Image: Jared Isaacman outside the Dragon capsule. Pic: SpaceX
It was delayed by around four hours earlier this morning – with no explanation given – before final safety checks of the spacesuits and equipment were carried out and SpaceX officials confirmed the mission was “go for spacewalk”.
First images broadcast from inside the Dragon capsule showed the four-strong crew preparing for the historic event – and sharing fist bumps with each other.
Image: The crew inside the Dragon capsule ahead of the scheduled spacewalk. Pic: SpaceX via AP
Image: Pic: SpaceX
Daredevil Jared Isaacman, 41, was the first to exit the capsule – joining a small, elite group of spacewalkers who until today had included only professional astronauts.
After opening the hatch, a body camera showed his ascent through the narrow opening before incredible footage showed the spacewalk taking place to huge cheers from mission control at Cape Canaveral.
“It’s gorgeous,” he said, in awe of what he could see, as he eased out of the spacecraft into the vacuum of space, hundreds of miles from Earth.
He kept a hand or foot attached to the capsule the whole time as he flexed his arms and legs to see how the new spacesuit held up.
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“The handsfree demonstration is very comparable to the trainer, in terms of the foot restraint,” he added, as he tested his spacesuit.
He had said before lift-off earlier this week: “Whatever risk is associated with it, it is worth it.”
“I wasn’t alive when humans walked on the moon,” he said. “I’d certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars, and venturing out and exploring our solar system.”
The tech entrepreneur blasted into space from Cape Canaveral in Florida before dawn on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday for the five-day flight – along with mission pilot Scott Poteet, 50, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis, 30, and Anna Menon, 38, both senior engineers at the company.
Ms Gillis followed Mr Isaacman out of the capsule on Thursday to carry out the same mobility tests.
The pair bobbed up and down in weightlessness, no higher than their knees out of the capsule.
Image: Astronauts from left, mission specialist Anna Menon, pilot Scott Poteet, commander Jared Isaacman and mission specialist Sarah Gillis. Pic: AP
The mission, called Polaris Dawn, to test a new line of spacesuits is the Elon Musk-led company’s riskiest mission yet – from a space capsule that doesn’t have a safety airlock, and in suits far slimmer than the bulky protective layers worn by NASA astronauts.
It is the first of three funded by Mr Isaacman – a pilot and the billionaire founder of electronic payment company Shift4.
He has refused to say how much he is paying for the missions, but they are believed to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars based on Crew Dragon’s roughly $55m (£42m) per-seat price for other flights.
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Ms Gillis could be heard saying “pretty good” as she carried out her spacewalk – before she followed Mr Isaacman back into the capsule, after being told what sounded like she had less than six minutes of oxygen supply left.
“Pressure indicates good seal,” mission control told the astronauts, reassuringly, as the hatch was shut again.
“That was really cool,” said one of the presenters on the SpaceX live stream.
Mr Menon and Mr Poteet remained inside the spacecraft during the spacewalk.
Only government astronauts with several years of training have done spacewalks in the past.
There have been around 270 on the International Space Station (ISS) since it was set up in 2000, and 16 by Chinese astronauts on Beijing’s Tiangong space station.
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Jurors in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs have reached a verdict on four of the five counts against him – but the hip-hop mogul will have to wait to learn his fate.
In tense scenes towards the end of the court day on Tuesday, jurors sent a note to say they had reached verdicts on two charges of sex trafficking and two charges of transportation for prostitution, but had been unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charge of racketeering conspiracy.
Combs‘s lawyers surrounded him at the defence table after the note was sent to the court, and at one point he held his head in his hands.
After discussions with prosecution and defence lawyers, Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors to continue deliberating on Wednesday rather than deliver a partial verdict.
Image: Combs and one of his lawyers, Marc Agnifilo, earlier in the day. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
The jury has testimony from more than 30 witnesses to consider – including Combs’s former long-term partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another former girlfriend called “Jane”, who testified under a pseudonym to protect her identity.
Prosecutors allege the 55-year-old rapper used his fame and power to force Cassie and “Jane” into drug-fuelled sex sessions with male sex workers, which were referred to as “freak-offs”, “wild king nights”, or “hotel nights”.
He was also physically violent and blackmailed them with footage, jurors were told.
They also heard from “Mia”, a former employee who alleged she was sexually assaulted by the rapper on several occasions during her career. She also testified using a pseudonym.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defence team has argued that prosecutors are attempting to criminalise what they say was a consensual “swingers lifestyle”.
The rapper chose not to testify and his lawyers did not call any witnesses, building their arguments instead through lengthy cross-examinations of the witnesses called by the prosecution.
The charges against Diddy – and potential sentences
Count 1: Racketeering conspiracy – up to life in prison
Count 2: Sex-trafficking of Cassie Ventura – a minimum of 15 years and maximum of life in prison
Count 3: Transporting individuals including but not limited to Cassie Ventura to engage in prostitution – a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison
Count 4: Sex-trafficking of Jane* – a minimum of 15 years and maximum of life in prison
Count 5: Transporting individuals including but not limited to Jane to engage in prostitution – a maximum of 10 years in prison
What is racketeering conspiracy?
Racketeering conspiracy, which is count one on the verdict sheet, is the most complicated of the charges against Combs.
Jurors need to decide not only whether the rapper created a “racketeering enterprise”, but also if he was involved in various offences as part of this, including kidnapping, arson and bribery.
The charge falls under the US’s RICO laws (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act), which is best known for being used in relation to organised crime and drug cartel cases.
After closing arguments last week, jurors began deliberation on Monday and had spent about 13 hours discussing in total by the time they sent their note.
Before reaching the verdict on the four counts, they had requested to review crucial testimony from Cassie about her account of an assault in a hotel in Los Angeles in 2016.
Captured on CCTV, the footage was played in court several times – showing Combs, wearing only a towel and socks, beating, kicking and dragging Cassie in a hallway.
His defence team admitted in their opening statement that this was domestic violence, and said the music star regretted these actions – but that they did not amount to any of the federal charges against him.
As well as Cassie’s evidence on that assault, they asked to see her testimony on an incident at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 – when she said Combs accused her of taking drugs from him and kicked her off of his yacht.
On their way back to the US, she told the court, he threatened to release explicit videos of her having sex with an escort.
Jurors also wanted to review testimony given by a male sex worker at the start of the trial.
Combs could face 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of all charges.
Jurors will continue deliberating on the racketeering conspiracy charge on Wednesday.
Elon Musk has stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill – weeks after a spectacular fallout between the world’s richest man and the US president.
Following weeks of relative silence after clashing with Mr Trump over his “big beautiful bill”, the billionaire vowed to unseat politicians who support it.
In a post on X, Musk said those who had campaigned on cutting spending but then backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame”.
He added: “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
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Musk also threatened to put their faces on a poster which said “liar” and “voted to increase America’s debt” by $5trn (£3.6trn).
The posts attracted a swift reply from Mr Trump, who claimed the billionaire “may get more subsidy than any human being in history” for his electric car business.
“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
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0:46
Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up
Musk spent at least $250m (£182m) supporting Mr Trump in his presidential campaign and then led the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sacked about 120,000 federal employees.
He has argued the legislation would greatly increase the US national debt and wipe out the savings he claimed he achieved through DOGE.
As the Senate discussed the package, Musk called it “utterly insane and destructive”.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the bill’s massive spending indicated “we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.
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