His attempt to secure an Army contract for a rocket-propelled weapon in the first World War was defeated by the November 11, 1918 armistice with Germany. Working with private financial support, he was the first to launch a liquid-fueled rocket in 1926. Goddard's papers were highly influential internationally in his field.


title: Spaceflight

text: The world's first large-scale experimental rocket program was Opel RAK under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier during the late 1920s leading to the first piloted rocket cars and rocket planes, which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and US and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards.The Opel RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds, as well as caused global public excitement as so-called "Rocket Rumble" and had a large long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers like Wernher von Braun.


title: Spaceflight

text: In the course of World War II the first guided rockets, the V-2 were developed and employed as weapons by Nazi Germany. At a test flight in June 1944 one such rocket reached space at an altitude of , becoming the first object in human history to do so. At the end of World War II, most of the V-2 rocket team including its head Wernher von Braun surrendered to the United States, and were expatriated to work on American missiles at what became the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, producing missiles such as Juno I and Atlas.


title: Spaceflight

text: At that time the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin was developing intercontinental ballistic missiles to carry nuclear weapons as a counter measure to United States bomber planes. The Tsiolkovsky influenced Sergey Korolev became the chief rocket designer, derivatives of his R-7 Semyorka missiles were used to launch the world's first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, and later the first human to orbit the Earth, Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1, on April 12, 1961.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first US satellite was Explorer 1, launched on February 1, 1958, and the first American in orbit, became John Glenn in "Friendship 7" on February 20, 1962. As director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, Von Braun oversaw development of a larger class of rocket called Saturn, which allowed the US to send the first two humans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, to the Moon and back on Apollo 11 in July 1969. At the same time, the Soviet Union secretly tried but failed to develop the N1 rocket, meant to give them the capability to land humans on the Moon.


title: Spaceflight

text: Ever since spaceflight has been widely employed for placing satellites into orbit around Earth for a broad range of purposes, for sending uncrewed spacecraft exploring space beyond the Moon and having continuous crewed human presence in space with a series of space stations, from the salyut program to the International Space Station.


title: Spaceflight

text: Rockets are the only means currently capable of reaching orbit or beyond. Other non-rocket spacelaunch technologies have yet to be built, or remain short of orbital speeds.


title: Spaceflight

text: A rocket launch for a spaceflight usually starts from a spaceport (cosmodrome), which may be equipped with launch complexes and launch pads for vertical rocket launches and runways for takeoff and landing of carrier airplanes and winged spacecraft. Spaceports are situated well away from human habitation for noise and safety reasons. ICBMs have various special launching facilities.


title: Spaceflight

text: A launch is often restricted to certain launch windows. These windows depend upon the position of celestial bodies and orbits relative to the launch site. The biggest influence is often the rotation of the Earth itself. Once launched, orbits are normally located within relatively constant flat planes at a fixed angle to the axis of the Earth, and the Earth rotates within this orbit.


title: Spaceflight

text: A launch pad is a fixed structure designed to dispatch airborne vehicles. It generally consists of a launch tower and flame trench. It is surrounded by equipment used to erect, fuel, and maintain launch vehicles. Before launch, the rocket can weigh many hundreds of tonnes. The Space Shuttle "Columbia", on STS-1, weighed at takeoff.


title: Spaceflight

text: The most commonly used definition of outer space is everything beyond the Kármán line, which is above the Earth's surface. The United States sometimes defines outer space as everything beyond in altitude.


title: Spaceflight

text: Rocket engines are the only currently practical means of reaching space. Conventional airplane engines cannot reach space due to the lack of oxygen. Rocket engines expel propellant to provide forward thrust that generates enough delta-v (change in velocity) to reach orbit.


title: Spaceflight

text: For crewed launch systems launch escape systems are frequently fitted to allow astronauts to escape in the case of emergency.


title: Spaceflight

text: Many ways to reach space other than rocket engines have been proposed. Ideas such as the space elevator, and momentum exchange tethers like rotovators or skyhooks require new materials much stronger than any currently known. Electromagnetic launchers such as launch loops might be feasible with current technology. Other ideas include rocket assisted aircraft/spaceplanes such as Reaction Engines Skylon (currently in early stage development), scramjet powered spaceplanes, and RBCC powered spaceplanes. Gun launch has been proposed for cargo.


title: Spaceflight

text: Achieving a closed orbit is not essential to lunar and interplanetary voyages. Early Soviet space vehicles successfully achieved very high altitudes without going into orbit. NASA considered launching Apollo missions directly into lunar trajectories but adopted the strategy of first entering a temporary parking orbit and then performing a separate burn several orbits later onto a lunar trajectory.


title: Spaceflight

text: The parking orbit approach greatly simplified Apollo mission planning in several important ways. It acted as a "time buffer" and substantially widened the allowable launch windows. The parking orbit gave the crew and controllers several hours to thoroughly check out the spacecraft after the stresses of launch before committing it for a long journey to the Moon.


title: Spaceflight

text: Apollo missions minimized the performance penalty of the parking orbit by keeping its altitude as low as possible. For example, Apollo 15 used an unusually low parking orbit of which is not sustainable for very long due to friction with the Earth's atmosphere, but the crew would only spend three hours before reigniting the S-IVB third stage to put them on a lunar-bound trajectory.


title: Spaceflight

text: Robotic missions do not require an abort capability or radiation minimization, and because modern launchers routinely meet "instantaneous" launch windows, space probes to the Moon and other planets generally use direct injection to maximize performance. Although some might coast briefly during the launch sequence, they do not complete one or more full parking orbits before the burn that injects them onto an Earth escape trajectory.


title: Spaceflight

text: The escape velocity from a celestial body decreases with altitude above that body. However, it is more fuel-efficient for a craft to burn its fuel as close to the ground as possible; see Oberth effect and reference. This is another


title: Spaceflight

text: way to explain the performance penalty associated with establishing the safe perigee of a parking orbit.


title: Spaceflight

text: Astrodynamics is the study of spacecraft trajectories, particularly as they relate to gravitational and propulsion effects. Astrodynamics allows for a spacecraft to arrive at its destination at the correct time without excessive propellant use. An orbital maneuvering system may be needed to maintain or change orbits.


title: Spaceflight

text: Non-rocket orbital propulsion methods include solar sails, magnetic sails, plasma-bubble magnetic systems, and using gravitational slingshot effects.


title: Spaceflight

text: The term "transfer energy" means the total amount of energy imparted by a rocket stage to its payload. This can be the energy imparted by a first stage of a launch vehicle to an upper stage plus payload, or by an upper stage or spacecraft kick motor to a spacecraft.


title: Spaceflight

text: In order to reach towards a space station, a spacecraft would have to arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance (e.g. within visual contact). This is done by a set of orbital maneuvers called space rendezvous.


title: Spaceflight

text: After rendezvousing with the space station, the space vehicle then docks or berths with the station. Docking refers to joining of two separate free-flying space vehicles, while berthing refers to mating operations where an inactive vehicle is placed into the mating interface of another space vehicle by using a robotic arm.


title: Spaceflight

text: Vehicles in orbit have large amounts of kinetic energy. This energy must be discarded if the vehicle is to land safely without vaporizing in the atmosphere. Typically this process requires special methods to protect against aerodynamic heating. The theory behind reentry was developed by Harry Julian Allen. Based on this theory, reentry vehicles present blunt shapes to the atmosphere for reentry. Blunt shapes mean that less than 1% of the kinetic energy ends up as heat reaching the vehicle, and the remainder heats up the atmosphere.


title: Spaceflight

text: The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules all splashed down in the sea. These capsules were designed to land at relatively low speeds with the help of a parachute. Soviet/Russian capsules for Soyuz make use of a big parachute and braking rockets to touch down on land. Spaceplanes like the Space Shuttle land like a glider.


title: Spaceflight

text: After a successful landing the spacecraft, its occupants, and cargo can be recovered. In some cases, recovery has occurred before landing: while a spacecraft is still descending on its parachute, it can be snagged by a specially designed aircraft. This mid-air retrieval technique was used to recover the film canisters from the Corona spy satellites.


title: Spaceflight

text: Uncrewed spaceflight is all spaceflight activity without a necessary human presence in space. This includes all space probes, satellites and robotic spacecraft and missions. Uncrewed spaceflight is the opposite of crewed spaceflight, which is usually called human spaceflight. Subcategories of uncrewed spaceflight are "robotic spacecraft" (objects) and "robotic space missions" (activities). A robotic spacecraft is an uncrewed spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. In some cases, such as with helicopters, a spacecraft may need to act autonomously for short periods of time. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe.


title: Spaceflight

text: Uncrewed space missions use remote-controlled spacecraft. The first uncrewed space mission was "Sputnik", launched October 4, 1957 to orbit the Earth. Space missions where other animals but no humans are on-board are considered uncrewed missions.


title: Spaceflight

text: Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. In addition, some planetary destinations such as Venus or the vicinity of Jupiter are too hostile for human survival, given current technology. Outer planets such as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spaceflight technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them. Telerobotics also allows exploration of regions that are vulnerable to contamination by Earth micro-organisms since spacecraft can be sterilized. Humans can not be sterilized in the same way as a spaceship, as they coexist with numerous micro-organisms, and these micro-organisms are also hard to contain within a spaceship or spacesuit.


title: Spaceflight

text: Telerobotics becomes telepresence when the time delay is short enough to permit control of the spacecraft in close to real time by humans. Even the two seconds light speed delay for the Moon is too far away for telepresence exploration from Earth. The L1 and L2 positions permit 400-millisecond round trip delays, which is just close enough for telepresence operation. Telepresence has also been suggested as a way to repair satellites in Earth orbit from Earth. The Exploration Telerobotics Symposium in 2012 explored this and other topics.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, on which cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin of the USSR made one orbit around the Earth. In official Soviet documents, there is no mention of the fact that Gagarin parachuted the final seven miles. As of 2020, the only spacecraft regularly used for human spaceflight are Soyuz, Shenzhou, and Crew Dragon. The U.S. Space Shuttle fleet operated from April 1981 until July 2011. SpaceShipOne has conducted two human suborbital spaceflights.


title: Spaceflight

text: On a sub-orbital spaceflight the spacecraft reaches space and then returns to the atmosphere after following a (primarily) ballistic trajectory. This is usually because of insufficient specific orbital energy, in which case a suborbital flight will last only a few minutes, but it is also possible for an object with enough energy for an orbit to have a trajectory that intersects the Earth's atmosphere, sometimes after many hours. Pioneer 1 was NASA's first space probe intended to reach the Moon. A partial failure caused it to instead follow a suborbital trajectory to an altitude of before reentering the Earth's atmosphere 43 hours after launch.


title: Spaceflight

text: The most generally recognized boundary of space is the Kármán line above sea level. (NASA alternatively defines an astronaut as someone who has flown more than above sea level.) It is not generally recognized by the public that the increase in potential energy required to pass the Kármán line is only about 3% of the orbital energy (potential plus kinetic energy) required by the lowest possible Earth orbit (a circular orbit just above the Kármán line.) In other words, it is far easier to reach space than to stay there. On May 17, 2004, Civilian Space eXploration Team launched the GoFast rocket on a suborbital flight, the first amateur spaceflight. On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne was used for the first privately funded human spaceflight.


title: Spaceflight

text: Point-to-point, or Earth to Earth transportation, is a category of sub-orbital spaceflight in which a spacecraft provides rapid transport between two terrestrial locations. A conventional airline route between London and Sydney, a flight that normally lasts over twenty hours, could be traversed in less than one hour. While no company offers this type of transportation today, SpaceX has revealed plans to do so as early as the 2020s using Starship. Suborbital spaceflight over an intercontinental distance requires a vehicle velocity that is only a little lower than the velocity required to reach low Earth orbit. If rockets are used, the size of the rocket relative to the payload is similar to an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Any intercontinental spaceflight has to surmount problems of heating during atmosphere re-entry that are nearly as large as those faced by orbital spaceflight.


title: Spaceflight

text: A minimal orbital spaceflight requires much higher velocities than a minimal sub-orbital flight, and so it is technologically much more challenging to achieve. To achieve orbital spaceflight, the tangential velocity around the Earth is as important as altitude. In order to perform a stable and lasting flight in space, the spacecraft must reach the minimal orbital speed required for a closed orbit.


title: Spaceflight

text: Interplanetary spaceflight is flight between planets within a single planetary system. In practice, the use of the term is confined to travel between the planets of our Solar System. Plans for future crewed interplanetary spaceflight missions often include final vehicle assembly in Earth orbit, such as NASA's Constellation program and Russia's Kliper/Parom tandem.


title: Spaceflight

text: ‘’New Horizons’’ is the fifth spacecraft put on an escape trajectory leaving the Solar System. "Voyager 1", "Voyager 2", "Pioneer 10", "Pioneer 11" are the earlier ones. The one farthest from the Sun is "Voyager 1", which is more than 100 AU distant and is moving at 3.6 AU per year. In comparison, Proxima Centauri, the closest star other than the Sun, is 267,000 AU distant. It will take "Voyager 1" over 74,000 years to reach this distance. Vehicle designs using other techniques, such as nuclear pulse propulsion are likely to be able to reach the nearest star significantly faster. Another possibility that could allow for human interstellar spaceflight is to make use of time dilation, as this would make it possible for passengers in a fast-moving vehicle to travel further into the future while aging very little, in that their great speed slows down the rate of passage of on-board time. However, attaining such high speeds would still require the use of some new, advanced method of propulsion. Dynamic soaring as a way to travel across interstellar space has been proposed as well.


title: Spaceflight

text: Intergalactic travel involves spaceflight between galaxies, and is considered much more technologically demanding than even interstellar travel and, by current engineering terms, is considered science fiction. However, theoretically speaking, there is nothing to conclusively indicate that intergalactic travel is impossible. To date several academics have studied intergalactic travel in a serious manner.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first 'true spacecraft' is sometimes said to be Apollo Lunar Module, since this was the only crewed vehicle to have been designed for, and operated only in space; and is notable for its non-aerodynamic shape.


title: Spaceflight

text: Spacecraft today predominantly use rockets for propulsion, but other propulsion techniques such as ion drives are becoming more common, particularly for uncrewed vehicles, and this can significantly reduce the vehicle's mass and increase its delta-v.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first reusable spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on 19 July 1963. The first partially reusable orbital spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, on 12 April 1981. During the Shuttle era, six orbiters were built, all of which flown in the atmosphere and five of which flown in space. The "Enterprise" was used only for approach and landing tests, launching from the back of a Boeing 747 and gliding to deadstick landings at Edwards AFB, California. The first Space Shuttle to fly into space was the "Columbia", followed by the "Challenger", "Discovery", "Atlantis", and "Endeavour". The "Endeavour" was built to replace the "Challenger", which was lost in January 1986. The "Columbia" broke up during reentry in February 2003.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first automatic partially reusable spacecraft was the "Buran" ("Snowstorm"), launched by the USSR on 15 November 1988, although it made only one flight. This spaceplane was designed for a crew and strongly resembled the US Space Shuttle, although its drop-off boosters used liquid propellants and its main engines were located at the base of what would be the external tank in the American Shuttle. Lack of funding, complicated by the dissolution of the USSR, prevented any further flights of Buran.


title: Spaceflight

text: The Space Shuttle was retired in 2011 due mainly to its old age and high cost of the program reaching over a billion dollars per flight. The Shuttle's human transport role is to be replaced by the SpaceX Dragon 2 and CST-100 in the 2020s. The Shuttle's heavy cargo transport role is now done by commercial launch vehicles.


title: Spaceflight

text: Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne was a reusable suborbital spaceplane that carried pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie on consecutive flights in 2004 to win the Ansari X Prize. The Spaceship Company has built its successor SpaceShipTwo. A fleet of SpaceShipTwos operated by Virgin Galactic planned to begin reusable private spaceflight carrying paying passengers (space tourists) in 2008, but this was delayed due to an accident in the propulsion development.


title: Spaceflight

text: SpaceX achieved the first vertical soft landing of a re-usable orbital rocket stage on December 21, 2015, after delivering 11 Orbcomm OG-2 commercial satellites into low Earth orbit.


title: Spaceflight

text: The first Falcon 9 second flight occurred on 30 March 2017. SpaceX now routinely recovers and reuses their first stages, with the intent of reusing fairings as well.


title: Spaceflight

text: All launch vehicles contain a huge amount of energy that is needed for some part of it to reach orbit. There is therefore some risk that this energy can be released prematurely and suddenly, with significant effects. When a Delta II rocket exploded 13 seconds after launch on January 17, 1997, there were reports of store windows away being broken by the blast.


title: Spaceflight

text: Space is a fairly predictable environment, but there are still risks of accidental depressurization and the potential failure of equipment, some of which may be very newly developed.


title: Spaceflight

text: In 2004 the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety was established in the Netherlands to further international cooperation and scientific advancement in space systems safety.


title: Spaceflight

text: In a microgravity environment such as that provided by a spacecraft in orbit around the Earth, humans experience a sense of "weightlessness." Short-term exposure to microgravity causes space adaptation syndrome, a self-limiting nausea caused by derangement of the vestibular system. Long-term exposure causes multiple health issues. The most significant is bone loss, some of which is permanent, but microgravity also leads to significant deconditioning of muscular and cardiovascular tissues.


title: Spaceflight

text: Once above the atmosphere, radiation due to the Van Allen belts, solar radiation and cosmic radiation issues occur and increase. Further away from the Earth, solar flares can give a fatal radiation dose in minutes, and the health threat from cosmic radiation significantly increases the chances of cancer over a decade exposure or more.


title: Spaceflight

text: In human spaceflight, the life support system is a group of devices that allow a human being to survive in outer space. NASA often uses the phrase Environmental Control and Life Support System or the acronym ECLSS when describing these systems for its human spaceflight missions. The life support system may supply: air, water and food. It must also maintain the correct body temperature, an acceptable pressure on the body and deal with the body's waste products. Shielding against harmful external influences such as radiation and micro-meteorites may also be necessary. Components of the life support system are life-critical, and are designed and constructed using safety engineering techniques.


title: Spaceflight

text: Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in outer space. It is distinct from the concept of weather within a planetary atmosphere, and deals with phenomena involving ambient plasma, magnetic fields, radiation and other matter in space (generally close to Earth but also in interplanetary, and occasionally interstellar medium). "Space weather describes the conditions in space that affect Earth and its technological systems. Our space weather is a consequence of the behavior of the Sun, the nature of Earth's magnetic field, and our location in the Solar System."


title: Spaceflight

text: Space weather exerts a profound influence in several areas related to space exploration and development. Changing geomagnetic conditions can induce changes in atmospheric density causing the rapid degradation of spacecraft altitude in Low Earth orbit. Geomagnetic storms due to increased solar activity can potentially blind sensors onboard spacecraft, or interfere with on-board electronics. An understanding of space environmental conditions is also important in designing shielding and life support systems for crewed spacecraft.


title: Spaceflight

text: Exhaust pollution of rockets depends on the produced exhausts by the propellants reactions and the location of exhaustion. They mostly exhaust greenhouse gases and sometimes toxic components. Particularly at higher levels of the atmosphere the potency of exhausted gases as greenhouse gases increases considerably


title: Spaceflight

text: . Many solid rockets have chlorine in the form of perchlorate or other chemicals, and this can cause temporary local holes in the ozone layer. Re-entering spacecraft generate nitrates which also can temporarily impact the ozone layer. Most rockets are made of metals that can have an environmental impact during their construction.


title: Spaceflight

text: While spaceflight altogether pollutes at a fraction of other human activities, it still does pollute heavily if calculated per passenger.


title: Spaceflight

text: In addition to the atmospheric effects there are effects on the near-Earth space environment. There is the possibility that orbit could become inaccessible for generations due to exponentially increasing space debris caused by spalling of satellites and vehicles (Kessler syndrome). Many launched vehicles today are therefore designed to be re-entered after use.


title: Spaceflight

text: A wide range of issues such as space traffic management or liability have been issues of spaceflight regulation.


title: Spaceflight

text: Participation and representation of all humanity in spaceflight is an issue of international space law ever since the first phase of space exploration. Even though some rights of non-spacefaring countries have been secured, sharing of space for all humanity is still criticized as imperialist and lacking, understanding spaceflight as a resource.


title: Spaceflight

text: Most early spaceflight development was paid for by governments. However, today major launch markets such as communication satellites and satellite television are purely commercial, though many of the launchers were originally funded by governments.


title: Spaceflight

text: Private spaceflight is a rapidly developing area: space flight that is not only paid for by corporations or even private individuals, but often provided by private spaceflight companies. These companies often assert that much of the previous high cost of access to space was caused by governmental inefficiencies they can avoid. This assertion can be supported by much lower published launch costs for private space launch vehicles such as Falcon 9 developed with private financing. Lower launch costs and excellent safety will be required for the applications such as space tourism and especially space colonization to become feasible for expansion.


title: Spaceflight

text: To be spacefaring is to be capable of and active in the operation of spacecraft. It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills including: aeronautics; astronautics; programs to train astronauts; space weather and forecasting; spacecraft operations; operation of various equipment; spacecraft design and construction; atmospheric takeoff and reentry; orbital mechanics (a.k.a. astrodynamics); communications; engines and rockets; execution of evolutions such as towing, microgravity construction, and space docking; cargo handling equipment, dangerous cargos and cargo storage; spacewalking; dealing with emergencies; survival at space and first aid; fire fighting; life support. The degree of knowledge needed within these areas is dependent upon the nature of the work and the type of vessel employed. "Spacefaring" is analogous to seafaring.


title: Spaceflight

text: There has never been a crewed mission outside the Earth–Moon system. However, the United States, Russia, China, European Space Agency (ESA) countries, and a few corporations and enterprises have plans in various stages to travel to Mars (see Human mission to Mars).


title: Spaceflight

text: Spacefaring entities can be sovereign states, supranational entities, and private corporations. Spacefaring nations are those capable of independently building and launching craft into space. A growing number of private entities have become or are becoming spacefaring.


title: Spaceflight

text: The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has been the main multilateral body servicing international contact and exchange on space activity among spacefaring and non-spacefaring states.


title: Spaceflight

text: The following nations or organizations have developed their own launch vehicles to launch uncrewed spacecraft into orbit either from their own territory or with foreign assistance (date of first launch in parentheses):


title: Spaceflight

text: Also several countries, such as Canada, Italy and Australia, had semi-independent spacefaring capability, launching locally-built satellites on foreign launchers. Canada had designed and built satellites (Alouette 1 and 2) in 1962 and 1965 which were orbited using US launch vehicles. Italy has designed and built several satellites, as well as pressurized modules for the International Space Station.


title: Spaceflight

text: Early Italian satellites were launched using vehicles provided by NASA, first from Wallops Flight Facility in 1964 and then from a spaceport in Kenya (San Marco Platform) between 1967 and 1988;


title: Spaceflight

text: Italy has led the development of the Vega rocket programme within the European Space Agency since 1998.


title: Spaceflight

text: The United Kingdom abandoned its independent space launch program in 1972 in favour of co-operating with the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) on launch technologies until 1974. Australia abandoned its launcher program shortly after the successful launch of WRESAT, and became the only non-European member of ELDO.


title: Spaceflight

text: Considering merely launching an object beyond the Kármán line to be the minimum requirement of spacefaring, Germany, with the V-2 rocket, became the first spacefaring nation in 1944. The following nations have only achieved suborbital spaceflight capability by launching indigenous rockets or missiles or both into suborbital space.


title: MattyBRaps

text: Matthew David Morris (born January 6, 2003), better known as MattyB or MattyBRaps, is an American singer and rapper who launched his career by creating remixes of popular music and posting them to YouTube.


title: MattyBRaps

text: Morris has released numerous covers and remixes of mainstream music since he began his career in 2010. His first cover was of "Eenie Meenie" by Justin Bieber. On August 1, 2014, MattyB's YouTube channel surpassed one billion views. As of July 13, 2015, he has posted over 90 additional covers and 20 original songs on his YouTube channel. On August 27, 2015, his debut EP premiered on YouTube, titled "Outside the Lines". The album consists of four original songs. On June 7, 2016, Morris released a memoir book, "That's a Rap", with the help of writer Travis Thrasher.


title: MattyBRaps

text: Morris was born on January 6, 2003, in Duluth, Georgia, and has three older brothers and a younger sister.


title: MattyBRaps

text: Morris' first song with original lyrics was a remix of "I Believe in You", released on June 22, 2010. His first song available for purchase was a remix of "Just the Way You Are", released on August 11, 2010, featuring Tyler Ward. In late 2012, he peaked at 11th on the Billboard Social 50 Chart with the music video for "That's the Way", which doubled his number of followers on social media sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.


title: MattyBRaps

text: Morris has made several appearances on television, including "Today", "The Wendy Williams Show", "Dr. Phil", "WWE", and "The Queen Latifah Show". He has also featured other artists, including Vanilla Ice, James Maslow, and Carson Lueders.


title: ALF (character)

text: Gordon Shumway, also known as "ALF", is the protagonist and title character of the American television series "ALF", and its animated spin-offs, "", and "ALF Tales". ALF also starred in the poorly received television film "Project ALF", and hosted the short lived talk show "ALF's Hit Talk Show". The name "ALF" is short for "Alien Life Form". Paul Fusco created and plays ALF, and he also provides the voice for the character. On "ALF", Lisa Buckley and Bob Fappiano assisted Fusco with performing the furry brown alien. During the first season of "ALF", Michu Meszaros occasionally wore a full costume when full body shots were needed of the character.


title: ALF (character)

text: Since "ALF", the character has appeared in various other media, including television series, comic books, and video games.


title: ALF (character)

text: Paul Fusco created the character in 1984 using an alien-looking puppet, that he used to annoy his family and friends. Bernie Brillstein was approached to see Fusco's audition with a puppet character but was initially uninterested, having managed Jim Henson for years by that point, and regarding Henson as the best puppeteer in the business. However, Fusco's brief performance as ALF won over Brillstein, who thought the character was hilarious and strong enough to be the focus of a series.


title: ALF (character)

text: Fusco was notoriously secretive about his character up until the series' premiere. During the show's production, Fusco refused to acknowledge that the puppet ALF was anything other than an alien. All involved with the production were cautioned not to reveal any of ALF's production secrets.


title: ALF (character)

text: To avoid wear and tear on the principal ALF puppet, the performers rehearsed with a crude early version of ALF, nicknamed "RALF" For ("Rehearsal Alien Life Form" or "Repulsive Alien Life Form"). Fusco did not like to rehearse, and would often substitute his hand or RALF for the real ALF puppet during rehearsals.


title: ALF (character)

text: To perform the titular alien on the "ALF" sitcom, Paul Fusco inserted his left hand into the head of the ALF puppet to perform the character's mouth, leaving his right hand to serve as ALF's. Underneath the trap doors and holes on the set floor, Fusco would be assisted by a second puppeteer, Lisa Buckley, who was responsible for controlling the character's left hand. From off-screen, a third puppeteer, Bob Fappiano, would operate his eyes and other facial features via remote control. Buckley and Fappiano would be credited as "Personal Assistants to ALF" through the end of the series. While Buckley and Fappiano were usually the only "personal assistants", costumer Liz Beth Gower was occasionally credited for ALF during the first season. In recent years, ALF's left hand has been performed by Paul Fusco's wife, Linda Fusco.


title: ALF (character)

text: When creating ALF's voice, Fusco initially took inspiration from that of Rowlf the Dog, a Muppet character performed by his creator, Jim Henson. Rowlf's gruff voice, though, ended up straining Fusco's vocal chords, which led him to invent a new voice that was much lighter, until it evolved into ALF's voice as it is known today. However, in early episodes of the series, ALF speaks with a voice reminiscent of the earlier, Rowlf-esque voice.


title: ALF (character)

text: During the first season of "ALF", whenever the character had to be seen in full-bodied shots, Hungarian actor Michu Meszaros would don a life-sized ALF costume. However, Meszaros' services became too costly, and the regular ALF puppet would be used for all of his scenes on the show. During the first season, Meszaros was occasionally credited as a "Personal Assistant to ALF".


title: ALF (character)

text: In "ALF", ALF is an alien from the planet Melmac who has arrived on planet Earth, and lands in the Tanner family's garage. On Melmac, ALF was a member of the planet's Orbit Guard. He was given the nickname "ALF", by Willie Tanner in the pilot episode. ALF was born on October 28, 1756. He is troublesome, sarcastic, and cynical. ALF is generally regarded as one of the only Melmacians to survive his home planet's cataclysm. ALF stayed at the Tanner's house, in order to stay hidden from the government, and very rarely interacted with anyone outside of the family. In an episode from the first season, "Help Me, Rhonda", Willie is able to contact ALF's friend from Melmac, Skip, and Skip offers fly by Earth to pick up ALF. ALF initially decides to go with Skip, but later changes his mind and decides he would rather stay with the Tanners instead.


title: ALF (character)

text: Due to the series becoming popular with children, ALF didn't drink any alcohol after the first season, because NBC thought it made him a bad role model for children. ALF is also known to try to eat cats, including the Tanner family cat, Lucky, this later stopped after an episode in which ALF tried to microwave Lucky caused a child to try and microwave their own cat. Also, the episode "Try to Remember", depicted ALF using an electric mixer in a bathtub, and getting amnesia, which caused a child to attempt this and nearly electrocute himself. The episode was then edited for all future airings, with ALF slipping in the shower instead causing the amnesia. The episode also began with a PSA featuring ALF explaining the dangers of such actions.


title: ALF (character)

text: "", a spin-off of "ALF", depicts ALF's life on Melmac before it exploded. As the animated series takes place before ALF's life on Earth, he goes by his real name of "Gordon". Each episode depicts ALF and his family in some kind of wacky situation. His family members are his father Bob, his mother Flo, his younger brother Curtis, his little sister Augie, his dog Neep, and his bird Harry. Gordon has two friends named Skip, another named Rick Fusterman, and a girl he adores named Rhonda.


title: ALF (character)

text: In "ALF Tales", a spin-off of "ALF: The Animated Series", ALF and the other characters from "ALF: The Animated Series" portray various characters from fairy tales, in a more comedic manner than the original fairy tales. Occasionally in the series, ALF broke the fourth wall, and was seen preparing for the episode.


title: ALF (character)

text: "Project ALF" was a 1996 television movie that was intended to wrap up the cliffhanger from the series finale of "ALF". In the movie, ALF was on a military base after being captured by the Alien Task Force. The film was intended to also be a backdoor pilot for a new series, but was poorly received by the audience, partly due to the absence of the Tanners.


title: ALF (character)

text: In 2004, ALF hosted the short lived talk show "ALF's Hit Talk Show". It was originally intended to be a one time special, but gained enough viewers for more episodes. The series is considered to be a flop and has been considered one of the worst talk shows in history.


title: ALF (character)

text: In 2012, it was announced that Fusco was pitching an ALF film. The film later reported to be a CGI-Live action hybrid film, to be developed by Sony Pictures Animation, with Jordan Kerner set to produce the film with Fusco and "ALF" co-creator, Tom Patchett. , no more information has been given about the film, including whether or not it is still in development.


title: ALF (character)

text: In 2018, it was reported that Warner Bros. was working on an "ALF" reboot, likely about ALF returning to earth and living with a new family. Later that year the reboot was reported as canceled. However, an article about the "Head of the Class" reboot in development at HBO Max, published by "Deadline" in May 2020, stated that the reboot is on the HBO Max development slate.


title: ALF (character)

text: An "ALF" comic book was published by Marvel Comics under their Star Comics imprint. The "ALF" comic began in 1988 and ran for four years, totaling 50 issues and several specials. For virtually the entire series' run, the creative team was Michael Gallagher (script) and Dave Manak and Marie Severin (art). The comic loosely followed the continuity of the television show.


title: ALF (character)

text: Like many shows of its day, "ALF" was also the subject of a trading card series by Topps. Most featured stills from various episodes, but a few cards parodied baseball cards by depicting players of the Melmacian sport "Bouillabaisseball," complete with stats such as "Splats". The yellow-bordered first series was released in 1987, with a red-bordered second series released in 1988.


title: ALF (character)

text: "ALF"-related merchandise was sold during the show's original run, including a 1987 22-inch plush doll produced by Coleco, and a 1988 calendar with Melmac's planetary holidays, such as "Shout at a Shrub Day", prominently marked. In 1987, over $250 million in ALF merchandise were sold, including $85 million worth of Coleco's dolls.


title: ALF (character)

text: In 1987, Dutch remixer and producer Ben Liebrand created a song called "Stuck on Earth" with samples from an episode of "ALF". The single charted at No. 4 in the Netherlands, No. 24 on the Finland's sales-only chart, No. 14 in the Flanders region of Belgium, No. 28 in Germany, and No. 3 in New Zealand.


title: ALF (character)

text: During 1988, Burger King ran a promotion called "The Many Faces of ALF," giving away themed ALF puppets and a cardboard record with each kids meal. These records featured original recordings sung by ALF – titled "Melmac Girls", "Cookin' with ALF", "Melmac Rock", and "Take Me, ALF, to the Ballgame".


title: ALF (character)

text: Tommi Piper, the actor who dubbed ALF's voice for German audiences, spent twelve weeks in the German pop charts in 1989. The single featured Amélie Sandmann (as the voice of Rhonda) and was called "Hallo ALF Hier Ist Rhonda" (translated "Hello ALF, This Is Rhonda"). He also featured as ALF on various themed mix albums introducing songs by pop artists of the time and other original compositions.


title: ALF (character)

text: There are six video games and one printing program based on "ALF": 1987's "ALF", also known as "", for various computer systems, such as the Commodore 64, IBM, and Apple II, 1989's "ALF" for the Sega Master System, four educational games for IBM and Apple II computers released in 1988 called "ALF's U.S. Geography", "ALF's Thinking Skills", "ALF's World of Words", and "Add & Subtract With ALF", and the printing program "ALF's Party Kit".


title: ALF (character)

text: ALF was invited to the White House by First Lady Nancy Reagan to the 1987 White House Christmas Party, where President Ronald Reagan told Fusco that "ALF" was his favorite show. In 2019, it was reported that a New Haven, Connecticut resident was working to get a statue of ALF placed in the city. Fusco is a New Haven native.


title: ALF (character)

text: "TV Guide" ranked ALF #8 on its "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" list. MeTV ranked ALF #2 on its list of top TV aliens, behind only Star Trek's Mr. Spock. On its list of "10 Most Loveable Aliens In Sci-Fi TV History", Screen Rant ranked ALF at #5. ALF also won the award for Favorite TV Actor at the 1989 Kids' Choice Awards.


title: Air Mauritius

text: Air Mauritius is the flag carrier airline of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, with its hub based at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. The company was placed in voluntary administration on 22 April 2020 in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and exited administration mid-2021.


title: Air Mauritius

text: The company was set up on by Air France, the BOAC enterprise, and the Government of Mauritius, with a 27.5% stake each; the balance was held by Rogers and Co. Ltd., the general sales agent for Air France and BOAC in Mauritius.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In the beginning, the carrier operated international services in conjunction with Air France, Air India and British Airways, which jointly had a 25% holding in Air Mauritius at that time. Until 1972, the company restricted its activities to ground services only; it started flight operations in its own right in August 1972 with a six-seater Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft leased from Air Madagascar, connecting Mauritius with Rodrigues. The aircraft wore an Air Mauritius decor, but kept a Malagasy registration.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In 1973, a wet-leased Vickers VC10 from British Airways enabled the company to launch a long-haul route to London via Nairobi, whereas services to Bombay were operated by Air India. The Navajo was replaced with a 16-seater Twin Otter that was acquired in 1975. When an agreement with Air France and British Airways came to an end, a Boeing 707-400 wet-leased from British Airtours helped the airline to start long-haul services in its own right. Long-range operations started on . A second Twin Otter arrived in 1979.


title: Air Mauritius

text: By , the company had 414 employees and a fleet of one Boeing 707-420, one Boeing 737-200 and two Twin Otters to serve a route network of passenger and cargo services to Bombay, London, Nairobi, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rome and Tananarive. Ownership of the company had changed to have the government of Mauritius as the major shareholder (42.5%), followed by Rogers & Co. (17.5%), Air France and British Airways (15% each) and Air India (10%). Air Mauritius acquired a second-hand Boeing 707-320B in 1981. It had previously belonged to South African Airways (SAA), and permitted the airline to return the Boeing 707-400 to British Airtours. In , a joint service between Air Mauritius and Air Madagascar began in the Tananarive–Mauritius–Comoros–Nairobi and Réunion–Mauritius runs, following the lease of an Air Madagascar Boeing 737. During the early 1980s, routes to Durban and Johannesburg were inaugurated using Boeing 707-320B aircraft flown with Air India and British Airways crews. The incorporation of a second aircraft of the type, bought from Luxavia, allowed the carrier to expand the European route network to Rome and Zurich in 1983, whereas Paris was added in the mid-1980s. Leased from SAA, a Boeing 747SP named ″Chateau de Réduit″ entered the fleet in and was deployed on services to London. By , the fleet comprised two Boeing 707-320Bs, a Boeing 737-200, a Boeing 747SP and a Twin Otter. That month, the first of two Bell 206 JetRangers was incorporated. In , a 46-seater ATR 42 was ordered, and Singapore was added to the route network with a weekly service using Boeing 707 equipment. In that year, Air Mauritius joined the African Airlines Association. The carrier made a profit of GBP3.5 million for the fiscal year 1985–86.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In 1986, a second Boeing 747SP that was also leased from SAA entered the fleet; it was named ″Chateau Mon Plaisir″. The incorporation of this aircraft allowed the carrier to phase out a Boeing 707. In 1987, South African Airways' landing rights on Australian soil were suspended by the Australian government and Qantas ceased its operations in South Africa. There had been an increase in demand from businessmen since that time, as most passengers travelling from South Africa to Australia had to stop at Hong Kong, Taipei or Singapore. Given that landing rights in Australia for Air Mauritius had not been approved yet, a Boeing 747SP non-stop service to Hong Kong commenced on , in cooperation with Cathay Pacific. Flights to Kuala Lumpur had started in .


title: Air Mauritius

text: Valued at  million and financed by a group of banks that included Barclays, BNP, Crédit Lyonnais and the Spectrum Bank, the company took delivery of two Boeing 767-200ERs in . These aircraft were named ″City of Port Louis″ and ″City of Curepipe″. One of them set a record-breaking distance for commercial twinjets on , when it flew non-stop from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Mauritius, covering a distance of almost in less than 17 hours. A contract worth  million including spare parts for these two Boeing 767s had been signed a year earlier. Also in 1988, a Boeing 707 was leased from Air Swazi Cargo to operate freighter services, and the first ATR-42 started revenue flights in , replacing the Twin Otters on inter-island services. A second ATR-42 was ordered in .


title: Air Mauritius

text: By , the route network included Antananarivo, Bombay, Durban, Geneva, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Moroni, Munich, Nairobi, Paris, Reunion, Rodrigues, Rome, Singapore and Zurich. A new route to Perth was inaugurated in . Named ″Paille en Queue″ and leased from ILFC, the first Airbus A340-300 entered the fleet in ; following delivery, a Boeing 747SP that was on lease from SAA was returned. The airline became the first in the Southern Hemisphere to fly the A340-300. A second A340-300, named ″Pink Pigeon″ and purchased directly from Airbus, was handed over by the aircraft manufacturer in . Services to Brussels and Cape Town were launched in and that year. Also leased from ILFC and named ″Kestrel″, Air Mauritius' third A340-300 joined the fleet in . The airline started trading on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius during the year. In 1996, the last Boeing 747SP was sold to Qatar Airways and direct flights to Manchester were launched.


title: Air Mauritius

text: At , Air Mauritius had 2,000 employees. At this time, the airline had a fleet of five Airbus A340-300s, one ATR42-300, two ATR42-500s and two Boeing 767-200ERs that served a route network including Antananarivo, Brussels, Cape Town, Delhi, Durban, Frankfurt, Geneva, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mahe Island, Manchester, Maputo, Mauritius, Melbourne, Milan, Mumbai, Munich, Paris, Perth, Rodrigues Island, Rome, Singapore, St Denis de la Reunion, St Pierre de la Reunion, Vienna and Zürich. African medium-haul routes started utilising the Airbus A319 following its delivery in 2001. The A340-300 Enhanced version was ordered by the carrier in mid-2005. The A340-300 Enhanced was put on service on the London Heathrow route in December 2006, soon after delivery. In late 2007, the fleet saw the incorporation of the Airbus A330-200; a second aircraft of the same type was delivered in .


title: Air Mauritius

text: In March 2016, Air Mauritius launched the 'Air Corridor' with its first direct flights to Singapore, which was previously served via Kuala Lumpur. The new route aimed at improving air connectivity between Mauritius and Singapore in order to stimulate the growth of passenger and cargo traffic between Asia and Africa through these two hubs.


title: Air Mauritius

text: On 22 April 2020, the board of directors took the decision to place the Company under voluntary administration after coronavirus-related disruptions made it impossible for the airline to meet its financial obligations for the foreseeable future. The pandemic had a major impact on the revenue of the company while it was seeking to change its business model to address existing financial problems. The company will continue its operation, this decision was taken to safeguard the interest of the company and its stakeholders.


title: Air Mauritius

text: Dev Manraj, G.O.S.K held the chairman position and BUTON Indradev was the officer in charge. Dev Manraj was a key figure in the MCB-NPF financial scandal which came to light in 2003. In December 2022, Krešimir Kučko, former Croatia Airlines and Gulf Air CEO, was appointed CEO of Air Mauritius.


title: Air Mauritius

text: Air Mauritius was the first Mauritian company with its majority owned by the state that made their shares public. Listing was granted in November 1994 and share trading on the stock exchange of Mauritius commenced in February 1995. , shareholders having more than 5% of direct participation in the airline were Air Mauritius Holdings Ltd. (51%) and the government of Mauritius (8.37%), while other investors held the remaining stake. Air Mauritius Holdings Ltd. was in turn owned in its majority (43.83%) by the Mauritian Government. Air Mauritius Limited's wholly owned subsidiaries were Airmate Ltd., Air Mauritius Holidays Ltd., Air Mauritius Holidays (Pty) Ltd. Australia, Air Mauritius Institute Co. Ltd., Air Mauritius SA (Proprietary) Ltd., Mauritian Holidays Ltd. (UK) and Mauritius Helicopters Ltd.; partly owned subsidiaries were Mauritius Estate Development Corporation Ltd. (93.7%), Pointe Coton Resort Hotel Company Ltd. (54.2%), and Mauritius Shopping Paradise Company Ltd. (41.7%).


title: Air Mauritius

text: Air Mauritius was the focus of a politico-financial scandal known as the Caisse Noire Affair. As a result of the investigation which lasted from 2001 to 2015 several senior members of its management including Gérard Tyack, Sir Harry Tirvengadum and others were prosecuted. Gérard Tyack was jailed.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In , the carrier signed a cooperation agreement with Air Austral, Air Madagascar, Air Seychelles and Inter Ile Air that established Vanilla Alliance and is aimed at improving air services between the Indian Ocean Commission members.


title: Air Mauritius

text: , Air Mauritius served 22 destinations from its hub in Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, three of them domestic.


title: Air Mauritius

text: Air Mauritius' frequent flyer programme is called "Kestrelflyer", which offers Silver and Gold accounts.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In , during the Farnborough Air Show, it was announced Air Mauritius signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for six Airbus A350-900s, of which two will be leased from AerCap Holdings and with the option to place additional orders for up to three more aircraft of the type between 2023 and 2025. It was originally planned that the leased aircraft would join the fleet by the end 2017 and the other four would join in 2019 and 2020.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In , Air Mauritius announced that it would be leasing two Airbus A330-900 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation to replace two Airbus A340-300E aircraft from September and October 2018. Due to delays from Airbus, these aircraft were delivered in April and June 2019. The two Airbus A350-900 that were due to be delivered in 2020, were pushed back to 2023. It was also announced that the airline's existing aircraft would be refurbished with new seats, new inflight entertainment systems and onboard Wi-Fi. The revamp of the cabin interiors was planned to be completed by June 2018. The two Airbus A350-900s that were due to join the fleet in 2019 were sublet to South African Airlines for 3 years. In August 2020, these aircraft were returned early by SAA, due to financial difficulties.


title: Air Mauritius

text: In July 2021, the airline completed the sale of its two Airbus A319 and remaining Airbus A340 aircraft. The retirement of the Airbus A340 marked the end of 27 years of service of the fleet type with the airline. The retirement of the two Airbus A330-200 from the fleet was completed by end of November 2021.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: The Arab Kingdom of Syria (, "") was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized state that began as a "fully and absolutely independent... Arab constitutional government" announced on 5 October 1918 with the permission of the British military, gained "de facto" independence as an "Emirate" after the withdrawal of the British forces from OETA East on 26 November 1919, and was proclaimed as a Kingdom on 8 March 1920.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: As a "Kingdom" it existed only a little over four months, from 8 March to 25 July 1920. During its brief existence, the kingdom was led by Sharif Hussein bin Ali's son Faisal bin Hussein. Despite its claims to the territory of Greater Syria, Faisal's government controlled a limited area and was dependent on Britain which, along with France, generally opposed the idea of a Greater Syria and refused to recognize the kingdom. The kingdom surrendered to French forces on 25 July 1920.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: The Arab Revolt and the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence were crucial factors in the foundation of the Arab Kingdom of Syria. In the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence promises of an Arab Kingdom were made by the British in return for an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. As the promises of independence were being made by the British, separate agreements were being made including the Sykes–Picot Agreement with the French. Ultimately, the implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement would lead to the undermining and end of the Arab Kingdom of Syria. Despite the significance of the Arab Revolt to modern Arab countries formed in its wake, at the time there was significant distrust and even opposition to the idea of an Arab Kingdom or series of Arab Kingdoms.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: This opposition was due in part to the heavy influence of the French and the British in facilitating the revolt and the establishment of what would be considered, by modern standards, puppet states. The involvement of foreign powers in distributing large sums of money and military support to establish an empire that would be led by imperial aspirants, rather than legitimate Arab nationalists, was instrumental in the disintegration of the majority of the early Hashemite Kingdoms (Kingdom of Hejaz and Kingdom of Iraq). Additionally, at the time, many Arabs expressed grave concerns that the family of the Sharif of Mecca, the Hashemites, could wrest control from the Ottoman Sultan, with whom their loyalty had rested for centuries.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: Near the end of World War I, the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force, under command of Edmund Allenby, captured Damascus on 30 September 1918. Shortly thereafter, on 3 October, Faisal entered the city. The jubilation would be short lived, as Faisal would soon be made aware of the Sykes–Picot agreement. Faisal had come to expect an independent Arab kingdom in the name of his father but was soon told of the division of territory and how Syria fell under French protective power. Faisal saw this admission as a betrayal by the British, but believed the actual settlement would be worked out at a later date when the war had ended. There was some likelihood that by then the British would have changed their support for French pretensions in Syria.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: On 5 October, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of a fully and absolutely independent Arab constitutional government. Faisal announced it would be an Arab government based on justice and equality for all Arabs regardless of religion. The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau found disconcerting the establishment of a semi-independent Arab state without international recognition and under the auspices of the British. Even reassurances by Allenby that all actions taken were provisional did not ease the looming tensions between the British, the French, and the Arabs. For Arab nationalists, and many of the Arabs who fought in the Arab Revolt, this independent state would be the realization of a long hard-fought goal.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: After the war, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Faisal pushed for Arab independence. At the Conference, the victorious Allies decided what was to become of the defeated nations of the Central Powers, especially who was to control their territories, such as the Ottoman Empire's Middle East possessions. The status of the Arab lands in the Middle East was the subject of intense negotiations between the French and British. In May 1919, the French and British prime ministers met in Quai d’Orsay to decide between them their respective claims to territories or spheres of influence in the Middle East. The meeting determined that in return for a British guarantee of French control in Syria, the British would be given a mandate over Mosul and Palestine.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: At about the same time, an American compromise resulted in an agreement to set up a commission to determine the wishes of the inhabitants. Though they initially supported the idea, Britain and France eventually backed out, leaving the King–Crane Commission of 1919 solely American. The findings of the commission, not published until 1922 after the vote on the mandates in the League of Nations, indicated strong Arab support for an independent Arab state and opposition to a French presence.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: These events in Europe led Syrian nationalist societies like al-Fatat (the Young Arab Society) to make preparations for a national congress. These Syrian nationalist societies advocated complete independence for an Arab Kingdom that united Arabs under Faisal. The King–Crane Commission encouraged efforts to unify, and hasty elections were called including representatives from all over the Arab lands, including Palestine and Lebanon, although French officials prevented many of their representatives from arriving. The first official session of the Syrian Congress was held on 3 June 1919 and al-Fatat member Hashim al-Atassi was elected its president.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: When the King–Crane Commission arrived in Damascus on 25 June 1919, it was met with a flurry of leaflets saying "Independence or Death".


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: On 2 July the Syrian National Congress in Damascus passed the Damascus Program, a series of resolutions calling for a completely independent constitutional monarchy with Faisal as king, asking for assistance from the United States, and rejecting any rights claimed by the French. The resolutions defined the borders as


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: on the north, the Taurus Range; on the south, a line running from Rafah to Al-Jauf and following the Syria-Hejaz border below 'Aqaba; on the east, the boundary formed by the Euphrates and Khabur rivers and a line stretching from some distance east of Abu-Kamal to some distance east of al-Jauf; on the west, the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: Any hope that Faisal may have had that either the British or Americans would come to his aid and counter French moves quickly faded, especially after the Anglo-French Agreement for the withdrawal of British troops from Syria and the end of the British military government in Syria. The British withdrew from the region on 26 November 1919.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: In January 1920, Faisal was forced into an agreement with France which stipulated that France would uphold the existence of the Syrian state and would not station troops in Syria as long as the French government remained the only government supplying advisers, counselors and technical experts. News of this compromise did not bode well with Faisal's vehemently anti-French and independence-minded supporters who immediately pressured Faisal to reverse his commitment, which he did. In the aftermath of this reversal, violent attacks against French forces took place and the Syrian Congress assembled in March 1920 to declare Faisal the king of Syria as well as to officially set up the Arab Kingdom of Syria with Hashim al-Atassi as Prime Minister and Yusuf al-'Azma as Minister of War and Chief of Staff.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: This unilateral action was immediately repudiated by the British and French and the San Remo Conference was called by the Allied Powers in April 1920 to finalise the allocation of League of Nations mandates in the Middle East. This was in turn repudiated by Faisal and his supporters. After months of instability and failure to make good on the promises to the French, the commander of French forces General Henri Gouraud gave an ultimatum to King Faisal on 14 July 1920 declaring he surrender or fight.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: Worried about the results of a long bloody fight with the French, King Faisal surrendered. However, Yusuf al-'Azma, the defense minister, ignored the King's order, and led a small army to confront the French advance into Syria. This army depended mainly on individual weapons and were no match to the French artillery. At the Battle of Maysalun, the Syrian army was easily defeated by the French, with General al-'Azma being killed during the battle. The loss led to the siege and capture of Damascus on 25 July 1920 and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was put into effect thereafter.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: After surrendering to French forces, Faisal was expelled from Syria and went to live in the United Kingdom in August 1920. In August 1921 he was offered the crown of Iraq under the British Mandate of Iraq.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: A pro-French government under the leadership of 'Alaa al-Din al-Darubi was installed one day after the fall of Damascus, on 25 July 1920. On 1 September 1920, General Gouraud divided the French mandate territory of Syria into several smaller states as part of a French scheme to make Syria easier to control.


title: Arab Kingdom of Syria

text: The Kingdom, through its short and tumultuous existence, would become a subject of great inspiration to later Arab liberation movements. It would be the often-repeated story of an Arab people breaking out from their colonial bonds only to be castigated for their revolutionary fervor and for their resistance to the imperial powers. The symbolism of the fall of the Kingdom of Syria also imparted deep mistrust of European powers, who were seen as liars and oppressors.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (; NOS ; English: Dutch Broadcasting Foundation) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports programmes for the three Dutch public television channels and the Dutch public radio services. It is funded by the Dutch government.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The foundation's remit derives from the Dutch Media Act 2008, which stipulates that the NOS produce regular and frequent programming of a public service nature, including, notably, a full and impartial news service and coverage of parliamentary procedures and debates, as well as reporting on sporting and other national events. The NOS also acts as technical co-ordinator for the Dutch public broadcasting system as a whole. In the event of emergencies and/or the breaking of a major news story, it can assume control of the public networks in order to provide co-ordinated coverage of events in co-operation with the other members of the systems.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The NOS has correspondents in multiple countries, including a permanent studio in Washington, D.C. Programmes produced by the NOS include its daily television and radio bulletins, the "NOS Journaal". Parliamentary reports are shown from a special studio in The Hague. It also supplies news programmes aimed at children ("Jeugdjournaal"), teens and young adults ("NOS op 3") and sports fans ("NOS Langs de Lijn", "NOS Studio Sport"). Programmes are made available via television, radio and online. The NOS also broadcast text pages and a website, which are both often used by the public.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The Netherlands Radio Union (NRU) was established in 1947. After several failed attempts to create a public broadcasting system and link up with a national station, the NRU was created as a union of broadcasting associations that provided operational support. The associations were responsible for their own output, but studios, orchestras and outside broadcast facilities were managed by the NRU. Weekly radio plays were also the domain of the NRU and would run until 1986. The NRU became the Dutch founding member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: Meanwhile, the Netherlands Television Service (NTS) was created in 1951, two years after public television returned to the airwaves. The NTS served as a similar organization to the NRU, in that broadcast and transmission facilities were supplied to member associations for making programmes.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: It wasn't until 1956 that the NTS itself produced its first programme, a news bulletin called the "NTS Journaal". This was followed by a sports round-up, "Sport in Beeld" "(Sports Illustrated)" in 1959, and in 1967 of "Langs de Lijn" "(Along the Line)", a joint production of several broadcasting associations. On 15 October 1967, Willem Leonard Oltmans interviewed the de Mohrenschildts for NOS which resulted in a 40 minute film that was the only full-length filmed interview of George de Mohrenschildt. However, the film, which was kept at Hilversum, disappeared in 1975.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: A new Media Act was passed into law in 1967, merging the Netherlands Radio Union and the Netherlands Television Foundation. The new organization, the "Nederlandse Omroep Stichting" "(Netherlands Broadcasting Service)" was created on 29 May 1969. The NOS, as was its predecessors, was tasked with co-ordinating the whole public broadcasting system, as well as providing news and sport bulletins. It also inherited the technical and production facilities needed to make and broadcast radio and television programmes. All broadcasting members of the NRU and the NTS were made members of the NOS.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: On 2 May 1977, a strike by sound engineers affected television news broadcasts. Upset viewers called on all broadcasters to resolve the situation.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: On 1 April 1980 the NOS launched its teletext service, in the framework of supplying news and information. It first experimented with teletext in 1977. In 1981, on the 25th anniversary, the NOS aired its first televised youth news bulletin, called the Jeugdjournaal.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The Media Act of 1988 meant several changes to NOS and the broadcasting system. The Services Department, which was made up of the technical, broadcast and transmission facilities of the NOS, was privatised, which meant the broadcasting associations were required to pay to use the facilities. The Netherlands Broadcast Production Company (NOB) consisted of those facilities, mainly based in Media Park in Hilversum. The Media Act also required broadcasting association members take up positions on the NOS Board of Directors. A new government commission oversaw content and financial matters, as well as admitting potential new broadcasting associations.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: In 1995, saw another Media Act enacted which saw the broadcasting duties of the NOS greatly reduced, with the creation of the Nederlandse Programma Stichting "(Netherlands Programming Service)". The NPS took on the programming tasks of the NOS concerning culture, art, children, education and ethnic-minorities, whilst the NOS concentrated on news, sport and live events.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: A new Supervisory Board replaced the Board of Directors in 1998. The previous management was replaced with a three-man board, now charged with developing strategies and responsibility for all public output. Programming co-ordinators were appointed for each television and radio network and channel identities were created, largely replacing the varying on-air presentation of the pillar broadcasters. The broadcasting associations also have a degree of input through the Supervisory Board.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: In 2002, the coordination element of the public broadcast system, administered by the NOS were now made clearer with the creation of an umbrella organization, Publieke Omroep "(Public Broadcasting)", while programme makers operated under the name "RTV NOS". The reorganization caused NOS to be loosened from the public broadcasting system, causing it to be a neutral member of NPO, and then starting to reorganize itself.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: In 2005, saw the organization obtain a new corporate identity. The previous NOS logo was in use for 36 years and featured the initials of the company in lower case, with round and obtuse angles. The new logo was designed by graphic designers Lambie-Nairn, complete with new idents for its television programmes. The typeface was Gotham.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: Its news-gathering operations also changed, with the news departments for radio, television and internet merging and re-organized into different sections (NOS, NOS News, NOS Sports, with NOS Events added in 2009).


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: An announcement made by the Minister of Education in 2007 confirmed a further division of the NOS. The umbrella group "Publieke Omroep", managed by the NOS was to be legally separated and renamed Nederlandse Publieke Omroep "(Netherlands Public Broadcasting)". The move was to ensure the NOS operated under the same conditions as its fellow broadcasting associations, as well as transferring membership of the European Broadcasting Union.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: Since 2012, the NOS has got a new style and layout and, for some programs, other titles. The biggest change is visible in the 8 o'clock NOS Journaal (traditionally the most viewed and therefore the most important news broadcast of the NOS), where they adopted standing presentation.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The NOS is responsible for news, sport, political and events programming on the public service television networks and produce the following:


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: Besides broadcasting on the main three public television channels, The NOS is also responsible for "NPO Politiek en Nieuws", a television channel which was a result of the merger of "NPO Nieuws" and "NPO Politiek" in 2021, that airs news programs, including the latest NOS Journaal as well as covering live events, parliamentary sessions, debate and archive material of parliamentary sessions. When parliament was not in session, "NPO Sport" took its place where it featured live sports coverage or news and current affairs were being programmed which were also supplied by the NOS.


title: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

text: The NOS is also responsible for the news and sports site of the Dutch public broadcasters. The editorial staff of the internet pages is also responsible for the teletext pages on NPO 1, NPO 2 and NPO 3.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. Decatur is the seventeenth-most populous city in Illinois.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: The city is home of private Millikin University and public Richland Community College. Decatur has an economy based on industrial and agricultural commodity processing and production, including the North American headquarters of agricultural conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland, international agribusiness Tate & Lyle's largest corn-processing plant, and the designing and manufacturing facilities for Caterpillar Inc.'s wheel-tractor scrapers, compactors, large wheel loaders, mining class motor grader, off-highway trucks, and large mining trucks.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: Decatur is an affiliate of the U.S. Main Street program, in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: Post No. 1 of the Grand Army of the Republic was founded by Civil War veterans in Decatur on April 6, 1866.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: The Edward P. Irving House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1911, is located at No. 2 Millikin Place, Decatur. In addition, the Robert Mueller Residence, 1 Millikin Place, and the Adolph Mueller Residence, 4 Millikin Place, have been attributed to Wright's assistants Hermann V. von Holst and Marion Mahony.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. At the age of 21, Lincoln gave his first political speech in Decatur about the importance of Sangamon River navigation that caught the attention of Illinois political leaders. As a lawyer on the 8th Judicial Circuit, Lincoln made frequent stops in Decatur, and argued five cases in the log courthouse that stood on the corner of Main & Main Streets. The original courthouse is now on the grounds of the Macon County Historical Museum on North Fork Road. John Hanks, first cousin of Abraham Lincoln, lived in Decatur.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: On May 9 and 10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur. At this convention Lincoln received his first endorsement for President of the United States as "The Railsplitter Candidate". In commemoration of Lincoln's bicentennial, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel on June 6 and 7, 2008.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: In early November 1992, the high-ranking Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) executive Mark Whitacre confessed to an FBI agent that ADM executives, including Whitacre himself, had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, a food additive.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: The lysine conspirators, including ADM, ultimately settled federal charges for more than $100 million. ADM also paid hundreds of millions of dollars ($400 million alone on the high-fructose corn syrup class action case) to plaintiffs and customers that it stole from during the price-fixing schemes. Furthermore, several Asian and European lysine and citric acid producers that conspired to fix prices with ADM paid criminal fines in the tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. government. Several executives, including the vice chairman of ADM, served federal prison time.


title: Decatur, Illinois

text: The investigation and prosecution of ADM and some of its executives has been reported to be one of the "best documented corporate crimes in American history". The events were the basis of a book named "The Informant", and a film by the same name.