RMS sees insured losses from Hurricane Isaac up to $2 billionBy Sarah Mortimer | Reuters – Fri, Sep 14, 2012 7:19 AM EDT London (Reuters) –Hurricane Isaac caused wind damage that could reach $1-2 billion, disaster modeler RMS said in an update on the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.This season is proving the second most active since records began in 1851, with only 2005 and 2011 having more named storms as of September 13, the San Francisco-based RMS said.The first hurricane to hit the United States this year, Isaac struck New Orleans last month, almost exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, but it proved to be a much less damaging storm.RMS’ estimate excludes all losses caused by flooding and all losses from the National Flood Insurance Program.The latter, a state-run entity, was wiped out by Katrina in 2005, requiring a bailout that has left the program with a debt load it may never shift. The program still has 193,000 policies in force in Louisiana alone.

Eqecat, another catastrophe modeling firm whose software is used by the insurance industry, said Isaac caused up to $1 billion in economic losses for offshore energy properties and up to $1.5 billion in insured losses onshore in Louisiana and neighboring states.
AIR Worldwide put Isaac’s impact at $700 million to $2 billion in insured onshore losses.
Isaac pales in comparison to some previous storms in losses for insurers and reinsurers.
Last year’s Hurricane Irene, the 10th worst hurricane by inflation-adjusted losses, caused about $4.3 billion in losses.
„Seasonal forecasts for 2012, issued at the beginning of August, called for around 14 tropical storms in the Atlantic in 2012,” Dr Christine Ziehmann, director of Model Product Management at RMS, said in a statement.
„The 2012 season is currently on track to exceed these forecasts, especially if September is typical of the 1995-2011 average.”
Only one hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season has so far been a major storm, RMS said. Hurricane Michael intensified into a category 3 storm on September 6, but only maintained that status for six hours.
(Reporting by Sarah Mortimer; editing by Jason Neely)

US, Russian space trio lands in Kazakhstan By PETER LEONARD | Associated Press – 12 mins ago ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — An international three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down successfully on the cloudless central Kazakhstan steppe Monday morning after 123 days at the International Space Station.
A fleet of Russian Mi-8 helicopters deployed from towns near the landing site ahead of the capsule’s arrival early Monday morning to ensure swift interception.
NASA’s Joe Acaba and Russian colleagues Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin undocked from the orbiting laboratory somewhere over Nairobi, Kenya, some 3 ½ hours before touchdown. The Soyuz craft remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the space station since the decommissioning of the U.S. Shuttle fleet in 2011.
The size of the three-person complement currently at the space station will be doubled when they are joined next month by U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin.
NASA’s Sunita Williams took over command at the station Saturday from Padalka, becoming the second woman in history to do so. Williams, veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide of Japan are due to return to Earth in the middle of November.
Padalka, who piloted the Soyuz craft back to Earth, was the first to be pulled out of the capsule, which rolled onto its side after coming down softly in the flat Kazakh countryside some 85 kilometers (50 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk.
Upon their return, astronauts are typically lifted onto reclining chairs to ensure comfortable acclimatization after months of living in gravity-free conditions.
Looking relaxed and smiling broadly while sipping a mug of tea and basking in the mild sunny conditions, Padalka waved at cameras that descended on the site soon almost immediately after landing.
„We honestly could not have asked for better weather out here today. The temperature’s really good (and) the crew is obviously enjoying this weather,” NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said in an online link-up from the landing site. „I have never seen the amount of clarity we had today.”
With this mission complete, Padalka becomes the fourth most seasoned space traveler, having spent 711 days in space over four missions.
„I feel great,” Padalka told attending recovery staff, before thanking colleagues for their assistance in his mission.
Acaba, who followed Revin out of the prone Soyuz capsule, gave the thumbs up sign as he was being lifted to his reclining chair and said: „It’s good to be home.”
In an uncustomary gesture, the astronauts signed their names on the capsule, which is due to be displayed at the Tsiolkovsky Museum in the town of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow.
The precision of the landing enabled a Russian recovery crew in all-terrain vehicles to reach the capsule within seconds of touchdown. Astronauts were given immediate medical attention and then shortly afterward transported by helicopter to a forward base in the Kazakh city of Kostanai, from where they were to begin their trip home.
Russia has suffered a series of blows to its space prestige in recent months with a string of failed launches, provoking some anxiety about what some observers believe to be excess U.S. reliance on the Soyuz program.
In August, a Russian booster rocket failed to place two communications satellites into target orbits, stranding the Russian Express MD-2 and Indonesia’s Telkom-3 satellites in a low orbit where they could not be recovered.
A Russian robotic probe designed to study a moon of Mars got stranded in Earth’s orbit after its launch in November and eventually came crashing down in January.
A few months before, a Soyuz booster rocket similar to those ferrying crews and cargo to the International Space Station failed, prompting officials to consider leaving the space outpost unmanned.

Soyuz Spacecraft Carrying Russian-US Crew Headed Back to Earth By Mike Wall | SPACE.com – 4 hrs ago A Soyuz space capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut cast off from the International Space Station and began the journey back to Earth Sunday (Sept. 16), wrapping up a four-month stay in orbit.
The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin undocked from the station at 7:09 p.m. EDT (2309 GMT) as the two spacecraft flew high above Nairobi, Kenya. The trip back to Earth will take nearly four hours, with the Soyuz expected to land in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 GMT Monday), though it will be just after sunrise at the landing site, NASA officials said.
The Soyuz’s departure brings the space station’s Expedition 32 to a close. Padalka commanded the expedition, while Acaba and Revin served as flight engineers. Padalka handed the orbiting lab’s reins over to NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, commander of the new Expedition 33 crew.
Expedition 33 will be a three-person operation for about a month. Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide have the station to themselves until mid-October, when the arrival of three new astronauts will bring the $100 billion orbiting complex back up to its full complement of six crewmates.
Acaba, Padalka and Revin launched toward the station on May 14 and arrived three days later. The astronauts’ four-month stint marked the first long-term stay aboard the orbiting lab for both Acaba and Revin.
Padalka, however, had lived on the station for long durations during two previous missions and commanded the outpost’s Expedition 32 crew. It was his fourth mission and third time in command of the space station.
Acaba, Padalka and Revin got to be part of history shortly after they first floated through the space station’s hatch. They were there to welcome SpaceX’s robotic Dragon capsule, which on May 25 became the first private spacecraft ever to visit the 430-ton orbiting complex.
Dragon’s historic flight was a demonstration mission, to see if the capsule and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket are ready to begin a series of 12 contracted supply runs to the station for NASA. Everything went well, and the first of these bona fide cargo missions is likely to blast off next month.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+.
Photos: Space Station’s Expedition 32 Mission
Quiz: The Reality of Life in Orbit
The International Space Station: Inside and Out (Infographic)
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US, Russian space trio lands in Kazakhstan.Associated Press – 41 mins ago ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — An international three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down successfully on the cloudless central Kazakhstan steppe Monday morning after 123 days at the International Space Station.
A fleet of Russian Mi-8 helicopters deployed from towns near the landing site ahead of the capsule’s arrival early Monday morning local time to intercept the capsule.
NASA’s Joe Acaba and Russian colleagues Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin undocked from the orbiting laboratory some 3 ½ hours before touchdown.
The Soyuz craft remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the space station since the decommissioning of the U.S. Shuttle fleet in 2011.
The size of the three-person complement currently at the space station will be doubled when they are joined next month by U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin.
Padalka, who piloted the Soyuz craft back to Earth, was the first to be pulled out of the capsule, which rolled onto its side after coming down softly in the flat Kazakh countryside some 85 kilometers (50 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk.
Upon their return, astronauts are typically lifted onto reclining chairs to ensure comfortable acclimatization after months of living in gravity-free conditions.
Looking relaxed and smiling broadly while sipping a mug of tea, Padalka waved at cameras that descended on the site almost immediately after landing.
With this mission complete, Padalka becomes the fourth most seasoned space traveler, having spent 711 days in space over four missions.
„I feel great,” Padalka told attending recovery staff, before thanking colleagues for their assistance in his mission.
Acaba, who followed Revin out of the prone Soyuz capsule, gave the thumbs up sign as he was being lifted to his reclining chair and said: „It’s good to be home.”