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(CHICAGO) — At least six people have been killed and 37 wounded, including a 3-year-old boy, in shootings that erupted across Chicago over the weekend, according to police.

As of noon Sunday, Chicago police had responded to at least 35 separate shooting incidents across the city since 6:30 p.m. Friday, according to police incident reports reviewed by ABC News.

Like other major cities across the country grappling with a rising number of shootings this year, Chicago has deployed a series of strategies to tackle the problem, including a crackdown on illegal guns pouring into the city by targeting firearm straw buyers. Police have also stepped up enforcement in areas that have seen spikes in shootings.

So far, nothing seems to have curbed gun violence.

In one incident early Sunday, five people ranging in age from 18 to 47 were wounded when two gunmen drove up in a silver sedan, got out and opened fire on a group of people gathered on the street. The gunmen then got back in the car and fled, police said.

The mass shooting unfolded just after 3 a.m. in the Austin neighborhood of northwest Chicago, and all of the victims were in serious condition at hospitals, police said. No arrests were made in the incident.

Also on Sunday morning, a tow truck driver was shot and killed as he was providing roadside service to a customer in the Englewood neighborhood on the city’s South Side, police said. The 27-year-old tow truck driver, whose name was not released, was working when someone approached on foot and shot him multiple times.

The victim was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No arrests have been made in the homicide.

On Saturday, five other men were fatally shot over the span of about four hours Saturday.

Two men, ages 29 and 34, were fatally shot in one incident around 12:14 a.m. Saturday as they were walking on a street in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of the city, police said. Police are searching for a red vehicle they believe the fatal shots came from.

Less than an hour later, a 31-year-old man was found shot and unresponsive on a street in the West Pullman neighborhood on the South Side, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center and pronounced dead, police said. No arrests have been made.

A 21-year-old man was fatally shot around 2:39 a.m. Saturday. Police said the victim, whose name was not released, was arguing with a woman on a street in the East Garfield Park section on the West Side when a gunman walked up and shot him multiple times, including once in the chest, police said. The victim was taken to Mt. Sinai Medical Center and pronounced dead.

A little over an hour later, a 33-year-old man died from gunshot wounds he suffered in the River North section of Chicago’s North Side when someone in a blue SUV drove by and opened fire, hitting the victim in the chest, police said. The man was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

At about 10:45 p.m. Saturday, someone fired shots into a home in the Calumet Heights neighborhood on the South Side, hitting a 3-year-old boy in the back, police said. The child was taken to Trinity Hospital and later transferred to Comer’s Children Hospital, where he was listed in good condition, according to police.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old girl was among two people shot and wounded as they were standing on a street in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side at about 11:18 p.m. Saturday, police said. A gunman, who police are working to identify, opened fire from a distance hitting the girl in the buttocks and a 20-year-old woman in the leg.

More than 250 minors have been shot in Chicago so far this year, according to ABC station WLS in Chicago.

The shooting of children over the weekend came just two weeks after eight children were shot, including a 4-year-old who was killed over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

A total of at least 2,490 people have been shot in Chicago this year, a 9% increase from the same period as last year, according to police department crime statistics. The city has recorded 558 homicides, most of them the result of shootings, this year — a 3% increase from 2020.

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(TETON COUNTY, Wyo.) — A body “consistent with the description of” Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old woman who went missing while on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, was discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.

The FBI Denver, the National Park Service and law enforcement made the announcement during a news conference Sunday evening in Grand Teton National Park. Charles Jones, the FBI’s supervisory senior resident agent, said that a full forensic identification hasn’t yet been completed, but investigators did notify Petito’s parents.

A cause of death was also undetermined. Jones declined to comment further on the investigation.

“We continue to seek information from anyone who utilized the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area between the dates of August 27 and August 30. Anyone that may have had contact with Gabby, or her boyfriend or who may have seen their vehicle in that area, please share any new information with the FBI,” Jones said.

An attorney for the Petito family released a statement Sunday evening asking for privacy to grieve and also thanking the agencies that assisted in the search.

“Your tireless work and determination helped bring Gabby home to her parents,” the statement said. “The family and I will be forever grateful.”

North Port Police tweeted that it will be working with the FBI in its investigation.

“Our focus from the start, along with the FBI, and national partners, has been to bring her home,” the department tweeted.

The Teton County coroner confirmed to ABC News on Sunday afternoon that the agency dispatched resources to a body found in the national forest. No further details were disclosed.

The development came as a search for Brian Laundrie, Petito’s boyfriend, resumed in Florida.

Petito’s parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks.

Laundrie had been named by police as a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. The 23-year-old Laundrie, who returned home more than two weeks ago without Petito and has refused to speak to police, has not been seen since Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.

The Laundrie family attorney said in a statement Sunday evening, “The news about Gabby Petito is heartbreaking. The Laundrie family prays for Gabby and her family.”

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(MIAMI) — When a condo building suddenly collapsed in the Miami Beach area earlier this summer, killing 98, it shocked the nation.

Rescuers worked for days at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside to try to find survivors in the rubble. But hope faded after all surviving victims were rescued and the mission shifted to recovery.

In the wake of the collapse, profound grief and questions about how a massive concrete structure could just fall to the ground lingered.

As federal investigators piece together evidence, a trail of documents indicated the 12-story, 136-unit oceanfront condo building had substantial concrete structural damage to its pool deck area and was overdue for repairs.

While federal authorities have not yet concluded the investigation to determine the cause of the fall, a number of experts and engineers believe prolonged structural damage, delayed repairs and environmental issues over four decades could have contributed to the building’s deterioration.

Here is what we know:

‘Independent spirit’

The Champlain Condominium Towers North and South were built in 1981 in Surfside, Fla. a neighborhood that sits just north of Miami.

“Surfside always had an independent spirit. The Surf Club was really the center of Surfside and it was built in 1930. The owners and the members of that club. wanted to have their own neighborhood and didn’t want to be part of Miami Beach,” Daniel Ciraldo, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League, told ABC News.

During the 70’s and 80’s, Miami city leaders were looking to transition into a higher-end market, according to the New York Times at the time.

But at that time, a quarter of South Beach Miami was made up of mostly retired residents, many of whom protested the idea of rebuilding the city as many feared displacement.

“In 1973, a building moratorium was imposed partially due to a decaying Miami and concerns about the sewage system,” Ciraldo said. To rectify this, the condominium developers fronted at least half of a $400,000 bill to fix the sewage issue and resume construction, according to a Miami Herald report from 1979.

The Champlain Towers were the first condominiums built once the moratorium was lifted.

Early signs of damage

Signs of structural damage to the Champlain Towers South’s pool deck and garage ceiling were reported as early as 1996. Western Water Co., a local contractor, noted in a report the pool deck of the Champlain condo building and the ceiling of the underground parking garage beneath needed “concrete structural repair.”

The work was later completed and certified to the city in November 1997, according to documents obtained by ABC News.

“The most common problems are weather intrusions. The way you combat that is with good quality solid weatherproofing and paint; and those repairs need to be identified when they happen and repaired in order to maintain the strength and integrity of the building,” Peter Dyga, the president and CEO of Associated Builders & Contractors, Florida East Coast Chapter (a national construction industry trade association), told ABC News.

40-year recertification underway

After a Miami-area building collapse in 1974, county lawmakers enacted a mandatory inspection for commercial and residential buildings 40 years after they’re constructed. The Champlain towers were in the process of recertification when part of the building came crashing down.

Morabito Consultants, a structural engineering firm, was hired by the condo association in 2018 to conduct the inspection and reported, among other things, concrete structural damage to concrete structural slabs on the pool deck due to failed waterproofing. They estimated repairs would cost more than $9 million, but those repairs were never completed.

Frank Morabito, a consultant and engineer from Morabito Consultants, declined to comment to ABC News.

‘Very good shape’

Despite the structural engineering report and the detailed construction plan from Morabito, Rosendo “Ross” Prieto, the former Surfside building inspector, told residents at Champlain Tower South at a board meeting in November 2018 that their building was “in very good shape,” according to records released by the city of Surfside.

“When things happen related to building construction, builders are generally the scapegoats and it may be the quality of the building,” Dyga told ABC News. “On the other end of the problem is with a building. One that is most common that we see is failing to maintain. One of the most important things about building maintenance is weatherproofing,” Dyga added.

In April, two months prior to the collapse, Champlain condo owners received an itemized bill from the board, a two-page letter obtained by ABC News shows.

The estimated repair costs was nearly $15 million, $6 million more than what Morabito assessed three years before. The owners were expected to begin making payments beginning July 1.

Following the collapse, Prieto, who was no longer Surfside’s building inspector, was placed on a “leave of absence,” according to a statement from the city of Doral, where he had been listed as interim building inspector but has since been removed.

He has not responded to ABC News’ repeated requests for comment.

‘The future’

In the wake of the collapse, Miami-Dade County inspected more than 500 buildings that were approaching the 40-year recertification deadline to identify any obvious structural concerns.

Buildings in Surfside that are more than 30 years and more than three stories high were notified to begin recertification. Surfside operates as its own city and has its own building department.

“The future is what is the capacity of a small town when we’re talking about really large development projects?,” Ciraldo said. “And the corollary of what is the ability of a volunteer condo association to be the permanent stewards of these properties,” he continued.

In late July, a Florida judge ordered the families who suffered losses from the collapse to be compensated $150 million — $50 million in insurance and nearly $100 million in proceeds upon the property sale.

At the conclusion of the federal agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation, which could take several years according to NIST experts, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has pledged to bring the matter to a grand jury, which will gather evidence and hear testimony and could recommend criminal charges or needed reforms.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — Wildfires swirling around California’s giant sequoia trees are prompting more evacuations as they spread toward communities surrounding the forests.

Residents in Ponderosa and Quaking Aspen in Tulare County have been ordered to evacuate immediately now that the Windy Fire had fanned to more than 18,000 acres surrounding the Sequoia National Forest and was 0% contained on Sunday morning.

Other communities in Tulare County, such as Johnsondale and Camp Whitsett, had been ordered to evacuate several days earlier due to the Windy Fire, while the KNP Complex Fire, which is also threatening the historic sequoia forests, prompted evacuations in the Three Rivers community.

The KNP Complex Fire had grown to nearly 22,000 acres by Sunday morning and was also 0% contained.

Fire crews were seen earlier this week wrapping cabins and other structures in Sequoia National Forest in foil to protect them as the wildfires continue to spread. The historic trees are thousands of years old and grew to be hundreds of feet tall.

The sequoia trees are increasingly being threatened by drought, climate change and extreme fire.

Last year, the Castle Fire wiped out 10% of the world’s native sequoias, according to the National Park Service.

Firefighters faced high temperatures and dry conditions as they battled the blaze over the weekend, and the dangerous fire conditions are expected to continue in the region.

Parts of Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia National Park are closed to the public due to the fires.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.

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(LAKE WORTH, TX.) — Two homes have been heavily damaged after a military training aircraft crashed in Lake Worth, Texas, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department.

Two to three patients are being treated at this time, fire officials said.

Additional details were not immediately available.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — A search for Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, resumed on Sunday in a 24,565-acre preserve in Florida as authorities more than 2,300 miles away combed Grand Teton National Park for clues on the whereabouts of the woman who went missing during the couple’s cross-country road trip.

North Port, Florida, police said a team of officers picked up the search for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve north of Laundrie’s home in North Port. The search began on Saturday but was suspended overnight due to darkness.

“A team of more than 50 looking for anything of note after his (Laundrie’s) parents say this is where he went,” North Port police said in a post on Twitter Sunday morning.

Laundrie has been named by police as a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. The 23-year-old Laundrie, who returned home more than two weeks ago without Petito and has refused to speak to the police, has not been seen since Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.

“Be advised that the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown,” an attorney for the family said Friday. “The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian.”

North Port police officers accompanied by FBI agents, drones, K-9 and bloodhounds are involved in the search for Laundrie, police said during a briefing Saturday afternoon. Authorities took clothing from the family home Friday to help canine units, North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor said.

A tip from the family drove law enforcement to the Carlton Reserve, Taylor said. Laundrie’s family told police on Friday that they last saw him on Tuesday with a backpack and he told them he was going to the massive preserve, which he would frequent for hikes, according to Taylor.

“Our goal is to get answers. We love to be able to find Gabby. And right now we need to find Brian, too. Not only is he missing, but he potentially holds some key information in helping us find Gabby,” Taylor told ABC News on Saturday night. “We have to locate him. We’re hopeful to bring him in because I think he does have some information that will really lead us to Gabby. And that is the primary objective, to find this little girl.”

In response to the news that Laundrie’s whereabouts were unknown, a lawyer for the Petito family said in a statement: “All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.”

The search for Laundrie is the latest twist in the case that has grabbed national attention as the couple had been traveling across the country since June in Petito’s 2012 Ford Transit and documenting the trip on social media. Laundrie returned home in Petito’s van to North Port, on Sept. 1 without his girlfriend, according to police.

Petito’s parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks.

As the search for Petito continues, FBI Denver said in an update Saturday evening that authorities are “conducting ground surveys” at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The FBI asked for anyone who saw the couple’s white van, with Florida license plate QFTG03, to contact the FBI.

The FBI specifically said it would like to talk to anyone who was at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area from Aug. 27 to 30 and may have seen the couple or their van. The agency said it would not comment on the specifics of the information in its investigation.

North Port police were also forced to clear up a rumor about finding a body in the Carlton Reserve that spread on social media Saturday, saying it was “completely fake.”

Petito was last seen on Aug. 24 leaving a hotel room in Utah. The next day, she spoke to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, telling her that their next stops would be at Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Schmidt told ABC News.

Schmidt received two text messages from her daughter’s phone in the days after speaking to her, but it was unclear whether they were actually sent by Petito.

“Many people are wondering why Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement in the face of Ms. Petito’s absence,” the attorney representing the Laundrie family, Steven P. Bertolino, said in a statement last week. “In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this, and the warning that ‘any statement will be used against you’ is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito’s disappearance. As such, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter.”

The North Port Police Department said Friday afternoon it had entered the family’s home, where Brian was believed to be staying, to speak with the family “at their request.”

The police later tweeted Friday, “The conversation at the Laundrie home is complete. Once we have the details, a statement will be made. We ask for calm! Please let us work through this and information will be forthcoming.”

It was after that tweet that the family lawyer released the statement saying the location of Brian Laundrie was unknown.

“We’ve been trying to reach the family all week. This is the first time we’ve had communication with them, and now they’re telling us that he’s been gone for essentially the last four days,” Taylor said in an interview with “Good Morning America” Saturday.

Laundrie’s family told police about where he went after becoming “concerned about his whereabouts” and wanted to file a missing person’s report, Taylor told reporters Saturday.

Laundrie’s car was at the Carlton Reserve but then found again at the family’s home, police said. When pressed by reporters as to how the car would have gotten back without a sign of Laundrie, Taylor said, “We are going by [the family’s] word.”

People had gathered outside the Laundrie home throughout the day Friday, some with bullhorns, chanting “Where is Gabby?” and calling on Brian Laundrie or the family to talk to authorities. Those people were moved from the lawn to the sidewalk as they chanted toward the house.

Brian’s sister, Cassandra Laundrie, spoke to ABC News on Thursday night, saying she had spoken to police about Petito’s disappearance but was mostly learning details from the news.

“Obviously, me and my family want Gabby to be found safe,” she said. “She is like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this be just a big misunderstanding.”

The Grand County Sheriff’s Office in Moab, Utah, said last week that Petito and Laundrie did not appear to be connected to the murders of two women at a campground in mid-August. The sheriff’s office said on Thursday it had been in contact with Florida authorities about investigating a possible connection to the double murder.

The two women were last seen leaving a bar on Aug. 13, one day after authorities were called about a disagreement between Petito and Laundrie while they were traveling in Moab.

The couple’s white van had been pulled over after a witness called police about an altercation between the two at the Arches National Park. Moab police released body camera footage of the couple admitting they had been arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie, according to a police report. The couple told police that Laundrie had not hit Petito.

There was “insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges,” Moab Police Department Chief Bret Edge said in a statement Tuesday.

ABC News’ Alondra Valle, Julia Jacobo, Joshua Hoyos and Matt Foster contributed to this report.

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(SUNLAND PARK, N.M.) — Each year on the last Sunday of October thousands of worshipers take a pilgrimage to Mount Cristo Rey — a mountain located in Sunland Park, New Mexico, that overlooks El Paso, Texas, the border wall, the United States and Mexico.

At the mountain’s peak is a magnificent 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ — a monument erected in 1934 that has become a shrine for the faithful. And for decades, thousands of believers have climbed the steep and rugged terrain to ask for a miracle.

Rebecca Escarciga Lehman is one of them.

Lehman was born and raised in California, but her parents are from El Paso. As a child, she spent her summers there and was very close to her family, particularly to her aunt Esperanza Salas Escandon or as she called her “Tia Guera.”

“She provided guidance and support in the years following my own mother’s serious illness and continued through my late teens and young adulthood. She had encouraged me to participate in the Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage … to strengthen my faith, to pray for God’s guidance and blessings for our families,” Lehman said.

But before Lehman made arrangements to go on a pilgrimage to Mount Cristo Rey, her aunt got seriously ill.

“When I visited her in the hospital, she was not clinically awake, but I promised her that I would go to the mountain in her honor,” Lehman said.

“Lord, take care of her, you know what’s best. We want her here. But don’t let her suffer,” she said, recalling her prayers at the time. “I said I will be going to Mount Cristo Rey as she requested from here on forward.”

Tia Guera died shortly after but for the past twenty years, Lehman has been making the pilgrimage to Cristo Rey each year — only missing the trip when she was pregnant and in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the annual event.

“I pray the rosary on my way up,” she said, adding that the climb down the mountain is a time to catch up with family members who accompany her.

For Lehman, El Paso has become her spiritual anchor and the pilgrimage is about renewing her faith and being there for family.

Her cousin Ruben Escandon, the son of Tia Guera, has been visiting Cristo Rey since he was a child and his grandparents on both sides of his family helped develop Mount Cristo Rey.

According to Escandon, the monument was inspired by Fr. Lourdes Costa, a local parish priest in El Paso’s Smeltertown, who had a vision of erecting a monument to Christ in 1933 as he looked out his back window. Initially, a wooden cross was erected, but Costa commissioned a friend, sculptor Urbici Soler, to create it.

The statue was completed by 1939 and since then, the monument and the hike trail have been maintained by volunteers – local El Pasoans whose family history is connected to the story of Cristo Rey.

“[When you climb up the mountain] you start thinking about the people that built it, the people that volunteered their hard work and labor back in the thirties and, and the people that have maintained it up until this point,” Escandon said.

Escandon’s grandparents grew up in Smeltertown, a former residential community in El Paso, where hundreds of volunteers carried supplies up the mountain to build the statue’s base and labored for years to build the road that made it possible to place the statue of Christ at the mountain’s peak.

Escandon is a third-generation volunteer and is the spokesman for the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee — an organization that works to maintain and preserve the statue of Christ, which is often vandalized, as well as the trail that leads to it.

“It’s a jewel … a spiritual beacon that draws people here from pretty much all over the country,” he said.

He regularly leads groups up the mountain, organizes the annual pilgrimage, which has drawn up to 20,000 participants, and welcomes visitors from around the country, including Lehman who makes the trip from California to El Paso to spend time with family and keep her promise to Tia Guera.

And according to Lehman, although you can see the border wall from Mount Cristo Rey, when you look up the landscape blends together and you can no longer see where Mexico begins and where the U.S ends.

“As you’re walking, you feel, you see the elevation physically … it feels like you’re lifting yourself up above the earth and the worldly issues and the problems,” Rebecca Escarciga Lehman said.

“All the garbage and stuff and the political things and everything that’s going on, and everybody being so different, you’re up here and it’s gone,” she added. “For me, each rise kind of felt like all that stuff is going further away and I’m realizing what is really at the core of importance, which is faith and family, community, no matter who you are.”

ABC News’ James Scholz contributed to this report.

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(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — After three days in space, the first all-civilian flight into Earth’s orbit splashed down successfully Saturday night.

The Dragon capsule returned to Earth just after 7 p.m. ET.

The capsule was traveling at 17,500 mph when it deorbited, slowed down to around 350 mph when the parachute deployed at 18,000 feet and slowed to 119 mph before it hit the ocean.

It splashed down in its preferred location in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral. They had been prepared to pivot to the Gulf of Mexico, if needed.

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission made history as the farthest any civilian has traveled from Earth — 367 miles above it — even farther than the International Space Station.

There is always risk launching into space and coming home. While the crew has been trained by SpaceX, they are not professional astronauts.

Saturday’s splashdown was the third SpaceX Dragon-crewed capsule to splash down from orbit, but the first with no professional astronaut on board.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, an experienced pilot, is commanding the mission. He founded a payment process company called Shift4 Payments and purchased all four seats on the flight for an estimated $220 million.

Isaacman wanted this mission to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Before the launch he personally donated $100 million to help end child cancer.

He reserved one seat for 29-year-old St. Jude ambassador Hayley Arceneaux. Arceneaux was treated at St. Jude as a child and returned to work there as a physician assistant. She is now the youngest American to go to space as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor.

Dr. Sian Proctor, 51, the third occupant, made history as well as the fourth African American woman astronaut to travel into space.

Rounding out the crew was Chris Sembroski, 41, an Iraq war veteran and engineer with Lockheed Martin.

They all spoke with children currently being treated at St. Jude live from space on Friday.

“What kind of sleeping bag do you have?” one child asked Arceneaux.

“So if you’ve ever been camping, we pretty much have those same kind of sleeping bags,” she said. “We were in our sleeping bags on top of our chairs, but we were floating on top of the chair and we had a seat belt around our sleeping bag. So we didn’t fly away when we were sleeping.”

“Can you take pictures in space?” another child asked Proctor.

“We absolutely can take pictures in space,” she responded. “And we’ve been taking a lot of those pictures and video so we can capture this moment and share it with everybody when we come home.”

Since liftoff, the mission has raised an additional $500,000 for the research hospital.

The crew has also been busy conducting experiments including using a portable ultrasound to measure their corneas and optic nerves for indications on intracranial pressure.

“We’ve also been taking several swabs of different parts of our body to evaluate the microbiome and how that changes in these three days in space,” Arceanaux said.

ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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(ORLANDO, Fla.) — After three days in space, the first all-civilian flight to Earth’s orbit is set to splashdown tonight.

The Dragon capsule is expected to return to Earth just after 7 p.m. ET Saturday evening.

It will be traveling at 17,500 miles per hour when it deorbits; will slow down to around 350 mph when the parachute deploys at 18,000 feet; will and stay at around 119 mph before it hits the ocean.

SpaceX’s preferred splashdown location is in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral, but they are prepared to pivot to the Gulf of Mexico, if needed.

SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 mission has already made history as the farthest any civilian has traveled from Earth — 367 miles above it — even farther than the International Space Station.

There is always risk launching into space and coming home. While the crew has been trained by SpaceX, they are not professional astronauts.

Saturday’s splashdown will be the third SpaceX Dragon-crewed capsule to splashdown from orbit, but the first with no professional astronaut on board.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, an experienced pilot, is commanding the mission. He founded a payment process company called Shift4 Payments and purchased all four seats on the flight for an estimated $220 million.

Isaacman wanted this mission to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Before the launch he personally donated $100 million to help end child cancer.

He reserved one seat for 29-year-old St. Jude ambassador Hayley Arceneaux. Arceneaux was treated at St. Jude as a child and returned to work there as a physician’s assistant. She is now the youngest American to go to space as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor.

Dr. Sian Proctor, 51, the third occupant, made history as well as the fourth African American woman astronaut to travel into space.

Rounding out the crew is Chris Sembroski, 41, an Iraq war veteran and engineer with Lockheed Martin.

They all spoke with children currently being treated at St. Jude live from space on Friday.

“What kind of sleeping bag do you have?,” one child asked Arceneaux.

“So if you’ve ever been camping, we pretty much have those same kind of sleeping bags,” she said. “We were in our sleeping bags on top of our chairs, but we were floating on top of the chair and we had a seat belt around our sleeping bag. So we didn’t fly away when we were sleeping.”

“Can you take pictures in space?,” another child asked Proctor.

“We absolutely can take pictures in space,” she responded. “And we’ve been taking a lot of those pictures and video so we can capture this moment and share it with everybody when we come home.”

Since liftoff, the mission has raised an additional $500,000 for the research hospital.

The crew has also been busy conducting experiments including using a portable ultrasound to measure their corneas and optic nerves for indications on intracranial pressure.

“We’ve also been taking several swabs of different parts of our body to evaluate the microbiome and how that changes in these three days in space,” Arceanaux said.

ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — From the Olympics to practically every major league sport, 2021 has been a year where top Latino athletes have led their franchises to huge victories, winning world titles and gold medals.

When they’re not competing, some Latino athletes have also worked to advocate for their communities, And through it all, on and off the field, they’ve represented their heritage with pride.

“As a Latino, the minute life starts making sense for you, you know that things are not going to be that easy,” said three-time Major League Baseball World Series champion and 10-time All-Star David “Big Papi” Ortiz. “In the Latin culture, hard work and motivation and getting to know that you have to fight to get things is a part of our culture. I was never the guy that had anything handed to me. And I think that comes along hand-in-hand with being Latino.”

Like Ortiz, who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, many MLB players come from several Caribbean and Latin American countries, such as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and Cuba — making baseball their pathway to the American Dream. In fact, since the 2016 season, every team at the major league level has been required to have a Spanish-speaking translator on its staff. To date, close to 2,000 players of Latin American descent have made it to the major leagues making up 25% the league’s talent.

“Latinos, we are hard-working people. We are people that come here with a mentality of putting our family in a better situation,” said Ortiz. “I come from the very bottom, and I know what my people are all about. And whenever I see Spanish people doing well, representing, [it] is something that definitely makes me very proud.”

That same pride Ortiz has with representing his heritage is mirrored by Olympian Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who chose to represent Puerto Rico during the 2021 Olympic Games.

Born and raised in South Carolina to an African American father and Puerto Rican mother, the hurdler made what became a controversial decision to compete in the Olympics for Puerto Rico instead of the U.S. Her decision caused some to criticize her on social media, and some former Olympians suggested Camacho-Quinn was unqualified to compete for the island. She ended up winning a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdle.

“I just felt like a lot of it was racism, and I wanted to say things, but I’m realizing I’m in the limelight right now, and I can’t say certain things,” said Camacho-Quinn. “But I was like, ‘You know what, this doesn’t change the fact that Puerto Ricans were really with me.’”

Her hyphenated last name speaks to her identity. Along with her hair and skin tone, Camacho-Quinn identifies as an Afro-Latina, a descendant of Latin America with African roots. It’s an identity reflected in her physical features, which she says she’s not only proud of but honored to have. She encouraged other people from “mixed” backgrounds to be just as proud.

“Who you are is who you are, and nobody can change that — literally nobody,” she said. “You have a right to represent both sides because that’s exactly who you are and what you are made of. Don’t be afraid.”

Camacho-Quinn is only the second Olympian representing Puerto Rico to bring back a gold medal. After winning in Tokyo, she and her family did a victory lap around Puerto Rico. Not only did its residents accept her as one of their own, but they celebrated her win with a parade — something the island had not been able to do since the tragedy of Hurricane Maria. Her victory brought not only happiness but a sense of togetherness despite the criticism she received.

“It’s still hitting me. Like, that’s something that cannot be taken away,” she said. “That right there is making history. It means a lot.”

Just like Camacho-Quinn, boxing world champion Canelo Álvarez understands not only his power in the ring but the importance of his voice outside the ring against injustice, especially for Latinos.

“I’m in the position to have the power to speak for the rest; to tell people not to treat Latino or Mexicans differently, and I’m proving that,” he said in Spanish.

Unlike Ortiz and Camacho-Quinn, Álvarez describes himself as light-skinned and is often mistaken for being European rather than Mexican. He said that as a kid, he was bullied for his red hair, earning him the nickname “Canelo,” which means cinnamon in Spanish. Whether Latinos come from the islands of the Caribbean or the lands of Central and South America, many of them still share one thing in common: their language.

“I’m 100% Mexican. Even if I don’t look like one, I’m 100% Mexican and I’m proud of being one — being able to represent my country,” he said. “No matter if you’re light- or dark-skinned, or another color, having money or not, we’re all the same.”

Álvarez said that like any great athlete, they each experience their share of hurdles when it comes to the difficulties that life sometimes brings.

In the form of a hurdle, a curveball or a knockout, challenges come from every angle in life regardless of one’s race or identity. But one thing we all have in common is the will to not give up.

“Yes, life is not easy, right? It’s not easy for anyone,” Álvarez said. “But you have to keep going. You have to keep fighting because, in the end, the one who fights — who stands up — is the one who makes history.”

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