SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk
Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched before dawn aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 10 September 2024
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SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk
  • Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around
  • If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A daredevil billionaire rocketed back to space Tuesday, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk and venture farther than anyone since NASA’s Apollo moonshots.
Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around, which included developing and testing brand new spacesuits to see how they’ll hold up in the harsh vacuum.
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a spacewalk, but they won’t venture away from the capsule. Considered one of the most riskiest parts of spaceflight, spacewalks have been the sole realm of professional astronauts since the former Soviet Union popped open the hatch in 1965, closely followed by the US Today, they are routinely done at the International Space Station.
Isaacman, along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched before dawn aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The spacewalk is scheduled for late Wednesday or Thursday, midway through the five-day flight.
But first the passengers are shooting for way beyond the International Space Station — an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, which would surpass the Earth-lapping record set during NASA’s Project Gemini in 1966. Only the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon have ventured farther.
The plan is to spend 10 hours at that height — filled with extreme radiation and riddled with debris — before reducing the oval-shaped orbit by half. Even at this lower 435 miles (700 kilometers), the orbit would eclipse the space station and even the Hubble Space Telescope, the highest shuttle astronauts flew.
All four wore SpaceX’s spacewalking suits because the entire Dragon capsule will be depressurized for the two-hour spacewalk, exposing everyone to the dangerous environment.
Isaacman and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis will take turns briefly popping out of the hatch. They’ll test their white and black-trimmed custom suits by twisting their bodies. Both will always have a hand or foot touching the capsule or attached support structure that resembles the top of a pool ladder. There will be no dangling at the end of their 3.6-meter tethers and no jetpack showboating. Only NASA’s suits at the space station come equipped with jetpacks, for emergency use only.
Pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX’s Anna Menon will monitor the spacewalk from inside. Like SpaceX’s previous astronaut flights, this one will end with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
At a preflight news conference, Isaacman — CEO and founder of the credit card processing company Shift4 — refused to say how much he invested in the flight. “Not a chance,” he said.
SpaceX teamed up with Isaacman to pay for spacesuit development and associated costs, said William Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX vice president who once headed space mission operations for NASA.
“We’re really starting to push the frontiers with the private sector,” Gerstenmaier said.
It’s the first of three trips that Isaacman bought from Elon Musk 2-1/2 years ago, soon after returning from his first private SpaceX spaceflight in 2021. Isaacman bankrolled that tourist ride for an undisclosed sum, taking along contest winners and a childhood cancer survivor. The trip raised hundreds of millions for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Spacesuit development took longer than anticipated, delaying this first so-called Polaris Dawn flight until now. Training was extensive; Poteet said it rivaled anything he experienced during his Air Force flying career.
As SpaceX astronaut trainers, Gillis and Menon helped Isaacman and his previous team — as well as NASA’s professional crews — prepare for their rides.
“I wasn’t alive when humans walked on the moon. I’d certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars, and venturing out and exploring our solar system,” the 41-year-old Isaacman said before liftoff.
Poor weather caused a two-week delay. The crew needed favorable forecasts not only for launch, but for splashdown days later. With limited supplies and no ability to reach the space station, they had no choice but to wait for conditions to improve.


German teen held over suspected Islamist attack plot

Updated 7 sec ago
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German teen held over suspected Islamist attack plot

German teen held over suspected Islamist attack plot
  • The Bild daily reported that the suspect had planned to attack a Christmas market with a truck.
Berlin: German prosecutors on Tuesday said that a 17-year-old had been arrested for plotting an Islamist terror attack, with media reports saying he wanted to target a Christmas market.
He is suspected of “preparing a serious violent attack” and “conspiracy to commit murder,” and had “extreme Islamist views,” said the prosecutors in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The suspect is a German national and was arrested on Wednesday last week in the town of Elmshorn, they said.
The Bild daily reported that the suspect had planned to attack a Christmas market with a truck.
In December 2016 a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market killed 12 people, the deadliest jihadist attack ever committed in Germany.
Alongside several other countries, Germany has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault on Israel sparked the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Authorities say they have foiled several planned attacks.
However, three people were killed and eight wounded in a knife attack at a street festival in the western city of Solingen in August, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker and claimed by the Daesh group.
In June, another knife attack killed a policeman in the town of Mannheim, with an Afghan national the prime suspect.

COP 29: UK’s Starmer sets out new 2035 climate goal

COP 29: UK’s Starmer sets out new 2035 climate goal
Updated 5 min 34 sec ago
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COP 29: UK’s Starmer sets out new 2035 climate goal

COP 29: UK’s Starmer sets out new 2035 climate goal
  • Starmer said the British public would not be burdened because of the new target
BAKU: Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81 percent by 2035 as he committed the country to a more ambitious climate goal at the United Nations COP29 climate summit.
The new goal is in line with a recommendation from a committee of climate advisers who said last month the target should exceed the current 78 percent cut to emissions, measured against 1990 levels.
“At this COP, I was pleased to announce that we’re building on our reputation as a climate leader, with the UK’s 2035 NDC (nationally determined contributions) target to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81 percent on 1990 levels,” Starmer told a press conference at the climate gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Starmer said the British public would not be burdened because of the new target, which excludes international aviation and shipping emissions.
“What we’re not going to do, is start telling people how to live their lives. We’re not going to start dictating to people what they do,” he said.

Moldova protests to Russian envoy over election meddling denied by Moscow

Moldova protests to Russian envoy over election meddling denied by Moscow
Updated 13 min 9 sec ago
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Moldova protests to Russian envoy over election meddling denied by Moscow

Moldova protests to Russian envoy over election meddling denied by Moscow
  • Foreign ministry hands protest note to Russian envoy
  • Moldova accuses Russia of election meddling

CHISINAU: Moldova handed Russia’s ambassador to Chisinau a protest note on Tuesday over alleged interference by Moscow in a presidential election and a referendum on joining the European Union.
The Moldovan foreign ministry said in a statement that Russia had sought to delegitimize the democratic process of the country’s presidential election, won by pro-Western President Maia Sandu, and an Oct. 20 referendum on inserting a clause in the constitution defining EU membership as a goal.
Moscow has denied the allegations.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented today to the Ambassador ... a note of protest in connection with the illegal and deliberate interference of the Russian Federation in the electoral process of the Republic of Moldova,” Moldova’s foreign ministry said.
Russian ambassador Oleg Ozerov said of the meeting: “The conversation made it possible to clarify issues related to our acute and complex bilateral relations.”
Moldova has accused Moscow and fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor of meddling throughout the run-up to voting, saying a scheme he ran sought to buy the votes of 300,000 people.
Shor, who lives in Russia, denies wrongdoing. Russia has said the election, in which there were two rounds of voting on Oct. 20 and Nov. 3, was unfair and that it does not see Sandu as the legitimate president.
Ties between Russia and Moldova, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, have deteriorated as the Moldovan government accelerated the push to integrate with the EU. Last month’s referendum narrowly backed enshrining the wish to join the EU in Moldova’s constitution.

Violation of airspace
Moldova’s foreign ministry also used Tuesday’s meeting with Russia’s ambassador to condemn a violation of its airspace by two drones which it said crashed on its territory on Sunday.
Ozerov said there was no evidence the drones were Russian and that Moscow did not fly drones through countries neighboring Ukraine.
Russia has regularly attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles since its full-scale invasion of Moldova’s neighbor in 2022. Moldova has on several occasions recovered weapons debris on its territory.
It said on Sunday that two Russian “decoy” drones had been found in the northern village of Borosenii Noi and the southern village of Firladeni, after a Russian drone attack on Ukraine. No one was reported hurt.


China, Russia must fight US ‘containment’: security chief

China, Russia must fight US ‘containment’: security chief
Updated 12 November 2024
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China, Russia must fight US ‘containment’: security chief

China, Russia must fight US ‘containment’: security chief
  • Moscow and Beijing have expanded military and defense ties since Russia ordered troops into Ukraine nearly three years ago

Beijing: Senior Russian official Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday told China’s foreign minister Wang Yi their two countries’ most urgent task should be countering “containment” by the United States, as they met for security talks in Beijing.
Moscow and Beijing have expanded military and defense ties since Russia ordered troops into Ukraine nearly three years ago, with Chinese President Xi Jinping one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most important allies on the world stage.
But Beijing has also found itself increasingly stuck between a burgeoning alliance of Russia and North Korea, which has sent soldiers to Ukraine and this week ratified a landmark defense pact with Moscow.
Speaking to Wang in Beijing, Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, stressed the need for China and Russia to “counter the ‘dual containment’ policy directed against Russia and China by the United States and its satellites.”
“The comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation (between China and Russia) represent a model of collaboration between two powers in today’s world,” Shoigu told China’s top diplomat.
“Although it is not a military-political alliance like those formed during the Cold War, the relations between our countries surpass this form of interstate relations,” he said, quoted in Russian news agencies.
Ahead of the talks, Beijing said the two officials would hold “strategic security consultations” this week and would discuss “major issues involving the two countries’ strategic security interests and enhancing mutual trust.”
Shoigu was Russia’s defense minister for the first two years of its offensive on Ukraine, before being moved to the Security Council by Putin after a string of military setbacks and criticism from the country’s influential military correspondents.
Shoigu is also expected to attend this week’s Airshow China, which showcases Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector every two years in the southern city of Zhuhai.
Russia’s most advanced jet, the Su-57 stealth fighter, will make a display flight at the show.
China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.
But it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war, which it has never condemned.
Last month, the two countries’ defense ministers pledged to deepen bilateral military cooperation.


Climate crisis worsening already ‘hellish’ refugee situation: UN

Climate crisis worsening already ‘hellish’ refugee situation: UN
Updated 12 November 2024
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Climate crisis worsening already ‘hellish’ refugee situation: UN

Climate crisis worsening already ‘hellish’ refugee situation: UN
  • In a fresh report, UNHCR pointed to how climate shocks in places like Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar were interacting with conflict to push those already in danger into even more dire situations

GENEVA: Climate change is contributing to record numbers of people being uprooted from their homes globally, while worsening the often already “hellish” conditions of displacement, the United Nations said Tuesday.
With international climate talks under way in Baku, the UN refugee agency highlighted how soaring global temperatures and extreme weather events are impacting displacement numbers and conditions, as it called for more and better investment in mitigating the risks.
In a fresh report, UNHCR pointed to how climate shocks in places like Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar were interacting with conflict to push those already in danger into even more dire situations.
“Across our warming world, drought, floods, life-threatening heat and other extreme weather events are creating emergencies with alarming frequency,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in the foreword to the report.
“People forced to flee their homes are on the front lines of this crisis,” he said, pointing out that 75 percent of displaced people live in countries with high-to-extreme exposure to climate-related hazards.
“As the speed and scale of climate change increase, this figure will only continue to rise.”
A record 120 million people already live forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution — most of them inside their own countries, UNHCR figures from June showed.
“Globally, the number of people that have been displaced by conflict has doubled over the last 10 years,” Andrew Harper, UNHCR’s special adviser on climate action, pointed out to AFP.
At the same time, UNHCR pointed to recent data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center indicating that weather-related disasters have displaced some 220 million people inside their countries over the past decade alone — equivalent to approximately 60,000 displacements per day.
“We’re just seeing more and more and more people being displaced,” Harper said, lamenting a dire lack of the funds needed to support those who flee and the communities that host them.
“We are seeing across the board, a hellish situation become even tougher.”
Most refugee settlement areas, he pointed out, are found in lower-income countries, frequently “in the desert, in areas which are prone to flooding, in places without necessary infrastructure to deal with the increasing impacts of climate change.”
This is set to get worse. By 2040, the number of countries in the world facing extreme climate-related hazards is expected to rise from three to 65, UNHCR said, with the vast majority of them hosting displaced populations.


And by 2050, most refugee settlements and camps are projected to experience twice as many days of dangerous heat as they do today, the report cautioned.
That could not only be uncomfortable and a health hazard to the people living there, but could also lead to crop failures and livestock dying off, Harper warned.
“We’re seeing increasing loss of arable land in places exposed to climate extremes, like Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Afghanistan, but at the same time we’ve got the massive increase in populations,” he said.
UNHCR is urging decision-makers gathered for the COP29 in Baku to ensure that far more of international climate financing reaches refugees and host communities most in need.
Currently, UNHCR pointed out, extremely fragile states receive only around $2 per person in annual adaptation funding, compared to $161 per person in non-fragile states.
Without more investment in building climate resilience and adaptation in such communities, more displacement toward countries less impacted by climate change will be inevitable, Harper said.
“If we don’t invest in peace, if we don’t invest in climate adaptation in these areas, then people will move,” he said.
“It’s illogical to expect them to do anything different.”