Letters have been sent to the Pentagon and the White House, decrying the proposed cuts to Army and Air Guard forces. A plea to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from the National Governors Association urged him to take the “holistic approach to our Homeland Security” and to remember the “reduced cost” benefit provided by ground and air Guard forces. In a letter to President Bush, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) lists the Guard issue as his No. 1 in a list of three he wants the President to address in the State of the Union speech. A letter to Rumsfeld from the Tennessee Senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander notes the “difficulty” Rumsfeld faces, but emphasizes it “is imperative that the Guard maintain its combat strength.” Tennessee is already upset over the BRAC decision to take the Nashville’s Air National Guard aircraft.
NASA, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance are all preparing to launch their next-gen rockets from Florida’s Space Coast, two of them before the year is out. One is expected to liberate the U.S. launch enterprise from its reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines, while all three rockets could eventually carry astronaut crews.