Gen. Lance Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command, has authorized wear of the new Space Badge—but it is not yet available for purchase. Lord announced the creation of the new badge last year. (See our article on “New Space Badge To Replace ‘Pocket Rocket’” here.) According to AFSPC, the command will award the badge to personnel in space billets once they have completed the required education and training and gained requisite training. Read more here.
The Space Force awarded three contracts for rocket launches worth up to a combined $13.68 billion on April 4—and the usual players SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have got some competition in the form of newcomer Blue Origin.