Things To Do In SW Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 took off from the 39th time from Cape Canaveral this year, marking the 49th SpaceX flight from the Space Coast and 69th orbital mission among all of its launch sites.

The rocket lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10 p.m. after poor weather conditions delayed earlier attempts.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/vL77mdJ91d

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 30, 2023

The first-stage booster made its 10th flight once again making a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX has flown all but three of the Space Coast’s 52 missions this year, with Relativity Space adding one and United Launch Alliance managing two more.

ULA, though, may have the next launch on tap as it announced a target liftoff of next Friday for an Atlas V rocket from neighboring Space Launch Complex 41 with a launch window that opens at 2 p.m.

Its payload is Amazon’s first two test Project Kuiper satellites, which open the floodgates for ULA launches on a much more regular basis as Amazon has purchased eight more Atlas rockets as well as 38 missions on its in-development Vulcan Centaur, which would together launch more than half of its planned 3,236 satellite constellation that would compete with the likes of SpaceX’s Starlink. read more

As Central Florida’s population grows, so do the operating costs for Orange County government, which has budgeted $6.7 billion for fiscal year 2023-24, about 8.4% more than last year.

The county’s property tax rate remains the same for a 16th consecutive year, though revenues will be about 12.5% higher because of new construction on the tax rolls and climbing property values.

“We have the lowest tax rate of county populations over 1 million people,” Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings said in a foreword to the 388-page budget approved unanimously by commissioners.

The new fiscal year begins Sunday.

The spending plan has $800 million committed to public safety and $100 million to transportation.

The budget also includes 155 new positions across county government’s many departments, including 56 new jobs in Orange County Fire/Rescue and 34 more sworn deputies for the Sheriff’s Office.

The county is “growing west and east,” Kurt Petersen, the county’s budget manager, said in explaining the need for the two largest public safety divisions to add firefighters and deputies. read more