May 1, 2017

SpaceX Launches US Spy Satellite on Secret Mission, Nails Rocket Landing

Source: space.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday (May 1) to boost a classified spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. military, then turned around and touched down at a nearby landing pad.

It was the 34th mission for SpaceX, but its first flight for the Department of Defense, a customer long-pursued by company founder Elon Musk. The privately owned SpaceX once sued the Air Force over its exclusive launch services contract with United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnership of Lockheed-Martin and Boeing.

Monday's 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT) liftoff of a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) officially broke ULA's 10-year monopoly on launching U.S. military and national security satellites. [In Photos: SpaceX's First US Military Satellite Launch]

Read more: http://www.space.com/36666-spacex-launches-first-spy-satellite-nails-landing.html

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All sorts of things going on here.

A private for profit USA company started by an immigrant is creating leading edge rocketry.....

moving the state of the art toward cheaper, recyclable spacecraft......


burfman.......

April 7, 2017

Trump cartoon that made me laugh.......

"It's not an April fools' prank, it's preemptive damage control."



from the New Yorker Magazine

burfman................