Florida Wants Space Investment: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wants $55 million from the state legislature to keep the state competitive in the space arena, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. NASA plans to retire the space shuttle fleet around 2010, and there is no guarantee that the next space launch vehicle(s) would call Florida home. Bush would use approximately $35 million of the budget request to renovate buildings to house shuttle-replacement Crew Exploration Vehicle operations.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.