Government shutdown deadline, Remembering Apollo 8 launch, winter begins: 5 things to know Friday - USA TODAY

Editors USA TODAY

Published 4:06 AM EST Dec 21, 2018

Government shutdown: Deadline to sign short-term funding bill

A Senate vote is expected Friday after a deeply divided House voted to add $5 billion in border wall funding to a short-term spending bill, yielding to President Donald Trump’s demand for the money but casting further doubts upon the fate of efforts to avert a government shutdown. The House vote capped a drama-filled day that started with lawmakers anticipating quick passage of an already approved Senate funding bill, but then erupted into chaos when Trump announced he would not support the measure because it did not contain funding for the border wall – one of his signature campaign promises. Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to pass a spending bill or funding will expire for a quarter of the federal government, triggering a shutdown heading into the holidays and forcing some 800,000 federal employees to go on furlough or work without pay.

Winter is here! And so is the longest night of the year

Cozy up! The winter solstice — marking the longest night and fewest hours of daylight of the year — is Friday. It's the precise moment at which the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest from the sun. The winter solstice occurs at the same instant everywhere on Earth. In the U.S., it happens at 5:23 p.m. ET (4:23 p.m. CT, 3:23 p.m. MT, and 2:23 p.m. PT). At that moment, the sun's rays are directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, a line of latitude that circles the Earth in the Southern Hemisphere. Friday also marks the astronomical beginning of winter, even though meteorologists and climatologists view winter as starting Dec. 1. After the solstice, the days slowly start to get longer again. Expect to see a moon that's big and bright both Friday and Saturday nights.

Remembering the Apollo 8 launch

Fifty years ago today, the Apollo 8 mission was launched, aboard a Saturn V rocket. The mission was fraught with risk, and it took 16 weeks from conception to launch, compared to similar missions that took at least a year to execute, because NASA felt the urgency to expedite the process. It was the first time Saturn V would be carrying humans — and one of its two previous test flights had failed. It would fly without a lunar module that serves as the backup engine in case of a problem. But the six-day mission ended up being a roaring success, orbiting the moon and testing out the "trans-lunar injection" system that would allow future missions to land on the moon over the next three years. It eventually paved the way for Apollo 11's historic lunar landing seven months later.

Holiday travelers may need to keep an eye on the weather

Americans heading to Christmas celebrations on Friday face the busiest travel day of the season, according to both the Transportation Security Administration and the Airlines for America trade group – and it may be complicated by bad weather. A potent storm is moving north from the Gulf Coast across the Carolinas and into the Northeast as the weekend approaches. Snow is not being forecast for major airports, but the system was expected to bring heavy rains, scattered thunderstorms and — eventually — strong winds to a number of major airports along the East Coast. In particular, the conditions could affect delay-prone hubs serving New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, with the weather system likely to linger through Saturday.

Can 'Aquaman' swim past competitors?

Jason Momoa brings Aquaman to the big screen in the latest DC cinematic universe film, and it arrives nationwide Friday to a crowded holiday movie lineup. The water warrior’s big-budget origin story, which USA TODAY's Brian Truitt called an “adventurous visual spectacle” that “too often checks boxes rather than blowing them up for something new”, will face stiff competition for moviegoers' money this weekend. The Jennifer Lopez vehicle "Second Act", the "Transformers" prequel "Bumblebee", and the Steve Carell-led biography "Welcome to Marwen" also debut and will join the Golden Globe-nominated family film "Mary Poppins Returns", which opened earlier this week.

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