Raphael Stevens

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump took to social media with declarations that a pair of astronauts onboard the International Space Station must return “as soon as possible.”
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been part of the ISS crew since Boeing’s faulty Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without them in September.
NASA has planned to return Wilmore and Williams as part of a crew returning in late March, using SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft that has been at the ISS for months.
Neither Musk or Trump specified whether the White House would order NASA to change its plan.

Elon Musk speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and guests at a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 19, 2024.
Brandon Bell | Via Reuters

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump took to social media this week declaring that astronauts left at the space station must return “as soon as possible,” despite NASA’s plan to bring the pair back in a couple months on a SpaceX vehicle.
Both blamed the previous presidential administration for the decision NASA made in August to return Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule from the International Space Station without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams onboard.

“The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” Musk wrote on X late Tuesday.
“I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!” Trump added shortly after, on Truth Social.
But it’s unclear if the statements would actually change the space agency’s timeline. Neither specified whether the White House would order NASA to change its plan.

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During former President Joe Biden’s administration, months before Trump and Musk spoke up on the situation, NASA tasked SpaceX with returning Wilmore and Williams from the ISS.
The agency adjusted its rotation of astronauts as a result: It sent the Starliner capsule back empty and removed two astronauts from SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission to make room for a delayed return by Wilmore and Williams, originally targeted for February.

Hurricane Milton advances towards Florida in a view from Dragon Endeavor docked with the International Space Station October 9, 2024.
Matthew Dominick | NASA | Via Reuters

NASA, in a statement to CNBC on Wednesday, did not address whether it would alter mission plans after the posts from Trump and Musk.
“NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions,” a NASA spokesperson said.

Expedition rotations

The Expedition 72 crew poses for a group portrait on Oct. 23, 2024.

While both Musk and Trump claimed the astronauts are “stranded” and “abandoned” on the ISS, NASA has had a spacecraft at the station since September that could return the crew at any time — a Dragon capsule operated by Musk’s SpaceX.
Additionally, allegations from Musk that “the Biden administration left them there” and Trump that the astronauts “have been waiting for many months” both misstate the situation.
To understand the circumstances onboard the ISS, it’s important to note that crews rotate onboard the orbiting research laboratory.
For 25 years, the ISS has been continuously staffed by crews called Expeditions — each typically lasting about six months, with a mix of primarily U.S. and Russian crew members. Since SpaceX began regularly flying crews for NASA in 2020, the agency has been sending up four astronauts at a time. Each group works until the next arrives at the ISS, when a ceremonial “handover” occurs before the departing crew heads back down to Earth.
NASA deemed Boeing’s Starliner too risky to return Wilmore and Williams. Starliner was initially expected to be in space for about nine days, but it spent roughly three months at the ISS while Boeing investigated an issue with the capsule’s thrusters. 
Instead, it decided to remove astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson from the September launch of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. That meant Wilmore and Williams, who were already on the ISS, would stay on as part of Expedition 72. They would then return on SpaceX’s Dragon alongside astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Notably, NASA recently delayed the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission by a month, to “late March” from February. The agency said it and SpaceX required more time to “complete processing” of the newly built Dragon capsule.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose inside the hatch connecting Boeing’s Starliner to the International Space Station on

Earlier this month, NASA broadcast a discussion with the astronauts onboard the ISS, including Williams and Wilmore.
“So, what you’re telling us is you’re not channeling ‘Cast Away’ and you don’t have a volleyball with a handprint on it that you call Wilson?” then-NASA deputy chief Pam Melroy asked the crew.
“No, we’ve got a whole team up here so we’re not worried about that and there’s a lot to do as well. … We have tons of science experiments. … We’ve got space walks coming up,” Wilmore said.
“It’s just been a joy to be working up here,” Wilmore added, having just shown with her NASA counterparts how they do a synchronized flip in zero gravity. More

Levi Strauss beat Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines but expects sales to slow next year in part due to a strong U.S. dollar.
The company expects sales to slide between 1% and 2%, but stripping out currency exchange rates and one fewer selling week, it anticipates revenue will grow.
The denim maker has been making inroads with women and growing direct-to-consumer sales under the leadership of CEO Michelle Gass.

A customer shops for Levi’s clothing at a department store in Chicago on Jan. 29, 2024.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Levi Strauss issued dismal guidance for its current fiscal year on Wednesday, as the denim maker grapples with unfavorable currency exchange rates, one fewer selling week and a loss in revenue from its Denizen and footwear businesses. 
The company said it expects sales to decline between 1% and 2%, well behind estimates of 3.7% growth, according to LSEG. 

It also anticipates adjusted earnings per share will be between $1.20 and $1.25, below estimates of $1.37, according to LSEG. 
Shares fell about 6% in extended trading.
CEO Michelle Gass told CNBC the expected drop in revenue in the current fiscal year does not reflect slower demand, but is more due to the currency trends, one fewer fiscal week and the divested businesses.
Levi ended fiscal 2024 on a high note and reported earnings and sales that both topped expectations. 
Here is how the apparel company fared during its fiscal fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 50 cents adjusted vs. 48 cents expected
Revenue: $1.84 billion vs. $1.73 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Dec. 1 was $182.6 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $126.8 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time expenses related to impairments, restructurings, acquisitions and leases, among other items, Levi reported adjusted net income of $202 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with adjusted profits of $179 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $1.84 billion, up about 12% from $1.64 billion a year earlier. Organic sales, which exclude an extra 53rd week Levi had during the quarter, along with foreign exchange effects and divested businesses, grew 8%. 
Since Gass took the helm of Levi a year ago, she has moved swiftly to cut aspects of the business that weren’t working, grow higher margin sales on its website and stores, boost profitability and bring more female customers to the brand. Under her leadership, Levi inked a high-profile marketing partnership with Beyonce in September after she released a song about the brand on her album “Cowboy Carter” earlier in the year. 
“Of course, we have to acknowledge the Beyonce effect. We are very pleased with the launch of that campaign, which we’re seeing drive demand across the business,” Gass said in an interview with CNBC.
Gass has been working to bring more women to Levi, which traditionally has drawn more men, because women tend to spend more money and shop for new clothes more often. Women’s apparel is now about 36% of Levi’s overall business, up slightly from a year ago, but Gass said it should represent about half over time.
The company has won female shoppers over not only with loose and wide-legged denim fits, but also with a wide range of new tops such as woven shirts and blouses. 
During the quarter, Levi saw strong sales increases across all of its regions, brands and channels. Sales in the Americas grew 12%, Europe increased 15% and Asia expanded 9%. Sales for its Beyond Yoga brand spiked 10%. Direct-to-consumer sales increased 19% and made up 45% of total organic net sales, which includes the extra selling week, currency fluctuations and the divested businesses. 
Wholesale revenues, which have been soft across the industry, grew 7% during the quarter. 
Since President Donald Trump was elected for a second term, all eyes have been on the retail industry to see what kind of effect his proposed tariffs could have on consumer prices and company profits. 
Levi’s finance chief Harmit Singh said the company sources its products from 25 countries and less than 1% of it comes from China, which Trump has threatened with 10% tariffs. In Canada and Mexico, where Trump has suggested duties as high as 25%, Levi’s exposure is minimal, as it only imports about 5% of products from Mexico and nothing from Canada. 
When asked if the company will raise prices if broad-based tariffs are implemented, Singh said it plans to work with its suppliers and look at its own costs so it can spare consumers as much as possible. 
The “first objective would be to minimize the impact on the consumer. So we work internally with our suppliers, we look at our cost base, we look at other pricing opportunities and if we cannot cover it, obviously we got to protect the structural economics of the business,” said Singh. “At that point, we’ll decide, you know, what should be passed on to the consumer or not, but we won’t start from that. That’s where we will end.”
During the quarter, Levi posted what it called a record gross margin of 61.3%, up from 57.8% in the year-ago period, driven by lower product costs, higher full price sales and a better mix between direct and wholesale revenue. 
Still, Levi reported $111.4 million in impairment charges related to its Beyond Yoga brand for fiscal 2024, on top of the $90.2 million it reported in fiscal 2023, bringing those costs to $201.6 million in the years since it acquired the athleisure company in 2021 for $400 million. 
The brand and yoga category overall is growing, but Singh said Levi was potentially a bit “aggressive” in its expectations “of how quickly the brand could grow.” 
The good news, he said, is Beyond Yoga is now led by Nancy Green, the former CEO of Gap’s Athleta, who is credited with scaling the athleisure brand into a billion-dollar business. 
“It’s a category that’s growing big time. I know there are other competitors, but we feel good about the management team and good about the potential growth for the business,” said Singh.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, testified Wednesday before a Senate panel that is crucial to advancing his nomination.
Kennedy, 71, appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, which will vote on whether his nomination as HHS secretary advances to the full chamber.
He faced questions about vaccine skepticism, his evolving views on abortion and grasp of sprawling federal health programs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, testified Wednesday before a crucial Senate panel, where he faced questions about vaccine skepticism, his evolving views on abortion and grasp of sprawling federal health programs.
Kennedy, 71, appeared first before the Senate Committee on Finance, which will vote on whether his nomination as HHS secretary advances to the full chamber. In the Republican-controlled Senate, Kennedy can lose only three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.

He will also appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for a courtesy hearing Thursday.
He sidestepped many of the questions as senators grilled him Wednesday. He also struggled to answer some questions about Medicare and Medicaid, and often said he would defer to Trump on policies in such areas as reproductive rights and prescription drug price negotiations.
If confirmed, Kennedy will take the reins of a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees vaccines and other medicines, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparedness, food and tobacco products, and government-funded health care for millions of Americans. The heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, among other federal health agencies, all report to the HHS secretary.

Kennedy has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. He is a prominent vaccine skeptic, making false claims that they are linked to autism despite decades of studies that debunk that association.
Kennedy is also the founder of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, the most well-funded anti-vaccine organization in the U.S. In a government ethics agreement last week, he said he stopped serving as chairman or chief legal counsel for the organization as of December.

Some critics have argued that his work advocating against vaccine use has cost lives and could deter more Americans from getting recommended shots at a time when vaccination rates are declining.
A protester in the hearing room shouted when Kennedy denied he was anti-vaccine, accusing him of lying. It sparked applause, briefly interrupting his opening remarks.
Shouting again interrupted the hearing as committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Kennedy about his comments about vaccines. Committee Chair Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, threatened to recess the hearing if any more protesters disrupted it.
Beyond vaccines, Kennedy also previewed how he plans to pursue his broad “Make America Healthy Again” platform if confirmed as the nation’s top health official. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy. Kennedy has long contended that the agencies that HHS oversees need reform or a sweeping overhaul.
Kennedy’s supporters say some of his stances around food, such as highlighting the risks of food additives and ultra-processed products, have hit on broad appeal among Republicans and some Democrats. But Kennedy on Wednesday said he is not “the enemy of food producers,” noting that American farms are “the bedrock of our culture and national security.”
Caroline Kennedy, the nominee’s cousin and daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote a letter to senators Tuesday that referred to her cousin as a “predator” and urged them not to confirm him.
Here are some of the key takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing:

Kennedy defends vaccine stance

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Jan. 29, 2025. 
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Kennedy, in his opening remarks before the panel, pushed back on claims that he is anti-vaccine or anti-industry.
“I am neither; I am pro-safety,” Kennedy said. “I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care.”
Kennedy engaged in heated debate with senators over his vaccine views, saying, “I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine, I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people taking” them.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., didn’t buy that claim, highlighting Kennedy’s previous remarks in a book about not viewing measles as a threat. 
Senators also pointed to Kennedy’s misinformation about the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that was linked to a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that left dozens of children dead. That outbreak came just months after Kennedy visited the island nation. 
Kennedy denied having anything to do with the deadly outbreak. 
“You cannot find a single Samoan that says, ‘I didn’t get vaccinated because of Bobby Kennedy,'” he said.
When Wyden asked if measles is deadly, Kennedy did not directly answer the question. Kennedy contended again that he was not anti-vaccine.
Wyden also pressed Kennedy on his comments in a 2023 podcast in which he said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy said he has previously clarified those statements and that he would not dissuade Americans from getting certain vaccines.

Kennedy’s shifting abortion stance

Democrats pressed Kennedy on whether he had reversed his stance on abortion for political expediency and if he would do the same on other issues. 
“When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?” Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said, pointing to his previous public support for abortion rights. 
Kennedy, in response, said “every abortion is a tragedy” — a line he repeated at least four times throughout the hearing. 
When asked about his approach to regulations around the abortion pill mifepristone, Kennedy said Trump “wants me to look at safety issues.” He added that the president had not yet taken a position on how to regulate it.
“Whatever he does, I will implement those policies, and I will work with this committee to make those policies make sense,” Kennedy said. That’s a similar response he had when asked about other abortion policies. 
There is extensive scientific evidence showing that the pills, which are regulated and approved for use by the FDA, are safe. 

Kennedy struggles to answer Medicare, Medicaid questions

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Jan. 29, 2025. 
Nathan Howard | Reuters

Kennedy appeared to struggle when Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed him on what reforms he would propose for the state-federal Medicaid program, which provides coverage to around 80 million Americans, including many low-income people. 
Republicans could target Medicaid, which costs the federal government more than $600 billion a year, for funding reductions this year to help pay for tax cuts. At times, Kennedy appeared to confuse Medicaid with Medicare, a federal program that provides coverage to older and disabled Americans. 
Kennedy described Medicaid as “fully paid for” by the federal government. But the program is funded by states as well. 
He also claimed that many Medicaid enrollees were frustrated by high costs, saying “premiums are too high. The deductibles are too high.” 
But the majority of Medicaid enrollees do not pay any premiums or deductibles for their coverage. Federal law bars premiums for the lowest-income Medicaid enrollees. 
Kennedy only vaguely described efforts to reform Medicaid, saying he supported increasing “transparency” and “accountability.”  More

Satellite imagery and data analysis company Planet announced it had signed a $230 million contract on Wednesday, with an anchor customer for its Pelican satellites.
“It’s both our biggest deal ever and it’s a significant step for us into this satellite services business,” Planet CEO Will Marshall told CNBC.

An animated rendering of a Pelican satellite in orbit.

Satellite imagery and data analysis company Planet announced it had signed a $230 million contract on Wednesday, with an anchor customer furthering the rollout of its next-generation Pelican satellites.
“It is a momentum-building event. … It’s both our biggest deal ever and it’s a significant step for us into this satellite services business,” Planet CEO Will Marshall told CNBC.

Planet’s deal will see it build Pelican satellites in service to a company in the Asia-Pacific region. Planet said the customer will be identified at a later date, but described the company as a long-standing partner. Marshall said the contract covers “a couple of years to construct” the satellites “and then five years of operation.”
“They get dedicated access to the satellites that we’re launching for them within their [area of interest] in Asia, and then for the rest of the world, we get to license that data,” Marshall said.
While the deal does not change Planet’s previous guidance for its fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter results, the company expects to begin seeing benefits to its balance sheet in fiscal 2026, with payments for building the satellites and providing services to be recognized over about seven years.
Planet, which operates more than 200 satellites in orbit, in 2021 unveiled its plans for the more high-powered line of Pelican satellites. Intended to replace the SkySat satellites acquired from Google in 2017, Planet aims to deploy a constellation of as many as 32 Pelican satellites. The company launched its first operational satellite for the constellation, Pelican-2, earlier this month, with the spacecraft notably featuring Nvidia’s Jetson edge artificial intelligence platform for improved data processing.
“We only had financials to specifically build a subset of [those 32 Pelican satellites], and now we’ve got the financials to build more, and so we’re scaling much faster,” Marshall said.

Shares of Planet rose as much as 14% in trading Wednesday before giving up early gains to end the day 1.65% higher. Planet late Tuesday announced a multiyear contract worth an unspecified amount with the European Space Agency.

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Additionally, Marshall said the Pelican deal represents Planet’s entrance into the satellite services market, effectively selling its spacecraft as an adaptable base to specific customers. It is a market that Planet first dipped into with its Tanager satellite product line, the first of which it built and deployed for the nonprofit group Carbon Mapper.
“These customers are often customers we’ve been working with for years, so they already know and trust our data and our ability to execute. They know we’ve got a vertically integrated stack of tech, so they know we can deliver satellites in space that work and operate,” Marshall said.
“It’s synergistic with our data business,” he added.
Planet went public in 2021 amid the SPAC boom. Similar to other space companies that went public at that time, Planet’s stock slid steadily in the years following — with company shares getting hit amid missed revenue targets and workforce layoffs — before bouncing back in 2024.
While it lags top-performing space pure-play stocks over the past year, Planet shares have more than doubled over the past 12 months, according to FactSet data. More

Major League Table Tennis has signed a national TV deal with CBS Sports.
CBS Sports Network will air matches, highlights and player profiles.
The sport has seen a recent uptick in popularity since the Olympics.

Major league table tennis player Debora Vivarelli
Masha Zolotukhina

Major League Table Tennis is going primetime.
The pro table tennis league that got its start in 2023 by software entrepreneur Flint Lane has signed its first-ever national television deal with CBS Sports, the league announced Wednesday. This comes as table tennis has seen a resurgence in popularity and as broadcasters are hungry for sports content.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CBS Sports Network will air MLTT matches, exclusive highlights, player profiles and behind-the-scenes features throughout the season beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
“This partnership with CBS Sports is a defining milestone for Major League Table Tennis,” Lane, founder and commissioner of MLTT, told CNBC. “It’s a testament to the league’s energy, talent and growing appeal that captivates audiences. We’re excited to bring professional table tennis to millions of homes.”
MLTT said it’s one of America’s fastest-growing sports on digital and social platforms and that its viewership on YouTube grew more than 1,200% from its first season into its second season. MLTT also noted that table tennis is the sixth most popular sport in the world with 850 million fans, according to the World Atlas.
MLTT currently has eight teams from cities across the U.S. The teams compete against each other during weekend matches.
The league has raised about $10 million in capital, Flint said, with investment from names like David Blitzer, owner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia 76ers, and Daryl Morey, president of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginóbili is a minority team owner in MLTT team the Florida Crocs.
“Table tennis is considered a basement sport in America,” Flint said. “Throughout Europe, there are professional leagues, but we’ve never had a professional league in this country, so it gives us more credibility.”
Flint said the sport got a boost at the Paris Olympics, where for the first time ever two Americans made it to the round of 16. One of those players, Lily Zhang, plays for MLTT.

The USA Table Tennis team met Steph Curry at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The sport also got some buzz during the Olympics when Golden State Warriors Star Stephen Curry met the USA Table Tennis team at opening ceremonies and later invited them to sit courtside at a game.
While MLTT hasn’t yet been approved for sports betting, betting on table tennis gained traction during the coronavirus pandemic when many sports were shuttered. In some states like Oregon, table tennis is one of the top sports for betting due to its fast pace and rapidly changing odds.
Flint said now that the league has locked in a television deal, it will focus on selling two expansion teams and increasing the sport’s presence at the grassroots level.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Lily Zhang’s name. More