The Tampa Tribune reports that the Pentagon fears US Central Command operations could break down because of “overburdened and unreliable” infrastructure at CENTCOM’s headquarters at MacDill AFB, Fla. However, the Tribune notes CENTCOM officials are less sanguine about the dire prediction, which the newspaper found in DOD’s 2007 military construction budget documentation. Renovations and expansion for CENTCOM (covered earlier this year) are in the works, but, like most major construction, will take a few years.
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.