Oregon Rescue Forces Exercise in High Country: 
Air Force Reserve Command airmen of the 304th Rescue Squadron, Portland Airport, Ore., joined with about 50 civilian counterparts for a daylong search-and-rescue exercise recently on Mount Hood, one of the most climbed mountains in the US. According to 304th RQS personnel, the unit trains with civilian rescue forces several times per year to keep “all the moving parts” working. Training on Mount Hood is helpful for assignments to Afghanistan, said pararescueman MSgt. Eric Giacchino, since Hood has similar high-altitude, snowy environment.
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.