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SpaceX lost one of its Falcon 9 boosters, a 19-time launch veteran, off the side of its recovery ship among rough seas on Christmas Day 2023. The booster had soldiered on through 19 space launches, capping off its last one on December 23rd for a well-earned retirement. During the recovery process, the 135-foot tall fuselage, standing on its tail just as it does for launch, toppled over amid rising waves and increasing winds. EAA’s much-lauded Young Eagles program continued its post-pandemic recovery in 2023, as more than 57,000 young people received flight experiences from volunteer EAA-member pilots as of December 17, 2023. The total numbe
SPRINT Program Awards Contracts to Aurora, Bell, Northrop, and Piasecki
DARPA has begun issuing contracts for the development of an experimental, next-generation VTOL transport similar to the V-22 Osprey. So far, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Bell Textron, and Aurora Flight Sciences have been granted contracts under the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) program. The overall value sits somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million. SPRINT contestants should have the prototyping and design phases completed by Q1 2027. The first phase will include the basic design, simulations, component and subsystem testing, pre-production planning, and flight testing.
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