A Minotaur I rocket on late Wednesday carried ORS-1, the Defense Department’s first Operationally Responsive Space satellite into space from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s eastern shore. The rocket lifted off at 11:09 p.m. US East Coast time. ORS-1 is designed to provide overhead imagery to commanders in Southwest Asia, enhancing battlespace awareness. It carries a customized version of the SYERS-2 sensor resident on U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
