A Russian-owned civillian helicopter crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff at southern Afghanistans’ largest NATO base on Sunday, killing 16 civillians in a string of deadly aircraft crashes in the country.

There were no indications that the crash of the Mi-8 helicopter at southern Kandahar Air Field was caused by hostile fire. Sixteen people died in the crash and five were wounded.

The Mi-8 was owned by the Russian air company Vertikal-T. It cited Russian charge d’affaires Andrei Vadob as saying there were no Russians among the 16 killed.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed early Saturday in central Afghanistan, killing two crew members.

Last week, Taliban militants downed an Mi-6 transport helicopter in southern Afghanistan, killing six Ukrainian civilians on board and an Afghan child on the ground.

Earlier in July, two Canadian soldiers and one British trooper were killed in a helicopter crash in Zabul province. Officials said that crash did not appear to be a result of hostile fire.

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA unveiled the restored video of the first landing on the moon. It became clear that the original tapes of the July 20, 1969 Moonwalk has been erased and reused.

NASA admitted in 2006 that no one could find the original video recordings of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s landing. Since then, Richard Nafzger, an engineer at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, found where the footage went: It was in a batch of 200,000 tapes that were degaussed — magnetically erased — and reused to save money.

So NASA took television video copies of what Apollo 11 beamed to Earth 40 years ago to a Hollywood film-restoration company, which made the pictures look sharper.

NASA emphasized that the video isn’t “new” — just better-quality.

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After more than a month’s delay, the space shuttle Endeavour and 7 astronauts thundered into orbit Wednesday on a flight to the international space station, hauling us a veranda for Japan’s enormous lab and looking to set a record for the biggest crowd in space.

Success came on launch try No. 6, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of man’s first moon landing.

The skies cleared, allowing commander Mark Polansky and his crew to embark on their 16-day adventur. One more holdup and they would have tied a record for the most shuttle launch delays.

“The weather is finally cooperating, so it is now time to fly,” launch director Pete Nockolenko called out to the crew. “Persistence pays off.”

Later, from orbit, Polansky radioed, “For all of us, it was a pretty decent wait, but we are thrilled to be here.”

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A Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737-300 made an emergency landing in Charleston, W.Va., on July 13 after a section of the fuselage skin ruptured near the crown, causing the cabin to depressurize.

Southwest Flight 2294 was diverted to Charleston’s Yeager Airport and landed shortly after 6:30 p.m. The aircraft was 30 minutes into its flight from Nashville, Tenn, to Baltimore when the depressurization occurred. Southwest says there were no injuries amongst the 126 passengers and five crew.

According to local reports, the hole developed toward the rear of the fuselage, a view supported by press images which appear to show officials conducting a visual inspection of the area close to the crown above the left aft main cabin passenger door. Airport officials are quoted as saying passengers could see the outside through a roughly “one-foot by one-foot hole.” However Southwest says the cause of the depressurization was “a small hole in the fuselage around mid-cabin near the top of the aircraft.”

Southwest was unable to verify the age or identity of the aircraft involved, though AviationWeek understands it is N387SW, a 15-year old -300 “Classic” that first flew on June 16, 1994. No information has yet been released on the number of cycles flown by the aircraft, or the date of its last maintenance inspection. Southwest adds it is “working with the NTSB and Boeing to determine the causes of the depressurization.”

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