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Capsule failure delays ISS crew mission

MOSCOW, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- NASA says crew replacement on the International Space Station will be delayed following the failure of a Russian Soyuz capsule in a ground test.

Russian technicians overpressurized the Soyuz vehicle causing a split in welds on the descent module that brings the space crew back to Earth, Michael Suffredini, NASA's program manager for the space station, told The Washington Post Thursday.

"The better part of valor is to go ahead and scrap it and not try to fly," he said of the incident, the second delay of an ISS crew rotation in six months.

NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba and two Russian cosmonauts, scheduled to launch to the space station March 29, will now fly on another Soyuz craft May 15.

"Looks like I'll b on the Planet a little longer," Acaba tweeted Wednesday. "Issues with our Soyuz during a test will cause a delay. . . . We'll b ready."

The delay will prolong the mission of the current ISS crew, station commander Daniel Burbank of NASA and two Russian crew members, by 45 days.

With the retirement of the space shuttles, NASA relies on Russia to send its astronauts into orbit.

FBI confirms conference call compromised

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The hacking group Anonymous intercepted a telephone conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard and posted it on the Internet, U.S. officials confirm.

The FBI confirmed the hacking group listened in on a conference call last month between the bureau, Scotland Yard and other foreign security agencies about their joint investigation of Anonymous, The New York Times reported Friday.

A 16-minute recording of the conference call was posted to the Internet by the international hacking group.

"The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now," the group boasted on Twitter.

Anonymous had not in fact hacked into the conference call or any other FBI facilities, an official said, but rather had obtained an e-mail giving the time, telephone number and access code for the call.

The e-mail was sent Jan. 13 to people at the FBI, Scotland Yard, and agencies in France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

One of the recipients, a foreign police official, apparently forwarded the e-mail to a private account where it was intercepted by Anonymous.

"It's not really that sophisticated," an FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

No FBI system was compromised but security was more difficult when agencies in multiple countries were involved, he said.

"We're always looking at ways to make our communications more secure, and obviously we'll be taking a look at what happened here," he said.

Calif. salmon return is encouraging

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Silver salmon in California's Marin County, long considered a bellwether of salmon health in California, are spawning in local creeks, conservationists say.

Long-awaited rain that arrived last month prompted the endangered fish to begin their annual rush into local streams and tributaries to lay their eggs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

The return of the coho salmon was encouraging news for fisheries experts and watershed managers.

"It shows that these fish can survive for months without spawning, while waiting for the rains to come," Eric Ettlinger, aquatic ecologist for the Marin Municipal Water District, said.

"Three years ago people were discussing how coho were about to become extinct in Central California, and it seems like they are beginning to bounce back."

The salmon, he said, have been waiting since November for stream flows to be strong enough for them to swim up to their favored spawning locations.

The spawning run began Jan. 19 when the region received 10 inches of rain.

Coho salmon are born in cold freshwater rivers and streams and live there for a year before swimming to the ocean, typically returning at age 3 to the exact spot where they were born to lay eggs and fertilize them.

Details of Windows Phone 8 in leaked video

SEATTLE, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A video of Microsoft's plans for the Windows Phone 8 operating system has apparently been leaked and is now making the blog rounds, analysts say.

Tech site PocketNow, which obtained a copy, says the video hosted by a corporate vice president of Windows Phone program management was intended for Microsoft's partners at phone maker Nokia, The Seattle Times reported Friday.

Among the features highlighted in the video are support for multicore processors, new screen resolutions, removable microSD card storage and NFC radios for contactless purchase payments, PocketNow said.

Also included is the ability for desktops, laptops, tablets and phones to share content, it said.

The video suggests Windows Phone 8 will share components with the Windows 8 desktop operating system including the kernel, multicore processor support and video and graphics technologies to offer "very similar user experience" across a phone running Windows Phone 8 and a PC running Windows 8, tech site Supersite for Windows reported.