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Since President Donald Trump excitedly announced that he would be accepting a US$400 million plane from the Qatari government to serve as the next Air Force One, even members of his own party have expressed alarm. Theres the price tag of refurbishing the plane with top-secret systems upward of $1 billion, according to some estimates. Then there are the conflicts of interest from accepting such a large present from a foreign nation what some say would be the most valuable gift ever given to the U.S. But it would also mark a striking departure from tradition. While theyre often variants of commercial planes, presidential planes have almost always been U.S. military aircraft, flown and maintained by the Air Force. The first White Houses in the sky Im an aviation historian who once worked in the United States Air Forces history program for three years, so Im well-acquainted with the history of presidential aircraft. Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to fly while in office. In January 1943, he boarded the Navy-owned, civilian-operated Boeing Dixie Clipper a sea plane for a trip to Casablanca to meet with Allied leaders. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first presidential flight on a Dixie Clipper, a sea plane built by Boeing. [Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images] The security measures needed to safely transport the president especially during wartime spurred the creation of the first custom-built aircraft for presidential use, a heavily modified VC-54 Skymaster. Though officially named The Flying White House, the new presidential aircraft became better known by its nickname, the Sacred Cow. President Harry Truman used the Sacred Cow as his presidential aircraft through much of his first term in office. In late 1947, the U.S. Air Force ordered a second custom-built presidential aircraft, a modified DC-6, which Truman named the Independence. While in office, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman flew on a modified Douglas C-54, nicknamed the Sacred Cow. [Photo: Museum of Flight/CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images] During Dwight D. Eisenhowers two terms, the president flew on two different planes operated by the Air Force: the Columbine II, which was a customized, military version of Lockheeds commercial airliner the Constellation, and the Columbine III, which was a Super Constellation. Embracing the jet age In the 1960s, the use of jet engine technology in U.S. commercial aircraft revolutionized air travel, allowing planes to fly higher, farther and faster. Jet travel became associated with the glamorous and the elegant lifestyles of the jet set crowd. So its fitting that President John F. Kennedy who was sometimes called the the first celebrity president was the first White House occupant to fly in a jet, the Boeing 707. Kennedys aircraft was also the first painted in the distinctive light blue-and-white scheme thats still used today. First lady Jacqueline Kennedy developed it with the help of industrial designer Raymond Loewy. It would go on to serve eight presidents before leaving the presidential fleet in 1990, when Boeing delivered the first of two modified Boeing 747s. These are the aircraft that continue to serve as the presidents primary plane. Boeing signed a contract to provide two new aircraft in 2017, during Trumps last term. In 2020, the company decided to refurbish two existing aircraft that were originally built for another customer. The refurbishment has been more cumbersome and expensive than building a new aircraft from scratch. But its the only option because Boeing closed its 747 assembly lie in late 2022. A nickname sticks On a trip to Florida, the crew of Columbine II first used Air Force One as the planes call sign to clearly distinguish the plane from other air traffic. While the public has associated the name Air Force One with the modified Boeing 707s and 747s and their distinctive colors, any plane with the president aboard will carry that call sign. They include several smaller aircraft, also operated by the Air Force, such as the North American T-39 Sabreliner used to transport Lyndon B. Johnson to his ranch in Texas and the Lockheed VC-140B JetStars, the fleet of backup planes used by several presidents, which Johnson jokingly called Air Force One Half. A cultural and political symbol Air Force One has long served as a symbol of the power and prestige of the presidency. It became an indelible part of U.S. history in November 1963, when Johnson took his oath of office from Air Force Ones cabin while Kennedys body lay in rest in the back of the aircraft. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as president aboard Air Force One following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. [Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images] Air Force One carried President Richard M. Nixon to China and the Soviet Union for historic diplomatic missions. But it also famously flew him from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to his home state, California, after he resigned from office. On that day, the plane took off as Air Force One. But it landed as SAM 27000, the planes call sign used when the president wasnt on board. Trump has been compared to Nixon in more ways than one. And Trumps complaint that Arab leaders have bigger and more impressive airplanes than the current Air Force One is reminiscent of Nixons own concerns of being outclassed on the world stage. When president, Nixon strongly advocated for American supersonic transport a 270-passenger plane designed to be faster than the speed of sound that he hoped could be modified to serve as a new Air Force One. He feared the failure to develop supersonic transport would relegate the U.S. to second-tier status, as other world leaders particularly those from England, France and the USSR traversed the globe in sleeker, better performing aircraft. Trumps concerns about Air Force One seem less focused on safety and security and more on size and opulence. His longing for a palace in the sky is befitting for a president drawn to soaring skyscrapers, lavish parades and gold ornamentation. Janet Bednarek is a professor of history at the University of Dayton. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering. This time, its not just superpowers racing to plant flags, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moons secrets and lay the groundwork for future human return. So far in 2025, lunar exploration has surged forward. Several notable missions have launched toward or landed on the Moon. Each has navigated the long journey through space and the even trickier descent to the Moons surface or into orbit with varying degrees of success. Together, these missions reflect both the promise and difficulty of returning to the Moon in this new space race defined by innovation, competition and collaboration. As an aerospace engineer specializing in guidance, navigation and control technologies, Im deeply interested in how each mission whether successful or not adds to scientists collective understanding. These missions can help engineers learn to navigate the complexities of space, operate in hostile lunar environments and steadily advance toward a sustainable human presence on the Moon. Why is landing on the Moon so hard? Lunar exploration remains one of the most technically demanding frontiers in modern spaceflight. Choosing a landing site involves complex trade-offs between scientific interest, terrain safety and Sun exposure. The lunar south pole is an especially attractive area, as it could contain water in the form of ice in shadowed craters, a critical resource for future missions. Other sites may hold clues about volcanic activity on the Moon or the solar systems early history. Each mission trajectory must be calculated with precision to make sure the craft arrives and descends at the right time and place. Engineers must account for the Moons constantly changing position in its orbit around Earth, the timing of launch windows and the gravitational forces acting on the spacecraft throughout its journey. They also need to carefully plan the spacecrafts path so that it arrives at the right angle and speed for a safe approach. Even small miscalculations early on can lead to major errors in landing location or a missed opportunity entirely. Once on the surface, the landers need to survive extreme swings in temperature from highs over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in daylight down to lows of -208 F (-133 C) at night as well as dust, radiation and delayed communication with Earth. The spacecrafts power systems, heat control, landing legs and communication links must all function perfectly. Meanwhile, these landers must avoid hazardous terrain and rely on sunlight to power their instruments and recharge their batteries. These challenges help explain why many landers have crashed or experienced partial failures, even though the technology has come a long way since the Apollo era. Commercial companies face the same technical hurdles as government agencies but often with tighter budgets, smaller teams and less heritage hardware. Unlike government missions, which can draw on decades of institutional experience and infrastructure, many commercial lunar efforts are navigating these challenges for the first time. Successful landings and hard lessons for CLPS Several lunar missions launched this year belong to NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. CLPS is an initiative that contracts private companies to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon. Its aim is to accelerate exploration while lowering costs and encouraging commercial innovation. The first Moon mission of 2025, Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched in January and successfully landed in early March. The lander survived the harsh lunar day and transmitted data for nearly two weeks before losing power during the freezing lunar night a typical operational limit for most unheated lunar landers. Blue Ghost demonstrated how commercial landers can shoulder critical parts of NASAs Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon later this decade. The second CLPS launch of the year, Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission, launched in late February. It targeted a scientifically intriguing site near the Moons south pole region. The Nova-C lander, named Athena, touched down on March 6 close to the south pole. However, during the landing process, Athena tipped over. Since it landed on its side in a crater with uneven terrain, it couldnt deploy its solar panels to generate power, which ended the mission early. While Athenas tipped-over landing meant it couldnt do all the scientific explorations it had planned, the datait returned is still valuable for understanding how future landers can avoid similar fates on the rugged polar terrain. Not all lunar missions need to land. NASAs Lunar Trailblazer, a small lunar orbiter launched in February alongside IM-2, was intended to orbit the Moon and map the form, abundance and distribution of water in the form of ice, especially in shadowed craters near the poles. Shortly after launch, however, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. Engineers suspect the spacecraft may have experienced a power issue, potentially leaving its batteries depleted. NASA is continuing recovery efforts, hoping that the spacecrafts solar panels may recharge in May and June. Ongoing and future missions Launched on the same day as the Blue Ghost mission in January, Japanese company ispaces Hakuto-R Mission 2 (Resilience) is on its way to the Moon and has successfully entered lunar orbit. The lander carried out a successful flyby of the Moon on Feb. 15, with an expected landing in early June. Although launched at the same time, Resilience took a longer trajectory than Blue Ghost to save energy. This maneuver also allowed the spacecraft to collect bonus science observations while looping around the Moon. The mission, if successful, will advance Japans commercial space sector and prove an important comeback for ispace after its first lunar lander crashed during its final descent in 2023. The rest of 2025 promises a busy lunar calendar. Intuitive Machines plans to launch IM-3 in late 2025 to test more advanced instruments and potentially deliver NASA scientific experiments to the Moon. The European Space Agencys Lunar Pathfinder will establish a dedicated lunar communications satellite, making it easier for future missions, especially those operating on the far side or poles, to stay in touch with Earth. Meanwhile, Astrobotics Griffin Mission-1 is scheduled to deliver NASAs VIPER rover to the Moons south pole, where it will directly search for ice beneath the surface. Together, these missions represent an increasingly international and commercial approach to lunar science and exploration. As the world turns its attention to the Moon, every mission whether triumph or setback brings humanity closer to a permanent return to our closest celestial neighbor. Zhenbo Wang is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Tennessee. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law on Monday, strengthening federal protections for victims of revenge porn and AI-generated sexual images. The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), makes it illegal to knowingly publish or threaten to share nonconsensual intimate imagerywhether real or generated by artificial intelligencewithout the persons consent. It also requires tech platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of being notified and to take steps to eliminate duplicate content. Previously, federal law only banned the creation or distribution of realistic, AI-generated explicit images of children, while protections for adults varied by state. As a result, laws differed in how the crime was classified and penalized, leading to inconsistent criminal prosecutions. Some victims also struggled to have images taken down from websites. This legislation, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support, marks the first federal law aimed at protecting adult victims. Now, people who post such content and are convicted could face penalties and prison time. The Federal Trade Commission could also sue tech companies for not complying with the law, Axios reports. “We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse,” Klobuchar said in a statement after the bill passed in Congress. “These images can ruin lives and reputations. But now that our bipartisan legislation is becoming law, victims will be able to have this material removed from social media platforms, and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable.” Tech giants have expressed broad support for the bill. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, joined Snap, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, X, Amazon, Bumble, and Match Group in backing the legislation. “Having an intimate imagereal or AI-generatedshared without consent can be devastating, and Meta developed and backs many efforts to help prevent it,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement in March. First lady Melania Trump has also championed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, lobbying lawmakers and speaking with teenage victims. She appeared alongside Trump at the bill’s signing. “Its heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content like deepfakes,” the first lady said in March. “Every young person deserves a safe online space to express themselves free without the looming threat of exploitation or harm.”
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E-Commerce
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