Spacewalking is the new domain of the rich as billionaire attempts first private spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — First came space tourism. Now comes an even bigger thrill for the monied masses: spacewalking.

The stage is set for the first private spacewalk Thursday. Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman will pop out of the hatch of his orbiting SpaceX capsule, two days after blasting off from Florida on a chartered flight that lifted him and his crew higher than anyone since NASA's moonwalkers. He partnered with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to buy a series of rocket rides and help develop brand new spacesuits.

SpaceX is the first private company to attempt a spacewalk, until now the domain of just 12 countries. There’s a reason why it’s such a niche and elite group: Spacewalking is considered the most dangerous part of any flight after launch and reentry, and demands extensive training.

“Spacewalks are a whole different entire ballgame than just strapping into a rocket and riding it, getting some zero-g time and coming back,” said retired NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.

Cassidy knows firsthand about the dangers of spacewalking: He was working outside the International Space Station in 2013 when his partner, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, almost drowned. Parmitano’s helmet filled with water from his cooling garment, and he barely made it back inside in time. Another 30 minutes that day and “the answer might be different,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy worries there’s “a slippery slope” where the wealthy could try to jump to the front of a spacewalking line with minimal training.

Risk and disaster analyst Ilan Kelman of University College London said it’s “appropriate and inevitable” that non-professionals will end up performing spacewalks. But he anticipates fatalities along the way.

“We can and should do plenty to reduce the risk,” said Kelman. "We must be entirely honest with anyone participating, especially the low chance of rescue when something major goes wrong.”

This spacewalk attempt won't be like what routinely happens at the International Space Station where astronauts float out to do repairs. Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis will venture just barely outside the capsule as they soar about 450 miles (more than 700 kilometers) above Earth. Their orbit was initially twice that high, but reduced for the spacewalk.

Besides being new to spacewalking, the crew of four will test suits fresh off the factory floor. All will be exposed to the vacuum of space since the Dragon capsule, unlike larger space vehicles, lacks an airlock.

For Isaacman, throwing away the cabin atmosphere and then restoring it is the riskiest part of the endeavor.

“You can’t afford to get anything wrong along that journey or you sidetrack it,” Isaacman said. “We’re going out just long enough to do what we need to do to get the data."

The bulk of their training over the past two years has focused on the spacewalk, the highlight of their planned five-day flight. SpaceX put considerable preparation and testing into the capsule and suits, said SpaceX’s Bill Gerstenmaier, a former NASA manager.

For safety, Isaacman and Gillis will always keep a foot or hand on the capsule or the ladder-like support that they’ll position above the hatch. They will be tethered to 12-foot (3.6-meter) lines, but there will be no dangling at the end of them.

The duo will take turns emerging from the hatch, each spending 15 to 20 minutes outside as they flex and test their suits. Their crewmates — SpaceX engineer Anna Menon and former Air Force Thunderbird pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet — will monitor the spacewalk from inside.

The entire spacewalk should last no more than two hours. Isaacman has refused to say how much he invested in the flight.

To date, 263 individuals representing a dozen countries have performed spacewalks, according to NASA statistics, led by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in 1965 with NASA’s Ed White close behind.

China, the only other country to launch its own citizens into space, joined the spacewalking club in 2008. Europe, Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates also have seen their astronauts float outside, but always in NASA or Russian garb and under NASA or Russian control.

With SpaceX intent on getting people to the moon and Mars, “we need to start somewhere and the first step is what we’re doing on this mission,” Gillis said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Bruce McCandless uses a nitrogen jet-propelled backpack, a Manned Manuevering Unit, outside the space shuttle Challenger on Feb. 12, 1984. (NASA via AP, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Robert L. Curbeam Jr., left, and European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, participate in a spacewalk during construction of the International Space Station on Dec. 12, 2006. In the background are New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean. (NASA via AP, File)

FILE - In this image from video provided by the Beijing Space Command and Control Center and the Xinhua News Agency on Sept. 27, 2008, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang walks outside the orbit module of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft for a spacewalk after docking with the Chinese station Tiangong 1. (Beijing Space Command and Control Center, Xinhua via AP, File)

FILE - In this image from video provided by NASA, astronaut Steve Robinson maneuvers under the shuttle Discovery to remove gap fillers on Aug. 3, 2005, the first time in spacewalking history that an astronaut has ventured under the belly of a space shuttle and performed repairs. (NASA via AP, File)

FILE - In this image from video provided by NASA, astronauts Richard Linnehan, left, and John Grunsfeld wave to the camera during their last few moments of the final spacewalk for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission on March 8, 2002. (NASA via AP, File)

FILE - In this image from video provided by NASA, astronaut Claude Nicollier, left, maneuvers around the Hubble Space Telescope as astronaut Micheal Foale looks inside the observatory during a spacewalk Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999. (NASA via AP, File)

In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Ed White performs the U.S.'s first spacewalk on June 3, 1965, during the Gemini 4 mission. (James McDivitt/NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Ed White backs away from the Gemini spacecraft to start the U.S.'s first spacewalk on June 3, 1965, during the Gemini 4 mission. (James McDivitt/NASA via AP)

FILE - In this image provided by TASS, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov climbs out a hatch of his spacecraft, the Voshkod-2, to perform the first spacewalk on March 18, 1965. (AP Photo/TASS, File)

This image provided by SpaceX on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, shows a view of Earth and the Dragon capsule's Skywalker spacewalk platform shortly after the Polaris Dawn crew launched into an orbit. (SpaceX via AP)

This illustration provided by SpaceX in 2024 depicts a spacewalk from the Dragon capsule. (SpaceX via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years, threatening them to keep them in line and enlisting a cast of aides to cover it up, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The music mogul “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals," including physical violence, in order "to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct, the indictment said.

It describes him inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs.” It also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.

Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami. He was due in court Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors said they would seek to have Combs detained pending trial. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning that he'd fight to keep him free, and that Combs is innocent and would plead not guilty.

“His spirits are good. He’s confident," said the attorney, who said Combs came to New York voluntarily to "engage the court system and start the case.”

The indictment describes Combs, the 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records, as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He's accused of striking, punching and dragging women on numerous occasions, throwing objects and kicking them — and enlisting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.

Combs and his associates wielded his “power and prestige” to “intimidate, threaten, and lure” women into his orbit, “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” the indictment says. It says he then would use force, threats and coercion to get the women to engage with male sex workers in the “Freak Offs” — “elaborate and produced sex performances” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded.

He sometimes arranged to fly the women in and ensured their participation by procuring and providing drugs, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support, and using intimidation and violence, according to the indictment.

The events could last for days, and Combs and victims would often receive IV fluids “to recover from the physical exertion and drug use” from “Freak Offs,” the indictment said. It said his employees facilitated “Freak Offs” by arranging travel, booking hotel rooms where they would take place and stocking those rooms with supplies, including drugs, baby oil, lubricants, extra linens and lighting, scheduling the delivery of IV fluids, and then cleaning the rooms afterward.

During a search of Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles this year, law enforcement seized narcotics and more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to the indictment. Agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.

The document portrays Combs as a violent man who choked and shoved people, hit and kicked victims and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His employees and associates sometimes witnessed his violence and kept victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment said.

It alleges that Combs sometimes kept videos of victims engaging in sex acts and used the recordings as “collateral" to ensure the women's continued obedience and silence. He also exerted control over victims by promising career opportunities, providing and threatening to withhold financial support, dictating how they looked, monitoring their health records and controlling where they lived, according to the indictment.

“The victims did not believe that they could refuse Combs without risking their security or facing more abuse,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference Tuesday. His office is bringing the case.

As the threat of criminal charges loomed, Combs and his associates pressured witnesses and victims to stay silent, offering bribes and supplying false narratives of what happened, the indictment says.

All of this, prosecutors allege, was happening behind the facade of Combs’ global music, lifestyle and clothing empire.

Combs was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah.

In November, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.

The suit was settled in one day, but months later, CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Ventura and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”

The indictment refers to the attack, without naming Ventura, and says Combs tried to bribe a hotel security staffer to stay mum about it.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ventura, declined to comment Tuesday.

Combs and his attorneys denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.

A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago when she was 17. A music producer sued, saying Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “terrifying sexual encounters,” starting when she was a college student in 1994.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura and Lampros did.

Combs has gotten out of legal trouble before.

In 2001, he was acquitted of weapons charges related to a Manhattan nightclub shooting two years earlier that injured three people.

This story has been corrected to show that Combs is 54, not 58.

Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

From right, Justin Dior Combs, Quincy Brown and King Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Lawrence Stark, of the Bronx borough of New York, makes comments in support of Sean "Diddy" Combs, outside Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Sean Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, file)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs appears at the premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Host Sean "Diddy" Combs presents the revolt black excellence award at the Billboard Music Awards, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)