Four astronauts delivered back to Earth by SpaceX
02 May 2021
An international crew of four astronauts is back on Earth after a long-duration stay on the International Space Station.
The big picture: Sunday's splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico marks the end of SpaceX's first fully operational crewed mission to the space station.
What's happening: NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japan's Soichi Noguchi splashed down about 3a.m. ET after undocking from the space station Saturday evening.
- The return of this crew leaves a crew of seven people on the space station now, four flown up by another SpaceX mission and three that flew to space aboard Russia's Soyuz.
What's next: The Crew Dragon capsule — named Resilience — will now be turned around so it can be used for SpaceX's next crewed flight, the Inspiration 4 mission to orbit expected to launch in September.
- As part of its refurbishment, SpaceX is planning to install a large window in place of the spacecraft's docking adaptor to give the all-civilian crew an unmatched view of space while in orbit.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.