Good morning, Whitewater.
Monday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-six. Sunrise is 5:33 AM and sunset 8:28 PM, for 14h 54m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Dragon on its way to @Space_Station, Falcon on its way home pic.twitter.com/EpfUKBmoWi
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 18, 2016
Monday morning started off well for SpaceX, as that private rocket company successfully landed one of its rockets in Florida after a launch to resupply the International Space Station:
SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT) Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending the company’s robotic Dragon spacecraft speeding toward the ISS on a resupply mission for NASA.
About 2.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage separated and performed a series of engine burns to head back to Cape Canaveral. At 12:53 a.m. EDT (0453 GMT), the booster touched down softly a few miles south of its launch pad, eliciting a huge round of cheers from the SpaceX personnel gathered at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. [Photos: SpaceX Launches Cargo Mission, Lands Rocket Again]
On this day in 64, the Great Fire of Rome begins:
The Great Fire of Rome was an urban fire that started on the night between 18 and 19 July in the year 64 AD. It caused widespread devastation, before being brought under control after six days. Differing accounts either blame Emperor Nero for initiating the fire or credit him with organizing measures to contain it and provide relief for refugees. In response to the accusations that he was responsible for the fire, Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire’s first persecution against the Christians.[1]
….Tacitus describes the fire as beginning in shops where flammable goods were stored, in the region of the Circus neighboring the Caelian and Palatine hills of Rome. The night was a windy one and the flames rapidly spread along the full length of the Circus. The fire expanded through an area of narrow, twisting streets and closely located apartment blocks. In this lower area of Rome there were no large buildings such as temples, or open areas of ground, to impede the conflagration. It then spread along the Palatine and Caelian slopes.
The population fled first to areas unaffected by the fire and then to the open fields and rural roads outside the city. Looters and arsonists were reported to have spread the flames by throwing torches or, acting in groups, to have hindered measures being made to halt or slow the progress of the flames. Tacitus surmises that some may have acted under orders or that they may simply have wanted to plunder unhindered.