Space jam: Skyrocketing number of launches creating congestion in skies

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TODAY:

• This has been the busiest space year on record, with 107 launches to date, and it's causing concern about gridlock as rockets and airliners share the skies.
• An extraordinary reunion in Windsor, Ont., as a Syrian refugee family welcomestheir parents to Canada.
• More and more Canadian seniors are turning to "co-housing" arrangements, and they're discovering some big benefits.
• Missed The National last night? Watch it here.

Crowded space

Wednesday is shaping up as a busy day in space.

India's Space Research Organisation successfully launched a communications satellite in the early hours, North American time the country's third rocket flight in just 35 days.

Arianespace, a private French firm, launched a military spy satellite from French Guiana shortly after 11:30 EST this morning.

And another space company, United Launch Alliance, is scheduled to blast a U.S. spy satellite into orbit from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 8:44 p.m. EST tonight, weather permitting.

If all goes according to plan, this will be the second three-launch day this year, following the lift-offs of one Russian and two Chinese rockets on July 9.

For a while, it looked like today might even set a new record, with five launches. But technical issues have scrubbed scheduled SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets for the second straight day.

(There's some return traffic coming as well: A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three members of the International Space Station crew is scheduled to touch down in Kazakhstan just after midnight EST.)

So far this month, there have been nine successful rocket launches worldwide, and it's possible that we'll see eight more before the New Year.

All of which has contributed to making 2018 the busiest space year on record, with 107 launches to date.

And it's only the beginning.

Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has launched 19 times so far in 2018, wants to head into orbit at least 20 times next year.

Rocket Lab, a New Zealand-based firm that completed its first NASA launch earlier this week, has plans for 16 space flights in 2019 and is working towards a goal of one launch a week by 2020.

The Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin wants to make 100 flights a year.

Another American space start-up, Vector, hopes to launch a dozen flights in 2019, working towards a similar goal.

And British billionaire Richard Branson, who saw his Virgin Galactic make its first successful near-space flight last week, plans to have three ships ferrying tourists to the upper edge of the atmosphere by the summer.

In Florida, where NASA's Space Shuttle used to take off four or five times a year, authorities are now anticipating up to 200 launches annually in the near future.

China, which is investing heavily in a national space program (including manned moon missions) and now has a number of its own private launch firms, will probably beat that. So far in 2018, 36 rockets have lifted off Chinese soil, compared to 30 in the U.S.

But the rapid growth in space flight yearly launches have almost doubled over the past two decades is creating fears of "gridlock" in the skies.

As the Washington Post illustrated with this very cool graphics package and article, a single SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch last February saw U.S. air traffic controllers close off a 2,100 kilometre-long stretch of the Atlantic Ocean to planes for three hours, diverting dozens of commercial flight paths, to accommodate a 90-second rocket flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working on an automated rocket tracking system that should shorten those airspace closures to just 15 minutes, but it won't be ready until at least 2021.

Space launches are still a relatively minor problem for aviation. As the Post notes, 1,400 U.S. flights were diverted around rockets this year, compared to seven million flights that experienced problems with weather or clogged airspace.

But that number is sure to grow as space launches spread and multiply, affecting more of the world's almost 105,000 commercial flights a day.

Providing a final frontier of dissatisfaction for delayed, atmosphere-bound airline passengers.

A poignant reunion

Reporter Susan Ormiston witnessed an extraordinary reunion in Windsor, Ont., as a Syrian refugee family welcomed their parents to Canada.

It's rare for a journalist to be able to follow a story over the course of several years. The Tonbari family is an exception.

We first met three years ago in Lebanon in an abandoned, half-built cement building near Tripoli. Ibrahim Tonbari, his wife Zeinab Al-Omar and their children were packing to leave as part of a group of 25,000 Syrians promised refuge in Canada under the new Trudeau government.

The family of six had to leave their elderly parents behind in a wrenching, painful farewell at the Beirut airport. Grandmother Aida and her husband Mohammad had never been outside Syria and Lebanon, and she wept as she kissed her grandchildren, not knowing when she would see them again.

Last week, her prayers were answered.

After seeing our story about the Tonbaris coming to Windsor, Ont., back in November 2015, a group of lawyers in that city decided to privately sponsor the grandparents and an orphaned nephew.

The application took two years, but all three have finally arrived to a tearful reunion at Windsor's airport.

"I'm so happy, I can't believe it's happening," said Zeinab Al-Omar.

In the past three years, Canadians have privately sponsored more than 24,000 Syrian refugees. But once here, few are able to bring over family members on average, about 240 per year making the Windsor reunion a relatively rare event.

"I really feel that it's important that the government before they can say they did the job, so to speak that they put something in place for family reunification," said Anneke Smit, a lawyer who is part of the Windsor sponsorship group.

"In some cases we've left the more vulnerable people behind. So even if we do nothing else, I think there's really a moral obligation on us," she says.

- Susan Ormiston

• WATCH: The story about the Tonbari family reunion tonight on The National on CBC Television and streamed online

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Seniors seeking roommates

More and more Canadian seniors are turning to "co-housing" arrangements, reporter Kas Roussy writes, and they're discovering some big benefits.

What happens when three long-time friends all baby boomers, either widowed or divorced, all empty nesters decide that living life alone is no longer an option?

Easy.

They sell their individual houses, do some serious purging of appliances and furniture, pool their finances, and buy another house where all of them can live.

The motivation?

Phyllis Brady, 66, says that her decision to share a house in London, Ont., with her friends came down to economy, safety, and companionship.

That last one is really important.

Loneliness among older adults is a rising epidemic in Canada. Statistics Canada reports more than one million seniors say they are lonely.

Being alone can be a health hazard, and not just because of the chance of suffering a fall or illness without anyone there to help. Research shows loneliness increases the risk of a whole range of health issues, from heart attacks and stroke, to dementia and serious depression.

Mary Townley, 71, who knows her way around a curling rink and is pretty handy with basic tools for quick repairs, didn't mind living alone some of the time, she told us on a recent visit to her new home. "But then there are those other times when you think, 'Oh, I wish I had someone to talk to, not over the phone. It's much nicer face-to-face with a glass of wine.'"

Co-housing arrangements among seniors is a growing trend in Canada, whether it's people sharing one house or a larger apartment complex.

It's a no brainer, says Adriana Shnall, an aging expert at Toronto's Baycrest Health Sciences.

It's cheaper to live with somebody else, but it's also better for our physical health and for our mental health.- AdrianaShnall, BaycrestHealth Sciences

"It's cheaper to live with somebody else, but it's also better for our physical health and for our mental health," she says.

The three women we visited in London each have their own bedroom and bathroom, and because Phyllis is the youngest at 66, she gets the so-called "teenager's room" in the finished basement.

They share kitchen duties, split the bills, and basically laugh a lot.

Phyllis says she has lost a bit of weight, because she's eating less junk food. The other women notice there's less stress in their lives.

It feels like going back to university, says 71-year-old Barb Coughlin.

"Except now, we're neater," adds Phyllis.

Cue the laughter.

- Kas Roussy

• WATCH: The story about seniors living in co-housing tonight on The National on CBC Television and streamed online

A few words on ...

An act of Christmas kindness.

Quote of the moment

"Mr. Speaker, I did not use the words 'stupid woman' about the prime minister or anyone else and am completely opposed to the use of sexist or misogynistic language in absolutely any form at all."

-U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responds after television cameras in the House of Commons appeared to capture his frustration during a Brexit debate with Prime Minister Theresa May.

What The National is reading

• Toronto police arrest 7th St. Michael's College student (CBC)
• Hacked European cables reveal world of anxiety about Trump, Russia, Iran (NY Times)
• Grace Mugabe faces South African arrest warrant (BBC)
• Unholy row as Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches split (Asia Times)
• Timmins woman charged with witchcraft just 2 days before offence comes off books (CBC)
• Elon Musk unveils underground highway prototype (CBC)
• Blind creature that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump (Guardian)
• Hunter thought he was firing at Bigfoot, 'victim' tells police (Fox News)

Today in history

Dec. 19, 2000: Nordic combined skiing, a struggling sport in Canada

If you build it, they still won't come. That's the lesson that Canada was grappling with a dozen years after the Calgary Olympics. Despite having a world class ski jump, the country was still struggling to produce successful Nordic combined skiers. The male-only event the last remaining one in the Winter Games sends athletes off the big and small jumps, then finishes with a staggered-start 10 kilometre cross country race. Almost two decades later, Canada is still looking for a champion, with the country's best-ever finish remaining a 10th place at the 1932 Lake Placid Games.

Nordic combined skiing, a struggling sport in Canada

23 years ago

Duration 4:09

In 2000, Canada can barely field individual nordic combined athletes, let alone an Olympic team.

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