The Brief

A team of students at the University of Southern California has officially set a new record for the highest amateur space launch — and they’ve set the bar very, very high for anyone who tries to beat it.

The rocket, Aftershock II, reached a height of about 470,000 feet (about 90 miles), passing the existing record for highest amateur space flight by about 80,000 feet.

The launch

The team’s successful launch took place on Oct. 20, though it took roughly a month for the student team to verify the data via a report this month. That data showed that the amateur rocket traveled roughly five-and-a-half times the speed of sound during the launch.

To perform the test, students from the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab traveled to the Black Rock Desert, since the playas and dry lake beds there proved suitable for a launch. (You may also recognize it as the location of Burning Man.)

There were some hiccups, though — namely, when a rain storm came through and threatened to derail the launch, which the team had been carefully planning for months.

“We were pretty much being told and being shown that the entire playa was covered in water, and that we wouldn't be able to go out and launch,” said Jayna Rybner, the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab’s operations lead. “Water doesn't just soak through and go away, but it'll sit there, it'll make the surface impossible to get across.”

However, the team made the decision to try to launch the rocket anyway when the rain let up — and as it turned out, it worked.

“They sent pictures of their boots covered in mud and their cars covered in mud and stuff,” Rybner said. “But we got out there, and so we only postponed our launch a day.”

The launch site was muddier than planned, but the rocket still managed to lift off.

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Courtesy USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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After the rocket reached its peak height and made its way back to Earth, the team still had to recover the rocket for the mission to be a success. Kraemer said this was relatively easy due to the rocket’s built-in GPS, though they did have to do some off-road driving to get there.

“I was back at camp with all the other students that were still there,” Rybner said. “When we heard the news that the rocket had been recovered, it was like, everyone back at camp started screaming.”

After the rocket fell to land, students located it, making the mission a success.

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Courtesy USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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Success doesn’t come easy

You may have noticed the rocket’s name is Aftershock II, which should be a dead giveaway that this wasn’t the first attempt with this rocket model. The team’s previous iteration of the Aftershock rocket failed last year.

“It was almost perfect, except for the fact that we suffered a failure at ignition, which unfortunately caused the rocket to not be able to go to space,” Rybner said.

These designs build on the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab’s nearly 20 years of experience building rockets to launch into space. The lab, then run by a different group of undergrad students, became the first student lab to cross the threshold into space in 2019 — and that rocket took four iterations to work.

What’s next

Now that the record has been set, Kraemer anticipates the team will hold onto it for some time, but it’s not because it’s impossible for rockets to fly higher.

“The problem is that the legal limit for amateur rocketry is 490,000 feet, and we hit 470,” Kraemer said. “To attempt to beat that and hope that the rocket doesn't go just a little higher, it would be questionable.”

Upon returning to land, Aftershock II contained very valuable data confirming the maximum height and speed of the rocket.

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Courtesy USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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There are other ways that future teams could further this work, though: The USC Rocket Propulsion Lab could apply for a permit to reach past the legal limit, and design improvements that could allow more equipment to travel on board the rocket, which was relatively lightweight for a space-bound rocket at about 330 pounds.

“We just launched a rocket, essentially, that there was no purpose other than going high, but in future years, with more powerful propellant and better-optimized structures, they'll be able to launch more mass to the same altitude,” Kraemer said.

And though Kraemer and Rybner are approaching graduation, they said they’re excited to keep working with the lab — and to see the innovations in amateur rocket design the next batch of student engineers comes up with.

“[There are] probably close to 100 students actively working right now on dozens of projects, designs that are going to make the next generations’ rocketry way beyond anything that we've ever done,” Rybner said. “It's truly very impressive.”

Updated January 11, 2026 at 21:36 PM ET

The 2026 Golden Globes are live Sunday night, hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser for the second year in a row.

The event begins at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS and streaming for subscribers of Paramount+ with Showtime. (Paramount+ Essential subscribers in the U.S. can stream the event on Monday.)

Below are the nominees. This page will be updated with winners as the night goes on.

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture
Winner: Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)
Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine)
Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)
Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role in any motion picture
Winner: Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)
Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
Paul Mescal (Hamnet)
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly)

Best performance by a male actor in a television series – drama
Winner: Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
Sterling K. Brown (Paradise)
Diego Luna (Andor)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)
Mark Ruffalo (Task)
Adam Scott (Severance)

Best performance by a female actor in a television series – musical or comedy
Winner: Jean Smart (Hacks)
Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This)
Ayo Edebiri (The Bear)
Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building)
Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face)
Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role on television
Winner: Owen Cooper (Adolescence)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Walton Goggins (The White Lotus)
Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus)
Tramell Tillman (Severance)
Ashley Walters (Adolescence)

Best performance by a male actor in a television series – musical or comedy
Winner: Seth Rogen (The Studio)
Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Glen Powell (Chad Powers)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)

Best podcast
Winner: Good Hang with Amy Poehler (Spotify)
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Wondery)
Call Her Daddy (SiriusXM)
The Mel Robbins Podcast (SiriusXM)
Smartless (SiriusXM)
Up First (NPR)

Best original song – motion picture
Winner: "Golden" – KPop Demon Hunters
"Dream as One" – Avatar: Fire and Ash
"I Lied to You" – Sinners
"No Place Like Home" – Wicked: For Good
"The Girl in the Bubble" – Wicked: For Good
"Train Dreams" – Train Dreams

Best screenplay – motion picture
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell (Hamnet)

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy
Winner: Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good)
Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)
Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)
Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy
Winner: Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
George Clooney (Jay Kelly)
Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice)
Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

Best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television
Winner: Stephen Graham (Adolescence)
Jacob Elordi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)
Paul Giamatti (Black Mirror)
Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story)
Jude Law (Black Rabbit)
Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me)

Best original score – motion picture
Alexandre Desplat (Frankenstein)
Ludwig Göransson (Sinners)
Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another)
Kangding Ray (Sirāt)
Max Richter (Hamnet)
Hans Zimmer (F1)

Best performance by a female actor in a television series – drama
Kathy Bates (Matlock)
Britt Lower (Severance)
Helen Mirren (Mobland)
Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us)
Keri Russell (The Diplomat)
Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus)

Best motion picture – drama
Frankenstein (Netflix)
Hamnet (Focus Features)
It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
The Secret Agent (Neon)
Sentimental Value (Neon)
Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best motion picture – musical or comedy
Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Bugonia (Focus Features)
Marty Supreme (A24)
No Other Choice (Neon)
Nouvelle Vague (Netflix)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best motion picture – animated
Arco (Neon)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (Aniplex, Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Elio (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Cinematic and box office achievement
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
F1 (Apple Original Films)
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures)
Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Weapons (Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema)
Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Best motion picture – non-English language
It Was Just an Accident (Neon) - France
No Other Choice (Neon) - South Korea
The Secret Agent (Neon) - Brazil
Sentimental Value (Neon) - Norway
Sirāt (Neon) - Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Willa) - Tunisia

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – drama
Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love)
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
Julia Roberts (After the Hunt)
Tessa Thompson (Hedda)
Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture – drama
Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams)
Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein)
Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine)
Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)
Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere)

Best director – motion picture
Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)

Best television series – drama
The Diplomat (Netflix)
The Pitt (HBO Max)
Pluribus (Apple TV)
Severance (Apple TV)
Slow Horses (Apple TV)
The White Lotus (HBO Max)

Best television series – musical or comedy
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX on Hulu)
Hacks (HBO Max)
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
The Studio (Apple TV)

Best television limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television
Adolescence (Netflix)
All Her Fault (Peacock)
The Beast in Me (Netflix)
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Dying for Sex (FX on Hulu)
The Girlfriend (Prime Video)

Best performance by a female actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television
Claire Danes (The Beast in Me)
Rashida Jones (Black Mirror)
Amanda Seyfried (Long Bright River)
Sarah Snook (All Her Fault)
Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex)
Robin Wright (The Girlfriend)

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role on television
Carrie Coon (The White Lotus)
Erin Doherty (Adolescence)
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
Catherine O'Hara (The Studio)
Parker Posey (The White Lotus)
Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus)

Best performance in stand-up comedy on television
Bill Maher (Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?)
Brett Goldstein (Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life)
Kevin Hart (Kevin Hart: Acting My Age)
Kumail Nanjiani (Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts)
Ricky Gervais (Ricky Gervais: Mortality)
Sarah Silverman (Sarah Silverman: Postmortem)

Copyright 2026 NPR

DUARTE, Calif. — Veteran actor T.K. Carter, who appeared in the horror film "The Thing" and "Punky Brewster" on television, has died at the age of 69.

Carter was declared dead Friday evening after deputies responded to a call regarding an unresponsive male in Duarte, California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Police did not disclose a cause of death or other details, but said no foul play was suspected.

Thomas Kent "T.K." Carter was born Dec. 18, 1956, in New York City and was raised in Southern California.

He began his career in stand-up comedy and with acting roles. Carter had been acting for years before a breakthrough role as Nauls the cook in John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic, "The Thing." He also had a recurring role in the 1980s sitcom "Punky Brewster."

Other big-screen roles include "Runaway Train" in 1985, "Ski Patrol" in 1990 and "Space Jam" in 1996.

"T.K. Carter was a consummate professional and a genuine soul whose talent transcended genres," his publicist, Tony Freeman, said in a statement. "He brought laughter, truth, and humanity to every role he touched. His legacy will continue to inspire generations of artists and fans alike."

Copyright 2026 NPR

Downtown Los Angeles

A person in an inflatable frog suit holds a sign during a protest in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2026 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

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Etienne Laurent

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AFP via Getty Images

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A woman holds incense during a protest in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2026 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

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Etienne Laurent

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AFP via Getty Images

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A person holds up a sign during a protest in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2026 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP via Getty Images)

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Etienne Laurent

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AFP via Getty Images

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A person holds up a sign during a protest in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2026 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

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Etienne Laurent

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AFP via Getty Images

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A tourist bus drives past as people protest in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2026 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

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Etienne Laurent

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AFP via Getty Images

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Pasadena

Alison Brett (far right) of La Crescenta at the Ice Out For Good protest in Pasadena on Jan. 10, 2026.

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Josie Huan

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LAist

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Casey Law of South Pasadena at Ice Out For Good protest in Pasadena on Jan. 10.

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Josie Huang

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LAist

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People have been taking to the streets nationwide this weekend to protest the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics following the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis, a 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer this week.

At least 1,000 events across the U.S. were planned for Saturday and Sunday, according to Indivisible, a progressive grassroots coalition of activists helping coordinate the movement it calls "ICE Out For Good Weekend of Action."

Leah Greenberg, a co-executive director of Indivisible, said people are coming together to "grieve, honor those we've lost, and demand accountability from a system that has operated with impunity for far too long."

"Renee Nicole Good was a wife, a mother of three, and a member of her community. She, and the dozens of other sons, daughters, friends, siblings, parents, and community members who have been killed by ICE, should be alive today," Greenberg said in a statement on Friday. "ICE's violence is not a statistic, it has names, families, and futures attached to it, and we refuse to look away or stay silent."

Large crowds of demonstrators carried signs and shouted "ICE out now!" as protests continued across Minneapolis on Saturday. One of those protestors, Cameron Kritikos, told NPR that he is worried that the presence of more ICE agents in the city could lead to more violence or another death.

"If more ICE officers are deployed to the streets, especially a place here where there's very clear public opposition to the terrorizing of our neighborhoods, I'm nervous that there's going to be more violence," the 31-year grocery store worker said. "I'm nervous that there are going to be more clashes with law enforcement officials, and at the end of the day I think that's not what anyone wants."

Demonstrators in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.

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Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

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NPR

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The night before, hundreds of city and state police officers responded to a "noise protest" in downtown Minneapolis. An estimated 1,000 people gathered Friday night, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, and 29 people were arrested.

People demonstrated outside of hotels where ICE agents were believed to be staying. They chanted, played drums and banged pots. O'Hara said that a group of people split from the main protest and began damaging hotel windows. One police officer was injured from a chunk of ice that was hurled at officers, he added.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the acts of violence but praised what he said was the "vast majority" of protesters who remained peaceful, during a morning news conference.

"To anyone who causes property damage or puts others in danger: you will be arrested. We are standing up to Donald Trump's chaos not with our own brand of chaos, but with care and unity," Frey wrote on social media.

Commenting on the protests, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NPR in a statement, "the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly — not rioting, assault and destruction," adding, "DHS is taking measures to uphold the rule of law and protect public safety and our officers."

Good was fatally shot the day after DHS launched a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota set to deploy 2,000 immigration officers to the state.

In Philadelphia, police estimated about 500 demonstrators "were cooperative and peaceful" at a march that began Saturday morning at City Hall, Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Tanya Little told NPR in a statement. And no arrests were made.

In Portland, Ore., demonstrators rallied and lined the streets outside of a hospital on Saturday afternoon, where immigration enforcement agents bring detainees who are injured during an arrest, reported Oregon Public Broadcasting.

A man and woman were shot and injured by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Thursday in the city. DHS said the shooting happened during a targeted vehicle stop and identified the driver as Luis David Nino-Moncada, and the passenger as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, both from Venezuela. As was the case in their assertion about Good's fatal shooting, Homeland Security officials claimed the federal agent acted in self-defense after Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras "weaponized their vehicle."
Copyright 2026 NPR