05 May 2021
SpaceX launched its fifth test of a Starship prototype on Wednesday and managed to stick the landing.
Why it matters: SpaceX hopes that Starship will eventually be used to deliver payloads and people to deep space destinations like the Moon and Mars.
What's happening: The Starship prototype, named SN15, was an upgraded version of earlier Starships launched by the Elon Musk-founded company.
- Those earlier launches ended in failures of some kind or another, including exploding during descent, exploding on impact with the ground and exploding after a hard landing.
- But Wednesday's test was a success, with Musk tweeting, "Starship landing nominal!"
The intrigue: SpaceX just received a contract from NASA to continue to fly astronauts to the surface of the Moon using Starship.
- That contract is expected to be a boon for its development program and could bring the rocket and spacecraft under more scrutiny from the space agency.
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.