Covering All Things Florida
Acting NASA Administrator Sean P. Duffy says the agency is changing course—and in a big way. In an interview this week, Duffy made it clear that NASA will be putting much of its Earth and climate science work on the back burner and focusing almost entirely on space exploration.
As Space Coast skies faded into night, United Launch Alliance launched their Vulcan-Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at 7:59 PM Eastern Time, carrying the classified USSF-106 mission for the U.S. Space Force. The evening launch, near the end of the one-hour window, was a successful return for the vehicle after its near-catastrophic solid rocket failure in its last launch in October, 2024.
SpaceX, NASA and the Crew 11 astronauts beat the clouds and rain showers and launched before summer showers washed over Kennedy Space Center today, but just barely. With dark skies and rain rapidly advancing from the south, liftoff of SpaceX’s 18th crewed flight was at 11:43 AM ET from venerable Launch Complex 39A. Crew 11’s four astronauts are now on their way to the International Space Station after today’s launch, with an expected arrival time at the orbital outpost around 3 AM ET tomorrow, August 2.
Delta Air Lines is taking a bold step to retool its fare-setting engine: by the end of 2025, AI will determine ticket prices on one out of every five domestic flights. And if that goes well (for Delta) they may roll out the system to all potential passengers. Some will pay more, while others may pay less, all depending on what the new system comes up with.
Breeze Airways, the Salt Lake City-based ultra-low-cost carrier founded by David Neeleman, is expanding its footprint in Florida this fall by adding two nonstop routes from Tampa and Orlando.
Florida’s Space Coast, centered around NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, has been a focal point for significant space-related developments this week. From the scheduled launch of NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), to public discussions on SpaceX’s Starship program expansion, and a notable leadership transition at NASA, the Space Coast continues to play a critical role in U.S. space exploration.
A 71-year-old Chinese-born Canadian citizen, Xiao Guang Pan, has entered a guilty plea in a federal case involving unauthorized drone flights over Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Netflix is set to expand its summer lineup with content from NASA’s own streaming service, NASA+. Viewers can look forward to live rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, in-depth mission reports and awe-inspiring, real-time footage of Earth as seen from the International Space Station. While NASA+ has been freely accessible through its website and app—and available on platforms such as Apple TV, Fire TV, Hulu and Roku—this will mark its first run on the world’s largest paid streaming service.
On June 26, 2025, Northrop Grumman conducted the first full-scale static test of the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) solid rocket booster, a next-generation component intended for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Block 2 configuration. The test, performed at the company’s Promontory, Utah, facility, aimed to validate the BOLE’s advanced design but was marred by an anomaly in the booster’s nozzle, raising questions about its development timeline and the SLS program’s future.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 2:31 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, organized by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA, will carry four astronauts for a two-week stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. The booster core, B1094, with attempt a return to launch site landing (RTLS) at CCSFS LZ-1 and with produce a sonic boom. Mostly clear skies will allow for great views of the booster boost-back burn that often produces beautiful nebula like clouds and patterns.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Amazon’s Project Kuiper advanced another notch with the launch of its second batch of satellites, known as Kuiper Atlas 2 (KA-02), on June 23, 2025. The mission took off at 6:54 a.m. EDT (1054 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida using a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The successful deployment marks another step in Amazon’s plan to create a global broadband internet network to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.
Just a few months ago, Elon Musk suggested that SpaceX may be able to try an unmanned Mars mission utilizing the company’s massive Starship as early as next year. Following the loss of Starship 36 on a South Texas test stand last night, that ambitious goal is clearly off the table.
