An Air Force-led contingent of US military medical personnel partnered with the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan, Belize, to provide medical care to local residents as part of a larger training exercise, announced exercise officials. The 13-day event, which concluded on April 30, was part of US Southern Command’s annual New Horizons humanitarian-assistance training with partner nations in Latin America, states a May 1 release. The Air Force and Army medical personnel carried out ear, nose, and throat surgical procedures on patients in a fully functioning operating room that they created and also supplied hearing aids to local residents, according to the release. “Being a surgeon in the Air Force, I have learned a ton about what it takes to work in austere conditions and working with a team of individuals from multiple bases,” said Maj. Brent Feldt, ENT resident at the San Antonio Military Medical Center at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Tex. (Belmopan report by TSgt. Tony Tolley)
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.