Listening to NPR

[aStudent]

Dear Teachers:

I cannot figure out some words while listening to a clip of the Hourly Newscast program from NPR.
Could someone please be kind enough to help me by filling in the two blanks in the last two paragraphs which I wrote down after listening to the below-mentioned audio clip?
Thanks in advance.

Below is the URL of the related audio clip of 5 minute, MP3, 2234KB
http://ftp14.putclub.com/update/stan...PRNEWS0923.mp3

Space Shuttle Atlantis has returned safely to Earth. It was the shuttle's 15th night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.
The shuttle was originally scheduled to return home yesterday, but poor weather and concern about unidentified objects floating near the shuttle forced the delay. Today, everything went like clockwork. The shuttle fired its engines and began that hour-long trip back to Earth. Astronauts on the space station offered narration describing the shuttle as a bright dot of light below them. They can also see a (0:34)___________ behind it. At 6:21 AM Eastern time after a journey of 4 million miles, Atlantis slowed to a stop on the runway with six astronauts on board. The crew had installed the new 17-ton extension to the space station and new solar panels. NASA says it is now on its way to completing the International Space Station. This was the third flight since the Columbia disaster. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.
..................

Station nightclub owners and brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian were each facing life in prison if convicted. A hundred people were killed in the blaze after a band's fireworks ignited highly flammable soundproofing foam in the club. Instead Michael Derderian who bought the foam will serve four years and Jeffrey will do 500 hours of community service. Many said (3:59)____________________ever would have been. D lost her 29-year-old daughter Tammy in the fire.

[Tdol]

plasma contrail (I don't know the term, but this is what I heard)
a light sentence is harder to take than a trial

[aStudent]

Thank you very much for your good and timely answer, Tdol.