Woman suffers burns while walking off-trail in thermal area by Yellowstone’s Old Faithful
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(CODY, Wyo.) — A 60-year-old woman was walking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park when she suffered burns from scalding water in a thermal area by Old Faithful, park officials said.
The woman was walking with her husband and their dog in a thermal area near Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon “when she broke through a thin crust” over the extremely hot water, suffering second-degree and third-degree burns to her leg, the National Park Service said.
The woman, who was visiting Yellowstone from New Hampshire, was taken to a park medical clinic and later flown to a hospital for further treatment, officials said.
Her husband and dog were not hurt, park officials said.
“Visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution,” Yellowstone National Park said in a statement. “The ground in these areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface.”
Park spokesperson Linda Veress urges visitors to “follow the beaten path.”
“In thermal areas, boardwalks take you to amazing places, protect the park, and keep you safe,” Veress told ABC News. “People have been severely burned and killed after leaving the boardwalk or reaching into hot water.”
Pets aren’t allowed on boardwalks or hiking trails, or in thermal areas, park officials noted.
The incident is under investigation, park officials said.
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — After two weeks of delays, the ambitious Polaris Dawn space mission, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman and in collaboration with SpaceX, launched early Tuesday morning.
The four-person civilian crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday at 5:23 a.m. ET in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, according to a social media post by the aerospace company.
Lift off came after one final two-hour delay due to “unfavorable weather at the launch site,” as reported SpaceX.
Isaacman, the CEO of the payment-processing company Shift4, is joined on the mission by former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
The highly anticipated program faced a series of delays since the originally planned Aug. 26 launch due to unfavorable weather conditions and a ground system issue at the launch site.
Prepping for another possible delay, SpaceX said ahead of the launch that the weather forecast for Tuesday remained uncertain.
“Weather is currently 40% favorable for liftoff, and conditions at the possible splashdown sites for Dragon’s return to Earth remain a watch item,” the company wrote on X Sunday.
Despite the forecast, Issacman remained hopeful about this week’s launch possibility, writing on X, “This is a big improvement over the last two weeks. We are getting closer to getting this mission to orbit.”
The mission was previously delayed due to a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect (QD) umbilical, SpaceX said on Aug. 26. Umbilical systems employ QD fluid connectors to transfer fluids into a vehicle, according to NASA.
If successful, the Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history by launching four private citizens into ultrahigh orbit, ascending to 870 miles above Earth. This would be the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission since the Apollo program, more than a half century ago.
The program is set to span five days under normal conditions and will see two of the crew members exit the spacecraft in the first commercial spacewalk, at an altitude of 435 miles above Earth.
Due to the absence of an airlock on the SpaceX Dragon capsule, all four crew members will be exposed to the vacuum of space during the ambitious spacewalk.
The spacewalk will also serve as a critical test for SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, an evolution of the intravehicular activity (IVA) suit.
This new design includes a heads-up display, helmet camera, and enhanced joint mobility. It also features thermal insulation, solar protection, and a suspension system that allows the wearer to pressurize the suit, don a harness and execute operations as if they were weightless.
The Dragon spacecraft also has undergone significant modifications, including upgrades to the life support systems to supply more oxygen during spacewalks, according to the Polaris program. Environmental sensing has been improved, and a new nitrogen re-pressurization system has been installed, according to the program.
The Polaris Dawn mission will be Isaacman’s second journey to space. In 2021, he funded his first mission to orbit Earth. The project was billed as a childhood cancer fundraiser, garnering $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and marked the first all-civilian mission in Earth orbit.
(WASHINGTON) — Federal law enforcement officials plan to announce criminal charges Friday in connection with the alleged Iranian hack of emails from members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The Iranians allegedly gained access to data and files taken from the email accounts of Trump advisers, which included internal documents used to vet Trump’s perspective running mate, the sources said.
The Trump campaign, as victims, would be notified of any criminal charges that happen, as is standard Department of Justice practice.
Sources tell ABC News the Trump campaign has been informed.
A Justice Department official declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
A Trump campaign spokesperson also declined to comment.
(NEW ORLEANS) — Police in New Orleans are seeking two people accused of stealing human remains from an apartment.
The suspects allegedly stole “a bicycle and of a package containing the remains of a deceased person” from the apartment on July 26, according to the New Orleans Police Department. They then fled the scene, police said.
Though the incident happened in July, police released information on the case Thursday.
Police shared photos and are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying and locating the two suspects.
It was not immediately clear if the human remains have been identified.
New Orleans police did not provide further information on the circumstances of the theft when asked by ABC News.
