St. Peter and Paul of Beaver                 2 Hour Delay

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first U.S. lunar lander in more than 50 years rocketed to space Monday, launching a race for private companies to deliver experiments and other items to the moon.

Astrobotic Technology’s lander caught a ride on a brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan. The Vulcan streaked through the Florida predawn sky, putting the spacecraft on a roundabout route to the moon that should culminate with an attempted landing on Feb. 23.

“We are on our way to the moon!” Astrobotic chief executive John Thornton said.

The Pittsburgh company aims to be the first private business to successfully land on the moon, something only four countries have accomplished. But a Houston company also has a lander ready to fly, and could beat it to the lunar surface, taking a more direct path.

NASA gave the two companies millions to build and fly their own lunar landers. The space agency wants the privately owned landers to scope out the place before astronauts arrive while delivering NASA tech and science experiments as well as odds and ends for other customers. Astrobotic’s contract for the Peregrine lander: $108 million.

The last time the U.S. launched a moon-landing mission was in December 1972. Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the 11th and 12th men to walk on the moon, closing out an era that has remained NASA’s pinnacle.

The space agency’s new Artemis program — named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology — looks to return astronauts to the moon’s surface within the next few years. First will be a lunar fly-around with four astronauts, possibly before the end of the year.

Highlighting Monday’s moonshot was the long-delayed initial test flight of the Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 202-foot (61-meter) rocket is essentially an upgraded version of ULA’s hugely successful workhorse Atlas V, which is being phased out along with the company’s Delta IV. Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin, provided the Vulcan’s two main engines.

ULA declared success once the lander was free of the rocket’s upper stage, nearly an hour into the flight. “Yee-haw!” shouted chief executive Tory Bruno. “I am so thrilled, I can’t tell you how much.”

The Soviet Union and the U.S. racked up a string of successful moon landings in the 1960s and 70s, before putting touchdowns on pause. China joined the elite club in 2013 and India in 2023. But last year also saw landers from Russia and a private Japanese company slam into the moon. An Israeli nonprofit crashed in 2019.

Next month, SpaceX will provide the lift for a lander from Intuitive Machines. The Nova-C lander’s more direct one-week route could see both spacecraft attempting to land within days or even hours of one another.

The hourlong descent to the lunar surface — by far the biggest challenge — will be “exciting, nail-biting, terrifying all at once,” Thornton said.

Besides flying experiments for NASA, Astrobotic drummed up its own freight business, packing the 6-foot-tall (1.9-meter-tall) Peregrine lander with everything from a chip of rock from Mount Everest and toy-size cars from Mexico that will catapult to the lunar surface and cruise around, to the ashes and DNA of deceased space enthusiasts, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

The Navajo Nation recently sought to have the launch delayed because of the human remains. saying it would be a “profound desecration” of a celestial body revered by Native Americans. Thornton said the December objections came too late but promised to try to find “a good path forward” with the Navajo for future missions.

One of the spaceflight memorial companies that bought room on the lander, Celestis, said in a statement that no single culture or religion owns the moon and should not be able to veto a mission. More remains are on the rocket’s upper stage, which was boosted into a perpetual orbit around the sun reaching as far out as Mars.

Cargo fares for Peregrine ranged from a few hundred dollars to $1.2 million per kilogram (2.2 pounds), not nearly enough for Astrobotic to break even. But for this first flight, that’s not the point, according to Thornton.

“A lot of people’s dreams and hopes are riding on this,” he said.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The concern and controversy over the recent announcement of Aliquippa football being assigned to play Class 5A football next season has made its way to Harrisburg.

State Representative Rob Matzie of Beaver County announced on Friday that he will be introducing legislation to analyze the operations, policies, finances and structure of the PIAA, including the process in which the PIAA classifies the levels at which schools compete in each sport.

Matzie says that the current way of operations puts student athletes in danger because of a lack of manpower and financial resources compared to the larger schools they would be competing against.

“I would wage this fight for Aliquippa or any student athlete in our commonwealth,” Matzie said. “Simply put, it’s unfair, unsafe and a dangerous disadvantage to our kids. What’s most disturbing is that I believe that this rule comes off as ignorant at best and arrogant at worst. Legislative action is necessary, and necessary now. Be assured, however, this is just the beginning. It’s been nearly 25 years since the last thorough review of the PIAA. It’s well past time for the legislature to have another look.”

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Pennsylvania State Police have released details about an assault following an attempted burglary in Franklin Township.

According to the report, 41-year-old Mark Drum got into an altercation with the unnamed 17-year-old would-be burglar when he noticed him walking down the stairs of his home. During the altercation, the juvenile suspect bit Mr. Drum’s son on the leg after he awoke to help his father, seized a pocket knife from the son, and proceed to slash Mr. Drum’s cheek before escaping barefoot from the scene. It was after the juvenile returned to the scene that he was taken into custody by Pennsylvania State Police.

No further details have been released.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published January 5, 2023 7:07 P.M.

(New Brighton, Pa) An accident took place on 3rd Avenue near 19th Street in New Brighton around 5:30pm Friday. Beaver County Radio saw one person on the ground being given medical attention, before being placed in an ambulance. One vehicle was seen with heavy rear end damage. Traffic was detoured temporarily. The scene was cleaned up and cleared by approximately 6pm.  We have no additional details at this time.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

A new year means a new business manager for the Central Valley School District, as the longtime school board member for Center and Monaca Schools officially retired on December 31, 2023.

John Maly was a 1970 graduate of Aliquippa High School and was part of the school board that decided on the merger of Monaca High School and Center High School in 2010. He also worked as a business manager for Sewickley Hospital for 27 years.

Giordano reports that Joan Wehner is the new business manager at Central Valley High School, replacing the retiring Maly.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Image/Commonwealth Media Services)

A 1,000 pound diorama depicting a connection between rural and urban Pennsylvanians gathering around a table to share a locally grown meal was revealed yesterday in Harrisburg in a public display. The catch is that the thousand-pound diorama was sculpted entirely out of butter, carved by Jim Victor and Marie Pelton of Conshohocken in lieu of the upcoming Pennsylvania Farm Show.

There to help unveil the butter sculpture was Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, who thanked everyone in PA’s dairy farms and farms across the commonwealth for their continued hard work.

The sculpture, which is co-sponsored by American Dairy Association North East and the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, will be displayed at the Expo Center in Harrisburg during the Farm Show starting tomorrow until January 13.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The Beaver County Unit of Pennsylvania State Police Troop D is asking the public for tips regarding the 1982 homicide of David Legge that took place in Independence Township. The 32-year old Legge was found hanging from the Lynx bridge on January 7, 1982, and multiple gunshot wounds were found on his body following its removal from the crime scene.

Any persons with information regarding this incident are asked to contact the Pennsylvania State Police Beaver Station at 724-773-7400 and speak to Tpr. Thomas or the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers Toll Free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

Aliquippa’s Zoning Hearing Board will soon be ruling on a decision to use the former Hunter Personal Care Home located at 1916 Main Street for use by the organization Deewalk Promise Hands as an emergency shelter for women and children.

The request from Rayetta Lee was submitted to the Zoning Board last night, and that the board now has thirty days to render a final decision on variance that would allow for the change to move forward. Under current zoning regulations, the building would not be able to be used.

Lee told those in attendance at Thursday’s meeting that 72 individuals have signed a petition in favor of using the facility on Main Street as the new home of Deewalk Promised Hands.