Air Force Space Command has approved a five-year license for SpaceX—Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—to operate from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. SpaceX will have to “pay for all improvements, construction, and maintenance” associated with SpaceX operations at SLC-40 and does not have exclusive use of the site, per an AFSPC statement. SpaceX, created by entrepreneur Elon Musk as a lower cost space launch operation, already has an agreement to operate from the West Coast launch facility at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
The Air Force is seeking funding to let its pilots fly a little more than 1.1 million hours in fiscal 2027, which would be the most in about four years. But even if Airmen actually do fly all 1.1 million hours, it would still be short of the 1.3 million…