KickStart Your Rocket City News Review Hugh Stanley Hugh@myKickStart

1. KickStart Your Rocket City News Review Hugh Stanley Hugh@myKickStart.com

2. 'Full house' in attendance for TakeDownCon Rocket City 2015 Mayor Tommy Battle extends olive branch to Uber Dream Chaser study a 'major step forward' for Sierra Nevada ... Countdown starts for space, missile defense symposium - “It’s a great opportunity for networking across government and industry,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Bill Phillips How Alabama closed the deal on Google's $600M project 2015 Space & Missile Defense Symposium focus - "Key leaders, experts and officials at the forefront of space and missile defense" will make the symposium more popular than ever with government and industry professionals, chairman and retired Lt. Gen. Bill Phillips Could an ATV Company Be Building the Next Big Electric Car? - What if Polaris is making moves to become a major transportation company. World's largest aircraft maker declares 'next 100 years of innovation' will take place in Alabama - Between Airbus in Mobile, NASA, Boeing, ULA & other HSV aerospace firms MGM Resorts eyeing Atlanta for casino -  “It will compare with anything in Las Vegas.” After Year of Washington Legal Pot Sales, Taxes Top $70M Local

3. SpaceX rocket failure cost NASA $110 million - SpaceX Explosion Destroys Valuable NASA Gear - 'We Lost A Lot' - Still Certified to Launch Military Satellites From ESA: more than 300 new companies - ESA's business incubators hit a milestone this month Russian space leader to America: The only hope is “Soyuz” - Dmitry Rogozin, deputy PM Russia is at it again Failed Launches Cast Shadow Over Russian Space Program - Back-to-back rocket launch failures have dealt Russia one of the heaviest blows to its space industry since the Soviet collapse - with national pride and billions of dollars at stake. China Eyes Purchase of Sea Launch Assets - owner, Energia of Russia, in talks to sell command ship and launch platform How a bunch of government space geeks at NASA won the internet NASA previewed one photo directly to Instagram, where it generated over 100,000 likes in a few minutes - The most successful media outlet in America this week was NASA Space Biz

4. Pluto gets its 15 minutes of fame from 30,000 mph paparazzi - Pluto close-up: Spacecraft makes flyby of icy, mystery world - "This is truly a hallmark in human history," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's science mission chief. "It's been an incredible voyage.“ - Huge Day for Tiny Pluto New Horizons is as close as we’ve yet gotten to the little iceball, now gone on its way again, leaving us with enough scientific data to keep researchers busy for years to come. "It's a very strange place to live in if you are orbiting a binary planet," When New Horizons left, Pluto was still a planet The House just passed a bill about space mining. The future is here. Hawking launches biggest-ever search for alien life - "Either way, there is no bigger question. It's time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth. China, Russia plan joint landing on the Moon - The US does not trust these plans, fearing that China and Russia could work on an anti-satellite weapon NASA wants to send microbes to Mars to prepare for human habitation - Terraforming - "Earth-shaping," - artificially altering a planet's atmosphere and climate to be more accommodating for human life. Space Exploration

5. Embattled Commerce Inspector General Abruptly Retires Obama clears the way for hostages' families to pay ransom - U.S. government can help facilitate communications with terrorists on behalf of the families Army cuts: Post-by-post numbers for soldier reductions - Elmendorf and Benning get biggest hits. Yes, There Will Be a Federal Spending Spree This Fall - Since 2009, agencies have spent an avg32 percent of their annual contract dollars in the last three months of the fiscal year, (ends in SEP) Six head-scratching Jade Helm conspiracy theories - FEMA death domes, ice-cream-truck morgues. Bernie Sanders' surge is partly fueled by veterans - may not be a friend to the military, but many vets believe he’s gone to war for them. And that’s why they’re out there cheering for a socialist  Donald Trump Is Running For President, And Nothing Makes Sense Anymore How long does it take to change a phone number? Lindsey Graham is about to find out. A Step Forward for a World War I Memorial in D.C. - congressionally chartered U.S. World War I Centennial Commission opened international competition for the design Beltway

6. Companies, Contracts & Characters • As Lockheed Gobbles Up Sikorsky, Are Defense-Contractor Giants Getting Too Big?  - Lockheed Martin Could Spin Off Its $6 Billion Government IT Business • Retiring Boeing CEO to get $3.9M-per-year pension - but just for 15 years • Northrop names two new VPs - Mick Jaggers is now vice president and program manager, Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system programs • It's official: Computer Sciences Corp. announces plans to split in two • AerojetRocketdyne CEO retires suddenly; replacement named - Eileen Drake takes over Seymour’s duties as CEO, president and as member of the board of directors. - Two execs jumping ship in four months is enough to scare any investor. But these numbers lend some reassurance that the business isn't going away • Dynetics rocket breakthroughs rely on 3-D printing, new methods • Colt Defense, 179-Year-Old Gunmaker, Files for Bankruptcy - listed assets of as much as $500 million and debt of as much as $500 million • Palantir is raising money at a ridiculous valuation that makes it the third most valuable US startup - Founded in 2004, Palantir has the US government and Wall Street financial firms as its clients.  • DynCorp finds new CEO - Geisler stepped in after the previous CEO Gordon Walsh left the company after about three weeks on the job • WestWind Names Chester Schickling Vice-President of Business Development • Agencies Are Poaching Executives From Other Agencies to Avoid Messy Hiring System - Nearly half of career federal executives said they were approached about a job by an agency outside of their own between 2013 and 2014

7. Aviation • United Technologies Corporation Sikorsky Conducts Successful S-97 Test Flight 276 mph Batcopter of the sky • Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Bigger, Lockheed Buys Sikorsky - the same parent company that builds the F-35, F-16, C-130J and provides a giant mountain of other defense products, will also build the legendary UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-53K King Stallion, S-92 Super Hawk and the exotic and promising new S-97 Raider. • Boeing Looks to Sell Retired A-10 Warthogs Abroad - Boeing Co. doesn’t want the planes to waste away in the Arizona bone yard - GAO: Scrapping A-10s could pose mission, cost risks • What the F-35 v F-16 Dogfight Really Means: Think Pilots -  as the Chief of Staff of USAF General Mark Welsh explained, “You have to have the F-35 to augment the F-22 to do the air superiority fight.” In other words, the USAF needs the F-35 to be a dogfighter. - Dunford Says F-35 Fleet Size Under Review; Supports F-35 Buy • The 30,000-pound bomb that could be used against Iran's nuclear facilities 'boggles the mind' - an awe-inspiring "plan B" — the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

8. Pictures of the Month Pluto Plateau / Airbus Electric Plane

9. Missile Defense • Boeing's Most Dangerous Missile Just Got Twice as Dangerous - Harpoon Next-Generation - same killing power of the original missile, but increased range will enable Harpoon-armed warships to reach four times as many targets as the original.  • THAAD is 'excellent deterrent' against N. Korean threats: McCain - DC has expressed its willingness to deploy a THAAD battery on the Korean Peninsula to better protect South Korea and U.S. troops stationed in the country • Army Tests New Missile Defense Brain, IBCS; Navy, MDA Intrigued - So what does IBCS do? It links the radar, the launcher, and the human decision makers — and in more flexible ways that ever before. • US might deploy missiles in Europe to counter Russia - could pre-emptively destroy the Russian weapons. • Missile Defense Strategy 'Not Sustainable,' Salvation Lies In R&D - We can’t keep buying multi-million-dollar interceptors to shoot down adversaries’ ever-growing arsenals of much cheaper offensive missiles, said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Todorov. • US Army to ramp-up Hellfire production - ordered an increase in production of the AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missile from 500 all-up rounds (AURs) per month to 650 • The Lagging Architecture of NATO Missile Defense - the geostrategic environment facing the U.S. now has evolved in ways entirely unexpected and at a pace far more rapid than predicted • Rafael uses Iron Dome to engage UAV threat - Iron Dome rocket interceptor is capable of intercepting all types of unmanned air vehicle • The End of Sanctuary in Space - Why America is considering getting more aggressive in orbit • Pentagon unveils plans for operations centre to protect satellites from attack - will open a ‘space war centre’ in six months to counter threats from China and Russia in Earth orbit

10. Strange Torque • Court Tells City: No, You Cannot Sue Someone For Making A FOIA ... • Police: Man shoots off firework from top of his head, somehow dies - Maine - ‘‘There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left’’ • While You Were Sleeping, Best Buy Was Selling $200 Gift Cards for $15 - the company quickly fixed it, but not before a number of nocturnal opportunists took advantage of the apparent bargain. • Brick-laying robot can build a full-sized house in two days - about 20 times faster than a human bricklayer. • New strain of seaweed tastes like bacon - original goal was to develop a seaweed that could be used as a "super-food" to feed farmed abalone. • Internet is leading everyone to forget important information as 'digital amnesia' takes hold - they’ve handed over responsibility for remembering it to their phones • Herpes virus genetically engineered to destroy skin cancer cells - 436 patients suffering from inoperable skin cancers treated with a modified form of herpes virus called Talimogene Laherparepvec (T-VEC). • You Can Now Stream Showtime Without A Cable Subscription - costs $11 per month, four dollars less than HBO's • Time Warner Has to Pay Texas Woman $230K After 153 Robocalls - Judge tripled the damages, saying the company's "particularly egregious" behavior violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. • How to Turn Your Workout into a Habit - make it into a specific type of habit—one triggered by a cue. • 5 Things That Are Ruining Your Teeth - Coke, BBQ Sauce, Beer …how do Southerners have a tooth in their head?

11. All I know is what I read in the papers… – Will Rogers