(CNN)– SpaceX is grabbing headlines and trying to turn the aerospace industry on its head. It’s also one of the world’s most valuable privately held companies.

The space exploration outfit, headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, recently raised another $350 million — bringing the company’s value to $21 billion, according to Equidate, which operates a marketplace for investing in private companies. The new valuation was reported earlier by The New York Times.

SpaceX is among an exclusive group of private U.S.-based companies that have multi-billion dollar valuations. Currently, only about a half a dozen companies in the world have hit the $20 billion mark, according to a list compiled by CBInsights, a startup analytics firm.

They include the world’s highest-valued private firm, Uber, which is estimated to be worth nearly $70 billion, and Airbnb, which is worth more than $30 billion.

While Uber, Airbnb and other so-called “unicorns” are focused on more traditional marketplaces — SpaceX’s ultimate goal is to put humans on Mars.

Rocket manufacturing has long been solely the work of governments and massive legacy aerospace companies — like Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance — that partner with governments. The general consensus has been that space exploration is too risky and rocket building too expensive for the private sector.

SpaceX changed all that.

Musk started SpaceX in 2002. Over the course of a decade, the firm built and tested its Falcon 9 rocket.

It then proved it can safely complete trips to the International Space Station — all for a lot less money than its competitors. (Falcon 9 launches have a sticker price of $62 million — undercutting its competition by at least $38 million.)

It’s also worked out a plan to cheapen launches even further by reusing portions of its rockets — an idea that was initially scoffed at. It’s a difficult feat, which is why rockets have traditionally been left to burn up in the atmosphere after a single flight.

But SpaceX devised a way to recapture its rockets after launch. After some trial and error, the company mastered the maneuver and has also twice sent used rockets back into space, boasting a perfect performance for both launches.

The company has had its setbacks. It suffered a major one in September, when one of its rockets erupted into flames on the launch pad, destroying a satellite and grounding the company for months.

But SpaceX has been gliding through 2017, posting its best performance to date.

It has executed ten total launches so far this year, and it has plans to launch at least 10 more times before the end the end of 2017. SpaceX sent only eight rockets to space in all of 2016.

And there’s at least two more next steps ahead. Later this year, SpaceX plans to test launch its new Falcon Heavy vehicle. When that rocket is operational, based on current specs, it’ll become the most powerful launch vehicle on the market.

SpaceX also has plans to make the first privately funded trip to the moon in December, carrying a rover for a competitor in the $20 million Google Lunar XPrize competition.

(ABC News) — Spacewalking cosmonauts set free the world’s first satellite made almost entirely with a 3-D printer on Thursday.

In total, Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy ended up releasing five nanosatellites by hand. One by one, the tiny craft — no more than 1 to 2 feet in size — tumbled safely away from the International Space Station.

The exterior casing of the first one tossed overboard was made with a 3-D printer. So were the battery packs inside. Researchers want to see how 3-D-made parts weather the space environment.

The 3-D satellite contains regular electronics. It also holds greetings to planet Earth in a variety of languages, courtesy of students at Siberia’s Tomsk Polytechnic University, where the satellite was made.

Related Content: Eclipse historically brings doomsday omens for some

The other satellites deployed Thursday have traditional spacecraft parts.

Each weighs just 10 to 24 pounds. They’re expected to orbit for five to six months.

One commemorates the 60th anniversary of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1, launched Oct. 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union. Another pays tribute to Russia’s father of rocketry, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. He was born 160 years ago next month.

The remaining two small satellites involve navigation and other experiments.

Related Content: Connecticut company designing space suit for mission to Mars

Yurchikhin and Ryazanskiy completed the satellite releases within an hour of venturing outside. Barely a minute passed between a few of the launches. The rest of their work took longer than expected, however, and Russia’s Mission Control outside Moscow sent the planned six-hour spacewalk into overtime. It ended up lasting 7 1/2 hours, and the cosmonauts said their hands were tired. All but one task got done.

“We will have actually some grounds to get drunk today, I think,” one of the cosmonauts joked in Russian. A flight controller replied that he’d do it for them.

The cosmonauts collected science experiments from outside their 250-mile-high home, and wiped thruster residue from various surfaces for analysis. Three Americans and one Italian also live on the space station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA launched the last of its longtime tracking and communication satellites on Friday, a vital link to astronauts in orbit as well as the Hubble Space Telescope.

The end of the era came with a morning liftoff of TDRS-M, the 13th satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network . It rode to orbit aboard an unmanned Atlas V rocket.

“It’s like our baby,” said NASA’s Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation.

“People have invested their soul and their sweat into making it happen” over the decades, Younes said on the eve of launch. “This spacecraft has served us so well.”

NASA has been launching TDRS satellites since 1983. The 22,300-mile-high constellation links ground controllers with the International Space Station and other low-orbiting craft including Hubble.

This latest flight from Cape Canaveral was delayed two weeks after a crane hit one of the satellite’s antennas last month. Satellite maker Boeing replaced the damaged antenna and took corrective action to prevent future accidents. Worker error was blamed.

The rocket and satellite cost $540 million.

Space shuttles hoisted the first-generation TDRS satellites. The second in the series was aboard Challenger’s doomed flight in 1986. It was the only loss in the entire TDRS series.

TDRS-M is third generation. NASA’s next-generation tracking network will rely on lasers. This more advanced and robust method of relaying data was demonstrated a few years ago during the moon-orbiting mission LADEE. NASA hopes to start launching these high-tech satellites by 2024. Until then, the space agency will rely on the current network.

NASA needs seven active TDRS satellites at any given time, six for real-time support and one as a spare. The newest one will remain in reserve, until needed to replace aging craft.

Besides serving other spacecraft, the satellites help provide communication to outposts at the South Pole. In 1998, the network provided critical medical help to a doctor diagnosed with breast cancer.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(CNN) — The world just got a glimpse of the suits astronauts may one day wear when they travel to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX craft.

Elon Musk — the billionaire serial entrepreneur behind SpaceX — shared a photo Wednesday of an astronaut wearing a crisp white suit with black paneling, and a helmet with a large, tinted face shield.

Musk said via an Instagram post that the suit pictured is an actual, functioning version of what the company will one day give to astronauts.

“Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup),” he wrote. “Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics and function.”

The spacesuit is designed to be used on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — a new spacecraft the private company is developing that will ferry astronauts to the space station under contracts with NASA.

Related Content: SpaceX now valued at $21 billion

SpaceX is in a race against Boeing to make history by becoming the first private company to complete that sort of mission. Until now, only governments have sent humans into orbit.

The United States hasn’t had a craft certified to carry humans into space since NASA retired the Space Shuttle program in 2011. So in recent years, NASA has relied on Russian missions to get its astronauts to and from the space station.

Boeing and SpaceX have each been developing a crew-worthy spacecraft for years. NASA put its faith in the two companies by awarding them both contracts in 2014 to one day fly crew. Both have been awarded missions, and the companies received $4.2 billion and $2.6 billion respectively.

Now, it’s a race to the launch pad. Both Boeing and SpaceX are expected to launch their first crewed missions at around the same time, possibly next year.

Related Content: Blue Origin unveils space capsule with ‘largest windows in space’

Boeing was first in one respect: the company has already revealed its spacesuit design. It’s a notably different esthetic — bright blue material and mid-calf boots designed by Reebok.

See the new #Starliner Spacesuit features on #Boeing’s expanded spaceflight page & download Starliner Wallpaper https://t.co/PHBZWZJWIJ pic.twitter.com/DBlaSDRMnI

— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) January 25, 2017

Apart from the spacecrafts under development by Boeing and SpaceX, there’s one more crew vessel in the works: NASA’s Orion, which Lockheed Martin (LMT) is building under a federal contract.

Orion, however, is intended for missions more complicated than space station trips. Rather, NASA has designed it for trips to the moon, Mars and even beyond.

NASA says the suits for Orion missions will be modified versions of the bright orange jumpsuits astronauts wore for take off and landing during Shuttle missions.

SpaceX declined to share more details about its spacesuit design on Wednesday.

Musk teased on Instagram, “More in days to follow.”

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Irma (all times local):

9:05 p.m.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is ordering the closing of all schools, colleges and universities throughout the state.

Scott announced late Thursday that all schools as well as state offices would be closed Friday through next Monday.

Many school districts and universities had already voluntarily agreed to close due to the looming arrival of Hurricane Irma over the weekend. But many school districts and colleges in north central and northwest Florida had remained open.

But in a brief statement Scott said he ordered all schools to shut down so that the buildings could be used potentially as shelters or as staging grounds for relief efforts.

He said Floridians “facing a life-threatening storm” and “every family must prepare to evacuate.”

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8:55 p.m.

Florida officials want residents to evacuate the area directly south of Lake Okeechobee as Hurricane Irma approaches.

Gov. Rick Scott released a statement Thursday ordering an immediate voluntary evacuation for cities surrounding the southern half of the lake from Lake Port to Canal Point in Hendry, Palm Beach and Glades counties. Mandatory evacuations will be put in place beginning Friday morning.

The statement said Scott made the decision after discussing the Herbert Hoover Dike with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Col. Jason Kirk told Scott the structural integrity of the dike would not be compromised, but excessive could wind push some water over the dike.

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8:15 p.m.

The five living former U.S. presidents are creating the “One America Appeal” to raise money for storm recovery as Texas and Louisiana regroup from Harvey and Florida braces for Hurricane Irma.

The hurricane recovery effort was announced Thursday by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Organizers say a special restricted account has been established through the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation to collect and quickly distribute donations. Officials say “100 cents out of every dollar” donated will help hurricane victims.

Donations designated to help victims of Harvey will be distributed to the Houston Harvey Relief Fund and the Rebuild Texas Fund. The appeal is expected to be expanded to help Irma victims.

Online donations can be made at OneAmericaAppeal.org .

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8 p.m.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Irma is “pummeling” the Turks and Caicos islands.

Forecasters say the Category 5 hurricane has top sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph) and is expected to remain powerful for the next couple of days. Irma is centered about 55 miles (85 kilometers) west-southwest of Grand Turk Island and is moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

In the Atlantic, Category 3 Hurricane Jose is moving toward the northern Leeward Islands. Jose has maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph) and is moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph). The storm is about 540 miles (870 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles.

Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft are on the way to investigate Hurricane Katia in the Gulf of Mexico. Katia is stationary about 190 miles (310 kilometers) north-northeast of Veracruz, Mexico, and forecasters didn’t expect much movement overnight. It has top winds of 80 mph (130 kph).

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5:40 p.m.

The three major amusement parks in Orlando, Florida, are all operating under normal conditions as Hurricane Irma threatens the entire state.

Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World said Thursday morning they are monitoring the movement of Irma, but at this point have made no plans to shut down their parks or alter the normal hours of operations. The storm is projected to reach the southern part of the state Saturday and some tracking models have the Category 5 Hurricane reaching central Florida on Monday.

Each park has refund or rescheduling policies in place for park visitors who may not feel comfortable visiting Orlando this weekend. The parks have their individual policies posted on their respective websites.

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5:30 p.m.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Irma was centered at 5 p.m. EDT Thursday about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Grand Turk Island and had top sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph). It says the extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane is moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose has become the third major hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season. Jose now has top sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). At 5 p.m. EDT, it was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph) and was about 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katia was beginning to move Thursday afternoon toward the coast of Mexico. Forecasters say the Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), could be near major hurricane strength at landfall.

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5:20 p.m.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Irma was centered at 5 p.m. EDT Thursday about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Grand Turk Island and had top sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph). It says the extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane is moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

The Miami-based center says the Cuban government has now issued a hurricane warning for four provinces, including the Cuban keys along the island nation’s north shore. That is in addition to hurricane warnings and watches previously issued elsewhere in the region. It says the distinct eye of Irma should keep moving between Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday evening

In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katia was beginning to move Thursday afternoon toward the coast of Mexico after being nearly stationary for hours some 215 miles (345 kilometers) east of Tampico, Mexico. Forecasters say the Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), could be near major hurricane strength at landfall. The forecast calls for a turn southwestward nearing the coast late Friday or early Saturday.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose has become the third major hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season. Jose now has top sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). At 5 p.m. EDT, it was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph) and was about 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles.

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5:15 p.m.

Authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands say three people have died after Irma caused what they described as “catastrophic” damage.

Governor spokesman Samuel Topp said Thursday that the deaths occurred in the St. Thomas and St. John district. Officials say crews are clearing many roads that remain inaccessible.

Irma also killed four people and injured about 50 on the French side of St. Martin, an island split between Dutch and French control. Three more deaths were reported on the British island of Anguilla, independent Barbuda and the Dutch side of St. Martin.

The Category 5 storm destroyed homes, schools and roads as it roared through the northeast Caribbean this week and heads toward Florida.

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4:40 p.m.

The star-studded Sept. 12 telethon scheduled to help victims of Hurricane Harvey is expanding its reach to include those affected by Hurricane Irma as well.

Event organizers say that they are prepared to help in any way they can.

Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey will headline the one-hour telethon that will be simulcast next week on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CMT.

The event will be telecast live at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 12, and on tape delay at 8 p.m. on the West Coast, and streamed live on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

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4:10 p.m.

Hurricane Irma’s top sustained winds weakened by about 10 mph (16 kph) on Thursday because of a bit of dry air and interaction with land on the island of Hispaniola, but it is still a top-of-the-scale hurricane.

And according to meteorologist Jeff Masters with Weather Underground, Irma could intensify “back up to 185 mph (298 kph) or even higher because it is headed to warmer deeper water” over the Florida straits.

Although the hurricane center forecasts some more weakening because of upper-level winds that could arrive and fight the storm, Masters says those winds might develop too late on Sunday, after Irma has already turned north to Florida.

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4 p.m.

Maj. Jeremy DeHart has some advice for Floridians after flying through Hurricane Harvey last month and now through the eye of Irma at 10,000 feet on Wednesday.

The U.S. Air Force Reserve weather officer says to “take it seriously …. because this is the real deal.”

DeHart has flown into about 20 hurricanes, and he says he’s never gone into anything quite so powerful. Or beautiful. Inside Irma’s calm, cool center, there’s a stadium effect, with thunderstorms flashing on the surrounding eyewall. He calls it “spectacular,” and says the “satellite images can’t do it justice.”

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3:45 p.m.

The fate of Florida depends on when and how Hurricane Irma makes a right turn.

National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini says forecasters have no doubt it will turn in the days ahead. If it’s an early, sharp turn, Irma is more likely to keep closer to the peninsula’s eastern shore or even over water as it churns north.

But if it turns later and more widely, the center of Irma and its maximum destructive capacity would move inland.

Jeff Masters, the meteorology director of Weather Underground, says the main factor determining the turn will most likely be a low pressure system expected to develop over the Great Lakes as part of a dip in the jet stream, with some extra help from winds flowing out of the newly formed Hurricane Katia.

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3:35 p.m.

South Florida officials are expanding evacuation orders as Hurricane Irma approaches, telling more than a half-million people to seek safety inland.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has announced evacuation orders for downtown Miami and other parts of the city, plus southern parts of the county. The expanded evacuation area also includes Homestead, Coral Gables, South Miami, Miami Shores and North Miami Beach.

County officials had already ordered evacuations Wednesday for Miami Beach and the other barrier islands.

The total population for the affected communities is nearly 700,000 people, though the evacuation zones don’t always include entire cities. Miami-Dade County’s population is about 2.7 million.

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3:20 p.m.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has a stark warning for anyone who wants to defy a mandatory evacuation order ahead of Hurricane Irma. He says: “If you live in any evacuation zones and you’re still at home, LEAVE!”

Scott said he “cannot stress this enough. Do not ignore evacuation orders. You rebuild your home … you cannot recreate your family.”

And this: “Do not try to ride out this storm,” he says. The time to leave is now, because he says “we can’t save you once the storm hits.”

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3 p.m.

The eye of Hurricane Irma is moving west-northwest off the Dominican Republic’s northern coast as an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Irma has top sustained winds near 175 mph (280 kph) and is expected to continue moving between Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos in the afternoon hours, on a course taking it to the southeastern Bahamas Thursday evening.

As of 2 p.m. EDT, Irma’s crisply defined eye was about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north-northeast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, moving at about 16 mph (25 kph) to the west-northwest.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose has rapidly strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with top sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph). Jose is following Irma’s path, moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph) over open ocean, about 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katia was virtually stationary Thursday afternoon, some 215 miles (345 kilometers) east of Tampico, Mexico. Forecasters say that Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), should remain stationary through late Thursday, then approach the Mexican coast late Friday or early Saturday.

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2:40 p.m.

A second Dutch navy ship has arrived at the shattered island of St. Maarten and is “ready to deliver aid to the population in need.”

The Dutch navy just tweeted that the Pelikaan ship has moored at the island’s capital of Philipsburg to unload vital supplies. Another navy vessel, the Zeeland, already is in the area and has been using an onboard helicopter to assess damage inflicted by Hurricane Irma.

Two military aircraft are being loaded in the Netherlands before flying to the island of Curacao, from where they will fly onward to St. Maarten to deliver five days of food and water for the 40,000 population. The aircraft also are bringing 100 more troops to deliver aid, repair infrastructure and restore order.

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2:25 p.m.

Evacuation orders are multiplying across Florida as local officials try to get the most vulnerable populations to move to safety ahead of Hurricane Irma.

Miami Dade has now made evacuations mandatory for all of its coastal areas, barrier islands and mobile homes. Monroe County’s mandatory order stands for the entire Florida Keys. Broward County’s order remains voluntary for mobile homes and low-lying areas. Collier County issued a voluntary evacuation order for Marco Island.

County authorities across South Florida are making school buses available for people with special needs to get out.

Additional evacuations are expected throughout the state.

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2:10 p.m.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Jose has grown into a Category 2 storm, and it threatens some of the same islands ravaged just days ago by Hurricane Irma.

Jose was about 660 miles (1,060) kilometers east of the Lesser Antilles early Thursday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph).

It was heading to the west-northwest at 18 mph (20 kph)

The Hurricane Center says a hurricane watch is in effect for Antigua and Barbuda, which is already trying to recover from Category 5 Irma.

Now Jose could approach those islands on Saturday.

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2:05 p.m.

The Dutch interior minister says one person is confirmed dead on the former colony of St. Maarten as a result of Category 5 Hurricane Irma.

Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said Thursday that there are also a number of injuries and that the Dutch authorities still only have an “incomplete picture” of the damage on St. Maarten, which is home to some 40,000 people and suffered severe damage as Irma barreled over on Wednesday.

Plasterk also says there have been some public order problems including instances of looting. He says the Netherlands is sending an extra 50 police from Curacao.

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1:55 p.m.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statewide emergency declaration Thursday and told people to be prepared statewide even though projections suggest the storm could be much weaker by next week. Cooper says tropical storms can be very dangerous, and “this storm can impact any part of North Carolina — all over our state from the mountains to the coast.”

Nick Petro with the National Weather Service in Raleigh said heavy rain and inland wind damage could result in extended power outages and mountain mudslides as well as dangerous coastal surf.

More than 300 National Guard soldiers are being brought in to help, with more on standby. All highway work and lane closures are being suspended to help evacuations from other states.

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1:50 p.m.

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson says he and his staff rode out Hurricane Irma on his private Caribbean island without suffering injuries, but the area is heavily damaged.

The head of the Virgin Group owns small Necker island in the British Virgin Islands. He said in a blog entry Thursday that he and the staff who stayed with him in a concrete cellar on the island are safe and well.

Branson said the area surrounding his home is “completely and utterly devastated.” He said entire houses have disappeared and “I have never seen anything like this hurricane.”

Outside the cellar he said bathroom and bedroom doors and windows were blown out. He said he was communicating via a satellite phone, but all other communications were down.

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1:45 p.m.

Haiti’s interior minister has ordered the evacuation of coastal areas in the north of the country.

That includes people living in and around Port-de-Paix and the island known as Il de la Tortue.

Haiti is expected to be spared a direct hit from Hurricane Irma but heavy rains and high surf could trigger dangerous floods in the impoverished country.

Interior Minister Max Rudolph Saint-Albin is urging people to move to higher ground. Shelters have been set up the Civil Protection agency.

The evacuation is mandatory but Haiti does not have enough police or other officials to enforce evacuation orders and the number of people who left vulnerable areas is not known.

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1:35 p.m.

The Cuban civil defense agency is preparing people on the northern coast of Cuba’s eastern provinces for a sideswipe from Hurricane Irma in the hours ahead.

Santiago province has opened 125 evacuation centers that can hold 38,000 people. Another 20,000 people can take refuge with neighbors and family in safer zones.

Civil Defense representative Odesa Fuentes said the centers will be open for the duration of the storm’s passage on Friday.

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1:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says “we are with the people of Florida” as Hurricane Irma draws near.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump says his administration is “very concerned” as the record hurricane approaches the U.S. mainland, but he says “we think we’re as well prepared as you can possibly be.”

The president says he hopes the storm won’t hit Florida directly.

He says, “We are with the people of Florida.”

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1:10 p.m.

As NASA secured Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for potentially catastrophic wind and rain, the private SpaceX company squeezed out a rocket launch.

Kennedy is closing its doors to all nonessential staff, effective Friday. Of 9,000 workers, a hurricane crew of 120 people will ride out Irma on site.

Most critical buildings can withstand gusts up to about 135 mph (217 kph), but Irma’s winds could well exceed that if the storm’s center reaches Cape Canaveral.

Space center workers rushed to stack sandbags at doorways and cover the Orion capsule scheduled to launch in two years on a brand new NASA rocket.

Meanwhile, SpaceX managed to launch an unmanned Falcon rocket carrying an Air Force minishuttle bound for a long experimental flight in orbit.

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1 p.m.

Georgia’s governor has ordered a mandatory evacuation starting on Saturday from the state’s Atlantic coast ahead of Hurricane Irma. That includes the city of Savannah.

Gov. Nathan Deal issued the evacuation Thursday for all areas east of Interstate 95, all of Chatham County and some areas west of the interstate. He also expanded a state of emergency to 30 counties.

Deal’s order authorizes about 5,000 Georgia National Guard members to be on active duty to help people respond and recover.

Georgia hasn’t been hit by a hurricane with winds Category 3 or higher since 1898.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, also declared a state of emergency. A major strike there would be the first in nearly 28 years.

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12:50 p.m.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp says they’re getting badly needed federal help after Hurricane Irma significantly damaged St. Thomas and St. John with top winds of 150 mph for more than four hours. Fire and police stations collapsed and the main hospital in St. Thomas sustained heavy damage.

Mapp told The Associated Press Thursday authorities are distributing emergency food and water, tarps and other supplies, and evacuating hospital patients to Puerto Rico and elsewhere. A curfew remains in effect, including about 5,000 tourists.

And the governor is knocking down false reports that the government is confiscating firearms. He says that’s a misunderstanding of standard language used to activate the National Guard. He says he’s got hospitals breached, homes with roofs gone and police and fire stations that are blown away — he’s not interested in anybody’s firearms.

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12:40 p.m.

There have been very few cyclones stronger than Hurricane Irma. And there have been some that lasted longer. But no other storm in recorded history has maintained top winds of 185 mph for 37 hours.

Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach says that breaks the previous record, held by Typhoon Haiyan, which had similar top winds for 24 hours before it hit the Philippines and killed 6,000 people in 2013.

Irma also has been the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record outside the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, measured by its barometric pressure of 914 millibars.

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12:30 p.m.

Gov. Rick Scott is urging all gas stations in Florida to stay open as long as possible to accommodate evacuees.

Scott even announced at his midday Thursday news conference that police escorts will get gas station employees out safely if necessary just ahead of Hurricane Irma.

He says authorities are already escorting fuel tankers through traffic and to gas stations as quickly as possible.

Scott says all of the state’s ports are still operating, bringing in fuel and supplies.

He urged residents to take only as much gas as they need to make sure there is enough for everyone who needs it.

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12:15 p.m.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe says four people are confirmed dead and about 50 injured on the Caribbean island of St. Martin in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

The prime minister said one person faces life-threatening injuries and two others were in serious condition.

The death toll was lower than one given earlier Thursday by France’s interior minister, who said eight people had been killed on French Caribbean territories.

Philippe said four bodies have been found on St. Martin and are being identified. The island is part French, part Dutch, and Dutch authorities have not reported any casualties.

An official in Philippe’s office said only four people are currently confirmed dead so far after a re-evaluation of the damage Wednesday. The official said the toll could rise as rescuers reach the scene. Philippe says large amounts of aid and equipment are en route to St. Martin and nearby St. Barts.

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11:55 a.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he will visit French territories damaged by Hurricane Irma, “as soon as the weather allows.”

Speaking in Athens Thursday, Macron said he decided not to call off his two-day visit to Greece because prevailing weather conditions would have prevented a flight to the French territories, and an emergency government meeting in Paris was concluded before he left.

Irma, the strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane on record, has affected French, British and Dutch Caribbean territories.

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11:45 a.m.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott says the state is doing all it can to relieve fuel shortages and traffic jams to keep people evacuating ahead of Hurricane Irma.

Scott is acknowledging that empty pumps, long lines and crowded highways are “frustrating” for Floridians. But he says his administration is working with federal authorities and other states to move as much gas into Florida as they can.

This includes having the Florida Highway Patrol escort fuel trucks through any traffic.

Florida Highway Safety spokeswoman Beth Frady says troopers escorted trucks from two Florida ports to stations in Marion and Martin counties overnight, and also were escorting trucks from Georgia to stations in Perry, in north central Florida near where Interstate 75 crosses Interstate 10.

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11:35 a.m.

Britain is sending hundreds of troops and the Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean to its overseas islands battered by Hurricane Irma.

Britain has already sent one ship, RFA Mount Bay, to Anguilla, which took the full force of the storm.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said Thursday he had ordered HMS Ocean to head to the Caribbean from the Mediterranean. Fallon also said the U.K. was sending “a task group of several hundred troops, marines, engineers and additional helicopters.”

British authorities are being criticized for being slow to send aid to territories in the storm’s path, but Fallon said “we are going to make sure the islands get the help they need.”

Irma has hit the British territories Anguilla, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos.

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11:30 a.m.

Dutch airline KLM has cancelled two flights to the hurricane-shattered island of St. Maarten as authorities struggle to assess the extent of the devastation to many buildings, including the airport.

KLM said in a statement Thursday it has cancelled flights scheduled to leave the Netherlands on Friday and Sunday for St. Maarten in the aftermath of Category 5 Hurricane Irma’s direct hit on the island on Wednesday.

The carrier says it is “keeping a close eye on the situation and, based on the circumstances, will decide whether operations can be resumed.”

The airline says it is in contact with the Dutch government and local authorities to seek a solution for passengers stranded amid the devastation.

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Related Content: Storm Team 8 Hurricane Tracker

11:20 a.m.

Hurricane Irma is flooding parts of the Dominican Republic as it roars by just off the northern coast of the island it shares with Haiti.

Officials said about 500 tourists in the Bavaro-Punta Cana area were moved to more secure shelters just ahead of the Category 5 storm.

Civil Defense Director Rafael Carrasco says a landslide in the Samana Peninsula affected eight houses and more than 2,500 people have been evacuated.

Punta Cana airport has reopened after being closed for several hours.

Haiti’s northern coast will be next, but Irma’s stronger winds have yet to reach that side of the island of Hispaniola.

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11 a.m.

A hurricane watch is now in effect for the Florida Keys and parts of South Florida.

The U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami says a watch has been issued for the Florida Keys, and on the South Florida mainland from Jupiter Inlet southward and around the peninsula to Bonita Beach.

The center noted that Hurricane Irma was still an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 hurricane, although its winds had decreased slightly from 180 mph (285 kph) to 175 mph (280 kph).

The hurricane was headed for the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday.

The Hurricane Center has predicted that Irma will remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as it passes the Turks and Caicos, parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night, and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday.

It will then likely head north toward Florida, where people were rushing to board up homes, fill cars with gasoline and find a route to safety.

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10 a.m.

More than 1 million people in Puerto Rico are without power — nearly 70 percent of customers of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Thursday that crews are investigating and until they know the extent of the damage, “it will be difficult to estimate how long the power outage will last.”

Rossello added that ports on the island are still closed, and it’s unclear when commercial flights will resume.

Schools and government offices are scheduled to reopen on Monday.

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9 a.m.

Airports in the Bahamas are shutting down with the approach of Hurricane Irma.

The government says the international airport in Nassau will close late Thursday and it urges people who plan to leave the island chain east of Florida to check with airlines for space.

Grand Bahama’s airport and the less-populated island throughout the chain will close by noon Friday.

Hurricane Irma has cut a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean, leaving at least 10 dead and thousands homeless. The storm could also make a catastrophic strike on Florida.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as it passes just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, nears the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday.

It will then likely head north toward Florida, where people were rushing to board up homes, fill cars with gasoline and find a route to safety.

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Related: Local radio station gives updates from Puerto Rico to people in Connecticut

9 a.m.

President Donald Trump is urging people to “be careful, be safe” during Hurricane Irma.

In a tweet Thursday morning, Trump remarked that Irma “is raging but we have great teams of talented and brave people already in place and ready to help.”

Trump asked people to “be careful, be safe!”

Hurricane Irma has cut a path of devastation across the northern Caribbean, leaving at least 10 dead and thousands homeless. The storm could also make a catastrophic strike on Florida.

Trump said Wednesday that the storm “looks like it could be something that could be not good, believe me, not good.”

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8:15 a.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron says France is “grief-stricken” by the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, and he’s calling for concerted efforts to tackle global warming and climate change to prevent similar future natural disasters.

Speaking Thursday during a visit to Greece, Macron said the planet’s situation must be stabilized and that leaders must make take steps to combat global warming “so we can avoid such natural disasters in the future.”

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told Franc Info that at least eight people died and another 23 were injured when the monstrous Category 5 storm walloped the French Caribbean island territories of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy. That number is expected to rise.

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7:50 a.m.

The Florida Highway Patrol says troopers are monitoring the high volume of traffic heading north on Florida’s Turnpike as people evacuate South Florida.

In a news release Thursday, the highway patrol said extra troopers, road rangers and wreckers will be on the roadways to help drivers whose vehicles have become disabled.

The agency says disabled vehicles left on the shoulders of the highways would be towed starting Thursday morning to make it easier for emergency workers who are trying to reach crash victims.

Turnpike officials are also using cameras along the road to monitor conditions.

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Related: Is Irma really one of the strongest hurricanes ever?

6:50 a.m.

The U.K. government says Hurricane Irma has inflicted “severe and in places critical” damage to the British overseas territory of Anguilla.

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan says the Caribbean island took the full force of the category 5 hurricane.

He told lawmakers on Thursday that the British Virgin islands have also suffered “severe damage.” On another British territory, Monsterrat, the damage is “not as severe as first thought.”

Duncan said the hurricane is expected to hit another British overseas territory, Turks and Caicos, later Thursday.

Britain has dispatched a Royal Navy ship carrying marines and army engineers to the affected islands.

Duncan says there are “unconfirmed reports of a number of fatalities” as a result of the hurricane.

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6:45 a.m.

The Dutch prime minister says Category 5 Hurricane Irma was a storm of “epic proportions” when it slammed into the former Dutch colony of Saint Maarten in the Caribbean and is appealing to Dutch citizens to donate to a relief fund set up by the Red Cross.

Speaking Thursday after a meeting of the government’s crisis committee, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said there are no reports yet of casualties on the Dutch side of the island. Rutte says the damage is huge, particularly on Saint Maarten, with “widescale destruction of infrastructure, houses and businesses.”

He says, “there is no power, no gasoline, no running water. Houses are under water, cars are floating through the streets, inhabitants are sitting in the dark, in ruined houses and are cut off from the outside world.”

The Dutch military is readying two aircraft to fly to the region to distribute vital aid to the shattered territory, which is home to some 40,000 people. However the airport on the Dutch side of the island is badly damaged.

(CNN)– The starting pay is pretty good, depending on experience. The jobs are hard to get, and a lot of people want them.

It’s the job of an NASA astronaut. America is gearing up for a new era of human spaceflight — with plans to try to reach beyond the moon and perhaps to Mars. There’s a thriving commercial sector driven by companies like Boeing and Space X.

When NASA went looking for a new class of astronaut trainees, it got 18,300 applications. Only 12 were selected. They reported for duty last month for a grueling training program.

CNNMoney wanted to know more about an astronaut’s job. We spoke with Donald Pettit, NASA’s oldest active astronaut at age 62, and Greg Johnson, a former astronaut who is now the president of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

How do you qualify for the job?

NASA stipulates that qualified applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in a field of science, technology, engineering or math. Post-graduate study or work experience is also required. The space agency has trained astronauts with all sorts of backgrounds — such as a medical doctor, oceanographer, even a veterinarian.

Physical demands can be onerous. Applicants need good eyesight, must stand between 5’2″ and 6’3″ and have good blood pressure (“not to exceed 140/90” in a sitting position).

Candidates also must pass a difficult endurance test and impress the NASA team during a series of interviews.

“It’s a very special opportunity,” Johnson said. He advised the next class of astronaut candidates to “take advantage of it” because “for each astronaut, there’s 100 behind us equally qualified.”

Then what?

Those who make the cut enter a two-year “training and evaluation” period.

“It’s like getting a full four-year college degree compressed into two years,” Pettit said. “There’s no summer breaks.”

Trainees learn skills that may come in handy if they’re selected for an actual mission.

Among the tasks:

— Swim laps in a 25-meter pool and tread water for 10 minutes while wearing a flight suit and tennis shoes.

— Become SCUBA certified. (The underwater environment is actually quite similar to the vacuum of space.)

— Ride up and down in a jet aircraft to mimic the zero-gravity environment in space. Trainees may take 40 of these rides in a single day.

— Learn to speak some Russian. Astronauts need to be able to talk with cosmonauts at the space station and communicate during launch.

Since the United States retired the Space Shuttle program in 2011, Russian space vehicles have ferried American astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Astronauts also have to get comfortable in the puffy white suits that astronauts wear when they go on space walks. And Pettit said it’s nothing like you see in the movies.

“They’re hot and uncomfortable, and when you get out of them, you kind of slither out of them like a worm…like a slimy creature that just crawled out of a chrysalis,” Pettit joked.

When do they go to space?

Even after astronauts complete the program, they still have to complete specific training based on what they’ll be doing in space. All that starts long before they reach the launch pad.

For example, if an astronaut is tapped to complete a six-month stint at the space station, it requires two to three years of extra training.

But while space is memorable, there’s a lot of action back on Earth. “For every astronaut in space, there’s 1,000 people on the ground doing the real work,” Pettit said.

What do they do in space?

Astronauts’ assignments during trips in space include performing experiments, conducting research or repairing hardware. Those tasks eat up most of their time.

Johnson flew on short-term orbital Space Shuttle missions, so his flight team worked almost constantly. For the little time he did have off, Johnson said he and his crewmates would snap photos, capture video and phone home to their families.

Johnson remembers one video chat with his wife and children, during which he was able to show them the Earth whisking by out the window. They got an aerial view of Michigan to Madagascar in 20 minutes.

Pettit has done more long-term missions. In total, he’s lived aboard the International Space Station for more than six months. Still, he only had one day off per week.

“I don’t like to do anything on orbit I can do on earth. I’ll make like three phone calls in a six month period,” Pettit said. “I spend my time taking advantage of what the space environment offers: incredible views, the ability to do amazing photography, and the science opportunity — I would devise my own little science demonstrations.”

Are there any inside jokes?

Pettit’s class in 1996 was called the “sardines” — because 44 trainees were packed into one class.

Johnson’s class in 1998 was called the “penguins,” a nod to the flightless bird and the fact that it would be eight years before any of them would fly in a mission. The 2017 class doesn’t have a name yet.

What’s the pay like?

It’s a labor of love.

“Nobody gets rich,” said Pettit, who has about two decades of astronaut experience under his belt.

NASA says annual salaries for astronaut candidates — those first starting out — range from $66,026 per year up to $144,566.

“The grade is determined in accordance with each individual’s academic achievements and experience,” NASA explains.

Full-fledged astronauts can make up to $150,063 per year based on 2017 rates, unless they come in through the military. Active duty members are paid based on military rates, which vary widely depending on their rank and years of experience.

NASA also places quite a few restrictions on astronauts to prevent to personal financial gain.

They can’t earn royalties if they write a book or charge speaking fees. They also can’t accept gifts from, say, an aerospace company that wants to treat them to a free round of golf.

“But, to be honest, we’re so busy doing our day job — Who has time to go off and play golf with some aerospace people?” Pettit laughed.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — City and town leaders are working together to reverse a trend here in Connecticut. They’re trying to attract a big company instead of seeing one leave. And now, their sights are set on Amazon.

“It would be a game changer,” said Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim. “Which could mean as many as 50,000 jobs.”

Cities across the country are competing for Amazon to build its second headquarters in their communities because of the projected economic benefits a facility like that could bring. Amazon requires any community to be able to have 8 million square feet of space available.

Bridgeport and other cities individually don’t have that. But, if they join forces and try to appeal to Amazon on a regional level, they do. So, Mayor Ganim is part of a group of leaders from Fairfield and New Haven Counties trying to make it happen. The group includes cities and towns from Norwalk to New Haven that could host satellite facilities that cumulatively would meet Amazon’s 8 million square foot requirement.

“The region offers up to 15 million square feet of shovel-ready site options; New Haven’s 4 million square feet are within walking distance of Union Station and have extraordinary cultural and entertainment options right next door,” New Haven Mayor Toni Harp said in a statement to News8.”

“Mayor Harp, other mayors and selectmen from cities and towns of a 20-town region have come together,” Mayor Ganim said. “Physically, we’ve put  our heads together. Universities — from UB to Sacred Heart to Fairfield to UNH — all of the region putting their brainpower together and showing that the institutes of higher learning are part of this. Business leaders from the Bridgeport Regional Business Council and local chambers in conjunction with the incentives that state can offer I think is going to make this one of the most enticing packages and locations for the next Amazon headquarters.”

Mayor Harp also praised the region’s institutions of higher learning as a major selling point.

“(We have a ) highly-qualified workforce, with top-ranked colleges and universities to refill the talent pool,” Mayor Harp said.

The region’s bid, which they call “The Connecticut Metropolitan” proposal, also cites transportation advantages like high-speed rail, major domestic and international airports nearby, and again — a highly-skilled workforce.

Other Connecticut areas are seeking Amazon’s business, too — like Hartford and Danbury.

As for his region’s pitch:  “We want you. We’ll do whatever it takes,” Mayor Ganim said.

(CNN)– Elon Musk just unveiled more of his grand plan for colonizing Mars.

The hard-charging tech mogul said his rocket company, SpaceX, aims to land at least two cargo ships on the Red Planet in 2022 in order to place power, mining and life support systems there for future flights.

That’s just five years from now.

“That’s not a typo — although it is aspirational,” Musk said Friday during a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia. Ships carrying crews would arrive in 2024, he added.

To hit those deadlines, SpaceX plans to start building the first spaceship by the middle of next year, he said. The billionaire entrepreneur does have a track record of setting ambitious time frames for SpaceX, and failing to meet them.

Musk revealed more details on the spacecraft — the BFR, or Big Falcon Rocket, which inside the company is nicknamed the “Big F–king Rocket.” If he has his way, Mars colonizers will eventually travel in style in the BFR, which will accommodate around 100 people spread out over 40 cabins, and include large common areas and an entertainment system.

SpaceX has figured out a way to pay for the costly missions, according to Musk, but he shied away from giving specific numbers.

The company thinks it can make enough money from its current business of launching satellites and servicing the International Space Station to finance its Mars ambitions. Musk’s goal is to make the BFR reusable, which would significantly bring down the cost of launches. 

He envisions the rockets enabling SpaceX to eventually establish a lunar base, which he dubbed “Moon Base Alpha.”

“It’s 2017, we should have a lunar base by now,” he said. “What the hell’s going on?”

Musk suggested the BFR could eventually also be used to clean up space by gobbling up old satellites and other junk orbiting the earth.

And it may come in handy closer to home. Musk said the rockets could fly people from city to city on Earth in incredibly short time spans, such as from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes.

SpaceX isn’t the only company with an eye on Mars, though.

Just hours before Musk took the stage in Australian city of Adelaide on Friday, Lockheed Martin(LMT) touted its plans for a “Mars Base Camp” — a mobile space habitat that it’s developing for NASA. The system would work in tandem with Orion, the spacecraft NASA is developing for crewed missions to deep space.

Lockheed said the structure could be assembled at NASA’s Deep Space Gateway — a structure the agency is developing that would live in space between Earth and the Moon.

The company says it hopes to build and send the structure to the Mars in about 10 years.

Unlike SpaceX’s plan, NASA and Lockheed aren’t looking to colonize Mars. Their project is focused on executing experimental missions in which highly trained astronauts would visit the planet and ultimately return to Earth.

Aerospace giant Boeing (BA) has also said it wants the first person to set foot on Mars to get there on one of its rockets.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched and landed its second rocket in three days, this time from the U.S. East Coast.

The unmanned Falcon — recycled following a February flight — blasted off with a communications satellite Wednesday evening from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Minutes later, the leftover booster landed on an offshore barge.

Successfully placed in orbit, the dual-mission satellite will be shared by Colorado-based EchoStar and SES, a Luxembourg company.

Early Monday, a SpaceX Falcon soared from Southern California with Iridium satellites. That first stage also was recovered.

The booster launched Wednesday was previously used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station for NASA. It’s only the third time SpaceX has reflown a rocket on an orbital mission.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk is working to lower launch costs by reusing rockets. He’s aiming for Mars.

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Online:

SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts went spacewalking Friday to provide some necessary focus to the International Space Station’s robot arm.

The main job for commander Randy Bresnik and teacher-turned-astronaut Joe Acaba was to replace a blurry camera on the new robotic hand that was installed during a spacewalk two weeks ago. The two men were supposed to go spacewalking earlier this week, but NASA needed extra time to rustle up the repair plan.

Sharp focus is essential in order for the space station’s robot hand to capture an arriving supply ship. The next delivery is a few weeks away, prompting the quick camera swap-out.

Orbital ATK, one of NASA’s commercial shippers, plans to launch a cargo ship from Virginia on Nov. 11.

Acaba was barely outside an hour when he had to replace one of his safety tethers, which keep him secured to the orbiting outpost and prevent him from floating away.

Mission Control noticed his red tether seemed frayed and worn and ordered Acaba to “remain put” with his good waist tether locked to the structure as Bresnik went to get him a spare. Spacewalking astronauts always have more than one of these crucial lifelines in case one breaks. They also wear a jetpack in case all tethers fail and they need to fly back to the space station.

This was the third spacewalk in two weeks for the space station’s U.S. residents. Bresnik performed the first two with Mark Vande Hei.

As they ventured out, Bresnik noted they were flying over Puerto Rico.

“Get out of here,” replied Acaba, the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage.

Acaba’s parents were born there, and he still has family on the hurricane-ravaged island.

“There’s a whole line of people looking up and smiling today as you get ready to head out the door,” Bresnik said.

Friday’s spacewalk should be the last one for the year. Early next year, astronauts will replace the hand on the opposite side of the 58-foot robot arm, Canada’s main contribution to the space station. The original latching mechanisms are showing wear and tear since the arm’s launch in 2001.

The 250-mile-high complex is currently home to three Americans, two Russians and one Italian.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts got a mouth-watering haul with Tuesday’s Earth-to-space delivery — pizza and ice cream.

A commercial supply ship arrived at the International Space Station two days after launching from Virginia. Besides NASA equipment and experiments, the Orbital ATK capsule holds chocolate and vanilla ice cream for the six station astronauts, as well as make-your-own flatbread pizzas.

Astronauts always crave pizza in orbit, but it’s been particularly tough for Italy’s Paolo Nespoli. He’s been up there since July and has another month to go.

Nespoli used the space station’s robot arm to grab the cargo ship, as they zoomed 260 miles above the Indian Ocean.

Besides flatbread, the capsule contains all the makings of a good Earth pizza: sauce, cheese, pepperoni, anchovy paste, tomatoes, pesto, olive oil and more.

Astronauts also get a hankering for cold treats, thus the big frozen shipment of ice cream cups, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream bars and frozen fruit bars.

In all, the capsule contains nearly 4 tons of cargo. It’s named the S.S. Gene Cernan in honor of the last man to walk on the moon, who died in January.

The experiments include mealworms and micro clover, sent up by high school students.

The supply ship will remain at the space station until the beginning of December, when it’s cut loose with a load of trash. It will hover close to the orbiting lab as part of an experiment, then several mini satellites will be released and it will burn up in the atmosphere on re-entry.

SpaceX, NASA’s other prime shipper, will make a delivery next month.

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Online:

Orbital ATK: https://www.orbitalatk.com/

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(AP) — The world’s nights are getting alarmingly brighter — bad news for all sorts of creatures, humans included.

A German-led team reported Wednesday that light pollution is threatening darkness almost everywhere. Satellite observations during five Octobers show Earth’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by 2 percent a year from 2012 to 2016. So did nighttime brightness.

Light pollution is actually worse than that, according to the researchers. Their measurements coincide with the outdoor switch to energy-efficient and cost-saving light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Because the imaging sensor on the polar-orbiting weather satellite can’t detect the LED-generated color blue, some light is missed.

The observations, for example, indicate stable levels of night light in the United States, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. But light pollution is almost certainly on the rise in those countries given this elusive blue light, said Christopher Kyba of the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences and lead author of the study published in Science Advances .

Also on the rise is the spread of light into the hinterlands and overall increased use. The findings shatter the long-held notion that more energy efficient lighting would decrease usage on the global — or at least a national — scale.

“Honestly, I had thought and assumed and hoped that with LEDs we were turning the corner. There’s also a lot more awareness of light pollution,” he told reporters by phone from Potsdam. “It is quite disappointing.”

Related Content: 16,000 scientists sign dire warning to humanity over health of planet

The biological impact from surging artificial light is also significant, according to the researchers.

People’s sleep can be marred, which in turn can affect their health. The migration and reproduction of birds, fish, amphibians, insects and bats can be disrupted. Plants can have abnormally extended growing periods. And forget about seeing stars or the Milky Way, if the trend continues.

About the only places with dramatic declines in night light were in areas of conflict like Syria and Yemen, the researchers found. Australia also reported a noticeable drop, but that’s because wildfires were raging early in the study. Researchers were unable to filter out the bright burning light.

Asia, Africa and South America, for the most part, saw a surge in artificial night lighting.

More and more places are installing outdoor lighting given its low cost and the overall growth in communities’ wealth, the scientists noted. Urban sprawl is also moving towns farther out. The outskirts of major cities in developing nations are brightening quite rapidly, in fact, Kyba said.

Other especially bright hot spots: sprawling greenhouses in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Photos taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station also illuminate the growing problem.

Franz Holker of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, a co-author, said things are at the critical point.

“Many people are using light at night without really thinking about the cost,” Holker said. Not just the economic cost, “but also the cost that you have to pay from an ecological, environmental perspective.”

Kyba and his colleagues recommend avoiding glaring lamps whenever possible — choosing amber over so-called white LEDs — and using more efficient ways to illuminate places like parking lots or city streets. For example, dim, closely spaced lights tend to provide better visibility than bright lights that are more spread out.

The International Dark-Sky Association , based in Tucson, Arizona, has been highlighting the hazards of artificial night light for decades.

“We hope that the results further sound the alarm about the many unintended consequences of the unchecked use of artificial light at night,” Director J. Scott Feierabend said in a statement.

An instrument on the 2011-launched U.S. weather satellite, Suomi, provided the observations for this study. A second such instrument — known as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS — was launched on a new satellite Saturday by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This latest VIIRS will join the continuing night light study.

(WTNH) — Many of us are fortunate enough to be home for Thanksgiving.

But some of us have to work, like NASA astronauts up in space.

Related Content: New Haven business provides Thanksgiving meals for those in need

NASA has astronauts living and working on the International Space Station.

“We’ll appreciate the next Thanksgiving that much more, having missed this one,” said astronaut Randy Bresnick. “And our hearts and prayers go out to those that are serving our country, not at home this Thanksgiving, and that they are able to make it special where they are just like we’re going to.

Related Content: Thanksgiving celebrated in South Korea by U.S. soldiers

Despite throwing some fixings together up there in space, the astronauts say they do miss their families’ home cooking.

WINDSOR LOCKS/NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The holiday rush was on – this time in the opposite direction – on Sunday. Millions of people across the country were heading home from their Thanksgiving destinations.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is typically a busy travel day. According to a survey from TripAdvisor, 22% of travelers headed home on Sunday after traveling for Thanksgiving.

The survey also noted that 51% of people traveled for the holiday.

Bradley International Airport was quiet on Sunday night; however, people who head to the airport every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving say it typically is very busy earlier in the day. But some were expecting it to be a bit more chaotic on Sunday night.

“We were quite shocked we got a parking space,” said Marlene Mihalek of Sandy Hook. “Everything’s been moving along.”

Related Content: Troopers investigate 428 crashes during enforcement period

Most flights were on time. Travelers getting ready to depart didn’t have to wait long to go through security. Many were expecting the airport to be packed; they were pleasantly surprised.

“Today was really nice,” said Mihalek. “There’s people here but they’re moving, so it’s not overcrowded or anything.”

Meanwhile, many of the benches were full at Union Station in New Haven on Sunday evening. The station was full of travelers heading home after Thanksgiving and the holiday weekend.

The station had to be evacuated late in the afternoon after someone pulled the fire alarm.

“It didn’t seem like there was a lot of people until everyone went outside and everyone was clustered, so I guess it kind of became very overwhelming,” said Deanna Vanni of New City, New York.

Even after everyone was allowed back inside, the area in front of the station got very congested as passengers got picked up or dropped off.

Many people travel on the Sunday after Thanksgiving every year and they planned ahead.

“Everything’s been going great. I made sure I booked four months in advance because after that tickets will go up,” said Joshua Brown of Boston.

Despite all the hustle and bustle, most of the trains were on time. Passengers say what could’ve been a stressful day of travel really wasn’t that bad.

“I always find that the Metro North train from New York to New Haven is always on time, and even if you have to stand it seems good,” said Shannon Palmer of New Haven. “It’s a good train.”

Monday is expected to be a busy travel day as well, as more people head home after the holiday or head back to work.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first-ever pizza party in space is getting sky-high reviews.

Astronauts at the International Space Station posted pictures and a video over the weekend of their small, made-from-scratch pizza pies. The fixings flew up last month on a commercial supply ship, and the crew wasted little time pulling out the flatbread, tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, olives, olive oil, anchovy paste and pesto.

After making their own individual-size pizzas, the six astronauts tossed and twirled them like floating Frisbees, before heating and devouring them.

Commander Randy Bresnik called the pizzas “flying saucers of the edible kind.” The crew, he said in a tweet, “had a blast channeling our inner chef by building tasty pizzas for movie night.”

“The IPDS (Intergalactic Pizza Devouring Squad) says 12 thumbs up!” Bresnik added.

NASA‘s space station manager, Kirk Shireman, took pity on Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli’s pizza craving and, in mid-November, shipped up all the ingredients on an Orbital ATK capsule. Nespoli, in orbit since July, declared the pizza “unexpectedly delicious.”

Nespoli has just over a week before returning to true Italian cuisine. He will land in Kazakhstan on Dec. 14, along with Bresnik and a Russian.

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Online:

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MOSCOW (AP) — Three astronauts on Thursday landed back on Earth after nearly six months aboard the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz capsule with NASA‘s Randy Bresnik, Russia’s Sergey Ryazanskiy and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency descended under a red-and-white parachute and landed on schedule at 2:37 p.m. local time (0837 GMT; 3:37 a.m. EST) on the vast steppes outside of a remote town in Kazakhstan.

The three were extracted from the capsule within 20 minutes and appeared to be in good condition.

Bresnik, Ryazansky and Nespoli spent 139 days aboard the orbiting space laboratory. The trio who arrived at the station in July contributed to hundreds of scientific experiments aboard the ISS and performed several spacewalks.

They left Alexander Misurkin, commander of the crew, and two Americans, Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, in charge.

During their stay at the station, the crew had a phone call with Pope Francis who talked with the cosmonauts about Dante’s verses and St. Exupery’s “The Little Prince.”

Bresnik, a U.S. Marine who flew combat missions during the Iraq war, told the pope what strikes him is that in space there are “no borders, there is no conflict, it’s just peaceful.”

Kentucky-born Bresnik also celebrated Thanksgiving in space, feasting on pouches of turkey with his colleagues.

The orbiting lab’s crew of three will go back to a six-member team when NASA’s Scott Tingle, Russia’s Anton Shkaplerov and Japan’s Norishige Kanai take off from Kazakhstan on Sunday.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(AP) — A capsule carrying three astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States has blasted off for a two-day trip to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz capsule with Anton Shkaplerov, Norishige Kanai and Scott Tingle launched at 1:23 p.m. (0723 GMT; 2:23 a.m. EST) Sunday from Russia’s manned space-launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It entered orbit nine minutes later.

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It is the first space flight for Tingle and Kanai; Shkaplerov is on his third mission to the ISS.

The capsule is to dock on Tuesday with the orbiting space laboratory. The three will join Russia’s Alexander Misurkin and Joe Acaba and Mark Vandde Hei of NASA, who have been aboard since September.

(ABC News) — The U.S. government until 2012 ran a program for investigating reports of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, the Department of Defense confirmed to ABC News.

As first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, the once-secret program was funded from 2007 to 2012. According to The New York Times, DOD spent $22 million on the program.

“The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program ended in the 2012 timeframe,” the Pentagon told ABC News in a statement. “It was determined that there were other, higher priority issues that merited funding and it was in the best interest of the [Department of Defense] to make a change. The [Defense Department] takes seriously all threats and potential threats to our people, our assets, and our mission and takes action whenever credible information is developed.“

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According to initial reports, the program investigated years of reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the program was funded at the request of former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who has expressed interest in investigating unexplained phenomena in outer space.

Reid took to Twitter after The New York Times report was released, saying, “This is about science and national security. If America doesn’t take the lead in answering questions, others will.”

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If anyone says they have the answers, they’re fooling themselves.

We don’t know the answers but we have plenty of evidence to support asking the questions. This is about science and national security. If America doesn’t take the lead in answering these questions, others will.

— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) December 16, 2017

(ABC News) — More than a million people are expected to ring in the new year in New York City’s Times Square, making the crowded tourist site an inherent target, experts say.

The security precautions that will be taken by the New York Police Department to protect the revelers are expected to be unprecedented. Typical security measures, like using sand trucks and blocker vehicles on nearby cross streets and a mix of plainclothes and uniformed officers, will be deployed as always, but other steps, such as increasing security at nearby parking garages and closer surveillance of large rental trucks, are also being put in place, city officials said, according to local ABC station WABC.

Police officials are expected to make more detailed disclosures about their plans on Thursday.

John Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator for the Department of Homeland Security and current ABC News contributor, said that it is “not surprising at all” that security is being increased this year “based on how the threat facing the country has evolved.”

“It’s very possible that our traditional intelligence techniques for detecting threats are not well suited to uncover potential attacks,” Cohen said, adding that it means that more precautions are necessary.

“In the current threat environment, the public plays a major role in both helping to detect potential attacks and being prepared in the event they find themselves at a location where an attack is unfolding,” Cohen said.

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Matt Olsen, a former director at the National Counterterrorism Center and current ABC News contributor, told “Good Morning America” that increased security is a must.

“People should expect to see an increase in security this New Year’s because of an ongoing threat we’ve seen from ISIS. Really over the past few years, they’ve sought to encourage their followers to carry out low-level attacks wherever they can, particularly targeting people where they gather in crowds,” Olsen said.

A joint assessment report for New York’s New Year’s celebration was released on Dec. 21 culling the findings from multiple agencies, and it concluded that there was “no information to indicate a specific, credible threat” toward the Times Square celebration, but officials and the public should be cautious nonetheless.

The report stated that the FBI, DHS, NYSP, PAPD, NYPD and FDNY “remain concerned about international terrorists and domestic extremists potentially targeting the event.”

Specific attacks were cited, like the recent attacks in New York City, which include a car-ramming in October and an attempted attack at Port Authority earlier this month, and older attacks like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

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The report went on to list three specific instances in which Times Square was an intended target. One example was a summer 2016 plot described as more aspirational than operational in which three individuals planned to detonate improvised explosive devices at different targets in New York City — including Times Square. The three individuals in question were arrested in the plot.

New York is not the only city that has law enforcement officials concerned about keeping celebrants safe. A similar threat assessment report was released by the Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Center and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis evaluating the potential threats facing partygoers in Las Vegas on New Year’s.

The report states that since many of the festive events in Sin City “are being held on congested sidewalks and in high-rise buildings, presenting logistical challenges that make it difficult to secure the event from overhead threats.” In October, 58 people were killed in Vegas when a man opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of a hotel.

The report specifically cited that shooting, adding that “the risk of copycat attacks by terrorists and unaffiliated lone offenders is of particular concern to the SNCTC, as it highlighted a vulnerability associated with large crowds in open spaces.”

(ABC News) — A bright “fireball” streaking through the New England sky had residents talking from Maine to Massachusetts on Tuesday evening.

Residents in the Boston area reported seeing a possible meteor flying through the sky before 6 p.m, according to ABC’s Boston affiliate WCVB.

A web camera on Maine’s Mount Agamenticus captured the object in the sky around 5:52 p.m.

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“I saw a bright blue flash while I was out shoveling, then a fireball like missile pass over me,” a WCVB Facebook user said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the object.

According to the American Meteor Society, a meteor of fireball magnitude is brighter than the planet Venus in the morning or night sky. Several thousand fireballs occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. But the vast majority go unnoticed as they appear over oceans and uninhabited regions or are masked by daylight.