Russian astrologer cleared to sue Nasa

Maybe Phil Plait can be a witness for the defense...

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=35652&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21
Russian astrologer cleared to sue Nasa
Published: Saturday, 7 May, 2005, 12:01 PM Doha Time

MOSCOW: A Russian court ruled that an astrologer could proceed with a
lawsuit against the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa)
for plans to bombard a comet whose destruction would "disrupt the natural
balance of the universe", Itar-Tass said yesterday.
Star-reader Marina Bai's case was thrown out of a lower court because
Russia has no jurisdiction over Nasa, but the ruling was overturned when her
lawyer, Alexandra Molokhova, was able to show that the agency's office in
the US embassy in Moscow does fall under Russian jurisdiction.
Bai seeks a ruling that would restrict Nasa in its plans to annihilate
a section of the Tempel 1 comet in a project that has been dubbed "Deep
Impact", as well as punitive damages of 8.7bn rubles ($300mn).
"My client believes that the Nasa project infringes upon her spiritual
and life values as well as the natural life of the cosmos and would disrupt
the natural balance of forces in the universe," Molokhova was quoted as
saying.
The lawyer said Tempel 1 had sentimental value to Bai because her
grandparents met when her grandfather pointed the comet out to his future
wife.
In a $279mn project, Nasa in January launched the Deep Impact
spacecraft which will travel to the comet and release an "impactor" - a
370kg self-guided mass - on US Independence Day (July 4) which is expected
to create a crater that could be as large as a football stadium.
Scientists believe that the exposed material from the resulting crater
will yield clues to the formation of the solar system and provide important
information on altering the course of comets or asteroids on a collision
course with earth.
Effects of the collision will be visible from earth with an amateur
telescope, according to the mission's website. - AFP



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