The Air Force announced a new and improved communications department—one it believes will lead to better rapport with the American public. The service plans to install a two-star general to lead the communications directorate, which will subsume the office of public affairs. The communications deputy director—a one-star general—will serve as head of public affairs. USAF named Brig. Gen. Erwin F. Lessel III and Col. Michelle D. Johnson to fill the new positions. Lessel is currently the director of plans and programs at Air Force Materiel Command. Johnson is director of personnel at Air Mobility Command. Gen. Michael Moseley, USAF Chief of Staff, says the new organization will ensure PAOs “have an active role in all significant operational planning, decision, and assessment points.”
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.