{"id":570991,"date":"2026-04-08T03:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/570991\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T03:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:06:16","slug":"the-man-putting-america-back-on-the-moon-plus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/570991\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Putting America Back on the Moon. Plus. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Tuesday, April 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press\u2014and our take on the world at large. Today: Coleman Hughes on Ibram X. Kendi\u2019s latest provocations. New York City claims 5 million of its residents can\u2019t afford to live there. And much more.<\/p>\n

But first: Frannie Block reports from Mission Control.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, three Americans and a Canadian traveled farther from Earth than any human has gone before\u2014and then carried on. The crew of NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission circled the dark side of the moon, a part of the solar system few people have ever laid eyes on, where they lost touch with Mission Control for 40 minutes. It\u2019s a triumph for the world\u2019s greatest space agency.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange to think that less than a week ago, all four astronauts were in Florida. They launched into space from Cape Canaveral last Wednesday evening. I was watching from the beach, with hundreds of other Americans who had traveled across the country; it was the first time I\u2019d ever seen a rocket launch, and it blew my mind. As the Orion spacecraft disappeared into the universe, I wanted to know: What\u2019s next for NASA?<\/p>\n

So two days later, I flew to Mission Control\u2014which is, of course, in Houston, Texas\u2014to talk to the man best placed to answer this question: the guy who leads NASA, Jared Isaacman.<\/p>\n

A high school dropout who became a billionaire businessman, he\u2019s wanted to be an astronaut since he was a toddler\u2014so he used his riches to finance and command two SpaceX ventures, before his controversial nomination to be NASA administrator in December 2024. The right was suspicious of his donations to Democratic candidates; the left was suspicious of his relationship with Elon Musk. But Isaacman\u2019s eyes are on the prize: He wants NASA to achieve \u201cthe near impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years from now, we\u2019ll have, like, our Uber and Lyft fleets on the moon doing wild things,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

But for all Isaacman\u2019s futuristic talk, the Mission Control that I saw seemed stuck in the past. There\u2019s a very \u201980s mural on the wall that looks distinctly like the title cards of Back to the Future\u2014the female astronauts have perfectly permed hair, and the spacesuits look decidedly retro\u2014and at one point the elevators broke down.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s Isaacman planning to bring this calcified, crumbling agency into the 21st century\u2014and beyond? Read my report to find out:<\/p>\n

\u2014Frannie Block<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"Zohran<\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s office released a 50-page report reviewing every city service\u2014from garbage collection to its entertainment commission. Unsurprisingly, Howard Husock writes, it found that the city suffers from \u201csystemic racism\u201d across the board. Mamdani\u2019s solution is putting race at the center of every city decision, adding new layers of red tape, and making it even harder to build.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, dozens of colleges are withholding race-related admissions data from the Trump administration\u2014data that would show whether they\u2019ve actually stopped discriminating since the Supreme Court banned racial preferences in 2023. Today, Kenny Xu, a plaintiff in the 2023 Supreme Court case, wonders: What are they still hiding? And how much longer will universities be allowed to run out the clock?<\/p>\n

\"America\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, U.S. forces carried out one of the most ambitious rescue missions in American military history\u2014and successfully extracted the pilot of a fighter jet shot down behind enemy lines. In today\u2019s School of War, national security expert Garrett Exner and former intelligence officer Rich Goldberg join Aaron MacLean to discuss the historic feat, and how far the U.S. will go for a downed airman.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/a><\/p>\n

The first American pope has become one of America\u2019s harshest global critics. With the U.S. at war in Iran, he\u2019s issued pointed condemnations of \u201cimperialist occupation.\u201d Today, Mattia Ferraresi reports from Rome, with exclusive details from senior Vatican officials, on what happened behind closed doors when Pentagon officials summoned a papal delegation and delivered a stark warning: Get in line or get out of the way.<\/p>\n

\"Can<\/a><\/p>\n

Jennifer Aniston injects them weekly. RFK Jr. wants to see them in more Americans\u2019 medicine cabinets. Peptides are everywhere, promising to do everything from rejuvenating your skin to accelerating the body\u2019s healing process. But do they really work? Faye Flam reports on the influencer-driven craze inspiring people to inject themselves with Chinese research chemicals, the science behind the hype, and the regulators struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/a><\/p>\n

Our modern fixation on a suffering-free life has left us fragile, anxious, and unfulfilled, writes Arthur Brooks. In his latest column, he explains how suffering gives our lives meaning, what the Marines know about suffering that regular people don\u2019t, and why he keeps a journal of his failures and disappointments.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS\"Coleman<\/a>\"The<\/a>\"Ancient<\/a>THE NEWS\"\"<\/a>OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman published a blueprint<\/a> for how to regulate and tax AI yesterday, responding to worries about AI disrupting society, labor, and privacy as we know it. The document went live within hours of a New Yorker<\/a> investigation<\/a> into Altman\u2019s professional conduct, in which critics repeatedly called him \u201csociopathic.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Supreme Court cleared the way<\/a> for the Department of Justice to dismiss a criminal case against Steve Bannon, who had been accused of defying a congressional subpoena during the investigation of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. The Trump ally\u2019s lawyer said the order was \u201ca welcome correction.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal judge dismissed 10 of 13 claims<\/a> actress Blake Lively brought against Justin Baldoni last week\u2014including claims of sexual harassment. Three claims will proceed to trial; they relate not to Baldoni\u2019s behavior on set but his response to Lively\u2019s accusations. (For more on the bitter fight between two former co-stars, read Kat Rosenfield\u2019s piece, \u201cBlake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and the Art of the Smear<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The Nigerian army rescued 31 Christians<\/a> from an attack on a church in northwest Nigeria on Easter Sunday, according to military officials. Earlier this year, Madeleine Kearns spoke to the wife of Nigeria\u2019s president, who is Christian; to understand religious persecution in the nation better, read her profile: \u201cIs the First Lady of Nigeria Scared?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Sixty-four days after her mother\u2019s disappearance, Savannah Guthrie returned to <\/a>Today<\/a>. In February, camera footage showed a masked man on 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie\u2019s front porch. Police are investigating the case as a kidnapping.<\/p>\n

Trump endorsed the British American Republican Steve Hilton for California governor<\/a> on Monday. (For more on the crowded race, in which two GOP candidates sit improbably atop the polls, read Peter Savodnik\u2019s piece: \u201cCould a Republican Win the California Governor\u2019s Race?<\/a>\u201d)<\/p>\n

Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service have struck a new tentative agreement<\/a> on package delivery. Amazon had warned it would reduce its USPS shipment volume by roughly two-thirds by this fall, but under the new deal, that reduction has been scaled back to just 20 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

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