Jared Isaacman, the nominee for next NASA administrator, has traveled to orbit on two commercial space missions.
AP Photo/John RaouxWendy Whitman Cobb, Air University
Jared Isaacman, billionaire, CEO and nominee to become the next NASA administrator, faced questions on April 9, 2025, from members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation during his confirmation hearing for the position.
Should the Senate confirm him, Isaacman will be the first billionaire – but not the first astronaut – to head NASA. Perhaps even more significant, he will be the first NASA administrator with significant ties to the commercial space industry.
As a space policy expert, I know that NASA leadership matters. The head of the agency can significantly shape the missions it pursues, the science it undertakes and, ultimately, the outcome of America’s space exploration.
Jared Isaacman speaks at a news conference in 2024, before his Polaris Dawn mission.AP Photo/John Raoux, File
An unconventional background
At 16 years old, Isaacman dropped out of high school to start a payment processing company in his basement. The endeavor succeeded and eventually became known as Shift4.
Though he found early success in business, Isaacman also had a love for aviation. In 2009, he set a record for flying around the Earth in a light jet, beating the previous record by more than 20 hours.
While remaining CEO of Shift4, Isaacman founded another company, Draken International. The company eventually assembled the world’s largest fleet of privately owned fighter jets. It now helps to train U.S. Air Force pilots.
In 2019, Isaacman sold his stake in Draken International. In 2020, he took Shift4 public, making him a billionaire.
Isaacman continued to branch out into aerospace, working with SpaceX beginning in 2021. He purchased a crewed flight on the Falcon 9 rocket, a mission that eventually was called Inspiration4. The mission, which he led, represented the first private astronaut flight for SpaceX. It sent four civilians with no previous formal space experience into orbit.
Following the success of Inspiration4, Isaacman worked with SpaceX to develop the Polaris Program, a series of three missions to help build SpaceX’s human spaceflight capabilities. In fall 2024, the first of these missions, Polaris Dawn, launched.
Polaris Dawn added more accomplishments to Isaacman’s resume. Isaacman, along with his crewmate Sarah Gillis, completed the first private spacewalk. Polaris Dawn’s SpaceX Dragon capsule traveled more than 850 miles (1,367 kilometers) from Earth, the farthest distance humans had been since the Apollo missions.
The Polaris Dawn mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September 2024.AP Photo/John Raoux
The next adventure: NASA
In December 2024, the incoming Trump administration announced its intention to nominate Isaacman for the post of NASA administrator.
As NASA administrator, Isaacman would oversee all NASA activities at a critical moment in its history. The Artemis program, which has been in progress since 2017, has several missions planned for the next few years.
This includes 2026’s Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts to orbit the Moon. Then, in 2027, Artemis III will aim to land on it.
If the mission proceeds as planned, the Artemis II crew will fly in an Orion crew capsule, pictured behind them, around the Moon in 2026.Kim Shiflett/NASA via AP, File
But, if Isaacman is confirmed, his tenure would come at a time when there are significant questions about the Artemis program, as well as the extent to which NASA should use commercial space companies like SpaceX. The agency is also potentially facing funding cuts.
Some in the space industry have proposed scrapping the Artemis program altogether in favor of preparing to go to Mars. Among this group is the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
Others have suggested canceling NASA’s Space Launch System, the massive rocket that is being used for Artemis. Instead, they argue that NASA could use commercial systems, like SpaceX’s Starship or Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
Isaacman has also dealt with accusations that he is too close to the commercial space industry, and SpaceX in particular, to lead NASA. This has become a larger concern given Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration and its cost-cutting efforts. Some critics are worried that Musk would have an even greater say in NASA if Isaacman is confirmed.
Since his nomination, Isaacman has stopped working with SpaceX on the Polaris Program. He has also made several supportive comments toward other commercial companies.
But the success of any of NASA’s plans depends on having the money and resources necessary to carry them out.
While NASA has been spared major cuts up to this point, it, like many other government agencies, is planning for budget cuts and mass firings. These potential cuts are similar to what other agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services have recently made.
During his confirmation hearing, Isaacman committed to keeping the Artemis program, as well as the Space Launch System, in the short term. He also insisted that NASA could both return to the Moon and prepare for Mars at the same time.
Although Isaacman stated that he believed NASA had the resources to do both at the same time, the agency is still in a time of budget uncertainty, so that may not be possible.
About his relationship with Musk, Isaacman stated that he had not talked to Musk since his nomination in November, and his relationship with SpaceX would not influence his decisions.
Additionally, he committed to carrying out space science missions, specifically to “launch more telescopes, more probes, more rovers.”
But since NASA is preparing for significant cuts to its science budget, there is some speculation that the agency may need to end some science programs, like the Hubble space telescope, altogether.
Isaacman’s future
Isaacman has received support from the larger space community. Nearly 30 astronauts signed a letter in support of his nomination. Former NASA administrators, as well as major industry groups, have signaled their desire for Isaacman’s confirmation.
He also received the support of Senator Ted Cruz, the committee chair.
Barring any major development, Isaacman will likely be confirmed as NASA administrator by the Senate in the coming weeks. The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation could approve his nomination once it returns from a two-week break at the end of April. A full vote from the Senate would follow.
If the Senate does confirm him, Isaacman will have several major issues to confront at NASA, all in a very uncertain political environment.Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(Family Features) They may be cute, fluffy and friendly, but some dogs also have an important job: protecting America’s food supply.
By deploying specially trained beagles, Labrador retrievers and Jack Russell terriers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Services’ (APHIS) Detector Dog Program puts elite canines to work on the front lines at international airports, mail facilities and border crossings throughout the nation. These furry sleuths maneuver between passengers and luggage to search, locate and respond to the presence of banned fruits, plants and meats that may harbor damaging insects and diseases that threaten the country’s agricultural production and natural resources.
The program was started in 1984 and soon grew in demand. By 2009, APHIS opened a 17-acre National Detector Dog Training Center near the Atlanta International Airport. At the center, dogs and their handlers go through an 8-10-week training program to learn how to inspect passenger luggage and handbags for agricultural goods such as fruits, vegetables, beef and pork.
Detector dogs patrol ports of entry, borders and airports to keep harmful pests, like invasive fruit flies, out of the country. For example, labrador retrievers and their handlers protect the nation’s fruit by patrolling citrus orchards along the Texas-Mexico border in search of infested or diseased crops.
Safeguarding U.S. agriculture and natural resources is part of the program’s mission, but APHIS’ Detector Dog Program also partners with countries like Canada and Taiwan to supply guidance, training and testing of canine detection. There are even detector dog teams on the job at cargo airports throughout countries in the Pacific, tasked with identifying invasive species and stopping them from reaching Hawaii. The work these dogs and their handlers do is critical to help stop the spread of invasive plant and animal pests and diseases that could ravage America’s agriculture.
A detector dog’s career spans 6-8 years before they retire at 9 years old. At retirement age, 90% of dogs are adopted by their handler. In the rare case they are not, the handler will recommend a good home and a successful adoption program ensures all dogs are well placed.
Constantly on the lookout for new pups, APHIS works closely with animal shelters, rescue groups and private individuals to find the right dogs for the job from anywhere in the country. New recruits are 1-3 years old, heartworm negative, have high food drive and are environmentally and socially friendly. The ideal candidate is often that high-energy, hard-to-handle pooch who simply needs a job and a purpose.
If you or someone you know would like to help the program grow its squad of super sniffers, email usdacanineadoptions@usda.gov, call (887) 797-3899 or learn more at aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/ppq-program-overview/nddtc.
Content courtesy of USDA
SOURCE:U.S. Department of Agriculture
A new era of seamless airport connectivity arrives in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA – The wait is finally over. After years of anticipation, the LAX/Metro Transit Center officially opened its doors on June 6, 2025, marking a transformative moment for Los Angeles transportation infrastructure. This isn’t just another transit station – it’s a game-changer that connects the sprawling metropolis directly to one of the world’s busiest airports.
From LA to LAX, Seamlessly
The new LAX/Metro Transit Center represents more than just concrete and steel; it’s the realization of a long-held dream for car-free airport access in Los Angeles. The station creates a direct connection between Metro’s C Line (Green) and K Line (Crenshaw/LAX) to LAX terminals via free airport shuttles, offering travelers a faster, more convenient alternative to navigating LA’s notorious traffic.
“No traffic, no hassle” – that’s the promise this new facility delivers to the millions of passengers who pass through LAX annually. For residents across LA County, this means saying goodbye to expensive parking fees, ride-share surge pricing, and the stress of driving in airport traffic.
A Transit Hub with Artistic Soul
The centerpiece of the LAX/Metro Transit Center is “The Distance of the Sun,” a breathtaking sculpture by artist Glenn Kaino. Suspended above the escalators, this spiral of real and imagined spacecraft symbolizes our collective dreams of exploration and connection – a fitting metaphor for a facility that literally connects ground to sky.
The artwork transforms what could have been just another utilitarian transit space into something that speaks to the human spirit of adventure and discovery. It’s these thoughtful touches that elevate public infrastructure from merely functional to truly inspiring.
What This Means for LA Communities
The opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center extends far beyond convenience for air travelers. This facility represents a significant investment in sustainable transportation, reducing vehicle emissions and traffic congestion throughout the region. For communities along the C and K Lines, it opens up new employment opportunities at LAX and related businesses.
The economic ripple effects are substantial. Workers living in areas served by these rail lines now have direct, affordable access to one of LA’s largest employment centers. Similarly, tourists and business travelers can now explore neighborhoods throughout LA County without needing a rental car.
Getting There: Your Connection Options
The LAX/Metro Transit Center is accessible via:
Metro Rail Lines:
C Line (Green Line)
K Line (Crenshaw/LAX Line)
Metro Bus Lines: Multiple bus routes connect to the station, creating a comprehensive network that serves communities across LA County.
Other Transportation Services: The station also accommodates various other bus services, making it a true multimodal transportation hub.
What Travelers Can Expect
The facility features modern amenities designed with the traveler in mind:
Security cameras and enhanced lighting for safety
Real-time train arrival information
Clean, comfortable restrooms
A bike hub for cyclists
Climate-controlled waiting areas
Location: 9225 Aviation Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045
A Celebration Worth Noting
To mark this historic opening, Metro offered free rides system-wide from Friday through Sunday during the opening weekend – a gesture that allowed the entire community to experience this new connection firsthand.
Looking Forward
The LAX/Metro Transit Center represents more than just improved airport access; it’s a symbol of Los Angeles’ commitment to sustainable, equitable transportation solutions. As the region continues to grow and evolve, infrastructure projects like this demonstrate how thoughtful planning can create connections that benefit entire communities.
For frequent flyers, daily commuters, and occasional travelers alike, the LAX/Metro Transit Center offers something that seemed impossible just a few years ago: a stress-free way to get to and from LAX. In a city where traffic is legendary, that’s nothing short of revolutionary.
The LAX/Metro Transit Center is located at 9225 Aviation Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045. For trip planning and current schedules, visit metro.net.
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
Green sea turtles, like this hatchling in Florida, are endangered due in part to habitat destruction and fishing nets.
Keenan Adams/USFWSMariah Meek, Michigan State University and Karrigan Börk, University of California, Davis
It wouldn’t make much sense to prohibit people from shooting a threatened woodpecker while allowing its forest to be cut down, or to bar killing endangered salmon while allowing a dam to dry out their habitat.
But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is proposing to do by changing how one word in the Endangered Species Act is interpreted: harm.
For 50 years, the U.S. government has interpreted the Endangered Species Act as protecting threatened and endangered species from actions that either directly kill them or eliminate their habitat. Most species on the brink of extinction are on the list because there is almost no place left for them to live. Their habitats have been paved over, burned or transformed. Habitat protection is essential for their survival.
The golden-cheeked warbler breeds only in Texas, primarily in Texas Hill Country. It has been losing habitat as development expands in the region.Steve Maslowski/USFWS, CC BY
As an ecologist and a law professor, we have spent our entire careers working to understand the law and science of helping imperiled species thrive. We recognize that the rule change the Trump administration quietly proposed could green-light the destruction of protected species’ habitats, making it nearly impossible to protect those endangered species.
The legal gambit
The Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, bans the “take” of “any endangered species of fish or wildlife,” which includes harming protected species.
Since 1975, regulations have defined “harm” to include habitat destruction that kills or injures wildlife. Developers and logging interests challenged that definition in 1995 in a Supreme Court case, Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon. However, the court ruled that the definition was reasonable and allowed federal agencies to continue using it.
In short, the law says “take” includes harm, and under the existing regulatory definition, harm includes indirect harm through habitat destruction.
Critical habitat throughout the U.S., including many coastlines and mountain areas. Note: Alaska is not to scale.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Trump administration is seeking to change that definition of “harm” in a way that leaves out habitat modification.
This narrowed definition would undo the most significant protections granted by the Endangered Species Act.
Why habitat protection matters
Habitat protection is the single most important factor in the recovery of endangered species in the United States – far more consequential than curbing direct killing alone.
A 2019 study examining the reasons species were listed as endangered between 1975 and 2017 found that only 17% were primarily threatened by direct killing, such as hunting or poaching. That 17% includes iconic species such as the red wolf, American crocodile, Florida panther and grizzly bear.
In contrast, a staggering 81% were listed because of habitat loss and degradation. The Chinook salmon, island fox, southwestern willow flycatcher, desert tortoise and likely extinct ivory-billed woodpecker are just a few examples. Globally, a 2022 study found that habitat loss threatened more species than all other causes combined.
As natural landscapes are converted to agriculture or taken over by urban sprawl, logging operations and oil and gas exploration, ecosystems become fragmented and the space that species need to survive and reproduce disappears. Currently, more than 107 million acres of land in the U.S. are designated as critical habitat for Endangered Species Act-listed species. Industries and developers have called for changes to the rules for years, arguing it has been weaponized to stop development. However, research shows species worldwide are facing an unprecedented threat from human activities that destroy natural habitat.
Under the proposed change, development could be accelerated in endangered species’ habitats.
Gutting the Endangered Species Act
The definition change is a quiet way to gut the Endangered Species Act.
It is also fundamentally incompatible with the purpose Congress wrote into the act: “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved [and] to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species.” It contradicts the Supreme Court precedent, and it would destroy the act’s habitat protections.
Northern spotted owls, like these fledglings, living in old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest are listed as threatened species because of habitat loss.Tom Kogut/USFS, CC BY
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has argued that the recent “de-extinction” of dire wolves by changing 14 genes in the gray wolf genome means that America need not worry about species protection because technology “can help forge a future where populations are never at risk.”
But altering an existing species to look like an extinct one is both wildly expensive and a paltry substitute for protecting existing species.
The Catalina Island fox is endemic to Catalina Island. Habitat loss, diseases introduced by domestic dogs, and predators have diminished the population of these small foxes to threatened status.Catalina Island Conservancy/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
The administration has also refused to conduct the required analysis of the environmental impact that changing the definition could have. That means the American people won’t even know the significance of this change to threatened and endangered species until it’s too late, though if approved it will certainly end up in court.
The ESA is saving species
Surveys have found the Endangered Species Act is popular with the public, including Republicans. The Center for Biological Diversity estimates that the Endangered Species Act has saved 99% of protected species from extinction since it was created, not just from bullets but also from bulldozers. This regulatory rollback seeks to undermine the law’s greatest strength: protecting the habitats species need to survive.
Congress knew the importance of habitat when it passed the law, and it wrote a definition of “take” that allows the agencies to protect it.Mariah Meek, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University and Karrigan Börk, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(Family Features) They may be cute, fluffy and friendly, but some dogs also have an important job: protecting America’s food supply.
By deploying specially trained beagles, Labrador retrievers and Jack Russell terriers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Services’ (APHIS) Detector Dog Program puts elite canines to work on the front lines at international airports, mail facilities and border crossings throughout the nation. These furry sleuths maneuver between passengers and luggage to search, locate and respond to the presence of banned fruits, plants and meats that may harbor damaging insects and diseases that threaten the country’s agricultural production and natural resources.
The program was started in 1984 and soon grew in demand. By 2009, APHIS opened a 17-acre National Detector Dog Training Center near the Atlanta International Airport. At the center, dogs and their handlers go through an 8-10-week training program to learn how to inspect passenger luggage and handbags for agricultural goods such as fruits, vegetables, beef and pork.
Detector dogs patrol ports of entry, borders and airports to keep harmful pests, like invasive fruit flies, out of the country. For example, labrador retrievers and their handlers protect the nation’s fruit by patrolling citrus orchards along the Texas-Mexico border in search of infested or diseased crops.
Safeguarding U.S. agriculture and natural resources is part of the program’s mission, but APHIS’ Detector Dog Program also partners with countries like Canada and Taiwan to supply guidance, training and testing of canine detection. There are even detector dog teams on the job at cargo airports throughout countries in the Pacific, tasked with identifying invasive species and stopping them from reaching Hawaii. The work these dogs and their handlers do is critical to help stop the spread of invasive plant and animal pests and diseases that could ravage America’s agriculture.
A detector dog’s career spans 6-8 years before they retire at 9 years old. At retirement age, 90% of dogs are adopted by their handler. In the rare case they are not, the handler will recommend a good home and a successful adoption program ensures all dogs are well placed.
Constantly on the lookout for new pups, APHIS works closely with animal shelters, rescue groups and private individuals to find the right dogs for the job from anywhere in the country. New recruits are 1-3 years old, heartworm negative, have high food drive and are environmentally and socially friendly. The ideal candidate is often that high-energy, hard-to-handle pooch who simply needs a job and a purpose.
If you or someone you know would like to help the program grow its squad of super sniffers, email 
