Things To Do In SW Florida

A gaggle of students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh traveled to Florida last month during their winter break.

The students, many of them studying to be engineers and scientists, went there to watch a rocket launch that would send a small 4.8-pound robotic rover that they had helped build on its journey to the moon. Afterward, they hoped to have time for some sun and fun, renting a large house just three blocks from the beach.

Their trip did not go as planned.

“We never saw the beach,” said Nikolai Stefanov, a senior studying physics and computer science.

The rover, named Iris, headed toward the moon on schedule in a perfect inaugural flight of Vulcan, a brand-new rocket. But the spacecraft carrying the rover malfunctioned soon after the launch, and the students turned their rental house into a makeshift mission control as they improvised how to get the most out of the rover’s doomed journey.

“We had a mission,” said Connor Colombo, the chief engineer for Iris. “It wasn’t the mission we thought. And in fact, maybe that made it more interesting because we had to do a lot of thinking on our feet, and I’m really grateful to have had that.” read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — SpaceX had to wait a day, but it ended up knocking out a pristine launch in the wee hours Thursday for Intuitive Machines, aiming to be the first commercial company to successfully make a soft landing on the moon.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 1:05 a.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A on the IM-1 mission carrying the Houston-based company’s Nova-C lunar lander named Odysseus headed for a quick trip to the moon aiming for a Feb. 22 arrival.

Liftoff of IM-1! pic.twitter.com/Knl3Y1sGo2

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 15, 2024

SpaceX had called off an attempt early Wednesday because of issues loading cryogenic methane into the lunar lander at the launch pad, but fueling went off without a hitch a day later.

SpaceX launches Space Force mission from Cape Canaveral

The first-stage booster for the mission made its 18th flight with a recovery touchdown at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1 bringing an overnight sonic boom to the Space Coast just hours after a Wednesday evening launch and landing of another SpaceX Falcon 9 flying a mission for the Space Force. read more

Disney’s highly-touted first affordable housing project has failed to win over its would-be neighbors, who worry the entertainment giant’s 1,410-unit development will worsen traffic and crowd community schools.

Ahead of the initial public hearing at the county zoning board Thursday, many residents of West Orange County emailed officials in opposition to Walt Disney Imagineering’s request for a land-use change to allow apartment buildings on the 80-acre site.

“I completely understand the need and support the addition of affordable housing, but this is just not the location for it,” said Kelly Vanarsdall, who sells real estate and resides in a neighborhood less than two miles away.

The project received a far friendlier reception in April 2022 when it was announced amid a housing crisis so widespread that Orange County commissioners proposed a rent-control ordinance that voters approved but an appeals court struck down.

Mayor Jerry Demings saw the Disney project as an effort to “move the needle” to close an affordability gap. A Disney online news site, disneyconnect.com, said of the project, “we envision a place where cost-burdened renters can focus on their personal growth and prosperity by gaining access to affordable housing.” read more

Despite a delay in launching a SpaceX rocket with a moonbound payload from Kennedy Space Center overnight, the company has another one lined up from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ready to fly.

A Falcon 9 rocket on the classified USSF-124 mission for the Space Force is set to lift off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting the front end of a four-hour window that runs from 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a better than 95% chance for good conditions.

The first-stage booster is making its seventh flight and will aim for a recovery touchdown back at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 2, meaning one or more sonic booms could be heard across parts of Central Florida.

The payloads includes two satellites for the Missile Defense Agency and four satellites for the Space Development Agency headed to low-Earth orbit, according to the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. It’s the 11th National Security Space Launch on a SpaceX rocket.

“With each national security launch, we continue to strengthen America’s capabilities and its deterrence in the face of growing threats while adding stability to a very dynamic world,” said Space Systems Command’s Col. Jim Horne in a press release. “It’s what we do in the Space Force, and we take that charge seriously.” read more

The latest Oasis-class ship from Royal Caribbean will bring with it some unique dining experiences when it debuts from Port Canaveral this summer.

At the top of the list for Utopia of the Seas is an offering that will virtually transport passengers onto a train.

What the cruise line has dubbed Royal Railway – Utopia Station builds on a thematic dining experience in the same way that Empire Supper Club does on its new ship Icon of the Seas. While that dining venue takes passengers to a 1920s New York City-themed restaurant, the railway will go when step further introducing digital screens to mimic train travel in a dining car to a variety of destinations with matching cuisine.

One of the first experiences will mimic America’s Wild West, according to the line. Diners will start with pre-dinner drinks on a themed station platform, and when the train whistle sounds, board the dining car “for a multisensory culinary adventure that will transport them to any place and time.”

“We’re going on this journey of really figuring out where we’re going to go and shoot the video,” said Linken D’Souza, vice president of food and beverage for Royal Caribbean International during a press conference on board Icon of the Seas in January. “How are you going to go research the food? I just talked to the team. We’re going to head out to New Mexico and California and do some research on kind of some of the ingredients.” read more