Florida | Common News Update

Jan72022 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX successfully completes first launch of 2022 from Florida

Science

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- SpaceX kicked off a surge in launch activity Thursday with the successful launch of 49 of the company's Starlink communications satellites from Florida, heading south along the state's coastline. Five SpaceX missions may launch in the next month on the southern polar trajectory, flying closer to the Florida coast toward Miami than most launches, according to the U.S. Space Force. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned at 4:49 p.m. EST from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Nine minutes after launch, the first-stage booster landed successfully on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. "Starlink is now live in 25 countries and regions currently servicing over 145,000 users worldwide," SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson said during a live broadcast of the launch. "...

May22021 by adminNo Comments

Astronauts splash down in Gulf of Mexico off Florida

Science

May 2 (UPI) -- Astronauts from SpaceX's Crew-1 mission splashed down in U.S. waters at 2:57 a.m. Sunday, and crews successfully recovered the capsule and astronauts in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, Fla. The astronauts saw the Crew Dragon capsule Resilience undock from the International Space Station at 8:35 p.m. EDT Saturday and head for the nighttime splashdown off Florida about 6 1/2 hours later. Advertisement The astronauts were to fly back to Houston. "Welcome home Victor, Michael, Shannon, and Soichi, and congratulations to the teams at NASA and SpaceX who worked so hard to ensure their safe and successful splashdown," said former Sen. Bill Nelson, also a former astronaut confirmed by the Senate to serve as NASA administrator on Thursday. "We've accomplished another incredible ...

Apr92021 by adminNo Comments

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sues federal government over cruise industry shutdown

Business

April 8 (UPI) -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday a lawsuit against the federal government over the cruise industry shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tens of thousands of Floridians depend on the cruise industry for their jobs, DeSantis said at a news conference at the Port of Miami, where he announced the lawsuit while flanked by cruise employees. Advertisement "So, today's a day for us to fight for them, to fight for our friends and our neighbors, who just want to go back to work," DeSantis said at the press conference. Monica Sebata, a former employee of Cruiseport Destinations in Miami, said cruises were initially ordered to shut down for two weeks in March 2020. At that point, they were able to connect through Zoom, and they had hope things would improve, she said, b...

Mar312021 by adminNo Comments

Florida rocket company rebrands, plans bigger rocket

Business

ORLANDO, Fla., March 31 (UPI) -- A Florida rocket company, Rocket Crafters, has rebranded as Vaya Space and plans a new, larger rocket than it had been pursuing, now named Dauntless, according to company president Rob Fabian. Rocket Crafters -- now called Vaya -- is one of many new companies pursuing new rockets considered small or medium, and far less powerful than SpaceX's Falcon 9. Advertisement The plan for Dauntless is to lift about 2,200 pounds to low-Earth orbit, Fabian said. That's more than twice as powerful as the Intrepid rocket the company no longer pursues. The goal for Dauntless would make it roughly as powerful as Texas-based Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket, which is also under development. Vaya planned to announce the new name and rocket publicly on Wednesday. "We think ...

Feb82021 by adminNo Comments

MLB’s Grapefruit League to use Florida ‘pods’ for spring training

Sports

Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Major League Baseball's Grapefruit League teams also are expected to be placed in separate "pods" in Florida as a COVID-19 safety precaution. Sources told The Athletic, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Miami Herald on Monday about the plan, which is an effort to reduce travel for the teams. Advertisement Teams based on Florida's west coast will play 28 games. Teams with facilities on Florida's east coast will play 24 games against east coast opponents and have four intrasquad matchups. The Grapefruit League schedule is expected to start Feb. 26 and end March 30. The Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets and Washington Nationals have training facilities on the east coast of Florida. The Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New Y...