Legacy High School junior selected for international space program in Australia
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Yuki Soda, a junior at Legacy High School, is set to travel to Australia this summer to participate in the International Science School (ISS), a prestigious STEM program hosted by the University of Sydney. Yuki is one of only five students from the United States selected to join approximately 150 students from around the world for this immersive educational experience.
Yuki's passion for space and engineering took flight in eighth grade when his science teacher encouraged him to join Higher Orbits' Go For Launch! program. Sponsored by the Midland Development Corporation and Chevron, the program challenges students to solve real-world aerospace problems while developing teamwork and critical thinking skills.
After participating three times, Yuki set his sights on ISS, inspired by Legacy High School alumna Brianna Ortiz, who attended the program in 2023.
The application process was highly competitive, requiring Yuki to submit four letters of recommendation and six essays detailing his passion for STEM and future aspirations. 'I'm excited to collaborate with students from different countries, experience advanced academic challenges, and learn from leading experts in science and technology,' Yuki said.
During the three-week program, Yuki will work alongside peers on scientific projects, attend lectures from world-renowned scientists, and participate in hands-on STEM activities. This experience aligns with his long-term goals of studying engineering in college and possibly pursuing a law degree focused on the legal aspects of technology and innovation.
In addition to his academic achievements, Yuki runs a photography business and serves as editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. He is eager to apply the knowledge and skills gained from ISS to his future endeavors.
Yuki will depart for Australia on July 2 to begin this transformative educational adventure.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
Trump Canceling Musk's SpaceX Contracts Could Force US Closer to Russia
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. As President Donald Trump threatens to cancel SpaceX's government contracts amid a feud with Elon Musk, experts told Newsweek that the move could leave the U.S. reliant on Russia for space launches and access. "SpaceX is immensely important to U.S. national security and NASA," Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Aerospace Security Project, told Newsweek on Friday, adding that if the contracts are terminated, "NASA would again have to turn to Russia to get to and from the [International] Space Station [ISS]." Why It Matters NASA and SpaceX have built one of the most significant public-private partnerships in modern space exploration. Since 2015, SpaceX has received more than $13 billion in NASA contracts, making it one of the agency's largest private partners. SpaceX is deeply integrated into U.S. national security and the space program, with Swope telling Newsweek: "SpaceX is not like the appendix but a vital organ in everything the United States is doing in space." Musk, the SpaceX CEO and former Trump ally heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), clashed publicly with the president on Thursday in a heated exchange on social media. The dispute began over Musk's criticism of a Trump-backed spending bill and escalated into threats over federal contracts and allegations involving Trump's ties to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva What To Know On Thursday, the president threatened termination of Musk's various contracts, writing in a Truth Social post: "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts." SpaceX holds billions of dollars in NASA contracts and plays a key role in the U.S. space program. While several experts told Newsweek they don't believe the contracts will be canceled, they raised concerns about the company's outsized influence on the industry and the critical gaps it could leave. Access To The ISS "SpaceX is immensely important to U.S. national security and NASA. SpaceX is not like the appendix, but a vital organ in everything the United States is doing in space," Swope said Friday in an emailed statement. "Ending work with SpaceX would leave a huge gap that cannot be filled with the other options available today. The biggest impacts would be to space launch and maintaining the International Space Stations. NASA would again have to turn to Russia to get to and from the space station." In 2014, SpaceX was selected to provide crew launch services to the ISS through the development of Crew Dragon, a capsule that transports astronauts to and from the ISS, and its operational missions. NASA has no other way to independently get to and from the ISS without SpaceX. As a result of this and other measures, Scott Hubbard, former director of NASA's Ames Research Center, the first Mars program director and the founder of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, told Newsweek that he doesn't believe Trump's threats will be realized, saying: "There is no alternative to the F9-Dragon combination at present. "He would be stranding astronauts on the ISS unless he wants to go hat in hand to the Russians and try to get more Soyuz flight," in reference to the spacecraft that provides crewed transport to the ISS. Russia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. have long been in a space race. Russia is actively developing its own space station, known as the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), to succeed the ISS, which is set to retire in 2030. Construction on the proposed project is set to begin in 2027. Laura Forczyk, founder of space consulting firm Astralytical, told Newsweek that while it's possible the U.S. may negotiate a contract with Russia to launch astronauts to the ISS, "the current geopolitical climate would make that difficult." Tensions between Washington and Moscow remain high as ceasefire talks for the Russia-Ukraine war have stalled, with the last round of negotiations lasting just 90 minutes with little progress. Adding to the tension, Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of Russia's State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told the state-run outlet TASS on Friday that while he doesn't believe Musk will need political asylum, "if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it." Stateside, space experts largely agree that Musk essentially has a "monopoly" on the industry, responsible for key people movement and launching "more than 90 percent of the U.S. satellites into space," Darrell West, a senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, told Newsweek. While companies like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Boeing are also involved in spaceflight, they don't operate at the same capacity as SpaceX or hold the same number and type of government contracts. Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the University of Mississippi's Center for Air and Space Law, told Newsweek in an email: "Certainly, there are other launch service providers but SpaceX remains dominant and the time it would take to replace all services would delay many important missions and strategic plans, including the proposed Golden Dome." She added that "U.S. reliance on SpaceX is not borne of favoritism but of necessity and efficiency." Aspects Of The Space Program Space research and exploration go beyond science. They are central to U.S. national security. The Department of Defense holds multiple contracts to launch satellites used for GPS, intelligence gathering and military coordination. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union fiercely competed for dominance in space, viewing it as a critical domain of defense. "Space is important as an end in itself in terms of exploring and gaining new knowledge. But it also is taking on a defense role, because space is getting militarized. There are both offensive and defensive weapons that could be put into space," West said. "There's a lot riding on this relationship. People are worried if there is a major war, adversaries could shoot down our satellites and destroy our GPS systems and mobile communications." Beyond high-profile rocket launches and missions to the ISS, the U.S. space program encompasses a wide range of activities, including deploying space-based science observatories, launching lunar landers and preparing crewed and uncrewed missions to the moon and other planets, among other initiatives. What Happens Next When Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment on Friday, it was referred to NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens' statement, which was emailed to Newsweek. "NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space," Stevens said. "We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met." Given the volatile nature of their feud, it remains unclear whether Trump will attempt to cancel existing contracts or limit future deals, or whether Musk could pull SpaceX out of its government commitments altogether.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Zero Gravity Lifts off on Documentary Showcase
LOS ANGELES, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientology Network's DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE, the weekly series providing a platform for Independent filmmakers to air films on important social, cultural and environmental issues, presents the celestial documentary Zero Gravity on June 6, 2025. DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Scientology Network. In Zero Gravity, middle school students from San Jose, California, enter a nationwide NASA tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Led by an inspiring first-time coach, the team rises from budding digital dreamers to ultimately represent California in the ISS finals tournament—where astronauts execute the young coders' algorithms in orbit, 250 miles above Earth. Directed by Thomas Verrette, the film follows the kids' transformation and serves as a powerful reminder: the future begins with those bold enough to imagine it. An official selection at over 70 film festivals—including DOC NYC, Cinequest and the Cleveland International Film Festival—Zero Gravity has won 18 documentary awards from Audience Choice to Best Editing. Endorsed by scientists and educators, the film has reached more than 10,000 students nationwide through classroom and community screenings. ABOUT THOMAS VERRETTE Thomas Verrette is an award-winning director, producer and editor. A more than 15-year veteran of the film industry, Verrette is a former FOX and Disney creative and post-production executive. He is most known for producing the 20-episode World Cup docu-series Phenoms for FOX Sports. Verrette began his career upon graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Zero Gravity is his first feature documentary as a director. ABOUT DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE Fundamental to Scientology is a humanitarian mission that extends to some 200 nations with programs for human rights, human decency, literacy, morality, drug prevention and disaster relief. For this reason, the Scientology Network provides a platform for Independent filmmakers who embrace a vision of building a better world. DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE debuts films weekly from award-winning Independent filmmakers whose goal is to improve society by raising awareness of social, cultural and environmental issues. For more information, visit Scientology Network debuted on March 12, 2018, launched by David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. Since then, Scientology Network has been viewed in over 240 countries and territories worldwide in 17 languages. Satisfying the curiosity of people about Scientology, the network takes viewers across six continents, spotlighting the everyday lives of Scientologists, showing the Church as a global organization and presenting its Social Betterment programs that have touched the lives of millions worldwide. The network also showcases documentaries by Independent filmmakers who represent a cross section of cultures and faiths, but share a common purpose of uplifting communities. Scientology Network's innovative content has been recognized with more than 125 industry awards, including Tellys, Communitas and Hermes Creative Awards. Broadcast from Scientology Media Productions, the Church's global media center in Los Angeles, Scientology Network is available on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM and AT&T U-verse and can be streamed at on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Church of Scientology International
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Musk threatened to decommission Dragon spacecraft. What that would mean for NASA
Amid an escalating feud between billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, Musk threatened to decommission the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon is a family of spacecraft that is produced by Musk's technology company SpaceX. Various Dragon spacecraft have been making trips to the International Space Station (ISS) since 2012, carrying both cargo and crew to the floating station. SpaceX is a key partner in NASA's Artemis program, which seeks to establish a permanent base on the moon and eventually send humans on missions to Mars. MORE: In 9th flight test, SpaceX's Starship experiences 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' Although Musk backed off from his initial threat hours later in a post on X, it is possible the world's richest man could change his mind again. Space science experts told ABC News that SpaceX has been essential to NASA's missions and the breakdown of a relationship would leave a hole that would be hard to fill. "Basically, the United States has uniquely put all of its eggs into the Elon Musk basket in terms of a sovereign, uniquely American vehicle to get people into and out of space," Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin, told ABC News."Now that relationship's severed; it leaves the United States completely vulnerable." NASA and SpaceX's relationship began in 2008 when the federal space agency launched the Commercial Resupply Services program to deliver of cargo and supplies to the ISS on commercially operated spacecraft. The agency signed a contract with SpaceX, and awarded the company 12 flights valued at about $1.6 billion. Mark Jernigan, executive director of the Rice Space Institute in Houston and former associate director for Space Life Sciences Spacecraft Systems Development Support at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, said he was involved in the launching of NASA's commercial cargo program. "The idea was to offload NASA responsibility by actually changing the paradigm of how NASA did business, and commercial cargo was kind of one of the groundbreaking versions," he told ABC News. "The nature of that was to specify what kind of cargo you wanted to launch, and how much you wanted … and the requirements that the rocket has to meet in order to safely dock with the station." MORE: How Elon Musk's SpaceX may take over a corner of the Texas coast At the time, Jernigan said space programs in Japan, Europe, the U.S. and Russia delivered cargo, but now just the latter two do so. Dragon 1 provided cargo service to the ISS for 10 years, between 2012 and 2020, before it was retired. SpaceX launched Dragon 2 with two versions: one as a replacement for the Dragon 1 spacecraft and the second as a capsule that could take crew into space. In September 2014, NASA announced the selection of SpaceX and its Crew Dragon spacecraft as one of the companies to transport U.S. astronauts to the ISS. Michael Liemohn, a professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan, said SpaceX has been essential to NASA's commercial cargo program. "[SpaceX has been] very important," he told ABC News. "When we retired the space shuttles, our only way [for] sending humans into low Earth orbit was to contract with Russia on a Soyuz capsule, and that's why NASA commissioned both Boeing and SpaceX to build new crew capsules so that there would be capability there." Jernigan -- the Rice Space Institute executive director -- noted that SpaceX has been more successful than other candidates including Boeing and its spacecraft Starliner. In June 2024, two NASA astronauts performed the first astronaut-crewed flight of Starliner capsule to the ISS. What was supposed to be a mission lasting about one week turned into a nine-month stay aboard the ISS due to several issues with Starliner and NASA's decision to add the two astronauts to the ISS crew. Eventually, in March 2025, SpaceX's Crew-10 successfully docked at the ISS, bringing four new astronauts to work on the floating lab and setting up the return to Earth of the two astronauts, as well as a third NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. "Right now, the only U.S. provider [for crew] is SpaceX, and so not having SpaceX would be a big deal," Jernigan said. "My speculation would be that if the SpaceX Dragon went away, it would be difficult to ramp up Boeing to replace SpaceX." He noted that such a change would be costly. "So if we had to do without SpaceX, we would really have to shift gears and infuse a lot of capital to try to get back our alternatives up to speed," he said. MORE: SpaceX successfully launches 1st humans to travel over Earth's poles SpaceX also plays a role in the Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years and eventually set up a permanent base there before heading to Mars. SpaceX is the lunar lander provider for the first flight and Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, is the second lunar lander provider. If Musk were to decommission the Dragon spacecraft and no longer have contracts with NASA, it would be hard for Blue Origin to get up to speed, according to Jah from the University of Texas at Austin "If Dragon goes away and then it's just Blue Origin, we would have to put more funding resources not just into trying to get Blue Origin to launch sooner, but also in being able to test all those technologies in ways that they haven't been tested yet," he said. "Like, so far, the SpaceX technologies have been very successful in getting people into and out of space. That has not happened yet with the Blue Origin technologies and, at most, they've only had sub-orbital flights."
