Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy was in command of the shuttle Discovery when it blasted into space Tuesday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Melroy is only the second woman to command a space shuttle. The Discovery’s primary mission is to continue construction on the International Space Station, placing the new Harmony segment and moving a tower of solar arrays to a new location. Melroy received her commission through AFROTC, earning pilot wings in 1985 and flying the KC-10 for six years. After serving in Gulf War I, she entered test pilot training and served on the C-17 test force until her selection for astronaut training in December 1994. She retired from the Air Force in February 2007.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.