Justice Department says new Texas immigration law violates Constitution

Priscilla Alvarez and Michael Williams, CNN
Thu, December 28, 2023 



A new law that gives local law enforcement in Texas the authority to arrest migrants “violates the US Constitution,” the Department of Justice said in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday, threatening to sue unless Abbott backs down from enforcing it.

The letter, obtained by CNN, marks the latest escalation between President Joe Biden and Abbott over the handling of the US-Mexico border.

Earlier this month, Abbott, a Republican, signed into law the measure, known as Senate Bill 4, which gives local law enforcement the power to arrest migrants and gives judges the ability to issue orders to remove people from the United States. The White House slammed the law, calling it “incredibly extreme.” It’s expected to take effect in March.

Principal deputy assistant attorney general Brian Boynton said in his letter to Abbott Thursday that “the United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of SB 4 unless Texas agrees to refrain from enforcing the law.”

While the federal government is “committed to … securing the border,” Boynton wrote, the Texas law is “contrary to these goals.”

Abbott slammed the Justice Department’s letter later Thursday and accused President Joe Biden of “destroying America.”

“The Biden Admin. not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration,” Abbott said in a post on X. “I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America.”

The ongoing surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border has placed immense pressure on local and federal resources. Thursday’s legal threat follows a DOJ lawsuit against Texas earlier this year over the state’s use of floating barriers in the Rio Grande. That lawsuit is still making its way through the courts.

The enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility, and opponents of the Texas measure argue it’s unconstitutional.

The law has sent ripples of fear throughout the Latino community in Texas, which makes up 40% of the state’s population. Civil-rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the measure.

The Justice Department’s threat to sue comes on the heels of a high-levels talks between senior US and Mexican officials this week

Officials from both countries described talks as productive, and Mexican officials are expected to visit Washington next month to continue the discussions.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

What percentage of the US population is LGBTQ? New data shows which states have the most

Claire Thornton, USA TODAY
Updated Wed, December 27, 2023

New data estimates the greatest number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender U.S. adults live in the South, confirming findings from recent years.

Across the country, researchers estimate more than 5% of U.S. adults are LGBTQ+, matching prior LGBTQ+ population data. Young people ages 18-24 are much more likely to identify as LGBTQ+, according to the report from the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles.

The report, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, found that in 2020 and 2021, there were nearly 14 million LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. − with some states having noticeably higher percentages of gay and queer residents than others.

Earlier this year, a poll from Gallup found a slightly higher percentage of U.S. adults are LGBTQ+. Overall, multiple polls show that the adult LGBTQ population has been steadily increasing for years.

"Look at the numbers, more people are coming out younger and people are coming out in places where LGBTQ folks have been less out and visible," Cathy Renna, a spokesperson for the National LGBTQ Task Force, told USA TODAY.

Broken down by state, the report shows Washington, D.C., Oregon and Delaware top the list for greatest percentage of gay and queer residents.

The census, the nation's most well-known population survey, does not gather data on Americans' sexuality or gender identity. In 2021, other, smaller surveys from the bureau began asking those questions of respondents for the first time.
How many people in the US are LGBTQ?

Researchers at the Williams Institute, a leading national LGBTQ+ population data research group, estimate more than 13.9 million LGBTQ+ adults live in the U.S., representing 5.5% of the population.

Every year, Gallup also releases results of a poll estimating how many Americans are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Gallup's last report, which polled a nationally representative group of 10,000 respondents, found 7.2% identified as LGBTQ+. The number was highest among adult Gen Zers, or people born between 1997 and 2012, according to Pew Research Center.
South continues to have highest percentage of LGBTQ+ people

The new data shows nearly 36% of the nation's adult LGBTQ+ population lives in the South, representing more than 5 million people. The number is also an increase from the last data released by the Williams Institute in 2014, showing 35% of the nation's LGBTQ+ population lived in the South.

Researchers defined the South as states spanning from Texas and Oklahoma, to Florida and north through Delaware. Kentucky, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., are included in the grouping.

In recent years, Southern Republican-led states passed more laws restricting transgender health care, access to school sports and instruction on LGBTQ+ history than any other part of the country.

For that reason, the South is at the forefront of the national fight for LGBTQ+ rights and equality, Renna said.

"Despite the backlash and despite challenges we're facing, we're resilient and we're not going anywhere," Renna said.

Speaking from New Orleans, which the National LGBTQ Task Force selected for its next annual conference, Renna said the South is where there's the most at stake for people's lives because it's home to the most people living under the most oppressive laws.

"This is where a lot of the work really needs to happen," she said, adding that her organization chose to host its conference in Louisiana because "there are so many LGBTQ people here that are underrepresented in media, culture and frankly in the movement."

Researchers found that 5.7% of Louisiana's adult population is LGBTQ+, ranking slightly higher than states like New York, California and Illinois.

In 2021, another LGBTQ+ advocacy group, GLAAD, analyzed Southern media coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and found that dozens of outlets published few or zero substantive stories on LGBTQ+ issues, including HIV/AIDS, during the 18-month period ending in December 2020.

The Rainbow PAC of Northwest Louisiana hosted a protest against Louisiana bills HB466, HB81, and HB648 for the LGBTQ+ community in front of the courthouse in downtown Shreveport on May, 20, 2023.
Gen Z most likely to be LGBTQ+

Generation Z, the youngest American generation to include adults, has a much higher percentage of LGBTQ+ members than older generations.

Researchers found that in 2020 and 2021, 15.2% of Gen Z identified as LGBTQ+, representing more than 4.6 million people.

Earlier this year, Gallup found 19.7% of Gen Z − or nearly 1 in 5 − said they were LGBTQ+ in 2022.

"It's certainly not uncommon for younger people to say they're lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or however else they would identify themselves," said Jeff Jones, a researcher at Gallup who has been tracking LGBTQ+ population data since 2012.

With each passing year, as more Gen Zers enter adulthood, the cohort's LGBTQ+ members also push the entire adult national total higher, Jones said.

"As more come into adulthood, replacing the older people, the overall number should go up," he said.
Bisexuals make up majority of LGBTQ+ population

Researchers have long found that bisexual people − people who are attracted to more than one gender − make up more than half of America's LGBTQ+ population.

Researchers at the Williams Institute did not break down data based on sexuality, instead focusing on state-by-state LGBTQ+ populations.

The most recent data from Gallup found more than 58% of all adult LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. are bisexual.

Researchers in 2019 found that compared with gays and lesbians, bisexuals are far less likely to be out about their sexuality with people they're close to. Some public health professors who study sexuality say biphobia could be playing a role.
What states have the most LGBTQ+ people?

This month's new data from the Williams Institute is the latest batch from the group to rank the states that have the greatest percentage of LGBTQ+ residents.

As in recent years, Washington, D.C., takes the top spot, with 14.3% of adults identifying with the acronym.

Here are the other top states, and the percentage of adult residents who said they're LGBTQ+:

Washington, D.C. − 14.3%


Oregon − 7.8%


Delaware − 7.5%


Vermont − 7.4%


New Hampshire − 7.2%


Washington − 6.9%


Colorado − 6.8%


Maine − 6.8%


Nevada − 6.6%


Massachusetts − 6.5%

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Adult LGBTQ population by state


Christianity Is Complex to LGBTQ+ People–But These Facts Are Certain

Ryan Adamczeski
Thu, December 28, 202

LGBTQ+ Baptist Pastor

Christianity is a complicated topic among LGBTQ+ people, but there are still groups in the community that embrace their faith — sometimes to the detriment of their health, and sometimes to their benefit.

Nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ+ people who were raised Christian no longer identify with the religion, according to a new study from Utah State University and the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. Among those who remain, adults report more internalized homophobia and transphobia.

Those who are older, Black, cisgender men, and/or live in the South were more likely to continue to identify as Christian as adults, the report found. Among those who stayed Christian, more reported having a history of conversion therapy than those who left or who were never part of the religion.

Those who were never raised Christian reported coming out to family and friends at younger ages than those who were, and those who left Christianity were more likely to report being bullied in childhood than those who stayed Christian.


While the experiences of LGBTQ+ people who have identified as Christian at some point in their lives differed from those who have not, the groups did not differ in health indicators, including stress and well-being. Both groups were out to family and friends at similar rates, and both reported a "sense of connectedness" to the LGBTQ+ community, including in levels of social support.

However, there were some groups who notably benefited from their Christian faith, as well as some who did not. Black LGBTQ+ people were more likely than their White counterparts to be raised Christian, and less likely to leave Christianity. Out of the 87 percent of Black LGBTQ+ people who were raised Christian, 54 percent stayed Christian.

“Some LGBTQ people, for example, Black LGBTQ people, maintain their connection to Christianity despite minority stressors because the social, cultural, and religious support outweighs the negative experiences,” co-author Ilan Meyer, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute, said in a statement.

“For other LGBTQ people, the heightened experience of minority stressors within Christian environments may contribute more to stigma than support, leading them to distance themselves from their religious faith and communities, sometimes seeking LGBTQ-affirming religious or spiritual environments," he continued.

This rang true for transgender people, as the report found that those who were never Christian experienced less discrimination than those who were raised Christian. This has swayed transgender adults away from the religion, in contrast to LGB adults. LGB people who were never Christian experienced higher psychological distress than LGB people who remained Christian.

This phenomenon is not unique to the LGBTQ+ community, as the study suggested that "religiosity may have a protective effect." Regardless, researchers believe this information surrounding Christianity in the queer community could benefit healthcare providers when working with LGBTQ+ patients.

“The finding that LGBTQ people are likely to have been raised in a religious background, regardless of their current identification, may be particularly helpful to therapists with LGBTQ clients,” said lead author Tyler Lefevor of Utah State University. “Therapists may want to encourage clients to articulate the pieces they find valuable about religion (e.g., believing, bonding, behaving, belonging) and either grieve or strive to maintain these aspects.”

Here are the 23 top LGBTQ news stories of 2023

Brooke Sopelsa and Jo Yurcaba and Matt Lavietes
Thu, December 28, 2023

For those covering the LGBTQ beat, one thing is certain: There’s never a slow news day.

The year has been marked by a historic level of protest — both in support of and in opposition to LGBTQ rights.

State legislators filed more than 500 bills targeting LGBTQ people, Dylan Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light led to mass boycotts of the brand, and arrests were made following mysterious druggings that stalked patrons of New York City’s gay bars for years.

But despite the political division, more LGBTQ people are coming out than ever before, particularly among Generation Z, and lesbian bars, which were in decline before the pandemic, have had a resurgence. We’ve also seen a wave of queer-inclusive movies and books this year that have dazzled filmgoers and bibliophiles.

Without further ado, here are 23 of our top LGBTQ news stories of 2023.
Lesbian mom loses parental rights, and wife, to child’s sperm donor

Kris Williams, right, and Rebekah Wilson with their son. (Courtesy Kris Williams)

The boy’s biological mother and his sperm donor, who are now dating, are the child’s “legal parents,” an Oklahoma district judge ruled. (Feb. 15)
Click for full story
Gallup Poll finds 7.2% in U.S. identify as LGBTQ

a Pride flag (Jessica Rinaldi / Boston Globe via Getty Images file)

Nearly 20% of Generation Z, or those ages 19 to 26, identify as something other than heterosexual, the latest Gallup Poll finds. (Feb. 22)
Click for full story
Bud Light partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompts right-wing backlash

Dylan Mulvaney shared a video promoting Bud Light's March Madness contest. (@dylanmulvaney via Instagram)

The beer brand teamed up with “Days of Girlhood” TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney during the NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament. (April 5)
Click for full story
Raising a trans kid in Missouri has become a ‘dystopian nightmare’ for families

Kyle and Rene Freels moved to St. Louis 17 years ago, just before the birth of their daughter, Chelsea. (Kyle Freels)

State leaders are attempting to restrict access to transition-related care in a variety of ways, forcing families to come up with backup plans. (April 27)
Click for full story
Pride Month boycotts: How major brands were roped into targeting LGBTQ people

Pride month merchandise is displayed at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J. (Seth Wenig / AP)

Target, Bud Light, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Disney have all been backed into corners over their support of the LGBTQ community. The strategy has conservative activists celebrating. (May 25)
Click for full story
Anti-drag protests, threats and violence ramp up across the U.S., report finds

Pro- and anti-drag queen protestors gather outside of Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak, Mich. (Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images file )

The U.S. has exported anti-drag sentiment abroad, including to the U.K., which has also seen an uptick in anti-drag actions, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue says. (June 23)
Click for full story
Supreme Court rules for web designer who refused to work on same-sex weddings

Christian graphic artist and website designer Lorie Smith speaks to supporters outside the Supreme Court (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

In a blow to LGBTQ rights, the court said creative businesses can refuse to sell certain products and services if they disagree with the messages customers wish to convey. (June 30)
Click for full story
Trans men enter Miss Italy pageant in droves after trans women are told they can’t compete

Federico Barbarossa. (Courtesy Federico Barbarossa)

Trans activist Federico Barbarossa entered the Miss Italy pageant after its organizer said trans women weren’t allowed. His protest went viral, and more than 100 trans men signed up, he said. (July 27)
Click for full story
Fatal stabbing of NYC gay man is being investigated as a possible hate crime

O'Shae Sibley. (Kemar Jewel)

O’Shae Sibley, 28, was dancing to music by Beyoncé at a Brooklyn gas station before the fatal incident. (Aug. 1)
Click for full story
FDA policy allowing more gay and bisexual men to donate blood goes into effect

Image: Inside A Blood Drive At Chargers Stadium (Bing Guan / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

However, some heterosexuals who aren’t in monogamous long-term relationships are newly ineligible to donate blood. (Aug. 7)
Click for full story

California store owner, mother of 9, fatally shot over a Pride flag displayed in her shop

Laura Ann Carleton. (via Mountain Provisions Cooperative)

The suspect made “several disparaging remarks” about the rainbow flag before shooting the store owner, Laura Ann Carleton, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said. (Aug. 20)
Click for full story
After decades of declines, lesbian bars are having a renaissance

Angela Barnes and Renauda Riddle pose for a photo behind the bar. (Akilah Townsend for NBC News)

From Brooklyn to Oklahoma City, a dozen new venues owned by queer women have opened their doors since 2020. (Aug. 28)
Click for full story
How Zooey Zephyr, Montana’s first trans legislator, became a national celebrity

Rep. Zooey Zephyr walks out of Gild in downtown Missoula, Mont., on Aug. 9, 2023. (Rebecca Stumpf for NBC News)

Zephyr’s Republican colleagues silenced her in the state, but they inadvertently amplified her message across the country. (Sept. 3)
Click for full story
Book challenges reach historic highs, American Library Association reports

The wave of attempted book banning and restrictions continues to intensify, the American Library Association reported Friday. Numbers for 2022 already approach last year's totals, which were the highest in decades. (Rick Bowmer / AP file)

Most of the challenged titles were written by or about people of color or members of the LGBTQ community, the ALA found. (Sept. 20)
Click for full story
Transgender adults in red states fear for the next generation as political attacks accelerate

A side-by-side image of Ashley Swartz and Eli Rigatuso. (Madeline Cass for NBC News)

As conservative lawmakers and activists set their sights on transgender inclusion and health care, trans adults are fearful about what the future holds for their younger counterparts. (Oct. 7)
Click for full story
New House speaker’s views on LGBTQ issues come under fresh scrutiny

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) in Washington, DC. on Nov. 7, 2023. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., has called same-sex marriage a “dark harbinger of chaos” and suggested it could lead to people wedding their pets. (Oct. 26)
Click for full story
A year after Elon Musk bought Twitter, LGBTQ people say it has become toxic

Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, during a conference in Paris on June 16, 2023. (Jeanne Accorsini / Sipa via AP Images file)

On Musk’s X, users are allowed to deadname and misgender transgender people and make money off of anti-LGBTQ content. (Oct. 27)
Click for full story
Meet the 13-year-old West Virginian suing to join her school’s track team

Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, a transgender teen at the center of a legal battle over transgender participation in West Virginia sports and her mother Heather Jackson after a hearing in Richmond, Va. on Oct. 27, 2023. (Shuran Huang for NBC News)

Becky Pepper-Jackson’s case is one of two against restrictions on transgender students’ playing school sports that could end up before the Supreme Court. (Oct. 28)
Click for full story

Victims of the deadly druggings that terrorized NYC’s gay bars are haunted by unknowns

Julio Ramirez and John Umberger. (Ramirez family photo; Linda Clary)

One of the six defendants was sentenced to nine years in prison. Authorities say the yearslong crime ring victimized 16 people and led to two deaths. (Nov. 20)
Click for full story or all stories in this series

George Santos is expelled from the House

Activists hold a large inflatable balloon of Rep. George Santos as they advocate for his expulsion. (Paul Morigi / Getty Images)

Santos, R-N.Y., who made history in 2022 by becoming the first openly LGBTQ nonincumbent Republican elected to Congress, was expelled from the House of Representatives, making him just the sixth member of the House ever to be expelled and the first in more than 20 years. (Dec. 1)
Click for full story
A ‘renaissance of gay literature’ marks a turning point for publishing

The Ripped Bodice romance bookstore in Los Angeles. (Madeline Derujinsky)

Exclusive data and industry experts — including publishers, booksellers and BookTok influencers — shed light on the yearslong surge in LGBTQ fiction sales. (Dec. 9)
Click for full story
From drag bans to sports restrictions, 75 anti-LGBTQ bills have become law in 2023

Trans rights activists march past the state Capitol during a protest of anti-drag laws in Nashville, Tenn. (John Amis / AP Images for Human Rights Campaign file)

Restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youths were the most common, with 21 such laws passed this year. (Dec. 17)
Click for full story
Pope says priests can bless same-sex couples, a radical change in Vatican policy

Pope Francis appears at the balcony to deliver his Christmas blessing in 2022. (Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images file)

The announcement about same-sex blessings triggered both healing and pain for LGBTQ Catholics, and it came just six weeks after Vatican officials said transgender people can be baptized in the Catholic Church. (Dec. 18)
\

Tommy Dorfman Accuses Delta Employee of 'Intentionally' Misgendering Her in Viral Video
Ryan Adamczeski
Thu, December 28, 2023

Tommy Dorfman Delta Airlines Intentional Misgendering Incident


Tommy Dorfman is speaking out after an incident over the holiday weekend where a Delta Airlines employee repeatedly misgendered her before threatening to have her kicked out of an airport.

Earlier this week, the 13 Reasons Why actor and transgender advocate posted a TikTok of an incident between herself and two Delta employees at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. She accused the employees of repeatedly and "intentionally" misgendering her, after one kept referring to her as "he" and using the wrong pronouns, despite being corrected.

— (@)

twitter.com

“You just misgendered me again,” Dorfman says at one point in the video.

“It wasn’t intentional, but if you want to take it personal, that’s also OK," the employee responded. "You’re being condescending, and if you want to continue, I’ll have Port Authority escort you out the building right this moment if you want to play that game with me. Would you like to continue three days before Christmas? I really don’t mind.”

Dorfman wrote in the video's caption that she "didn't realize it was condescending to flag a human rights violation after another employee misgendered me incessantly.” She deleted the TikTok after an onslaught of commenters, but it has since been re-uploaded by other accounts.

Delta said that it is “aware of the video and looking into the matter, including reaching out to our customer to understand more about what occurred," in a statement to Newsweek.

Dorfman has since addressed the incident through her Instagram story, where she urged people to always treat others with respect, and to educate themselves about pronouns. The actor then posted a link to pronouns.org, which she called an "excellent resource."

"Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, including transgender people," Dorfman wrote. "When we are mistreated, i.e. being misgendered repeatedly, trans people should be able to defend ourselves and advocate for our innate human dignity."

A Republican House member spoke in support of a Ugandan law that doles out a death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality'

Madison Hall
Updated Thu, December 28, 2023

In May, Uganda enacted a law letting courts give the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality."


The law's been heavily criticized by humanitarian organizations and even Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.


One GOP House member, though, traveled to the country in October to voice his support for the law.

A Republican member of the House of Representatives spoke in support of a Ugandan law that provides the death penalty for those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality."

The Young Turks uncovered earlier in December that Rep. Tim Walberg, who's represented Michigan in Congress since 2011, made the speech in October in Uganda at a national prayer breakfast with the country's president in attendance.

In his speech, Walberg, a former pastor, railed against "the World Health Organization, or the United Nations, or sadly some in our administration in America" that have been outspoken against a new Ugandan law from May criminalizing homosexuality.

The law not only allows for 20-year sentences for "promoting homosexuality," but also stipulates death for "serial offenders."

The representative also spoke at length about his disdain for the idea of transgender people existing at all.

"I've been told all throughout COVID and everything else, 'Follow the science,'" Walberg said. "But when they come to understanding that there's male and female and God created it, that science and to lie to our children, to groom our children, to think that they can determine whatever they want… That's not science."

He added that "Your esteemed president, his excellence President Musevini, needs a nation that stands with him and says, 'though the rest of the world is pushing back on you, though there are other major countries that are trying to get into you and ultimately change you: Stand firm. Stand firm.'"

Though Walberg supports Uganda's anti-LGBT law, one notable member of Congress, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, spoke out against it online after it was enacted.


Walberg's speaking arrangement in October wasn't the first time he's pushed back against LGBT rights. The representative was a cosponsor of a 2015 bill trying to amend the US Constitution to formally declare that marriages are only between men and women and allow states to not recognize same-sex marriages.

The bill was never brought to a floor vote. Months after it was introduced, the Supreme Court ruled that every state had to recognize and perform same-sex marriages in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case.

Less than a month later, Walberg cosponsored another piece of legislation, this time in an attempt to have the House formally declare its opposition to the high court's ruling. That bill was also never brought to the floor for a vote.

Republican Lawmaker Spoke in Support of Bill to Kill Gay People in Uganda: Report

Alex Cooper
Thu, December 28, 2023 

Michigan State Rep Tim Walberg

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican representing parts of Michigan, encouraged the Ugandan government to “stand firm” amid the international backlash against the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which includes the death penalty in some cases, during a speech in Uganda last October. The act is also known as the “kill the gays” bill.

Walberg made the remarks at Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast. The Republican co-chairs the event in the U.S. According to reporting by The Young Turks, the trip was paid for by the secretive conservative group The Family — which is also known as the Fellowship Foundation. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni sat in the audience. He signed the law back in May.

In video in the outlet’s reporting, Walberg is seen “listening to, endorsing and associating himself with the remarks of other speakers. Speakers called LGBTQ+ advocates ‘a force from the bottom of hell’ and urged government officials to adopt ‘Christocracy’ over democracy.”

TYT writes, “Walberg’s trip marks the first time a Family leader or any American lawmaker has publicly embraced the legislation.”

Related: Biden, Blinken, and More Condemn Uganda's Horrific Anti-Homosexuality Act

Though Walberg doesn’t mention the Anti-Homosexuality Act, he urges Uganda’s political leaders to not bow down to U.S. or international pressures.

“Though the rest of the world is pushing back on you,” Walberg said during his speech, “though there are other major countries that are trying to get into you and ultimately change you, stand firm. Stand firm.”

The lawmaker referenced Bible stories and verses throughout his speech, according to TYT.

“Worthless is the thought of the world,” he said to applause. “[W]orthless, for instance, is the thought of the World Bank, or the World Health Organization, or the United Nations, or, sadly, some in our administration in America who say, ‘You are wrong for standing for values that God created,’ for saying there are male and female and God created them.’”

Walberg added: “Whose side do we want to be on? God’s side. Not the World Bank, not the United States of America, necessarily, not the U.N. God’s side.”

The Ugandan president welcomed Walberg’s comments, saying that there were Americans who “think like us,” TYT reports.

The national prayer breakfast movement has been a massive project by The Family and has been protested against in the U.S. over The Family’s connections to anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ movements around the world.

Uganda’s breakfast co-chair Member of Parliament David Bahati began championing a “kill the gays” bill more than a decade ago.

In his speech, Walberg told attendees to support the Ugandan president and his violent anti-LGBTQ+ policies: “He knows that he has a Parliament, and … even congressmen like me who will say, ‘We stand with you.’”

Related: Activists Link U.S. Nonprofit to Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws Across Africa

None at the event outright spoke about the legislation, TYT notes. However, given the circumstances and the allusions to international pressure, it’s not hard to make the connections.

“I want to thank the congressman from Michigan, because you have seen that we have got the Western people that we see here. I’m not the only one,” Museveni said. He added that Walberg’s support showed that there were others that backed them.

“There are others, also,” Museveni said, TYT reports, “who come to tell you about homosexuals, about abortion. You now know that there are other Americans, other Western people, who think like us.”

Related: World Bank Cuts Off Funds to Uganda Over Anti-LGBTQ+ Law

Before the new law, Uganda’s penal code already punished same-sex sexual relations with life imprisonment, according to Human Rights Watch. However, the new law created new crimes such as the vaguely worded “promotion of homosexuality” and introduced the death penalty for several acts considered as “aggravated homosexuality.” The new legislation also increased the prison sentence for attempted same-sex conduct to a decade.

The speech hasn’t been widely reported until now. The comments were first reported by the Take Care Tim blog and several other outlets.

During his speech, Walberg said, “I expect some pushback, but I’m not gonna give in to them.”

The Advocate has reached out to Walberg’s office for comment.

POLYAMORY

Warren Buffett Had An Unconventional First Marriage — He Lived With Another Woman, And The Trio Sent Out Christmas Cards Every Year: 'Susie Put Me Together And Astrid Keeps Me Together'

Jeannine Mancini
Wed, December 27, 2023 

Warren Buffett’s marital life, often described as unconventional, diverges significantly from his well-known financial conservatism, as detailed in “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.” Authored by Alice Schroeder and covered in a 2008 Time magazine article, the biography offers an exploration of Buffett’s life, covering both finance and emotions.

While enduring on paper from 1952 until she died in 2004, Buffett’s marriage to Susan Thompson was anything but conventional. Susan’s decision to move to San Francisco to pursue singing marked a pivotal change in their relationship. Despite the physical distance, their bond remained, characterized by extensive phone conversations and an unconventional, understanding of each other’s lives.

Before leaving, Susan Buffett reportedly reached out to several women she knew from a cocktail bar where she performed, requesting them to look after her husband. Among these women was Astrid Menks, a waitress. Susan Buffett asked Menks to cook for Warren and assist in his care during her absence.

Menks moved in with Buffett, and together with his wife, they formed a unique trio. Susan and Astrid reportedly remained close friends. This was exemplified by their joint Christmas cards signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid.”

Buffett captured the essence of his relationships with both women, stating in his biography, “Susie put me together, and Astrid keeps me together.” Susan’s understanding of Buffett’s need for love and absence of criticism played a crucial role in their dynamic.

The biography also sheds light on the more vulnerable aspects of Buffett’s persona. Despite his immense success and seemingly unflappable demeanor in business, he was an emotionally needy husband and, at times, an absentee father. His relationship with his parents, especially the complex one with his mother, who was harsh yet a model housewife in public, deeply affected him. Buffett’s emotional side was significantly shaped by these early experiences, influencing his later relationships.

Schroeder portrays Buffett’s dependence on several women who provided him with emotional support and care throughout his life. Besides Susan and Astrid, figures like Sharon Osberg, Buffett's bridge partner, financial journalist Carol Loomis and former Washington Post publisher the late Katharine Graham played crucial roles in supporting Buffett beyond business. These relationships paint a picture of Buffett not just as a business magnate but as a man seeking connection and care in his personal life.

Business Insider reported that in 2008, Buffett claimed the greatest mistake of his life was letting Susan go.

“It was preventable," Buffett told Schroeder. "It was definitely 95% my fault. ... I just wasn’t attuned enough to her, and she’d always been perfectly attuned to me. She kept me together for a lot of years. ... It shouldn’t have happened.”

The book also details how Buffett coped with Susan’s illness, highlighting his deep love and fear of losing her. Despite his general avoidance of medical discussions, Buffett was by Susan’s side throughout her cancer treatment, showing a side of him that contrasts with his public image. His inability to attend Susan’s funeral, overwhelmed by grief, further showcased the depth of his vulnerability.

© 2023 Benzinga.com.

'

TRIAD

Turbulent 1st moments of a black hole's life captured in new simulations

Paul Sutter
Wed, December 27, 2023 

An illustration of a primitive black hole forming.


Astronomers have figured out how some dying stars kick baby black holes out of the womb — and it's not pretty.

These rare black holes get a significant kick when their parent stars die in a cataclysmic explosion, rocketing the newborn gravitational gluttons out at incredible speeds, a new study found.

The findings could shed light on the enigmatic first moments of a black hole's life.


Black holes and neutron stars are born in the hearts of massive, dying stars. When stars with at least eight times the mass of the sun near the ends of their lives, they fuse iron in their cores. Intense pressures turn that iron core into a proto-neutron star, a clump of neutrons about the size of a city. That clump can temporarily halt the gravitational collapse of the rest of the star. In turn, this stall-out usually triggers a supernova explosion. But pressures can sometimes rise in the hearts of those explosions, smashing that proto-neutron star down into a black hole.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Previous computer models of supernovas simulated only less than a second of that process — just enough to capture the explosion itself. And observations of real black holes and neutron stars suggest all sorts of funky physics. Some neutron stars move at over 3.4 million mph (5.4 million km/h), indicating that they got violently kicked out during the explosion process, while others move 30 times slower, suggesting a more serene birth process.

Black holes, on the other hand, almost always have low "kick" velocities, even though the circumstances of their creation are much more violent.

Related: James Webb telescope discovers oldest black hole in the universe

A team of astronomers elucidated the awkward newborn period of black holes and neutron stars by running 20 computer simulations of supernovas. The simulations ran long enough to show how each object was "kicked" by its parent star. Their work was published to the preprint database arXiv Nov. 20 and has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal for peer review.

The astronomers discovered a tight relationship between the properties of the parent star prior to the explosion (known as the "progenitor") and the resulting neutron star or black hole. When the parent star isn't very massive and isn't very compact — meaning its outer layers are enlarged relative to its core — the supernova happens very suddenly and in nearly a perfect sphere, leading to a slow-moving neutron star.

On the other hand, very massive, compact progenitors take longer to go supernova, and when the explosions occur, they're not very symmetrical. This produces a fast-moving, kicked neutron star emerging out of the chaos. The researchers also found that larger neutron stars tend to get kicked harder, meaning that more of a compact progenitor's mass in the core winds up in a neutron star.

Progenitors also send neutron stars spinning, and the researchers found that, generally, the greater the kick, the greater the spin. So if the progenitor star exploded asymmetrically, then the irregular explosion not only pushes out the neutron star but also spins it up. This may explain the origins of magnetars, which are rapidly spinning, supermagnetized neutron stars.

Two formation mechanisms explain how black holes get kicked. In one case, the progenitor doesn't fully explode, but the pressure on the core ramps up to the point that a black hole forms. These black holes are rather large — roughly 10 solar masses, on average — and barely get kicked. Most black holes fall into this category.

RELATED STORIES

—Humans could use black holes as batteries, physicists say. Here's how.

—Supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way is approaching the cosmic speed limit, dragging space-time along with it

—Scientists found a way for two black holes to orbit each other forever without colliding

But black holes can also form via a second pathway. In some cases, the progenitor star fully explodes and carries off a lot of mass, leaving behind a smaller black hole of roughly three solar masses. Interestingly, these black holes receive incredible kick velocities, greater than 2.2 million mph (3.6 million km/h), the study found. These fast-moving black holes are quite rare, though.

The research makes an important connection between what we can observe (neutron stars and black holes moving around the universe) and what we can't (namely, the details of the progenitor explosion process itself). By surveying the properties of neutron stars and black holes, astronomers will be able to work toward painting a complete picture of the stellar life cycle.


Earth's intense gravity may rip space rocks apart, reducing the risk of 'planet killer' asteroids

Abha Jain
Wed, December 27, 2023 

This graphic shows the orbits of all the known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), numbering over 1,400 as of early 2013.


Every year, dozens of asteroids come closer to our planet than the moon is, and yet catastrophic collisions are exceedingly rare. Now, a new study proposes that Earth has a built-in defense system — its intense gravitational forces — that it uses to tackle asteroid interlopers.

The enormous masses of planets and their moons mean they exert tremendous gravitational forces on nearby objects. The differences in gravity these objects experience, called tidal forces because astronomers used them to explain how the moon causes tides on Earth, can be so strong in some cases that the objects get ripped up ― a process called tidal disruption.

In 1994, space enthusiasts got a firsthand glimpse of the awesome power of tidal disruption when pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, torn apart by Jupiter's tidal forces during a close encounter two years earlier, crashed into the gas giant. But for decades, astronomers couldn't find evidence that Earth and other terrestrial planets tidally disrupt passing asteroids or comets.


Related: 'Planet killer' asteroids are hiding in the sun's glare. Can we stop them in time?

Mikael Granvik, first author of the new study and a planetary scientist at Sweden's Luleå University of Technology, has long been searching for these gravitationally ripped-apart near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). "Some ten years ago we looked for families of NEAs that would have formed in such tidal disruptions, but didn't find any," Granvik told Live Science in an email. A follow-up study explained why: Any fragments formed this way would "mix with the background so quickly" that identifying a specific family is impossible, he said.

The hunt for gravitationally torn asteroids remained at a dead end untilGranvik had a flash of insight. In 2016, he helped create a model that calculated the trajectories of asteroids of different sizes to determine their numbers at different distances from the sun.

Granvik and his colleagues compared their model's results with seven years' worth of asteroid observations collated by the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded Arizona telescope-based program that detects NEAs. But their estimates vastly underpredicted the numbers of certain asteroids ― those spotted at the distances at which Earth and Venus orbit the sun. Most of these missed asteroids were pretty small, chugging along roughly circular paths around the sun, more or less within the same plane as the orbits of Earth and Venus.

With NASA's Eyes on Asteroids, you can watch all the known near-Earth asteroids and comets as they orbit the Sun. Updated twice daily with the latest tracking data, the web-based application will automatically add new near-Earth object discoveries for you to explore.

Then came Granvik's eureka moment. He realized these oddball asteroids could be tidally disrupted fragments of larger asteroids.

To check this idea, Granvik and co-author Kevin Walsh, a researcher at theSouthwest Research Institute in Colorado, considered a scenario where asteroids that encountered rocky planets lost between 50% and 90% of their mass, generating streams of fragments. Now, their model correctly accounted for the previously unexplained asteroids, suggesting they had been created by tidal disruptions. They described the findings in a new study, which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and is available on the preprint database arXiv.

RELATED STORIES

—A skyscraper-size asteroid flew closer to Earth than the moon — and scientists didn't notice until 2 days later

—Could scientists stop a 'planet killer' asteroid from hitting Earth?

—How long can an asteroid 'survive'?

"While individual families are hard to find, the combination of multiple families will produce a signature that we can identify," Granvik said. Additional simulations showed such fragments hung around a really long time, lasting an average of 9 million years before colliding with the sun or a planet or getting kicked out of the solar system.

Tidal disruption caused by Earth may help tackle asteroids, but it creates problems too, by generating more NEAs that are likely to strike our planet. Don't panic, though — because these fragments are smaller than 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) in diameter, "they don't pose an extinction-level threat," Granvik said. However, they do "increase the possibilities for Tunguska-level and Chelyabinsk-level events" — the two largest asteroid impact events in recent history.


NASA Charts Mission to Apophis, the Near-Earth Asteroid Named for the Egyptian God of Chaos

Cassidy Ward

SYFY
Wed, December 27, 2023

NASA Charts Mission to Apophis, the Near-Earth Asteroid Named for the Egyptian God of Chaos


There’s never a good time for an asteroid to hit, but there might be a worst time. In the 2021 film Asteroid (streaming now on Peacock), a family moves from the big city to their new home in the country just before learning that an asteroid is poised to strike that exact spot.

In real life, NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) keeps an eagle-eyed watch on the orbiting objects which might pose a threat. They’ve got a list of potential impactors and it’s constantly being updated with new discoveries and up to date orbital information to calculate the probability of a dangerous dust up in the near future. For a while, the asteroid Apophis, named for the Egyptian serpent god of chaos, was public enemy number one (that has since changed with new data) and now NASA is kicking off a mission to visit one of our closest asteroid neighbors.

NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Mission to the Asteroid Apophis

Digital illustration of OSIRIS-REx's Return

OSIRIS-REx Return Photo: NASA

The OSIRIS-Rex mission to the asteroid Bennu successfully wrapped up a few months back when the spacecraft returned to near-Earth space and dropped off a package filled with tiny asteroid rocks. While scientists are busy studying the contents at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the spacecraft is happily bending its path toward its next target.

RELATED: The Asteroid Apophis Isn’t Likely to Hit Earth. But if it Did, What Could we Do?

The original mission was a smashing (literally) success which involved orbiting Bennu for years, mapping the surface, touching down to grab a handful for ourselves, and returning to Earth. When it got back home, the spacecraft’s instruments were still running smoothly, and it had about a quarter of its fuel left in the tank. So, scientists spun up an extended mission to Apophis.

With a new mission and a new name – Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Apophis Explorer – the newly dubbed OSIRIS-APEX is on a winding path toward the asteroid Apophis. Meanwhile, Apophis is on its way toward us, and the two will rendezvous during the asteroid’s close pass with our planet in 2029.

The asteroid, which measures approximately 340 meters (1,115 feet) across at its widest point, will arrive in April of 2029 and is expected to pass within 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of the Earth. That’s less than a tenth the distance from here to the Moon. That’s also the closest pass for an asteroid of this size that scientists have ever known was going to happen in advance.

“OSIRIS-APEX will study Apophis immediately after such a pass, allowing us to see how its surface changes by interacting with Earth’s gravity,” said Amy Simon, the mission’s project scientist, in a statement.

OSIRIS-APEX Will Study How Asteroids Change After a Close Pass with Earth

A diagram showing our solar system and the asteroids that surround the Earth

A scientific diagram shows the asteroids surrounding earth. Photo: NASA/JPL/CNEOS

OSIRIS-APEX will start taking pictures of the asteroid’s surface about two weeks before closest approach and it will stay with Apophis for about a year and a half. During that time it will do many of the same things it did at Bennu, gathering scientific data which could help us understand how asteroids form and how they change as they move around the solar system.

The spacecraft will use its onboard instruments to map the surface of Apophis in great detail, much like it did with Bennu. Toward the end of the mission, OSIRIS-APEX will descend to within 16 feet of the surface and fire its thrusters to kick up some dust and get a look at what’s going on beneath the hood. It did something similar at Bennu, using the scattershot effect to gather the sample. The extended mission is operating on the dregs of the primary mission and doesn’t have enough fuel or the hardware required to gather another sample and bring it home. But the science it gathers during and after the asteroid’s close approach will give us unprecedented access to this sort of potentially dangerous interaction.

RELATED: Astronomers Find a Dozen Unexpected Space Objects Way Outside the Kuiper Belt

Between now and April 2029, the spacecraft will circle the solar system getting gravity assists from the Earth and the Sun to move it into position for the arrival of Apophis.

No, Apophis Won’t Hit Earth in 2068

Chicxulub Asteroid Impact

Photo: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

When Apophis was first discovered, our understanding of its orbit was not well constrained. The possible paths it might take in the future were wide and some of them brought the asteroid into contact with the Earth.

The worry was that the 2029 pass might alter Apophis’ orbit such that it smacked into us on a subsequent lap around the Sun. The 2068 pass had astronomers particularly worried for a little while. However, as previously mentioned, the folks at CNEOS and scientists around the world spend a lot of time checking out objects like Apophis to dial in on what they are doing and what they will do. Thanks to years of additional research, we now know that Apophis won’t strike the Earth for at least the next century. Beyond that, orbits become increasingly difficult to predict and our certainty begins to wane.

“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” said Davide Farnocchia from CNEOS, in a statement. “With the support of recent optical observations and additional radar observations, the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit has collapsed from hundreds of kilometers to just a handful of kilometers when projected to 2029. This greatly improved knowledge of its position in 2029 provides more certainty of its future motion, so we can now remove Apophis from the risk list.”

If you were hoping to recreate Asteroid (streaming now on Peacock) in your own life, you’re going to have to find some other space rock.

Private Peregrine moon lander is stacked on ULA Vulcan rocket ahead of Jan. 8 launch
Robert Lea
Wed, December 27, 2023 

The Peregrine prior to being loaded atop the ULA Vulcan rocket.


The Peregrine lunar lander has completed all its launch milestones and has been stacked atop the Vulcan Centaur rocket that will carry it to space.

The launch of the first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is set for Jan. 8, 2024, with Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander expected to attempt a landing on the moon on Feb. 23, 2024.

The landing will make history as not only is Peregrine Astrobotic’s first lander mission, but this is also (possibly) set to be the first time a private spacecraft has set down on the moon, pending the progress of other missions as well (such as an Intuitive Machines launch aboard SpaceX set for no earlier than mid-February.)


"If you've been following the lunar industry, you understand landing on the Moon’s surface is incredibly difficult. With that said, our team has continuously surpassed expectations and demonstrated incredible ingenuity during flight reviews, spacecraft testing, and major hardware integrations," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement from the company. “We are ready for launch and for landing.”

Related: Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas

Rocket scientist and president of ULA, Tony Bruno, celebrated the final steps toward the launch of the private lunar lander with a stunning time-lapse video shared on his X feed (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 22.

Though Peregrine has come through three weeks of important final checks and fueling needed to be achieved prior to launch, there is a whole new set of milestones for the spacecraft to clear after blast-off.

These will begin shortly after launch when the lander will separate from its Vulcan rocket carrier and will power on, following which it will establish communication with ground control on Earth. This communication will flow through the NASA Deep Space Network system to the Astrobotic mission control center in Pittsburgh, allowing Peregrine's operators to determine its position, orientation, and operating health.

Following this and around 40 minutes after separation, ground control will begin sending commands to the lunar lander's propulsion system. One of the first series of commands will tell the thrusters to reorientate Peregrine so its energy-harvesting solar panels are directed toward the sun, allowing them to start powering up the spacecraft's battery.

The team at Astrobotic will then perform maneuvers in Earth's orbit that prepare Peregrine for insertion into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft will maintain a stable lunar orbit, performing system checks before heading for a historic touchdown at the end of February.

Related

— How NASA’s VIPER rover could revolutionize moon exploration with AI mission

— Will Artemis 2 launch to the moon in 2024? NASA has a lot of work ahead

—55 years after Apollo 8’s Christmas at the moon, a new Artemis crew readies for launch (exclusive)

"I have high praise for the professionalism, dedication, and technical expertise demonstrated by the Astrobotic team throughout the complex multi-year Peregrine development program," Peregrine Mission One Director Sharad Bhaskara said in the statement. "Evolving Peregrine from a paper concept to a fully tested spacecraft ready for launch is a remarkable achievement for a small business."


10 exhilarating spaceflight missions to watch in 2024

Samantha Mathewson
Thu, December 28, 2023 

In the dark of night, a rocket blasts fire from its engines, sending plumes of smoke jetting out as it climbs the launch tower out of frame.

Next year is bound to be packed with exciting spaceflight missions, from long-awaited rocket launches to incredible moon missions — including some that'll dabble in lunar landers and crewed flights — a new Jupiter probe headed to the beyond and even a demonstration flight of a new International Space Station resupply spacecraft. With that in mind, here are a few particular missions we're looking forward to in 2024.

1. Moon Missions

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission on Sept. 6. Currently en route to the lunar surface, the spacecraft is scheduled for a Jan. 19 landing inside the moon's Shioli Crater. The SLIM mission aims to demonstrate a landing with a precision of less than 330 feet (100 meters) from the target. If successful, the spacecraft’s touchdown will mark the first-ever soft lunar landing for a Japanese spacecraft, and make Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India.

A company named Astrobotic Technology is also targeting the moon next year, with plans to launch its first lunar lander on Jan. 8, followed by a Feb. 23 landing attempt. The Peregrine lunar lander will carry 20 commercial and government payloads, including a small lunar rover developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists and a set of smaller rovers provided by the Mexican Space Agency.

The launch window for Intuitive Machines' IM-1 lunar mission opens mid-February. This spacecraft aims to touch down near the south pole of the moon, requiring specific lighting conditions that are only available in the region for a handful of days each month. In partnership with SpaceX, the IM-1 mission will be the company's first attempted lunar landing as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which will later support the space agency’s Artemis program and plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon.

China’s Chang'e 6 mission is expected to launch in 2024, representing the country's second sample return mission. The lander will collect material from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on the far side of the moon. This mission follows the successful Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission, which launched in 2020.

2. Artemis 2

If all goes to plan, humans are also going to be headed back to the moon in 2024. NASA's Artemis 2 lunar mission will send the first astronauts around the moon in nearly 50 years. Slated to launch no earlier than November 2024, the eight-day mission will fly four astronauts around the moon aboard an Orion spacecraft using a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Venturing some 6,400 miles (10,300 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, the Artemis 2 mission represents the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis 2 crew includes NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover (the first person of color to leave low Earth orbit), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman to make the trip) and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (the first non-American to make the trip).

3. Vulcan Centaur Rocket

Vulcan Centaur rocket launching

After multiple delays over five years, the first flight of the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled for Jan. 8. The rocket has been fully assembled at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for its inaugural flight, which will carry multiple payloads, including Astrobotic Technology's aforementioned Peregrine lunar lander.

Standing 202 feet (62 meters) tall, Vulcan Centaur is the successor to the ULA's Atlas V and Delta IV rockets with an advanced capability to carry a payload of up to 7.7 tons to geostationary orbit. For its Jan. 8 launch, the rocket will also carry a payload from the space memorial company Celestis, which includes the remains of cast members of the original "Star Trek" television series — Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan — as well as series creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry and recurring series actor Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

4. Sierra Space Dream Chaser

NASA and Sierra Space expect to launch a demonstration mission of the company's Dream Chaser spacecraft in 2024 using the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is a private reusable spacecraft designed to send cargo and astronauts to low Earth orbit. The first uncrewed flight of the shuttle-shaped spaceplane will be to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser is scheduled to deliver over 7,800 pounds of cargo for this demonstration mission, but is capable of carrying upwards of 11,500 pounds. It can also ferry experiment samples, trash and other cargo from the orbiting lab back to Earth. If all goes well, Dream Chaser will be a key part of NASA's commercial resupply services program.

5. Polaris Dawn

The Polaris Dawn mission — a private human spaceflight mission operated by SpaceX on behalf of Jared Isaacman, the founder of payment provider Shift4 — is scheduled to launch no earlier than April 2024. Isaacman and three others will spend several days in low Earth orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, which aims to conduct scientific experiments, raise money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and to perform the first commercial spacewalk using SpaceX-designed spacesuits. Commanded by Isaacman, the Polaris Dawn crew includes one veteran astronaut and businessperson, two SpaceX personnel experienced in crewed and uncrewed launches and mission operations, and a former combat pilot.

6. Starship IFT-3

a giant rocket lifts from its launchpad, smoldering plumes of smoke erupt around

SpaceX's Starship rocket is gearing up for its third flight, IFT-3, within the first quarter of 2024. The IFT-3 of Ship 28 and Booster 10 aims to validate critical technologies essential for future lunar and interplanetary missions. This mission follows the company's second flight test (IFT-2) on November 18, 2023, which demonstrated successful hot staging but experienced telemetry loss after eight minutes of flight. Each flight test provides valuable data, from which the company can learn and adapt future attempts. That said, a critical test planned for IFT-3 is the propellant transfer utilizing two different tanks within Starship.

7. Ariane 6

The European Space Agency (ESA) aims to launch its Ariane 6 rocket in the middle of 2024. Recent tests were completed on Dec. 7 and Dec. 15, which entailed launch operation preparedness for the rocket's inaugural flight. While the Dec. 7 test of the rocket's upper stage was aborted shortly after what seemed to be a normal liftoff, the Dec. 15 test of the rocket's core and upper stages went smoothly.

The practice countdown ran as planned, concluding with a four-second firing of the core stage's Vulcain 2.1 engine. The cause of the abort during the Dec. 7 test is still under investigation, with an update expected to arrive mid-January. However, ESA does not expect this will impact the Ariane 6 schedule, with additional tests of the rocket's launch system slated for early 2024.

8. New Glenn’s ESCAPAGE Launch

The first launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket appears promising for 2024 after a long history of delays since 2020. The two-stage heavy-lift rocket stands more than 320 feet (98 meters) tall, with the capability to haul nearly 100,000 pounds (45 metric tons) of payload into low-Earth orbit. New Glenn is designed to be a reusable launch vehicle for up to 25 missions. Slated for its inaugural flight is NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to study Mars' magnetosphere.

This ESCAPADE mission consists of two identical small spacecraft that will collect two-point observations simultaneously to better understand how energy and plasma enter and leave the magnetosphere, and how they interact with solar wind. It will take roughly 11 months for the ESCAPADE probes to arrive at Mars post-launch.

9. Europa Clipper

Artist's rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft above the surface of Europa.

NASA plans to send a spacecraft to explore Jupiter's moon Europa in 2024. Aptly named the Europa Clipper, the spacecraft will study the icy Jovian moon to determine whether its underground ocean is habitable. It is scheduled to launch on Oct. 6, 2024, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and arrive at Jupiter on April 11, 2030.

The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, instead of Europa, due to radiation concerns. Europa (the second large moon out from Jupiter) lies deep inside the planet's magnetosphere, where charged particles generated by the gas giant’s powerful magnetic field could harm the spacecraft's electronics. Once it reaches Jupiter, the spacecraft will make nearly 50 flybys of Europa — one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life beyond Earth — with its closest approach of only 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the moon’s surface, allowing for a tantalizing close-up view of the moon's subsurface oceans.

10. Boeing Starliner

The first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is tentatively scheduled for mid-April. The eight-day mission includes test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni William, who will travel to the International Space Station on the reusable capsule. Manufactured by Boeing, Starliner consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module. The spacecraft is designed to transport crew to low-Earth orbit and will be used for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. For its first test flight, Starliner will launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket.

Boeing has struggled with delays to launch its first crewed test flight for years. The company announced the vehicle will be ready by March; however, NASA ultimately determines the timing of the launch, and due to traffic at the space station, the opportunity for Starliner to liftoff to the orbiting lab will be no earlier than April 2024.


Japan is close to becoming the 3rd nation to land on the moon in the 21st century. The US isn't one of them.

Jessica Orwig
Wed, December 27, 2023 



An illustration of JAXA's SLIM spacecraft on the moon.JAXA

Japan is weeks from attempting to land its SLIM spacecraft on the moon.


If SLIM succeeds, it will become the first Japanese spacecraft to land on the moon.


And Japan would be the third country, behind China and India, to land on the moon this century.

On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced its SLIM moon lander had reached a crucial milestone in its historic mission: The spacecraft started to orbit the moon.

Over the next several weeks, SLIM — short for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon — will tighten its orbit, inching closer to the lunar surface.

Then, on January 19, 2024, the nation is scheduled to attempt what only a couple of other nations have achieved before it.

Japan will try to land SLIM on the lunar surface, solidifying the country's place in the history books as the third country to softly land on the moon in the 21st century. The other two countries are China and India.

JAXA's SLIM spacecraft will start a vertical decent to the lunar surface once it has descended to about 4.4 miles above the surface.JAXA

When it comes to the modern moon race, the US is lagging, so far.
Japan's historic moon mission

If Japan succeeds in January, SLIM will become the first Japanese spacecraft in history to softly land on the moon.

Japan has sent a couple of impactors and orbiters to the moon in the past, but this is the first time the nation has sent a landing module with rover-like probes to explore the lunar surface in unprecedented detail.


A photo of Shioli crater, where Japan plans to make history. James Stuby based on NASA image - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera observation

You heard that right, probes — plural. SLIM is carrying two small probes on board. If all goes according to plan, they'll deploy from the landing module after touchdown to explore the surface beyond the landing point.

One probe uses a hopping mechanism and the other is sphere-like and changes shape to move around, per VOA news.

The larger probe on the left uses a hopping mechanism to move around whereas the smaller, baseball-sized probe on the right changes its shape to help it roll around.JAXA

What makes this mission even more historic is the pinpoint landing Japan wants to achieve.

The spacecraft is targeting an impact crater on the moon called Shioli crater, and Japan plans to land SLIM to within 328 feet of its target. That's an "unprecedentedly high-precision landing," JAXA, Japan's space agency, said earlier this month.

For comparison, NASA's Apollo 17 module landed over 80 miles from its target, and India's Chandrayaan-3 lander had a target window over 3.8 square miles.

It's missions like Japan's SLIM, India's Chandrayaan-3, and China's Chang'e's 3, 4, and 5, that are pushing the boundaries of what landing on the moon looks like in the 21st century.

That leaves the US toward the back end of the pack.

The US hasn't landed anything on the moon since 1972

Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon.

Harrison Schmitt/NASA

The last time the US landed something on lunar grounds was Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt — the first scientist on the moon — and Eugene Cernan — the last man to walk on the moon.

In the decades since NASA has crashed some spacecraft into the lunar surface and sent others into lunar orbit.

But when it comes to landing on the moon and exploring its surface in unprecedented detail — NASA has left that for other space agencies to handle, at least for now.

To be fair, it's not like NASA isn't making giant strides in space exploration. Over the decades, NASA has landed more rovers on Mars than what India and China have landed on the moon, combined.

Moreover, NASA aims to catch up to other countries in the modern moon race in a big way very soon.

NASA's Artemis program plans to land the first humans near the moon's south pole in 2025 and achieve sustainable lunar exploration by the mid- to late-2020s.


The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Artemis II will not land on the moon but Artemis III is scheduled to.NASA

But NASA's Artemis program has already been delayed for multiple reasons, many related to the additional complexities and costs that come with crewed missions.

Meanwhile, the main theme emerging from the modern moon race recently is building on a budget. Both Japan and India focused on building small, lightweight spacecraft to help keep costs low.

Japan's SLIM weighs 1,540 pounds (with fuel) and cost about $120 million to develop. India's Chandrayaan-3 lander weighed nearly 3,750 pounds and cost an estimated $75 million.

Will the US catch up, or will budgetary constraints, politics, and technical issues continue to hold the nation back?


Japan's SLIM lander beams moon images home before Jan. 19 landing (photos)

Robert Lea
Wed, December 27, 2023 

The first images of the moon and the lunar surface as seen by Jaxa's SLIM lander.


After arriving in orbit around the moon on Christmas Day, Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) moon lander has beamed back its first images of the lunar surface.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) revealed the monochrome but highly detailed images of the crater-pocketed moon surface on its X feed, formerly Twitter.

The images were created after the spacecraft was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 2:51 a.m. EST (0951 GMT or 4:51 p.m. Japan time) on Monday (Dec. 25).

Related: Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas

"SLIM successfully completed main engine injection at 16:51 and successfully entered lunar orbit! Below is an image sent from SLIM near the moon," JAXA officials wrote.

SLIM launched on Sept. 6, along with JAXA's X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). While XRISM remained in orbit around Earth, conducting its mission to investigate cosmic X-ray sources, SLIM left our planet for an elliptical orbit, circling the moon roughly once every 6.4 hours.

This orbit brings the lander as close to the lunar surface as around 373 miles (600 kilometers), with the spacecraft swinging out as far as 2,485 miles (4,000 km) from the moon.

The 8.8-foot-long (2.7 meters) spacecraft is set to touch down on the moon on Jan. 24. If SLIM's lunar landing is successful, it will make Japan the fifth country after the Soviet Union, the U.S., China, and India to make a lunar landing successfully.

Related Stories:

— Record-Holding Moon Mission Marks a Decade in Orbit

— Moon crash site found! NASA orbiter spots grave of private Japanese lander (photos)

— South Korean moon probe snaps picture of NASA's powerful lunar orbiter (photo)

After successfully setting down on the moon, SLIM will verify the technology needed for landings on the moon and also solar system planets, as well as conducting up close and personal investigations of the lunar surface with a small-scale probe, according to JAXA.

"By creating the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land, as had been the case before," the space agency wrote in a mission description. "By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the moon."