America's newest crew capsule rockets toward space station

America's newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the "Alien" movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, speaks at a news conference with astronauts, from second left, Doug Hurley, Bob Behnken, Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover before Saturday's Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP PhotoJohn Raoux)

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

"This is critically important ... We're on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. He got a special tour of the pad on the eve of launch, by SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken answer questions during a news conference before the Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The astronauts are assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 flight test later this year. (AP PhotoJohn Raoux)

Looking on were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It's been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken attend a news conference before the Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The astronauts are assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 flight test later this year. (AP PhotoTerry Renna)

Bridenstine said he's confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner — or both — by year's end. But he stressed there's no rush.

"We are not in a space race," he said. "That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It's done. Now we're in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right."

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger — 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip — and considerably fancier and safer.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP PhotoTerry Renna)

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency. Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

"It's an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it's very easy to operate," Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff. He marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit's 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test, the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company's snappy white spacesuit. The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float once reaching zero-gravity. "Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!" Musk tweeted.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP PhotoTerry Renna)

As many as seven astronauts could squeeze in, although four will be the norm once flights get going, allowing for a little cargo room. About 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies are going up on this flight.

The capsule is designed to dock and undock automatically with the space station. Cargo Dragon must be maneuvered with the station's robot arm.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors. Engineers will be carefully watching sound, vibration and other stresses on the spacecraft, while monitoring the life-support, communication and propulsion systems. Some of the equipment needs more work — possibly even redesign — before serving human passengers.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP PhotoTerry Renna)

"We're going to learn a ton from this mission," said NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.

Flight operations team members — some of them new to this — also need the six-day trial run, according to Kennedy Space Center's director, Robert Cabana.

The objective is to make the next demo flight, with Hurley and Behnken, as safe as possible. The more immediate goal is to avoid harming the space station and its three occupants: an American, Canadian and Russian.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP PhotoJohn Raoux)

Despite SpaceX's success at recovering and reusing its rockets, NASA is insisting on brand new boosters from SpaceX for the crew capsule flights. The first-stage booster used Saturday aimed for a floating platform in the Atlantic, following the predawn liftoff. SpaceX plans to recycle the newly flying capsule for a high-altitude abort test this spring, along with a booster launched and retrieved a week ago.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket ready for launch sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP PhotoJohn Raoux)

This photo provided by SpaceX shows a test dummy in the new Dragon capsule designed for astronauts. A six-day test flight will be real in every regard, beginning with a Florida liftoff Saturday, March 2, 2019 and a docking the next day with the International Space Station. The capsule won't carry humans, rather a test dummy, named Ripley after the tough heroine in the "Alien" films, in the same white SpaceX spacesuit that astronauts will wear. (SpaceX via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — Brian Walshe was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the grisly death of his wife, whom he was accused of killing and dismembering nearly three years ago while he awaited sentencing in an art fraud case relating to the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings.

Ana Walshe, a real estate agent who immigrated from Serbia, was last seen early Jan. 1, 2023, after a New Year’s Eve dinner at the couple’s home.

There was no reaction in the courtroom or from Walshe as the verdict was read. Walshe, who faces life in state prison without parole, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. He was handcuffed and shackled before being led out of the courtroom. Last month, Walshe plead guilty to lesser charges of misleading police and illegally disposing of her body.

“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about getting the right answer and this was the right answer,” Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey told reporters outside court. “We don’t look at cases as wins or losses. We look at getting justice for someone, so let's not lose sight of that fact.”

Morrissey said his office had heard from Ana Walshe's sister, who told them “justice had been served.”

Prosecutors leaned heavily on digital evidence in presenting their case against Brian Walshe, including online searches such as as “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember” that were found on devices connected to him.

Investigators also found searches on a Macbook that included “how long for someone missing to inherit,” “how long missing to be dead,” and “can you throw away body parts,” prosecutors told the jury.

An article titled “is it possible to clean DNA off a knife,” a search for “best way to dispose of body parts after murder” as well as websites and searches about “cleaning blood with ammonia, bleach and hydrogen peroxide” were also highlighted during trial.

Surveillance video also showed a man resembling Walshe throwing what appeared to be heavy trash bags into a dumpster not far from their home. A subsequent search of a trash processing facility near his mother’s home uncovered bags containing a hatchet, hammer, sheers, hacksaw, towels and a protective Tyvek suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like the ones Ana Walshe was last seen wearing and a COVID-19 vaccination card with her name.

Prosecutors told the jury that the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory examined some of the items for DNA and found Ana and Brian Walshe’s DNA on the Tyvek suit and Ana Walshe’s DNA on the hatchet, hacksaw and other items.

There were several possible motives for the killing that were floated by prosecutors.

It could have been financial. An insurance executive testified that Brian Walshe was the sole beneficiary of Ana Walshe's $1 million life insurance policy.

But prosecutors also portrayed a marriage that was falling apart, with Brian Walshe confined at home in Massachusetts awaiting sentencing on the art fraud case while Ana Walshe worked in Washington, D.C., and commuted back home.

Also the year before she died, his wife had started an affair, details of which were shared in court by her boyfriend William Fastow. Brian Walshe's attorney denied that his client knew about the affair.

In his opening, Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, argued this was not a case of murder but what he called the “sudden unexplained death” of Ana Walshe. He portrayed a couple who loved each other and were planning for the future before Ana Walshe died after celebrating New Year’s Eve with her husband and a friend.

The couple, who have three young children now in state custody, lived in the affluent coastal community of Cohasset, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Boston.

The expectation was that the defense would put up a case proving that theory and raising doubts about the investigation.

The defense considered calling several forensic DNA experts as well as Michael Proctor, who was fired from the Massachusetts State Police after he came under fire for his role in investigating the Karen Read case. There was also speculation that Walshe would take the stand.

But in the end, Walshe's defense team rested without calling any witnesses.

When initially questioned by investigators, Walshe said his wife had been called to Washington, D.C., on New Year’s Day for a work emergency. But witnesses testified there was no evidence Ana Walshe took a ride service to the airport or boarded a flight. Walshe didn’t contact her employer until Jan. 4.

Walshe later admitted that he dismembered her body and disposed of it in dumpster, saying he did so only after panicking when he found his wife had died in bed.

“Here, the evidence about dismemberment and improper disposal of a body was overwhelming, so I suspect the defense goal was to concede that through the guilty pleas, and make the case all about the murder and the absence of direct evidence about intent and cause of death,” said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University.

“But the prosecution did an excellent job of introducing circumstantial evidence and providing the breadcrumbs that led the jury down the path toward finding premeditation.”

Brian Walshe, left, and lawyer Larry Tipton listen as the jury is polled about their guilty verdict of the first degree murder of his wife Ana in 2023 by a Norfolk Superior Court jury in Dedham, Mass., on Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Judge Diane Freniere gives instructions to the lawyers during Brian Walshe's murder trial, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Stuart Cahill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe's mother Diane sits in court as the jury starts their second day of deliberations in Dedham, Mass., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe, left, is escorted out of court after being found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife Ana in 2023 by a Norfolk Superior Court jury in Dedham, Mass., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe looks at the jury while seated with his attorney Kelli Porges in Norfolk Superior Court on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe, facing a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing his wife Ana Walshe, speaks with his lawyer during testimony in his trial, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via AP, File)