The Air Force Academy celebrated the creation of the “world’s oldest astronautics department” last week, marking its 50th anniversary, according to a March 7 academy release. During its 50 years, the program has “launched the careers of countless space pioneers and helped establish America’s asymmetric space dominance,” wrote Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne in a congratulatory letter. The department has produced hundreds of cadets with degrees in astronautical engineering, space operations, engineering sciences, and systems engineering—and taught every cadet at least one introductory astronautics course. Cadets in the program designed and helped build the academy’s fleet of FalconSAT satellites, one of which launched last year with five DOD scientific experiments now controlled by cadets at the academy’s ground control station.
The Chinese spy balloon may have popped, but funding to protect against similar threats is inflating, according to the Department of Defense. The high-attitude surveillance balloon that traversed the U.S. in late January and early February prompted last-minute additions to the Pentagon's budget of around $90 million for measures to…