Wednesday night’s launch of the Defense Department’s first Operationally Responsive Space satellite was successful, according to Air Force space officials. They said the prototype imagery satellite deployed 12 minutes after its liftoff aboard a Minotaur I launch vehicle from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s eastern shore. “Words cannot express how proud I am of the entire ORS-1 team,” including Air Force, DOD, and industry personnel, said Col. Carol Welsch, acting director of USAF’s Space Development and Test Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M. She was also the ORS-1 mission director. ORS-1 is designed to provide commanders at the tactical level with overhead imagery to enhance their battlespace awareness. (Los Angeles release)
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.