An emergency milk run to a local supermarket on Aug. 9 netted MSgt. John San Cartier, the winning lottery ticket for New Mexico’s $93.4 million lottery jackpot. Sergeant San Cartier took that occasion to buy his ticket, which will yield about $36 million after taxes. The 15-year Air Force veteran is (as of Tuesday, at least) a loadmaster instructor with the 58th Training Squadron at Kirtland AFB, N.M.
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.