SpaceX nails booster landings after foggy military launch

SpaceX nails booster landings after foggy military launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched its mega Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than three years Tuesday, hoisting satellites for the military and then nailing side-by-side booster landings back near the pad.

Thick fog shrouded NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the rocket blasted off at midmorning. The crowd at the launch site couldn’t even see the pad three miles (5 kilometers) away, but heard the roar of the 27 first-stage engines.

Both side boosters peeled away two minutes after liftoff, flew back to Cape Canaveral, and landed alongside one another, just a few seconds apart. The core stage was discarded at sea, its entire energy needed to get the Space Force’s satellites to their intended extra-high orbit.

This was SpaceX’s fourth flight of a Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful rocket in use. The first, in 2018, launched SpaceX chief Elon Musk’s red Tesla convertible; the next two Heavy launches followed in 2019, lifting satellites.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: Caution. Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions from 5 a.m. until 10:15 p.m. After that, the moon moves from Leo into Virgo.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a fantastic day to shmooz and romance is also favoured. In fact, this is most romantic day of the week. Intimate relationships will be affectionate and exciting. Enjoy socializing, sporting events and fun activities with kids. The arts are blessed.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

MPI lowers speed limit on tech upgrade with ‘IT roadmap’ following Project Nova debacle

Manitoba Public Insurance is now using an “IT road map” and phasing in new technology and systems after pulling the plug last year on its failed $164-million overhaul known as Project Nova, its annual report says.

Amazon in the weeds over damage to tall grass reserve

Patricia Dutchak was devastated when she first saw the wide swaths of crushed grass and upturned soil at Winnipeg’s Rotary Prairie Nature Park, a municipal heritage site.

“This is a very rare ecosystem, a remnant of tall grass prairie, there’s barely any left in the world, and to come here and see all this damage was heartbreaking,” Dutchak, chair of the Transcona Rotary Club’s parks committee, says.

The club is responsible for maintaining the protected green space, which was significantly damaged this summer when a fence between the park and the neighbouring Amazon distribution centre was relocated.

The 20-acre nature preserve is situated on a narrow tract of land on Regent Avenue West in the commercial heart of Transcona. The park received its municipal heritage designation in 1992 and is, today, surrounded by high-traffic streets, industrial warehouses and car dealerships.