TRAVELERS WELCOME VISIT FLORIDA is launching a $5.75 million advertising campaign showcasing that Florida is resilient and, more importantly, open to visitors. Locations such as Amelia Island, Islamorada and Pensacola, which were not impacted by the recent hurricanes, will be highlighted in the first phase of the ad campaign. The final phase will market areas of the state that were impacted by the storms, such as Tampa Bay, to let visitors know recovery is in progress and travelers are welcome.
SPACE A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan VC2S rocket successfully launched on October 4th from Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral SpaceForce station. This was the second of two test flights required for ULA’s certification process with the U.S. Space Force in order to launch military satellites.
On October 7th, SpaceX launched the Hera European Space Agency mission to study the Didymos binary asteroid system. On October 14th, SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Onboard the three-core vehicle was NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will embark on a nearly six-year long expedition to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa. NASA believes this moon, characterized by its icy exterior and the ocean beneath it, may contain evidence suggesting that the building blocks for life might exist on another celestial body besides Earth.
On October 25th SpaceX Crew-8 capsule returned to Earth after a 235-day mission. Splashdown was off the coast of Pensacola. In an unusual development, upon return all four astronauts were admitted to the hospital in “an abundance of caution”. Later that day three were released but the fourth, unnamed astronaut, remained overnight.