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Florida began construction this week on a detention center surrounded by fierce reptiles and cypress swamps, an “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades wetlands, as part of US President Donald Trump’s expansion of deportations of undocumented migrants.The chosen site, an abandoned airfield in the heart of a sprawling network of mangrove forests, imposing marshes and “rivers of grass” that form the conservation area, will house large tents and beds for 1,000 “criminal aliens,” according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier.The 30-square-mile (78-square-kilometer) area “presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility, because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” he said recently in a video on X showing the area and clips of migrant arrests.”If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them, other than alligators and pythons,” he added. “Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”Uthmeier described what he is calling Alligator Alcatraz as a “one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”Such a project — during searing summer months in an inhospitable and dangerous landscape filled with reptiles and mosquitos — fits into a broader series of harsh optics which officials hope will discourage migrants from coming to the United States.The large southeastern state governed by Republican Ron DeSantis boasts of collaborating closely with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.Since the billionaire businessman’s return to the White House in January, his administration has enlisted local authorities to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramp up arrests of undocumented migrants.Uthmeier said the new facility will be up and running within 30 to 60 days after construction begins.It is expected to cost roughly $450 million per year to operate, with the state likely to apply for funding from the federal government, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told local media.The plan has already raised hackles among critics of Trump’s immigration crackdown, which recently sparked anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and other American cities.”Turning the Everglades into a taxpayer-funded detention camp for migrants is a grotesque mix of cruelty and political theater,” former DHS spokesman Alex Howard told the Miami Herald.”You don’t solve immigration by disappearing people into tents guarded by gators,” he added. “You solve it with lawful processing, humane infrastructure, and actual policy — not by staging a $450 million stunt in the middle of hurricane season.”The project is also controversial because of its environmental impact on a subtropical ecosystem that is home to more than 2,000 species of animals and plants and is the site of costly conservation and rehabilitation programs.The Friends of the Everglades, a non-profit group instrumental in helping preserve and protect the wetlands, has criticized the project in a letter to Governor DeSantis, saying construction of the center “poses an unacceptable and unnecessary risk to on-site wetlands.”

A medical panel appointed by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held its first meeting Wednesday, pledging to revisit the childhood vaccine schedule and promoting themes long embraced by anti-vaccine activists.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent group that reviews scientific evidence to determine who should receive vaccines and when, rarely draws headlines.But that changed after Kennedy — who spent decades spreading vaccine misinformation before becoming President Donald Trump’s top health official — abruptly fired all 17 sitting members earlier this month, accusing them of industry conflicts of interest.He replaced them with eight new appointees, including scientist Robert Malone, known for promoting false claims during the Covid-19 pandemic. The panel’s new chair, Martin Kulldorff, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for ending lockdowns in October 2020, even though it was known Covid vaccines were nearing approval.Kulldorff opened the meeting by announcing a new working group to re-examine the childhood vaccine schedule. He raised questions about the potential cumulative effects of vaccine interactions and the wisdom of administering the Hepatitis B shot “on the day of birth.”Experts met the announcement with skepticism.”The rationale for Hepatitis B vaccination prior to hospital discharge (not ‘day of birth’) for neonates is well documented and established — but it’s another pet cause of the anti-vaccine movement,” Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP. The panel’s first major test comes Thursday, when it votes on whether to recommend a newly approved antibody shot against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, for infants whose mothers did not receive an RSV vaccine during pregnancy.- Fabricated citation – The meeting agenda also signaled plans to revisit long-settled debates around thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, and to highlight rare side effects linked to measles shots — with no planned discussion of the overwhelming public health benefits of immunization.Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former leader of Children’s Health Defense — the anti-vaccine group once chaired by Kennedy — is scheduled to present Thursday on thimerosal.Scientists reviewing her slides, posted ahead of the meeting, discovered she cited a 2008 paper by RF Berman titled “Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain.”No such study exists. While Berman did publish a paper that year, it appeared in a different journal and found no link between thimerosal and autism.The presentation was quietly revised without explanation. The incident echoed possible AI chatbot hallucinations blamed for similar sourcing errors in Kennedy’s recent flagship Make America Healthy Again report.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is overseeing the meeting, had been set to deliver a presentation defending thimerosal, but that document was deleted from the website at the last minute.The panel will vote on thimerosal-containing flu vaccines on Thursday afternoon.- Sweeping implications -During a discussion on Covid-19 vaccines, Malone suggested that mRNA shots may have triggered novel, poorly understood effects on the immune system.CDC scientist Sarah Meyer pushed back, saying the nation’s vaccine safety systems would have flagged such issues if they had occurred.The panel will also revive a debate on the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) shot, which is offered as an alternative to separate MMR and varicella injections.While the combined version spares children an extra jab, it slightly increases the risk of febrile seizures — a rare and typically harmless side effect.Current guidelines already recommend splitting the doses for a child’s first shot at 12–47 months, leaving experts puzzled as to why the issue is being re-litigated.As panelists scrutinize rare side effects, there is no plan to discuss the measles vaccine’s enormous public health benefits — including preventing millions of hospitalizations.The United States, which declared measles eliminated in 2000, is experiencing its worst outbreak in decades — with over 1,200 cases and three confirmed deaths this year. ACIP’s recommendations could carry sweeping implications, shaping school entry requirements and insurance coverage across the country.

The US Federal Reserve released plans Wednesday to relax a key capital rule for major banks, a move they say can help facilitate Treasury market trading.The Fed board voted 5-2 to propose amendments on a measure introduced after the 2008 global financial crisis, that requires banks to hold a certain amount of capital relative to their assets.This was part of efforts to boost their stability.The measure, called the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio,” calls for the country’s biggest banks to hold an extra layer of capital.Under the latest proposal, the capital requirement for holding companies is set to be lowered from its current five percent while banking subsidiaries will have their requirement reduced from six percent.The plan will face a 60-day window for public comment.The rule was initially set up as a “backstop,” said Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the board’s open meeting on Wednesday.But he added that banks have increased the amount of “relatively safe and low-risk assets” on their balance sheets over the past decade or so.”Based on this experience, it is prudent for us to reconsider our original approach,” he said.”We want to ensure that the leverage ratio does not become regularly binding and discourage banks from participating in low-risk activities, such as Treasury market intermediation,” Powell said.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is also meeting Thursday about changes to the standard.Fed vice chair for supervision Michelle Bowman said that “the proposal will help to build resilience in US Treasury markets.”She argued that it reduces the chance of “market dysfunction and the need for the Federal Reserve to intervene in a future stress event.”But Fed governors Michael Barr and Adriana Kugler expressed reservations about the plan.Barr warned that the proposal significantly reduces bank capital, raising risks surrounding a major bank’s failure.Kugler, meanwhile, expressed doubt that benefits involving the Treasury market justified proposed reductions in capital requirements, “especially in light of the potential for elevated financial stability risk.”American Bankers Association president Rob Nichols called the proposal a key step towards boosting the financial system and “reducing bank funding costs.””We urge regulators to move as quickly as possible to finalize these much-needed reforms,” he added.

Global stocks were mixed Wednesday as markets weighed lingering worries about the Iran-Israel conflict while Nvidia surged to a fresh all-time high on bullishness over artificial intelligence.Analysts cited not only concerns that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel could break down, but leaked US intelligence that said strikes had set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.”Maybe the US bombardment didn’t destroy the Iran nuclear program,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management, adding that that revelations about the Iran nuclear program suggested the Iran story is not a “new chapter.”The S&P 500 finished a choppy day flat, while the Dow edged lower and the Nasdaq advanced.”Investors are sort of catching their breath, since we had a very strong move on Monday and Tuesday,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment officer at CFRA Research. “Nvidia’s on everyone lips today.”The chip company shot up 4.3 percent to $154.31, giving it a market valuation of around $3.76 trillion — more valuable than Microsoft, Apple and other tech giants.The rise came as CEO Jensen Huang presented the company’s latest technologies at Nvidia’s annual meeting.Asian stock markets had closed higher earlier on Wednesday following rallies on Wall Street and in Europe the day before. But European stocks fell in Wednesday’s session.Oil prices, meanwhile advanced after two days of heavy losses following a US crude inventory report that showed a bigger than expected drawdown in inventory.The dollar continued to slide against the euro, with fewer benefits from the flight to safety due to unrest in the Middle East.While the Israel-Iran conflict has dominated global attention in recent days, markets are also shifting attention back to trade. Shares of FedEx fell 3.3 percent after the shipping company did not provide a full-year forecast, citing uncertainty about the global trade outlook and tariffs.Dozens of countries are locked in negotiations with Washington to clinch some sort of trade deal to mitigate the impact of US tariffs. Only Britain has been reached a deal, although Beijing and Washington have agreed to lower tariffs from the highest rates they imposed upon one another.- Key figures at around 2040 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $67.68 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $64.92 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,982.43 (close)New York – S&P 500: FLAT at 6,092.16 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 19,973.55 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,718.75 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,558.16 (close) Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 23,498.33 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.4 percent at 38,942.07 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.2 percent at 24,474.67 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,455.97 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1656 from $1.1609 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3664 from $1.3615Dollar/yen: UP at 145.32 yen from 144.94 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 85.26 from 85.27 penceburs-jmb/des

A medical panel appointed by vaccine-skeptic US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opened its first meeting Wednesday under a cloud of controversy after a presentation it planned to review cited a non-existent study.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent body that reviews scientific evidence to recommend which groups should receive vaccines and when, rarely makes headlines.But its work has come under heightened scrutiny after Kennedy, who spent decades sowing vaccine misinformation before becoming President Donald Trump’s top health official, abruptly dismissed all 17 sitting ACIP members earlier this month, accusing them of conflicts of interest.He then appointed eight new members, including scientist Robert Malone, widely known for spreading false claims during the Covid-19 pandemic.The chair of the panel, Martin Kulldorff, was a co-signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for an end to lockdowns in October 2020 — months before Covid vaccines became available.The posted agenda signaled the panel would revisit long-settled debates around thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, and highlight rare side effects linked to measles shots, with no planned discussion of their enormous public health benefits.Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former leader of Children’s Health Defense — an anti-vaccine group formerly chaired by RFK Jr. — is set to present on thimerosal on Thursday.Scientists reviewing her slides, which are uploaded ahead of the meeting, found she had cited a 2008 study by RF Berman titled “Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain.”In fact, no such study exists. While Berman did publish a paper that year, it appeared in a different journal and found no evidence linking thimerosal to autism. The presentation was quietly removed and replaced without explanation.- Revisiting established science – Opening the meeting, Kulldorff lamented his firing by Harvard University for refusing the Covid vaccine. He also announced the formation of a new working group to re-examine the wisdom of Hepatitis B shots for babies “at the day of birth.”Experts met the announcement with skepticism.”The rationale for Hepatitis B vaccination prior to hospital discharge (not day or birth) for neonates is well documented and established — but it’s another pet cause of the anti-vaccine movement,” Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University told AFP.During a discussion on Covid-19 vaccines, Malone suggested that mRNA shots may have triggered novel and poorly understood effects on the immune system.Sarah Meyer, a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is overseeing the meeting, pushed back, saying the nation’s vaccine safety system would have detected such impacts if they had occurred.Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative long used in medicines, with no evidence of harm at low doses, is set to be discussed on Thursday.”Study after study showed that the ethylmercury in those vaccines never contributed in any important way to the burden of mercury that one is exposed to, living on this planet,” vaccine expert Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia told AFP.- Measles running rampant -For childhood immunizations, US parents can opt for a combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) shot or two separate injections — one for MMR and the other for varicella.The combination spares children an extra jab but carries a slightly higher risk of febrile seizures, a rare and typically harmless side effect.Separating the shots is already recommended for the first dose at 12–47 months, leaving experts puzzled as to why the issue is being revisited.The United States, which declared measles eliminated in 2000, is currently experiencing its worst outbreak in decades, with more than 1,200 cases and three confirmed deaths.The panel’s recommendations could have broad consequences, shaping school vaccine mandates and insurance coverage.

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Emil Bove came in for tough questioning from Democratic senators on Wednesday at a fiery hearing on his nomination to become a federal appeals court judge.”Mr. Bove has led the effort to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president’s enemies,” said Senator Dick Durbin, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.”Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this president, he’s been rewarded with this lifetime nomination” as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Durbin said.Bove, 44, a former federal prosecutor who is currently the third-ranking official in the Justice Department, rejected the characterization, saying he is “not anybody’s henchman.””I’m not an enforcer,” he said.Bove represented Trump in the New York case that ended in his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.He also defended Trump in the two federal cases brought against the then-former president by Special Counsel Jack Smith.Bove was grilled by Democrats about a whistleblower’s claim that he had once told subordinates he would be willing to ignore court orders to enforce Trump’s plans to deport undocumented migrants.Bove denied the allegation.”I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” he told the committee.Bove also denied that his decision to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams was in exchange for the Democratic mayor’s support for Trump’s immigration crackdown.”The suggestion that there was some kind of quid pro quo is just plain false,” he said.Bove’s order to federal prosecutors in New York to drop the bribery and fraud charges against Adams triggered a wave of protest resignations in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and at the Justice Department in Washington.Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He was also charged with mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.The documents case was dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge while the election interference case was delayed by Trump’s claims of presidential immunity and never came to trial.

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary is a seismic wake-up call for a party establishment out of step with younger Americans and failing to counter Donald Trump, analysts say.The little-known state legislator, a proud “democratic socialist,” is now favorite to win November’s election and become a major voice in the battle between progressives and the establishment wing for the party’s soul.Mamdani, just 33, was at a lowly one percent in the polls in February, but saw off three-term former New York governor Andrew Cuomo with a populist campaign that has Democrats nationwide taking notice ahead of next year’s midterm elections.”The race shows Democratic voters are growing tired of the same old faces and they’re willing to bet on newcomers,” said political strategist Andrew Koneschusky, a top former Democratic Senate aide.”Looking ahead, we may see more competitive Democratic primaries and more upsets like this. That’s bad news for establishment Democrats, but can be good for the party overall.”Democrats have struggled to make their case as a credible alternative to Republicans since Kamala Harris’s 2024 defeat to Trump — seen in part as repudiation of identity politics and so-called “woke” ideology. But the man who would be his city’s first Muslim mayor embraced his identity, courting the one million New York members of his faith where they live — in the city’s many mosques and community centers.- ‘Young Cardamom’ -He also presented himself as the candidate of generational change, reaching out to fellow millennials with a smart communications strategy dominated by short-form viral videos.He bested Cuomo, a towering figure in Democratic politics, by combining his social media savvy with a “go everywhere” street campaign that made his much less visible opponent look complacent. Born in Uganda, Mamdani is the son of renowned historian Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair, who directed the classic “Salaam Bombay!” Curious voters wanting to learn more about his colorful back story shared old hip hop videos from his previous life as a musician, rapping under the moniker “Young Cardamom.”Youth activist David Hogg, who was kicked out of the Democratic National Committee leadership after annoying the party’s old guard in a row about aging candidates, maintains that likability was a key factor. He is “infectiously, and relentlessly positive in a way I have seen few politicians ever be,” Hogg said, arguing that Mamdani’s appeal went well beyond his policy proposals.But his platform was vital too, according to Koneschusky, who says Mamdani has demonstrated to Democrats slow to see the penny drop that, in the Trump era, economic populism works.Mamdani focused relentlessly on the cost of living crisis — floating rent freezes, free buses and even government-run grocery stores.- ‘Death knell’ -“We’ve seen the effectiveness of an economic message time and again. It’s what propelled Trump in last year’s presidential election and it’s what propelled Mamdani,” Koneschusky said.”It’s so blatantly obvious that this is where the Democratic message should be centered and yet the party can’t seem to universally embrace this simple truth.”Some analysts have cautioned against reading too much into the result — a single primary victory against an establishment favorite with a lot of baggage.Cuomo is accused of having lied about his role in the Covid pandemic and mismanaging the crisis, and he resigned in disgrace over sex scandals. Others point out that Democratic nominees have lost around half of the last 15 New York City mayoral races, and that the city’s denizens could easily change tack when it comes to the mayoral election itself.But political commentator Bill Kristol, chief of staff from 1989-93 to then vice president Dan Quayle, expects Democrats to still be feeling the aftershocks of the New York earthquake come the 2026 midterms, when seats in both chambers of Congress will be at stake.”It should be a death knell for an ossified Democratic establishment that needs to be put out of its misery,” Kristol wrote in his daily newsletter for conservative outlet The Bulwark.”And it should be a wake-up call for non-socialist Democrats to show some of the audacity and the ability of Mamdani.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday threatened legal action over falling debris and contamination from billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launches across the border in the United States.Mexico’s government was studying which international laws were being violated in order to file “the necessary lawsuits” because “there is indeed contamination,” Sheinbaum told her morning news conference.Last week, a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test at the Starbase headquarters of Musk’s space project on the south Texas coast near the Mexican border.The explosion — which sent a towering fireball into the air — was the latest setback to Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars.Mexican officials are carrying out a “comprehensive review” of the environmental impacts of the rocket launches for the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, Sheinbaum said.The US Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment.The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.A lawsuit would be the latest legal tussle between Mexico and a US corporate giant.In May, Sheinbaum’s government said it had sued Google for renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” for Google Maps users in the United States following an executive order by President Donald Trump.

A Mississippi man who has been on Death Row for nearly 50 years is to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, one of two executions in the United States this week.Richard Jordan, 79, was convicted in 1976 of the murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport.Jordan, a shipyard worker, kidnapped Marter from her home and demanded a $25,000 ransom.He was apprehended when he went to pick up the money.Jordan confessed to murdering Marter and led the authorities to her body, which had been hidden in a forest. She had been shot.Jordan is to be executed at 6:00 pm Central Time (2300 GMT) at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.Jordan’s scheduled execution comes one day after that of Thomas Gudinas, 51, who was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday.Gudinas was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of Michelle McGrath, who was last seen leaving a bar in the city of Orlando in the early hours.McGrath’s battered body was found the next day and Gudinas was arrested shortly afterwards.Florida has carried out more executions — seven — than any other US state so far this year.The execution in Mississippi will be the first in the southern state since December 2022.There have been 24 executions in the United States this year: 19 by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as an execution method has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

A US commercial mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blasted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday, marking the first time in decades that these nations have sent crew members to space.Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 am (0631 GMT), with a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket.The vehicle is scheduled to dock with the orbital lab on Thursday at approximately 1100 GMT and remain there for up to 14 days.Aboard the spacecraft were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary; and commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, a former NASA astronaut who now works for the company Axiom Space, which organizes private spaceflights, among other things.The last time India, Poland or Hungary sent people to space, their current crop of astronauts had not yet been born — and back then they were called cosmonauts, as they all flew on Soviet missions before the fall of the Iron Curtain.Shukla became the first Indian in space since Rakesh Sharma, an air force pilot who traveled to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984 as part of a Soviet-led initiative to help allied countries access space.India’s space agency, ISRO, sees this flight as a key stepping stone toward its own maiden crewed mission, planned for 2027 under the Gaganyaan program, meaning “sky craft.””What a fantastic ride,” Shukla said in Hindi after liftoff. “This isn’t just the start of my journey to the International Space Station — it’s the beginning of India’s human space program.”Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the successful launch.”He carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. Wish him and other astronauts all the success!” he wrote on X.All three countries are footing the bill for their astronauts. Hungary announced in 2022 it was paying $100 million for its seat, according to spacenews.com. India and Poland have not disclosed how much they are spending.”We’ve got this! Poland has reached for the stars,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X, alongside a video himself watching the launch on a screen at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.”Who knows how many future Polish astronauts watched Slawosz’s launch with me? Everyone was very excited and very proud,” Tusk said in another post, which included a photo of him seated next to several children at the science center.- Space spat -The Ax-4 launch comes after technical issues delayed the mission, originally slated for early June.It also follows an online spat between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and, until recently, Trump’s ally and advisor.Trump threatened to yank SpaceX’s federal contracts — worth tens of billions of dollars — prompting Musk to threaten an early retirement of Dragon, the only US spacecraft currently certified to carry astronauts to the ISS.Musk walked back the threat a few hours later and in the days that followed continued to deescalate, stating on X that he had gone “too far.”Any rupture between SpaceX and the US government would be massively disruptive, given NASA and the Pentagon’s reliance on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy to send up crew, cargo, satellites and probes.But for now, analysts believe both sides are too entangled to risk a serious break.The Ax-4 flight marks the debut of the fifth and final Crew Dragon vehicle, which was named “Grace” after it reached orbit joining Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom in the active fleet.”It reflects the elegance with which we move through space against the backdrop of Earth,” said Commander Whitson. “It speaks to the refinement of our mission, the harmony of science and spirit and the unmerited favor we carry with humility.”SpaceX ultimately plans to phase out its current vehicles in the 2030s in favor of Starship, its giant next-generation rocket currently in development.