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A long-awaited rocket with a replacement crew for two stranded NASA astronauts has finally launched to the International Space Station (ISS).

US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS for nine months, having had their journey home repeatedly pushed back.

The Crew-10 mission was initially scheduled to launch the replacement crew of four astronauts from Florida on Wednesday, but a last-minute issue with the rocket’s ground systems forced a delay.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launching four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Pic: NASA
Source NASA TV
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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pic: NASA

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of four aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifts off on a mission to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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NASA and SpaceX are sending a long-awaited crew to the International Space Station. Pic:AP

NASA said on Thursday that SpaceX, headed and founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk, had resolved the issue – flushing a suspected pocket of air out of a hydraulic clamp arm – and that the weather was 95% favourable for a Friday launch.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launching four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Pic: NASA
Source NASA TV
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A view of the Earth from the second-stage rocket (left) and booster (right). Pic: NASA

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launching four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Pic: NASA
Source NASA TV
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Successful touchdown – first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket returned to Earth. Pic: NASA

The crew is now expected to arrive at the ISS on Saturday night. They are NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, who are both military pilots, along with Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots.

They will spend the next six months at the space station, releasing Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams who have been on the ISS since June 2024.

The pair originally planned to go to space for just eight days but got stuck on the station after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft started experiencing problems.

More on International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 crew members Cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos of Russia, Pilot Nichole Ayers and Commander Anne McClain of U.S., and Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of Japan's JAXA, walk from the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center for transport to Launch Complex 39-A ahead of their launch to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
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Crew members (from left) Kirill Peskov, Nichole Ayers, Anne McClain and Takuya Onishi before boarding the rocket. Pic: NASA

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launching four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Pic: NASA
Source NASA TV
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Footage on board shortly after the launch showed the four astronauts. Pic: NASA

The mission has become entangled in politics as Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk claimed – without evidence – that former President Joe Biden left the astronauts on the station for political reasons.

NASA said the two astronauts have had to remain on the ISS to maintain its minimum staffing level.

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Stranded astronauts answer questions

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NASA brought forward the Crew-10 mission from 26 March, swapping a delayed SpaceX capsule for one that would be ready sooner.

Mr Trump and Mr Musk’s demand for an earlier return was an unusual intervention and put additional pressure on NASA’s preparation and safety process.

One giant leap for political spin

by David Blevins, Sky correspondent in Washington

Picture the scene – two NASA astronauts hitch-hiking on the celestial highway.

That’s the impression created by the president of the United States.

Donald Trump has used evocative words like “abandoned” to describe their plight.

He claimed his predecessor, Joe Biden, had failed Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

The pair are still in the International Space Station, nine months after they arrived on an eight-day mission.

In a parallel universe moment in the Oval Office, the President said of the astronauts: “I hope they like each other… maybe they’ll love each other.”

Referencing pictures of Williams floating in space, he added: “I see the woman with the wild hair, good solid head of hair she’s got. There’s no kidding, there’s no games with her hair.”

But NASA refutes the President’s claim, emphasising it’s got nothing to do with politics.

Their prolonged mission is the result of technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

Keen to get in on the drama, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk began talking about a “rescue mission”.

One small step into space has become one giant leap for political spin.

NASA’s commercial crew programme manager, Steve Stich, said SpaceX’s “rapid pace of operations” had required changes to some of the ways it verifies flight safety.

The agency had to address some “late-breaking” issues, NASA space operations chief Ken Bowersox told reporters, including investigating a fuel leak on a recent SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and deterioration of a coating on some of the Dragon crew capsule’s thrusters.

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Mexican navy training vessel hits New York’s Brooklyn Bridge – as reports say three injured

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Mexican navy training vessel hits New York's Brooklyn Bridge - as reports say three injured

A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.

The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.

Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.

The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.

Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.

The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.

More on New York City

The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.

A New York Police Department harbour unit prepares to board the Cuauhtemoc. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.

It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.

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One person dead after explosion outside fertility clinic in California

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One person dead after explosion outside fertility clinic in California

One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.

The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.

The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.

Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.

The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.

“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”

Debris covers the ground after an explosion on Saturday, May 17, 2025 in Palm Springs, Calif.  (ABC7 Los Angeles via AP)
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Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP

In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”

It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.

“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.

The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.

“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.

Debris covers the ground after an explosion on Saturday, May 17, 2025 in Palm Springs, Calif.  (ABC7 Los Angeles via AP)
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Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP

The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).

A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.

The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.

Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.

Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”

Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.

California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.

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James Comey: Trump says ex-FBI director’s seashells post ‘meant assassination’

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James Comey: Trump says ex-FBI director's seashells post 'meant assassination'

A former FBI director has been interviewed by the US Secret Service over a social media post that Republicans say was a call for violence against President Donald Trump.

James Comey, who led the FBI from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Mr Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the numbers “86 47”.

James Comey, then the FBI Director, in July  2016. File pic: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
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James Comey later removed the Instagram post. File pic: AP

He captioned the Instagram post: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

Some have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination.

What does ’86 47′ mean?

The number 86 can be used as a verb in the US. It commonly means “to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly”.

One recent meaning of the term is “to kill”, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which said it had not adopted this meaning of 86 “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use”.

The number has previously been used in a political context by Matt Gaetz, who was President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general but withdrew from consideration following a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

Mr Gaetz wrote: “We’ve now 86’d…” and listed political opponents he had sparred with who ended up stepping down.

Meanwhile, 47 is supposedly representing Mr Trump, who is the 47th US president.

Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers “were a political message” and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence.

“I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down,” Mr Comey said.

Mr Trump rejected the former FBI director’s explanation, telling Fox News: “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant… that meant assassination.”

Donald Trump Jr accused Mr Comey of “casually calling for my dad to be murdered”.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of “an ongoing investigation” but gave no indication of whether he might face further action.

The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Mr Comey had put out “what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States”.

“This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Mr Budowich wrote on X.

Another White House official James Blair said the post was a “Clarion Call (…) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East”.

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Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time.

While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.

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