Air Force Col. Eric Boe, a senior member of the Civil Air Patrol, took the flight controls for the Endeavor on mission STS-126, launched Nov. 14 on its way to support the International Space Station. It marked Boe’s first space voyage since joining NASA’s astronaut force in 2000. The 1987 Air Force Academy graduate began his flying career at age 16 with a CAP encampment in Georgia. He has flown more than 45 different aircraft in the Air Force, logging more than 4,000 flight hours. (Air Force report; CAP report)
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.