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Air Force Space Command was crucial in Zarqawi hit AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Posted: June 9, 2006 Air Force Space Command delivered space combat effects for the precision strike that resulted in the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. A Global Positioning System-aided GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition was one of the two munitions used in the bombing of Zarqawi's last safe house.
General Alston, who recently returned from Iraq as the Multinational Force-Iraq Director of Communications, said, "Air Force Space Command has been enhancing combat effectiveness for more than a generation. Now in the Global War On Terror, we're depending on space more than ever. GPS provides the precision timing and navigation absolutely instrumental in both protecting our troops on the ground and taking out the bad guys." There are several mission planning steps that go into this type of operation. The general explained that a rapidly changing battlespace demands agile forces that can deliver lethal effects before an enemy can move, and GPS is essential to success in this challenging environment. "This is just typical of AFSPC's mission. We provide communications, navigation and timing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and missile warning. Our mission is 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week providing space effects to the warfighter," said Vice Commander Maj. Gen. Thomas Taverney. "This is a huge success for the coalition and a great example of air and space powers' ability to deliver precision warfare effects in a complex environment," said General Taverney. |
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A comprehensive series of press briefings for space shuttle Discovery's upcoming STS-121 begins with a program overview conference by Wayne Hale, NASA's manager of the shuttle program, and Kirk Shireman, the deputy program manager of the International Space Station. The two men discuss the significance of Discovery's mission to their respective programs. The briefing was held June 8 at the Johnson Space Center.
Dial-up: 
NASA officials unveil the plan to distribute work in the Constellation Program for robotic and human moon and Mars exploration. This address to agency employees on June 5 was given by Administrator Mike Griffin, Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Scott Horowitz and Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley.
Following their announcement on the Exploration work assignments to the various NASA centers, Mike Griffin, Scott Horowitz and Jeff Hanley hold this news conference to answer reporter questions.
NASA created its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to serve as a constellation of orbiting spacecraft that would replace the costly ground tracking stations scattered around the globe for communications with space shuttles and other satellites. Space shuttle Discovery's STS-29 mission in March 1989 launched the massive TDRS-D craft. This post-flight film narrated by the crew shows the deployment, the astronauts running a series of medical tests and the monitoring of a student-developed chicken embryo experiment.
The Boeing Delta 4 rocket launches from pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the GOES-N spacecraft, beginning a new era in weather observing for the Americas.