Air Force Institute of Technology officials noted recently that AFIT has bred a good many of the Air Force personnel who have participated in space activities. The school’s early alumni include Mercury astronauts Gordon Cooper and Gus Grissom. Today’s commander of the space shuttle Discovery STS-121 mission, Col. Steve Lindsey, is a 1990 AFIT graduate. Read more of the AFIT space connection here.
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.