In a first, SpaceX launches national security satellite with previously flown booster
CBSN
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled a third-generation Global Positioning System navigation satellite into orbit Thursday in the first launch of a national security payload using a previously flown booster. Program officials say the move will save $64.5 million over three missions.
The rocket's nine first stage engines roared to life on time at 12:09 p.m. EDT, pushing the 229-foot-tall rocket away from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After powering the Falcon 9 out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage fell away and headed for landing on a SpaceX droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. On-board cameras provided spectacular views as the booster swooped to touchdown, chalking up SpaceX's 66th successful recovery at sea and its 88th overall.Two Native Hawaiian brothers who were convicted in the 1991 killing of a woman visiting Hawaii allege in a federal lawsuit that local police framed them "under immense pressure to solve the high-profile murder" then botched an investigation last year that would have revealed the real killer using advancements in DNA technology.
In one of his first acts after returning to the Oval Office this week, President Trump tasked federal agencies with developing ways to potentially ease prices for U.S. consumers. But experts warn that his administration's crackdown on immigration could both drive up inflation as well as hurt a range of businesses by shrinking the nation's workforce.
Meta is denying claims circulating on social media that it forced Facebook and Instagram users to follow President Trump's official accounts, saying the changes some users noticed were standard practices tied to the transition of the POTUS account from the previous administration to the incoming one.