South Florida Local News

Today is Thursday, Sept. 19, the 263rd day of 2024. There are 103 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 19, 2022, Great Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers — and crowds who thronged the streets of London.

Also on this date:

In 1796, President George Washington’s farewell address was published. In it, America’s first chief executive advised, “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”

In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died 2 1/2 months after being shot by Charles Guiteau; he was succeeded by Vice President Chester A. Arthur.

In 1955, President Juan Peron of Argentina was ousted after a revolt by the army and navy.

In 1957, the United States conducted its first contained underground nuclear test, code-named “Rainier,” in the Nevada desert.

In 1985, the Mexico City area was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 9,500 people.

In 1988, Olympic diver Greg Louganis suffered a concussion after striking his head on the diving board during the preliminary round of the 3-meter springboard diving competition at the Seoul Summer Games; Louganis would recover from the injury and win a gold medal in the event the following day.

In 1995, The New York Times and The Washington Post published the manifesto of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (kah-ZIHN’-skee), which proved instrumental in identifying and capturing him.

In 2004, Hu Jintao (hoo jin-tow) became the undisputed leader of China with the departure of former President Jiang Zemin (jahng zuh-MEEN’) from his top military post.

In 2008, struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration laid out a radical bailout plan calling for a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions. Relieved investors sent stocks soaring on Wall Street and around the globe.

In 2011, Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees recorded his 602nd save, making him baseball’s all-time leader in the category.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Rosemary Harris is 97.
• Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is 84.
• Singer Bill Medley (The Righteous Brothers) is 84.
• Singer Sylvia Tyson (Ian and Sylvia) is 84.
• R&B singer Freda Payne is 82.
• Actor Jeremy Irons is 76.
• Model-actor Twiggy Lawson is 75.
• TV personality Joan Lunden is 74.
• Musician-producer Nile Rodgers is 72.
• Rock singer Lita Ford is 66.
• Musician Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) is 62.
• Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 60.
• Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is 59.
• News anchor Soledad O’Brien is 58.
• Actor Sanaa Lathan (suh-NAH’ LAY’-thun) is 53.
• “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon is 50.
• Actor Columbus Short is 42.

General Daily Insight for September 19, 2024

Change is a good thing, even when it isn’t easy. The Sun in responsible Virgo is making a harmonious trine to rebellious Uranus in sensual Taurus, giving us the supplies to shake up our lives before resettling with better and more productive foundations. Meanwhile, the Moon in Aries will make a supportive sextile to expansive Jupiter before conjoining Chiron, opening our minds to less common ways of healing. A final lunar opposition to Venus in Libra will have us craving peace and prosperity.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

A little effort can yield wonderful results. The Sun in your competent 6th house is making a special trine to rebel Uranus in your money-loving 2nd house, reminding you of any work necessary to earn a big reward. A last-minute professional opportunity could arise, or perhaps you’ll land a client out of the blue who comes with a hefty payload attached. You may also stumble across a sound investment opportunity. Just make sure to do your due diligence before signing up for anything!

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

There is nothing wrong with letting your freak flag fly! An undeniable dose of excitement is lighting you up as the Sun in your artistic 5th house trines change-maker Uranus in your sign, giving you the urge to put on a show and express any sides of yourself that don’t always see the light of day. If you’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut, then this opportunity will feel especially exciting. No matter what, a little change should be enjoyable.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Your emotions may surprise you at any moment. Even if you picture yourself entirely put together, a sudden shift could strike when the Sun in your responsive 4th house trines Uranus in your subconscious sector. This angle is actually quite a positive one, so there shouldn’t be too many difficulties demanding your attention at once. That said, no matter how good, such a curveball can still catch you off guard, so some strong feelings might arrive with it. Any tears should be positive, at least!

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

It’s the perfect time to socialize. The Sun in your connected 3rd house shines brightly on your efforts to connect as it reaches out to create a lovely trine with change-maker Uranus in your 11th House of Networking. This expands your efforts to connect with exciting people far and wide. Uranus loves to shake things up, so consider introducing some new energy to your social circle, whether by trying a fun and unusual activity or inviting new faces to join the usual crew.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

You can make leaps and bounds on the professional front. Thanks to a trine between the Sun in your income sector and Uranus in your career zone, there is a metaphorical portal to success. Gathering your willpower and taking action is the best way to step through this portal. Keep your eyes open for any opportunities — even if they don’t look like your normal cup of tea, you can still do great things with them. Think outside the box to obtain the greatest rewards.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Get ready to be your most courageous self! The Sun is in your sign, lighting you up with fantastic energy. Today it also inspires Uranus in your 9th House of Expansion, in turn encouraging you to break out of any ruts and go explore the world to your heart’s content. Boundaries or limitations that may have blocked you in the past could currently fall away at the lightest touch, so don’t let previous fears hold you back. It’s your time to soar.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

A little extra support is always welcome. You might be on the receiving end of a helping hand as the Sun in your hidden 12th house strengthens unpredictable Uranus in your transformational 8th house. This alignment can result in windfalls landing right in your lap when least expected. Plus, with the Sun in your subconscious sector, it’s highly likely you won’t even realize that someone has their eye on you with the intention of doing you a good turn. You deserve this blessing.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

It only takes one person to change your life. The Sun in your 11th House of Friendships is trining Uranus in your 7th House of Cooperation, encouraging you to connect with others in your pursuit of whatever you’re searching for. People who strike you as different or perhaps even eccentric could prove especially suited to helping you reach your goals. That’s right: you don’t need to follow any previous examples of what might have worked before. It’s time for something new!

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

The road to success isn’t following its usual route right now, Sag. There is a potent trine between the Sun in your work sector and rebel Uranus in your routine sector, showing you a fresh path toward your finish line of choice. Consider doing something to mix up your normal approach to work — you never know, the results could turn out to be the ticket to your next big achievement! VIPs and other supervisors should take notice of your ingenuity.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Fun doesn’t always look the same. The stars are showing you interesting ways to enjoy yourself as the Sun in your adventurous 9th house makes an electrifying trine to eclectic Uranus in your upbeat 5th house. Don’t hesitate to follow your heart into unknown territory. The 5th house is all about taking a chance on yourself, so take a gamble on something different! You may end up pleasantly surprised by just how much you enjoy the experience. Let loose and dive into something exciting.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

It’s easy to get overwhelmed on a day like this, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a positive way forward. The Sun in your obsessive 8th house is potentially forcing you to deal with a lot of heavy issues. That said, its trine to Uranus in your domestic 4th house could result in someone coming forward, perhaps a relative or roommate, to give you a boost when you need it most. There’s nothing wrong with leaning on others, so don’t give yourself any grief.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

When was the last time you talked to someone who totally gets you? You could encounter such a person unexpectedly as the Sun in your relationship sector befriends surprising Uranus in the most neighborly part of your chart. Try greeting an acquaintance the next time you see one when out and about — they may end up feeling like a long-lost best friend! Don’t avoid interactions, because the universe is calling you to be your friendliest self. A smile might be all it takes.

GAINESVILLE — Florida’s sputtering offense will be without top playmaker Tre Wilson for the second week as the Gators seek a rare road win at Mississippi State.

The team’s leading receiver, with 13 catches for 191 yards, is out a week after he was questionable with an undisclosed injury but did not play during a 33-20 loss at home to Texas A&M.

“We’re definitely a better team with Tre Wilson,” coach Billy Napier said following Wednesday’s practice.

The SEC announced Wilson’s status at 8:10 p.m., after Napier had addressed reporters. He did say Wilson was injured during the Gators’ 45-7 win Sept. 7 against Samford, highlighted by his 85-yard touchdown following a shovel pass from true freshman DJ Lagway.

While Wilson left defenders in the dust, GPS tracking clocked him at team-record 23.42 mph. The Gators built much of their attack around the 5-foot-10, 183-pound sophomore because of his explosiveness and instincts.

But the Gators (1-2, 0-1 SEC) struggled to unleash Wilson during a 41-17 season-opening loss to Miami. Without him against Texas A&M, UF was shut out during the first half for the first time at home since 2015.

Transfer receivers Elijhah Badger (Arizona State) and Chimere Dike (Wisconsin) combined for 11 catches — 6 by Dike for 185 yards. Each scored a touchdown.

“Dike and Badger stepped up in a major way,” Napier said. “We have the ability to in formation plays to get the primary guys in position, much like we’ve done the past. We’ve got to continue to create ways to get the ball to the best players.

“Who’s the third? That’s the question mark.”

Billy Napier, in his third season, is 12-16 after the Gators’ SEC-opening loss to Texas A&M at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last week. (James Gilbert/Getty)

Sophomore Aidan Mizell of Orlando and true freshman Tank Hawkins went without a catch against Texas A&M after each caught long touchdown passes from Lagway against Samford. Hawkins is listed as questionable this week as the Gators face struggling Mississippi State (1-2, 0-0).

Each team will seek a fast start.

Florida trailed Texas A&M 20-0 at halftime and Miami 24-10 after 30 minutes. Meanwhile, first-time head coach Jeff Lebby’s Bulldogs were outscored 55-6 during the first half the last two weeks at Arizona State and vs. Toledo.

“It’s a key to winning football,” Napier said. “It’s an area in particular for us on offense where we have had some success in the past, and we’ve got to get back to that. We’ve typically been able to get going early.

“We need to do that.”

Napier will again deploy a two-quarterback rotation with veteran Graham Mertz and Lagway. Against Texas A&M, Mertz, who finished 12 of 15 for 195 yards, a touchdown and an interception, outperformed Lagway, who was 6 of 13 for 54 yards, a touchdown and 2 picks.

“Some of it is open-ended,” Napier said of each player’s usage. “They know that. Ultimately my expectation is they both prepare well, they both practice well and they both play lights out when given a chance.”

The Gators also have to get their run game on track against a Bulldogs defense that allowed 346 rushing yards during a 30-23 loss two weeks ago to Arizona State. Napier’s offense is built around establishing the run, but averaged just averaged 95.5 yards and 3.6 yards per carry in two losses.

“Hence my frustration,” Napier said. “We got to do better in that area. It’s one of the things that makes the engine go.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

Florida at Mississippi State

When: Saturday, Davis Wade Stadium, noon

TV: ESPN

By PAUL NEWBERRY

ATLANTA (AP) — Another big Atlanta crowd finally got a chance to see Lionel Messi in an MLS match.

They nearly watched United pull out a much-needed win over league-leading Inter Miami.

Alexey Miranchuk scored with a booming shot in the 84th minute and the home team pressed hard for the winning goal in stoppage time, only to settle for a 2-2 tie with Messi’s Miami club before an announced crowd of 67,795 on Wednesday night.

After making a triumphant return to the Miami lineup with two goals and an assist last weekend, Messi started this game on the bench. Coach Gerardo Martino wanted to manage the minutes of his 37-year-old Argentine star, who is coming back from national team duties and an ankle injury with the club in the midst of a busy stretch.

Messi trotted on the field in the 61st to a big roar, shortly after Leo Campana scored off a deflected free kick to put the Herons in front. But the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner couldn’t find the net in his limited time on the field, drawing plenty of attention from the United defenders.

“You’ve gotta keep an eye on him,” Atlanta keeper Brad Guzan said with a wry smile.

In June, Messi made an Atlanta appearance for Argentina in the opening game of the Copa America. But he didn’t play a year ago when Miami visited Atlanta, disappointing a crowd of 71,635.

He made the trip this time around, thrilling the crowd simply by warming up with three teammates shortly into the second half. Fans in the lower deck whipped out their phones and began snapping pictures.

Miami moved to 19-4-6 for 63 points with five matches remaining in the regular season. The Herons are eight points ahead of Cincinnati and LA Galaxy in the race for the Supporters’ Shield and home-field advantage throughout the MLS playoffs.

Messi showed flashes. most notably with a point-blank shot that was swatted away by Guzan. Luis Suárez, who also came off the bench, collected the rebound with an open goal in front of him, only to be blocked at the line by Atlanta defender Pedro Amador.

In stoppage time, Messi dribbled around three players in the penalty area but failed to get off a shot. Finally, he threw up his arms in frustration when a pass was intercepted by Atlanta.

“Whoever plays, we try to support each other,” Miami defender Franco Negri said through a translator. “We know what Leo means, the importance he has.”

Martino was suspended for the match due to an accumulation of staff cautions, leaving assistant coach Javier Morales to run the team.

“I think we had a good performance,” Morales said. “But of course, Atlanta is at home. They’re going to push. They had a big crowd, and this was the kind of game we were expecting.”

With the home team trailing 2-1, Miranchuk unleashed a left-footed shot from 20 meters out that found the top left corner of the goal.

United had been waiting for a moment like this from the Russian player who joined the club during the summer transfer window for reported $13 million fee, one of the highest ever for an incoming player to MLS. It was his first goal in four league matches.

“There’s not many goalkeepers in the world that are gonna save that one,” Guzan said. “That’s a glimpse of his quality and what he can do with the ball at his feet. We’re trying to encourage him to do that more often.”

Both teams pressed forward in the closing minutes, with Atlanta creating the bulk of the chances, but neither could break through.

It was a discouraging result for Atlanta, which is 11th in the Eastern Conference and one point of out a playoff berth.

“We need three points,” Guzan said. “You have as many chances as we had, we should be coming away with three points.”

Miami grabbed the lead on David Ruiz’s goal in the 29th off another deflection. Negri’s pass hit someone just outside the area, somehow got through three other players and wound up going right to Ruiz, who was all alone between two Atlanta defenders and slid the shot past Guzan.

United tied it in the 56th when Saba Lobjanidze’s header slipped between the legs of Miami keeper Drake Callender.

Campana put the Herons ahead with a free kick that was intended for the right corner of the Atlanta goal. But the ball deflected off Dax McCarty and ricocheted into the net on the left side. Guzan, diving the other way, never had a chance.

Two minutes later, Messi came on for Julian Gressel.

UP NEXT

Inter Miami: Faces New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

Atlanta United: Travels to New York Red Bulls on Saturday.

___

AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer

MIAMI (AP) —

Shohei Ohtani stole his 49th base and moved closer to becoming the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 steals in a season as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins 8-4 Wednesday night.

Ohtani, who began the day two shy of each mark, singled to lead off the game then swiped second. He flew out to left, struck out, lined out to right and struck out in his next four plate appearances.

“What a season – it is remarkable that he can hit as a DH but what’s more remarkable is that he keeps his legs loose to be able to steal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Tommy Edman hit his sixth homer in the last eight games for the NL West-leading Dodgers (90-62), who remained 3 1/2 games ahead of second-place San Diego. Enrique Hernández and Will Smith also went deep and Freddie Freeman had three hits.

The Dodgers reached 90 victories for the 11th consecutive season of 162 games.

“It’s pretty impressive. It’s one of the best organizations in baseball as far as consistency of winning,” Roberts said. “You can’t take it for granted because getting to play in October isn’t a rite of passage for any organization.”

Dodgers starter Landon Knack (3-4) gave up two hits over five scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out seven. For Knack, the outing overcame the frustrations of his previous start, when he gave up five runs and seven hits in two innings against Atlanta last Friday.

“Obviously, not happy with that one,” Knack said. “I was very angry and ready to bounce back.”

Smith gave Los Angeles an early lead with his solo homer in the second. He drove a fastball from Miami starter Ryan Weathers over the wall in left for his 19th homer.

The Dodgers broke it open with a five-run fourth against Weathers (3-6). Edman hit a two-run homer and Hernández added a three-run drive.

“I’ve had some bad habits that I’ve developed and I’ve been working hard to correct those,” Edman said of his recent power surge. “It’s still a work in progress but I think it’s getting better.”

Miami narrowed the deficit on Otto López’s two-run single off Zach Logue and Nick Fortes’ sacrifice fly against Blake Treinen in the seventh.

Chris Taylor increased Los Angeles’ lead with a two-run single in the eighth.

Weathers’ outing ended after Freeman’s one-out double in the fifth. The left-hander, who made his first appearance since June 7, gave up six runs and eight hits while striking out five. He was sidelined because of a left index finger strain.

“I was happy to be back,” Weathers said. “I wish I could have thrown the ball better.”

Wednesday’s crowd of 17,138 put the Marlins season attendance at 1,007,039, ahead of only the Oakland A’s.

Before the game, the Dodgers activated right-handed reliever Joe Kelly from the injured list and selected Logue’s contract from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Kelly relieved Knack and pitched a perfect sixth. The club optioned right-handed pitchers Bobby Miller and Michael Grove to Oklahoma City.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (left big toe bone spur) threw a bullpen session on Wednesday and manager Dave Roberts considered it an important step in his rehab. … INF Miguel Rojas was a late scratch because he was “feeling under the weather,” according to Roberts.

Marlins: RHP Max Meyer (right shoulder bursitis) is continuing his rehab program at the club’s spring training complex in Jupiter, Fla. He will be evaluated in the next days for a possible throwing program.

UP NEXT

RHP Jack Flaherty (12-7, 3.04) will start the series finale for the Dodgers on Thursday while the Marlins will go with RHP Edward Cabrera (4-7, 4.55).

___

AP MLB: https://www.apnews.com/hub/MLB

By TRÂN NGUYỄN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California now has some of the toughest laws in the United States to crack down on election deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three landmark proposals this week at an artificial intelligence conference in San Francisco.

The state could be among the first to test out such legislation, which bans the use of AI to create and circulate false images and videos in political ads close to Election Day.

But now, two of the three laws, including one that was designed to curb the practice in the 2024 election, are being challenged in court through a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Sacramento.

Those include one that takes effect immediately that allows any individual to sue for damages over election deepfakes, while the other requires large online platforms, like X, to remove the deceptive material starting next year.

The lawsuit, filed by a person who created parody videos featuring altered audios of Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, says the laws censor free speech and allow anybody to take legal action over content they dislike. At least one of his videos was shared by Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, which then prompted Newsom to vow to ban such content on a post on X.

The governor’s office said the law doesn’t ban satire and parody content. Instead, it requires the disclosure of the use of AI to be displayed within the altered videos or images.

“It’s unclear why this conservative activist is suing California,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement. “This new disclosure law for election misinformation isn’t any more onerous than laws already passed in other states, including Alabama.”

Theodore Frank, an attorney representing the complainant, said the California laws are too far reaching and are designed to “force social media companies to censor and harass people.”

“I’m not familiar with the Alabama law. On the other hand, the governor of Alabama had hasn’t threatened our client the way the governor of California did,” he told The Associated Press.

The lawsuit appears to be among the first legal challenges over such legislation in the U.S. Frank told the AP he is planning to file another lawsuit over similar laws in Minnesota.

State lawmakers in more than a dozen states have advanced similar proposals after the emergence of AI began supercharging the threat of election disinformation worldwide.

Among the three law signed by Newsom on Tuesday, one takes effect immediately to prevent deepfakes surrounding the 2024 election and is the most sweeping in scope. It targets not only materials that could affect how people vote but also any videos and images that could misrepresent election integrity. The law also covers materials depicting election workers and voting machines, not just political candidates.

The law makes it illegal to create and publish false materials related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. It also allows courts to stop the distribution of the materials, and violators could face civil penalties. The law exempts parody and satire.

The goal, Newsom and lawmakers said, is to prevent the erosion of public trust in U.S. elections amid a “fraught political climate.”

But critics such as free speech advocates and Musk called the new California law unconstitutional and an infringement on the First Amendment. Hours after they were signed into law, Musk on Tuesday night elevated a post on X sharing an AI-generated video featuring altered audios of Harris.

“The governor of California just made this parody video illegal in violation of the Constitution of the United States. Would be a shame if it went viral,” Musk wrote of the AI-generated video, which has a caption identifying the video as a parody.

It is not clear how effective these laws are in stopping election deepfakes, said Ilana Beller of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. The group tracks state legislation related to election deepfakes. None of the law has been tested in a courtroom, Beller said.

The law’s effectiveness could be blunted by the slowness of the courts against a technology that can produce fake images for political ads and disseminate them at warp speed.

It could take several days for a court to order injunctive relief to stop the distribution of the content, and by then, damages to a candidate or to an election could have been already done, Beller said.

“In an ideal world, we’d be able to take the content down the second it goes up,” she said. “Because the sooner you can take down the content, the less people see it, the less people proliferate it through reposts and the like, and the quicker you’re able to dispel it.”

Still, having such a law on the books could serve as a deterrent for potential violations, she said.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the law she authored is a simple tool to avoid misinformation.

“What we’re saying is, hey, just mark that video as digitally altered for parody purposes,” Pellerin said. “And so it’s very clear that it’s for satire or for parody.”

Newsom on Tuesday also signed another law to require campaigns to start disclosing AI-generated materials starting next year, after the 2024 election.

MIAMI GARDENS — One of the most anticipated games of the Miami Dolphins’ season takes place Sunday in Seattle vs. the Seahawks.

Everyone wants to see how quarterback Skylar Thompson performs as the replacement for Tua Tagovailoa.

But it’s also important how coach Mike McDaniel handles this situation.

The Dolphins (1-1) visit the Seahawks (2-0) in a road game that is viewed as the start of a tenuous time in this pivotal season.

One of the big questions is was it worthwhile to give contract extensions and restructures to McDaniel, wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and cornerback Jalen Ramsey? If so, let’s see them earn their big bucks.

In that spirit, here are five things to watch for in Sunday’s game against Seattle.

Skylar Thompson

The most important thing for Thompson is to be himself. Don’t run the offense the way Tagovailoa runs it best, run it how you run it best. Use your legs. Use your arm strength. 

Seattle has some good defenders with Pro Bowl safety Julian Love and Pro Bowl slot/nickel cornerback Devon Witherspoon. 

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Thompson should spread the ball among wide receivers, tight ends and running backs in an effort to force the Seahawks to defend the entire field instead of just two players. 

Dolphins big-money, high-profile players — Hill, Waddle, Armstead, Ramsey, etc

Wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, left tackle Terron Armstead, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and others must be better. Period.

Veterans such as linebackers David Long Jr. and Jordyn Brooks must also be better. The same goes for edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. And safeties Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer.

The Dolphins’ big-money players, high-profile players and proven veterans must all play better.

Not many were very good in the blowout loss to Buffalo, and now, with Tagovailoa sidelined, they must all be better to help Thompson.

Anthony Weaver’s familiarity with Seattle coach Mike Macdonald … and vice versa

Weaver, the Dolphins defensive coordinator and former Baltimore defensive line coach, was on the same staff as Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, an ex-Baltimore defensive coordinator, last season.

They should know each other’s tendencies.

The Dolphins might catch a break because running back Kenneth Walker III (oblique) could miss his second consecutive game.

But that could lead to quarterback Geno Smith going to wide receiver DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba more frequently. Both had more than 100 yards receiving in last Sunday’s 23-20 overtime win at New England.

Weaver is dealing with a snap count for Phillips (Achilles). The Dolphins are also watching the snap count for Ramsey (hamstring).

But Weaver has done multiple things with Phillips and Ramsey in defensive formations, and that should work to his benefit against Seattle.

Phillips, Campbell workload

Keep an eye on a pair of defensive lineman — Phillips and Calais Campbell (38 years old). It’ll be interesting to see if they’re impactful this week.

Phillips and Campbell played just 23 snaps against Buffalo. Of course, the Bills only had 45 offensive snaps so they each played 51%.

For the season, Phillips has two tackles and one sack in two games and a total of 57 snaps. 

Campbell has four tackles and one sack in two games and a total of 58 snaps.

The Dolphins, who had a franchise-record 56 sacks last season, have 3.0 sacks this season.

If Phillips and Campbell have their snaps limited look for edge rushers Chop Robinson and Quinton Bell to have an increased workload, and linemen D’Shawn Hand and Benito Jones to have an increased workload.

Mike McDaniel

McDaniel must make life easier for Thompson while finding a way to get the most out of an offense that’s missing a valuable piece in Tagovailoa.

In the meantime, McDaniel must also find a way to win aside from out-scoring his opponents. 

And McDaniel must get something from his defense, special teams and assistant coaches.

It’s asking a lot.

But McDaniel is the head coach for a reason.

It’s his plan to have Thompson as the No. 2 quarterback.

And it’s up to him to make the whole plan work.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — can Miami win in Seattle with a backup QB? | VIDEO

DANIA BEACH — Scientists have moved about 300 endangered sea corals from South Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast for research and restoration.

Nova Southeastern University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers packed up the corals Wednesday at the NSU’s Oceanographic Campus in Dania Beach. The sea creatures were then loaded onto a van, taken to a nearby airport and flown to Texas.

Researchers were taking extreme caution with the transfer of these delicate corals, NSU researcher Shane Wever said.

“The process that we’re undertaking today is a really great opportunity for us to expand the representation of the corals that we are working with and the locations where they’re stored,” Wever said. “Increasing the locations that they’re stored really acts as safeguards for us to protect them and to preserve them for the future.”

Each coral was packaged with fresh clean sea water and extra oxygen, inside of a protective case and inside of insulated and padded coolers, and was in transport for the shortest time possible.

NSU’s marine science research facility serves as a coral reef nursery, where rescued corals are stored, processed for restoration and transplanted back into the ocean. The school has shared corals with other universities, like the University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University and Texas State University, as well as the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys.

Despite how important corals are, it is easy for people living on land to forget how important things in the ocean are, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researcher Keisha Bahr said.

“Corals serve a lot of different purposes,” Bahr said. “First of all, they protect our coastlines, especially here in Florida, from wave energy and coastal erosion. They also supply us with a lot of the food that we get from our oceans. And they are nurseries for a lot of the organisms that come from the sea.”

Researchers help sort and label coral at NSU’s Oceanographic Campus on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Abnormally high ocean temperatures caused widespread coral bleaching in 2023, wiping out corals in the Florida Keys. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi turned to NSU when its partners in the Keys were no longer able to provide corals for its research. Broward County was spared from the majority of the 2023 bleaching so the NSU offshore coral nursery had healthy corals to donate.

“We’re losing corals at an alarming rate,” Bahr said. “We lost about half of our corals in last three decades. So we need to make sure that we continue to have these girls into the future.”

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is using some of these corals to study the effects of sediment from Port Everglades on coral health. The rest will either help the university with its work creating a bleaching guide for the Caribbean or act as a genetic bank, representing nearly 100 genetically distinct Staghorn coral colonies from across South Florida’s reefs.

“We wanted to give them as many genotypes, which are genetic individuals, as we could to really act as a safeguard for these this super important species,” Wever said.

MIAMI GARDENS — On a team that continues to make surprising headlines, now it’s Jaelan Phillips’ turn.

Phillips, the Miami Dolphins’ fifth-year edge rusher who spoke last year about early-season mental struggles as a result of injuries, posted a deeply emotional Instagram story Tuesday that admirably and boldly touched on self worth, self confidence, self hatred and self doubt issues.

It courageously pulls back a curtain on person some might regard as a superhero and makes him an everyday hero.

It begins:

“I have to work really hard to not attach my self worth and confidence to how I perform on the field. When I have a poor performance or even just a subpar performance, I feel like I’m worthless, like I let my team and fans down, and often my confidence can waiver. The self hatred and doubt can feel so heavy in these moments, sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever pull myself out of it.”

I’ve always found Phillips to be an intelligent, emotional guy.

In his post and explanation he’s delivering a vitally important message about stigmas and self help.

“Some people might see it as soft to speak about your emotions,” Phillips said. “but I think it’s important, like I said, to convey that message and show people that they can be themselves.”

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Phillips further explained Wednesday in the locker room that the post wasn’t meant to garner sympathy.

“I just wanted to convey a message to people,” Phillips began. “It’s really anybody in general, but especially young athletes and stuff.

“I feel like some people are just naturally supremely confident. But I feel like a lot of people have struggled with their confidence. I just wanted to convey the message that even if you do struggle with your confidence, you can still move past it, you can still be successful. It’s really about how you handle those times like that and how you move forward from it.”

Phillips’ Instagram story continued.

“It takes a concerted effort to change my way of thinking in those moments, and see failure/adversity as a learning experience instead of the end of the world. I pick my head up, and fall back on routine and discipline, which are the only things that matter. It’s all about the process, not the results. It’s so much easier to spiral and self-deprecate, but nothing good is ever easy. Keep chopping wood, things will get better. You can do it. Believe in yourself. And trust God.”

An inspirational message brought to you by Jaelan Phillips today. pic.twitter.com/KsgSRjkMfO

— David Furones (@DavidFurones_) September 17, 2024

Phillips explained further Wednesday not to get caught up in a stigma. He said it’s also important to fight back against feelings of self doubt and low confidence.

“That’s kind of what I went through after the game on Thursday,” he said of the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, a game in which Phillips had two tackles in 23 snaps.

“I feel like I have a lot of high expectations for myself and I didn’t live up to my standard. So, kind of instantly, all the negative voices in my head kind of started berating me. Like I said (Tuesday), it takes a concerted effort to switch that mindset, mind frame, and start to love yourself and start to talk to yourself positive things instead of just calming yourself down.”

What’s been the response?

“A lot of love,” Phillips said. “It’s not like I was asking or trying to, you know, pity me, woe is me, this and that.

“Like I said, it was more about conveying that message, and really it was on my heart and I just wanted to share that because I think it’s a valuable lesson.”

Sometimes we all regard athletes as robots with one-track minds, that nothing ever affects them, that they’ll be OK regardless of the circumstances.

This is a good reminder that they’re human.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Furones, Perkins on how Miami can win in Seattle with Skylar Thompson | VIDEO

• Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19) runs a drill during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel talk during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterbacks Tyler Huntley (18), right, and Skylar Thompson (19) throw footballs during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel walks past quarterbacks, from right; Tyler Huntley (18), Skylar Thompson (19), and Tim Boyle (14) as they stretch during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley (18) puts his helmet on during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterbacks Tyler Huntley (18), Skylar Thompson (19), and Tim Boyle (14) stretch during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel walks past quarterbacks Tim Boyle (14) and Skylar Thompson (19) during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Brandon Pili (96) is shown during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterbacks Tyler Huntley (18) and Skylar Thompson (19) chat while stretching during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19) tosses a football during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19), with Tyler Huntley (18) behind him, runs a drill during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks (20) is shown during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley (18), stretches with Skylar Thompson (19), and Tim Boyle (14) during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert (31) and wide receiver Braxton Berrios (0) speak during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, left, and general manager Chris Grier speak with wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Brandon Pili (96) runs a drill during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel speaks with wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) as quarterbacks Tyler Huntley (18) and Skylar Thompson (19) walk past during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Brandon Pili (96) is shown during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

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Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19) runs a drill during practice at Baptist Health Miami Dolphins training complex in Miami Gardens on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

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By ERIC TUCKER and DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iranian hackers sought to interest President Joe Biden’s campaign in information stolen from rival Donald Trump’s campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people associated with the then-Democratic candidate in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.

There’s no indication that any of the recipients responded, officials said, and several media organizations approached over the summer with leaked stolen information have also said they did not respond. Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign called the emails from Iran “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity” that were received by only a few people who regarded them as spam or phishing attempts.

The emails were received before the hack of the Trump campaign was publicly acknowledged, and there’s no evidence the recipients of the emails knew their origin.

The announcement is the latest U.S. government effort to call out what officials say is Iran’s brazen, ongoing work to interfere in the election, including a hack-and-leak campaign that the FBI and other federal agencies linked last month to Tehran.

U.S. officials in recent months have used criminal charges, sanctions and public advisories to detail actions taken by foreign adversaries to influence the election, including an indictment targeting a covert Russian effort to spread pro-Russia content to U.S. audiences.

It’s a stark turnabout from the government’s response in 2016, when Obama administration officials were criticized for not being forthcoming about the Russian interference they were seeing on Trump’s behalf as he ran against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In this case, the hackers sent emails in late June and early July to people who were associated with Biden’s campaign before he dropped out. The emails “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to a statement released by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The agencies have said the Trump campaign hack and an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign are part of an effort to undermine voters’ faith in the election and to stoke discord.

The FBI informed Trump aides within the last 48 hours that information hacked by Iran had been sent to the Biden campaign, according to a senior campaign official granted anonymity to speak because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.

Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

In a statement, Harris campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement since learning that people associated with Biden’s team were among the recipients of the emails.

“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the effort to dangle stolen information to the Biden campaign “further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election” to help Harris.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposes Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

Iran’s intrusion on the Trump campaign was cited as just one of the cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns identified by tech companies and national security officials at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Executives from Meta, Google and Microsoft briefed lawmakers on their plans for safeguarding the election, and the attacks they’d seen so far.

“The most perilous time I think will come 48 hours before the election,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told lawmakers during the hearing, which focused on American tech companies’ efforts to safeguard the election from foreign disinformation and cyberattacks.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 18, the 262nd day of 2024. There are 104 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 18, 2020, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a towering champion of women’s rights who became the court’s second female justice, died at her home in Washington at age 87, of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Also on this date:

In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners.

In 1851, the first edition of The New York Times was published.

In 1947, the National Security Act, which created a National Military Establishment and the position of Secretary of Defense, went into effect.

In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold (dahg HAWM’-ahr-shoold) was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

In 1970, rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27.

In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 2014, voters in Scotland rejected independence, opting to remain part of the United Kingdom in a historic referendum.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Hockey Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman is 91.
• Singer Frankie Avalon is 84.
• Actor Anna Deavere Smith is 74.
• Neurosurgeon-author-politician Ben Carson is 73.
• Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is 72.
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is 70.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Šťastný is 68.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is 65.
• Actor Holly Robinson Peete is 60.
• R&B singer Ricky Bell (Bell Biv Devoe, New Edition) is 57.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Toni Kukoč is 56.
• Actor Aisha Tyler is 54.
• Actor Jada Pinkett Smith is 53.
• Actor James Marsden is 51.
• Rapper-TV host Xzibit is 50.
• Comedian-actor Jason Sudeikis is 49.
• Former soccer player Ronaldo is 48.
• TV host Sara Haines is 47.
• Actor/comedian Billy Eichner is 46.
• Rapper Dizzee Rascal is 40.
• Country singer Tae Kerr (Maddie and Tae) is 29.
• Soccer player Christian Pulisic is 26.

General Daily Insight for September 18, 2024

A few hurdles are ahead on our way to the end of the day. Confusion obscures the starting line as the Moon conjoins mystical Neptune in Pisces. On top of that, the planets will throw more mental roadblocks in front of us when Mercury opposes stoic Saturn at 4:50 am EDT. Satisfying conclusions could seem out of reach, especially once Luna stumbles into Aries and squares Mars in sensitive Cancer. We can push through if we don’t let our emotions overwhelm us.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Even your most productive urges could hit a wall without warning. This is just one of those times, as Mercury in your efficient 6th house locks into a tense opposition with stern Saturn in your subconscious sector. Blockages may pop up where you least expect to find them! It wouldn’t be surprising if no matter how hard you try, you can’t quite seem to cross the finish line with any particular project. That’s okay — take a break and don’t try to force the impossible.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Your present path to pleasure might take you into complicated territory. You’re on a mission to enjoy and express yourself while Mercury moves through your creative 5th house. Contrastingly, the argument between Mercury and Saturn in your communal 11th house could make it feel like you must check in with others before you can run free. You likely have to play your part in a group effort, and that may require putting your bliss on ice. Patience is key to getting what you want.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Your emotions can only take you so far. You’re prone to rolling around in your feelings while your sign’s ruler Mercury drifts through your tender 4th house. Contrastingly, Mercury’s opposition to stoic Saturn in your ambitious 10th house might force you to jump up and throw yourself into facing the world head on. If you’re feeling especially delicate, then take space as you can. Still, Saturn isn’t a very forgiving planet, so pick your battles wisely! Above all, don’t give up on yourself.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

The boundless opportunities in the world may currently feel beyond your grasp — that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Try not to let trickster Mercury’s opposition to stern Saturn convince you that you’re missing out on something bigger by remaining in your neighborhood. Even if you are definitively unable to do something fun, try to distract yourself by laying out future fun plans. If that’s still too dreary, you can always escape through a good book or another piece of media you enjoy.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

A debt of some kind may need to be paid today. You’re focused on your finances while messenger Mercury spins through your 2nd House of Budgeting, and other people get looped in once Mercury pokes cold Saturn in your 8th House of Pooled Investments. You may need to parse out a matter regarding credit, taxes, or inheritances, or you’ll potentially have to chase someone down who owes you money. Perhaps it’s the other way around! Regardless, complicated conversations won’t be easily avoided.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

People might shoot down your ideas seemingly without a second thought. You’re ready to play verbal tennis while eloquent Mercury zips along through your sign. That said, its opposition to icy Saturn in your partnership sector could leave you feeling like people simply aren’t meeting you halfway. There’s no use in pounding on a wall, hoping to turn it into a door. If someone isn’t giving you what you need, don’t waste time trying to get it out of them. You’re allowed to move on!

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Daydreams won’t necessarily serve you at a time like this. You’re prone to being a bit out of it while messenger Mercury glides through your sleepy 12th house, even as its opposition to Saturn in your responsible 6th house demands that you snap out of it and deal with every intricate detail. In addition, co-workers, clients, or similar acquaintances might seem less helpful or supportive than usual. Start prepping to detangle any ongoing issues (and keep an eye on any potential thorns in your side).

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

To stand in the spotlight or find your place in the chorus — that’s today’s question. The universe is tensing up as Mercury in your group-focused 11th house opposes Saturn in your fame-seeking 5th house, giving you the urge to blend in with the herd one moment, then to step out onto center stage the next. It’s alright if you can’t quite find an easy way to balance this energy; Mercury will soon move on to less complicated places for you.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

There are mountains to be climbed, but they are closer to home than you may realize. You’d likely love to charge into the public eye and make a name for yourself while Mercury emphasizes your 10th House of Reputation. Hold on! Mercury’s squabble with Saturn in your rooted 4th house could stir up a domestic matter that requires your attention first and foremost. Whatever plans you had for yourself will possibly need to be put on ice while you put out metaphorical fires.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

You can only go so far at once. You may be tempted to fly far and wide while Mercury zips through your 9th House of Voyaging, but Mercury’s opposition to Saturn in your 3rd House of Distractions could force you to stick closer to home. You may have wonderful plans as you think about all the possibilities available. Still, for now, those probably need to remain ideas, rather than realities. That won’t always be the case, but at least temporarily, keep it simple and local.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

You may feel a little strained at the moment. There is a tense angle between Mercury in your intense 8th house and Saturn in your security-conscious 2nd house. The best way to overcome this energy is to prepare yourself to be on top of your game! You may feel like others are trying to take advantage of you or expect more than you are willing to give. Even if they profess to have good intentions, be ready to lay down the law when necessary.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

People may expect more than you’re willing to give right now. Mercury in your relational zone is reaching out to serious Saturn in your visionary sign, which could create a tug-o-war between what people want you to do and what you want to do for them in turn. You may prefer to walk alone under this aspect, but if you’ve been putting off any important conversations or negotiations, then brace for them to a head! Compromise should be less stressful than avoidance.

By ALANIS THAMES

MIAMI — Jesús Sánchez doubled twice and drove in three runs, and the Miami Marlins beat Shohei Ohtani and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 11-9 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani struck out three times but hit his 48th home run as he tries to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. He did not steal a base for the fifth straight game and remains at 48.

All eyes have been on the star as he tries to reach the historic mark. Fans at the Marlins’ home stadium cheered his name all evening, but Ohtani said he doesn’t necessarily feel any pressure.

“No pressure, just trying to maintain quality at-bats regardless of the situation,” he said. “It is something I’ve been trying to do over the course of the entire season.”

Sánchez went 5 for 5, while Otto López and Jake Burger homered for the Marlins.

Burger’s home run was a two-run shot in the eighth that made it 11-7 and gave the Marlins a needed cushion, as Max Muncy brought the Dodgers within two on a two-run double off Jesús Tinoco in the ninth.

“Any time you’re playing that lineup, you feel like no lead is safe no matter what,” Burger said. “It doesn’t matter how good our pitching is, it’s just one of those things that when you have Shohei Ohtani at the top of their lineup, there’s a chance that a three-run home run can put them in striking distance.”

Connor Norby became the first Marlin with four runs scored in a single game this season. He went 2 for 3 with a single, double and two walks. Kyle Stowers had an RBI triple in the fourth and added a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Marlins, who had 15 hits.

Muncy singled in a run, doubled and stole a base earlier in the game for the Dodgers, who began the day 3 1/2 games ahead of second-place San Diego, which was set to play Houston later Tuesday.

The Dodgers are currently the NL’s No. 2 seed behind Philadelphia. Manager Dave Roberts said last week there was a “slim” chance of Ohtani pitching in the postseason, but Ohtani said Tuesday he hasn’t yet discussed taking the mound.

“There was no conversation that was brought about with the pitching coach in terms of pitching in the postseason,” he said. “But we’re going to have a meeting back in LA to discuss the overall rehab progression.”

Ohtani has not pitched this season — his first with the Dodgers — after elbow surgery.

Reliever Anthony Veneziano picked up his first major league win after striking out two and allowing one hit over 1 1/3 inning.

The Marlins scored four runs in the first two innings off starter Bobby Miller, who was lifted after allowing seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The Dodgers responded with a four-run third jumpstarted by Ohtani’s two-run shot against starter Darren McCaughan that he crushed 402 feet to right.

“I don’t want to see him at the plate, ever,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of Ohtani. “We made some really good pitches. … He hit one a long way. He’s hit a lot of them a long way this year. Those are going to happen at times. When there’s nobody on base it’s better.”

Michael Grove (4-4) took the loss after relieving Miller in the third and giving up a go-ahead RBI double to Sánchez in the fourth that made it 6-5. Sánchez then scored on Stowers’ triple, and the Marlins didn’t relinquish their lead from there.

“They’re a really strong team,” Sánchez said. “There’s no doubt about that. That’s the truth. What we did was execute our game plan, and we did it very well.”

McCaughan pitched 3 2/3 innings, surrendering six hits, five runs and striking out four. Miguel Rojas also homered off McCaughan in the fourth that tied it at five.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: Roberts said RHP Tony Gonsolin will make another rehab start soon and could rejoin the team if that goes well. Gonsolin hasn’t pitched since having Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last August.

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara threw his first live batting practice since having Tommy John surgery in October. … LHP Braxton Garrett allowed three hits in five innings and 80 pitches in a start for Triple-A Jacksonville.

UP NEXT

Dodgers RHP Landon Knack (2-4, 3.70 ERA) will start the second game of the series against Marlins LHP Ryan Weathers (3-5, 3.55).

Forecasters are watching for development of a new disturbance that emerged Tuesday night in the Caribbean Sea, and the remnants of former Tropical Storm Gordon could form again, possibly into a tropical storm.

The new system over the western Caribbean Sea could slowly develop through early next week, the National Hurricane Center said. It is expected to move slowly north or northwest into the northwestern Caribbean.

As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, it has been given a 20% chance of developing in the next seven days.

What remains of Tropical Storm Gordon is unorganized storms over the open water in the central Atlantic. The disturbance will slowly move north-northeast in the next few days and could become a tropical depression or storm again while moving north, forecasters said.

As of 8 p.m., it has a 60% chance of forming in the next seven days and a 30% chance in the next two days.

Experts at Colorado State University issued an updated two-week forecast Tuesday, calling for a normal of hurricane activity. The forecast says it is very unlikely there will be an above-normal amount of activity through the next two weeks.

Their forecast notes that Gordon could reform in a few days and that global models show a tropical cyclone forming in the western Caribbean in the next eight to 12 days, which has the potential to be strong but might be short-lived.

The system in the Caribbean should be “closely monitored for potential landfall impacts,” the CSU forecast said, regardless of how strong it might end up becoming.

The next named storm will be Helene.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.  

Nine Broward schools could be the focus of dramatic changes next year, with some possibly facing closure, under a new proposal from Superintendent Howard Hepburn to deal with underenrollment.

Hepburn presented five schools to the School Board on Tuesday that could be candidates to be closed or repurposed in some way, such as becoming a new type of school or office space. They are: Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill, North Fork Elementary in Fort Lauderdale, Silver Lakes Elementary in Miramar, Silver Shores Elementary in Miramar and Olsen Middle in Dania Beach.

He also proposed making grade configuration changes to four other schools: Coconut Creek Elementary, Hollywood Central Elementary, Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Fort Lauderdale and Pines Middle in Pembroke Pines.

These schools were all on a list of more than 40 schools the district released last month that would be the focus of a series of community meetings, which started Monday and continue through Sept. 30.

Since the meetings are still happening, district officials stressed that the schools on the latest list could change. Hepburn is expected to bring back a formal recommendation next month that will include closing five schools, which may or may not be on Tuesday’s list.

Some board members asked why Tuesday’s list was released if these aren’t the final recommendations. Officials said the list provides a good starting point.

“We did feel as staff we needed to draw attention to the schools that were the lowest enrolled or have the most challenges because we didn’t want those to get lost in the conversation of soliciting proposals for every school in a particular area that we’re looking for,” Joe Beck, the district’s director of demographics and enrollment planning, told the School Board. “We wanted to draw the focus around the schools that might need the most immediate attention.”

The schools in the current proposal that would be closed or repurposed range from 32% full (Broward Estates) to 62% full (North Fork). In addition to capacity, the district is considering the age and condition of the campus, academic performance, historical significance and capacity in nearby schools to absorb the students.

The district has faced steep enrollment declines in the past two decades and now has about 45,000 empty seats, which is the equivalent of more than 40 schools. While some School Board members have suggested closing dozens of schools over the next year, district administrator Valerie Wanza said the district is starting small.

“We can’t boil the entire ocean,” Wanza said. “So we started to narrow our scope to these schools for this year.”

Two of the schools on the list for possible closure, Broward Estates and Olsen, were also recommended for closure in a plan released by the district in April. That plan also included changing Hollywood Central to a K-8 and Pines Middle to a 6-12 collegiate academy, where students who stayed for high school could earn college credits.

The School Board scrapped that earlier plan in May, saying the district hadn’t gotten adequate community input and had focused only on a few parts of the county, including the southern region and the Fort Lauderdale area.

Related Articles

• Education | As enrollment declines more, Broward prepares again for school closures
• Education | Broward’s A grade could affect school closure plan, schools chief says
• Education | Closing some Broward schools? Here’s why they could get new life as charter schools

The latest plan still targets those same areas, with the exception of Coconut Creek Elementary, a low-enrolled school in the north that could be converted into a K-8.

The city of Coconut Creek is eager to hear more about that proposal, which will be discussed at a community meeting Wednesday night at Coconut Creek High, Bernadette Hughes, government affairs manager for the city, told the School Board.

She said the area near Coconut Creek Elementary is an “education corridor” that is close to Coconut Creek High, Atlantic Technical High School and College Academy, a college-level high school program on the Broward College north campus.

Hughes said converting Coconut Creek Elementary into a K-8 would “serve as a feeder for Coconut Creek High and provide additional continuity for Coconut Creek students from elementary to high school.”

Some speakers Tuesday suggested alternatives to closing some schools.

Cathy Nonnenmacher, chief financial officer for the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, proposed a partnership between the museum and school district for a new academic program at North Fork Elementary.

Ana Garcia, city manager of Dania Beach, said her city has invested $10 million in property adjacent to the school for recreational facilities, including track fields and basketball courts.

“This could be an example for sports and physical fitness,” she said. “We know our kids could definitely be more fit.”

In addition, Garcia said the city would like to spend $8 million to $10 million to renovate empty space at the school for an emergency operations center, used mainly during hurricanes. When not in use by the city, it could house a program in meteorology or broadcasting for the school, she said.

“You all have to think outside the box,” she said.

Board members seemed divided over the latest proposal, as they have during most of the efforts this year to close or repurpose schools.

Daniel Foganholi, who represents District 1 in the southeast part of the county, voiced concern about the latest proposal to possibly close Olsen, since it’s the only middle school in Dania Beach.

“Now, we are saying this is going to be better for our community and better for our district,” he said. “You’re making my kids from Dania Beach go down to Hollywood to have something taken away. What benefit is it to those families? What benefit is it to those kids?”

District 5, which includes Lauderhill and the western part of Fort Lauderdale, has three schools that are on the new list: Broward Estates and North Fork, which could be closed, and Thurgood Marshall, which could have a new grade configuration. That alarmed Board member Jeff Holness, who represents the district.

“I am just concerned. We have nine schools here. Three out of the nine are from District 5 and that would represent one third of what’s proposed here,” he said.

Board member Allen Zeman, who holds a countywide seat, has been one of the strongest advocates for closing schools. He said Tuesday the district doesn’t need 238 campuses and can redirect money to improving education in the remaining schools.

“I don’t think we ought to be calling parents of a school that’s potentially being closed and asking if they like that idea. I know they don’t like it,” he said. “The idea is we go through this process, which is perceived as negative by some, so that it’s a positive for the whole district, including them, in the long term.”

So, it’s at least four games off for Tua TagovaiIoa. It’s at least five weeks out. It’s at least until late October that he’ll focus on his concussed mind and healing psyche without being tempted by any return to football.

Good for him. Good for his larger life, too.

And now we’ll see how tough-minded and emergency-prepared the Miami Dolphins are. The best-managed organizations strike a balance between stability and reality, allowing them to deal with unsurprising change like the starting quarterback missing some games.

The better teams weather such change, too. Green Bay gritted out a win last Sunday with backup Malik Willis. Minnesota is 2-0 with veteran Sam Darnold, who was set to be the backup before first-round pick J.J. McCarthy went down with a season-ending injury.

Skylar Thompson has the opportunity of a career starting Sunday, playing pitch-and-catch with perhaps as talented a cast of playmakers as the NFL has. It’s not a one-off opportunity for him, too.

He’s here for at least the next four games if he does the job right. The mediocre-at-best opponents — Seattle, Tennessee, New England and Indianapolis — form the four-game stretch on the schedule you’d handpick to survive with a backup quarterback, too.

The over-riding issue for the Dolphins is if they considered the inevitable hard enough, if they took the backup role seriously enough, if in this era’s desire to build Tagovailoa’s confidence they didn’t find a more proven backup back in March when such decisions were made.

“I think his game has developed since he’s had a starting opportunity in the National Football League,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think all his teammates can feel his command and his growth.”

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The season falling to Thompson is no surprise. Last December, 13 teams started backups in games. Tagovailoa has a history of injury, including concussions, that will have to make this organization reconsider how it views the backup job.

Let’s face it, while all concussions are different, a timetable is being set by this third concussion of Tagovailoa during his NFL career. Five weeks — at least five weeks, is the bar. It’s what you’d have at the minimum to trust a backup to play.

Enter Thompson. Some of the best Dolphins moments have come with backup quarterbacks. Do you need to hear them to feel better about this situation?

Do you want to hear how Matt Moore replaced an injured Ryan Tannehill and won the final three games in 2016 to put the Dolphins in the playoffs? Or how third-stringer Doug Pederson, now the Jacksonville coach, was the quarterback when Don Shula broke the all-time wins mark for NFL coaches?

The all-timer is Bob Griese breaking his leg in 1972, and defensive end Bill Stanfill going over to 38-year-old backup Earl Morrall. “Old man, get your cataracts in motion, turn up your hearing aid and let’s go,” he said.

Morrall started nine regular-season games and two playoffs wins in the Perfect Season. That’s precisely why Shula went to owner Joe Robbie before the season and said he wanted to sign Morrall.

“So what’s the problem?” Shula said.

It would cost $90,000 — making Morrall the second-highest-paid player on the roster.

“We’ll find it somewhere,” Robbie said.

The point here is everyone always understood the value of a backup quarterback. Jimmy Johnson, who put Bernie Kosar behind Dan Marino with the Dolphins, still considers the second quarterback the second-most important player on the roster.

Which brings us back to today, to these Dolphins, to this organization that seemed to make sure everything was in order for Tagovailoa to feel confident. It made sense the first year when McDaniel was raising Tua’s spirits and game. That was something to see.

But this season built on high hopes rides in some form on Thompson. And the Dolphins’ glitzy team finding some grit.

Tagovailoa will be out for a while to deal with his mind and health. That’s how it should be.

The Dolphins (1-1) go to Seattle (2-0) with Thompson to start a stretch that will define their season.

The Space Coast set a new launch record in 2023 with 72 orbital missions from either Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The pace of launches could ramp up by the end of 2024 to a near twice-weekly rate with as many as 111 missions possible.

Check back for the latest information on upcoming launches.

By The Numbers:

2024: 65 Space Coast launches in 2024 (updated Sept. 17) | 48 from Cape Canaveral, 17 from KSC | 61 from SpaceX (60 Falcon 9s, 1 Falcon Heavy), 4 from ULA (1 Vulcan, 1 Delta IV Heavy, 2 Atlas V) | 4 human spaceflights (Axiom Space Ax-3, SpaceX Crew-8, Boeing Crew Flight Test, Polaris Dawn)

2023: 72 Space Coast launches in 2023 | 59 from Cape Canaveral, 13 from KSC | 68 from SpaceX (63 Falcon 9s, 5 Falcon Heavy), 3 from United Launch Alliance (1 Delta IV Heavy, 2 Atlas V), 1 from Relativity Space | 3 human spaceflights (Crew-6, Ax-2, Crew-7)

Details on past launches can be found at the end of file.

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Galileo L-13 mission for the European Commission headed to medium-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:50 p.m. The payload’s MEO orbital needs required a previous mission to expend its booster back in April, but SpaceX has adjusted design to recover this mission’s booster making its 22nd flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

No earlier than Sept. 25: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Crew-9 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:28 p.m. with backups on Sept. 26, 27 and 28. Crew will only be two to make room for Boeing Starliner CFT crew astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the return flight. Flying up will be commander and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the first active Space Force member to launch to space, and Roscomos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Original crew members, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, who was originally slated to be commander but would have been making her first spaceflight, and Stephanie Wilson, a veteran of three space shuttle flights, were pulled from the mission. This is Hague’s third launch, although his first was an aborted Soyuz mission. This is Gorbunov’s first spaceflight. They mission is slated to return with four in February 2025. Of note, this will also be the first human spaceflight from SLC-40 as KSC’s pad will be in preparation for the Europa Clipper launch in October.

OCTOBER

Oct. 4: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on the Cert-2 mission. Originally supposed to fly Sierra Space Dream Chaser test flight, but payload switched to an inert mass simulator because of potential Dream Chaser delays beyond September. Launch will be from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Read more.

TBD October: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the CRS-31 mission flying up a Cargo Dragon with supplies to the International Space Station. Launch pad TBD.

October 10: SpaceX Falcon Heavy on the Europa Clipper mission to travel 1.8 billion miles to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s detailed investigation of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

NOVEMBER

TBD November: First launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on first of two certification flights for NSSL missions. Payload will be Blue Origin Blue Ring. Was bumped up from December after delay of what was supposed to be New Glenn’s first launch of NASA’s Mars-bound ESCAPADE twin satellite mission, delayed to potentially spring 2025. Read more.

TBD

DECEMBER

December 2024: Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with the company’s second Nova-C lander featuring NASA’s PRIME-1 drill, to land a drill and mass spectrometer near the south pole of the moon in order to demonstrate the feasibility of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and measure the volatile content of subsurface samples. Also flying is the Lunar Trailblazer, a mission selected under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, a small satellite designed to provide an understanding of the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the moon, as well as the lunar water cycle.

UPCOMING: TBD IN 2024

TBD: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon on the Fram2 private human spaceflight mission. It would be the first time humans have flown on a polar orbital mission. Named Fram2 in deference to the ship “Fram” built in Norway that helped explorers get to the Arctic and Antarctica. The crew includes Chun Wang of Malta, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in cryptocurrency and an avid adventurer. Along for the ride will be fellow adventurers Eric Philips of Australia, Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway and Rabea Rogge of Germany. Mikkelsen will take the role of mission commander and Philips the role of pilot. Read more.

TBD, 2nd half of 2024: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on USSF-106, the rocket’s first Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Dependent on ULA completing both Certification 1 and Certification 2 flights. Payload is the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 headed to geostationary orbit. Built by L3Harris, it’s funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory and potential replacement technology for GPS.

TBD, 2nd half of 2024: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on USSF-87, the rocket’s second planned Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.

TBD: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on the first Sierra Space Dream Chaser flight to the International Space Station. Mission could slip into 2025 because ULA would need more Vulcan rocket hardware beyond Cert-2 and the two USSF missions that take priority over the Dream Chaser flight.

UPCOMING: TBD IN 2025

TBD, by end of 1st quarter 2024: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur, the rocket’s third planned Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.

TBD, no earlier than February 2025: SpaceX Crew-10 mission on SpaceX Falcon 9. Took on the February rotation spot ahead of Starliner-1 because of modifications that will be needed for Starliner-1 based on the Crew Flight Test mission.

No earlier than Spring 2025: Axiom Space was awarded the right to fly Axiom-4. The crew assigned to Ax-4 includes Commander Peggy Whitson, Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański of ESA/Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. This would be Whitson’s second trip on an Axiom mission to the ISS, and part of NASA’s requirement that former NASA astronaut command commercial mission visits to the ISS. The commercial flight brings four crew for a short stay on the ISS. This mission is targeting a 14-day stay, and will fly up with one of the SpaceX Crew Dragons. The launch date is dependent on spacecraft traffic to the ISS and in-orbit activity planning and constraints that have to be coordinated with NASA.

No earlier than spring 2025 (Delayed from Oct. 13): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket of the twin spacecraft for ESCAPADE, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, for NASA and the University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory. Was bumped from Oct. 13 after NASA concerns about New Glenn rocket’s readiness. Read more.

TBD, no earlier than August 2025: Boeing Starliner-1 on ULA Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 41. NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Mike Fincke will be commander and pilot, respectively. This Starliner previously flew on Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 mission.

September 2025: NASA Artemis II mission to send four crew on 10-day orbital mission to the moon from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B. Read more.

TBD 2025: SpaceX Falcon Heavy flying Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

UPCOMING: TBD IN 2026

September 2026: NASA Artemis III mission to send four crew on lunar landing mission to the moon from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B. Read more.

LAUNCHED IN 2024

Jan. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Ovzon 3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:04 p.m. This was the first launch of 2024. The 3,968-pound Ovzon 3 satellite is the first privately funded and developed Swedish geostationary satellite ever to be launched, headed for a geostationary transfer orbit where it will then propel itself to its geostationary orbit over 3-4 months at 59.7 degrees east at 22,236 miles altitude. The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time with a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Jan. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-35 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:35 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 16th flight having previously flown on two crewed and two cargo missions to the International Space Station among others. It managed its recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 8 (Delayed from May 4, Dec. 24-26): First-ever launch of United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on Certification-1 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:18 a.m. Primary payload was commercial company Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander headed to the moon. Also flying will be another human remains payload for Celestis Inc., this time brining the ashes of more than 200 people to space including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and actor James Doohan who played “Scotty” on the TV series. Read more.

Jan. 14 (Delayed from Jan. 13): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-37 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 23 Starlink satellites at 8:52 p.m. The first-stage booster flew its 12th mission and with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. This was the fourth launch from the Space Coast in 2024. Read more.

Jan. 18 (Delayed from Jan. 17): SpaceX Falcon 9 with a Crew Dragon Freedom for Axiom Space’s Axiom-3 mission launched at 4:49 p.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. The crew includes one astronaut each from Italy, Turkey and Sweden while the mission is led by Axiom’s chief astronaut Michael López-Alegría who is making his sixth trip to space. The customers are Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, who will act as pilot. In the two mission specialist roles are Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey and ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden. All three have served in their respective nations’ air forces. The commercial flight brings four crew for a short stay on the ISS. This mission is targeting a 14-day stay with docking planned for Saturday at 5:15 a.m. The first-stage booster made a landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Jan. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-38 mission with 23 Starlink satellites at 8:10 p.m. liftoff on a southerly trajectory from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A. The first-stage booster made its 18th flight, with past missions including the crewed flights of Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and had a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft on the NG-20 mission to resupply the International Space Station at12:07 p.m.. This was the first ISS launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, which SpaceX has been redeveloping to support future crewed missions in addition to KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. This was the first of at least three SpaceX flights of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft as part of a deal after its 10-year run of launches atop Antares rockets ended with the Aug. 1 launch from Wallops Island, Virginia because of issues with Russian- and Ukrainian-made rocket engines and first stage parts that are being redeveloped with Firefly Aerospace for a future Antares rocket not expected until at least 2025. Following launch, the space station’s Canadarm2 will grapple Cygnus no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 1, and the spacecraft will attach to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading by the Expedition 70 crew. The first-stage booster made its 10th flight and returned for a touchdown at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Feb. 8 (Delayed from Feb. 6, 7): NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:33 a.m. PACE will advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton, tiny plants and algae that sustain the marine food web, as well as clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The first-stage booster flying for the fourth time made a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Feb. 14: A SpaceX Falcon 9 on the USSF-124 mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:30 p.m. Payloads included two satellites for the Missile Defense Agency to track hypersonic missiles and four more satellites for the Tranche 0 constellation for the Space Development Agency. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time with a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 2. Read more.

Feb. 15 (Delayed from Nov. 14, Jan. 12, Feb. 14): SpaceX Falcon 9 for the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission with the company’s Nova-C lunar lander Odysseus from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 1:05 a.m. This could end up being the first NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission to land on the moon after the failure of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. The IM-1 has a suite of six NASA payloads as part of a CLPS delivery and another six privately organized payloads. Landing would take place Feb. 22.Read more.

Feb. 20: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Merah Putih 2 mission, a communications satellite for Telkom Indonesia, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:11 p.m. into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. This was the 11th launch from the Space Coast in 2023 and 300th successful Falcon 9 launch since its debut in 2010, having only had one mid-launch failure in 2015. This was the 17th launch of the first stage booster, and it made a recovery landing downrange on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Feb. 25 (delayed from Feb. 24): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-39 mission sending up 24 Starlink satellites launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:06 p.m. This was the 12th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the 13th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Feb. 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-40 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:30 a.m. This was the 13th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the 11h time and made recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

March 3 (delayed from Feb. 22, 28, March 1, 2): SpaceX Crew-8 on Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A  at 10:53 p.m. Bad weather on the ascent corridor took the first three launch options on March 1 and 2 off the table. It’s the eighth SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Its four crew members are NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin. They flew up in the Crew Dragon Endeavour making its fifth trip to space. The first-stage booster made its first flight. The mission had originally been targeting Feb. 22, but that was the target day for the Intuitive Machines attempt to land on the moon, and NASA chose to move the launch to “deconflict” NASA support operations that day. Read more.

March 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-41 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:56 p.m. The first stage booster flew for the 13th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship  A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

March 10: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-43 mission sent up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:05 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 11th time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 16th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. Read more.

March 15 (Delayed from March 13, 14): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-44 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 8:21 p.m. after scrubbing launches on both Wednesday and Thursday with about 2 minutes on the countdown clock. The booster flew for a record-tying 19th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

March 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the CRS-30 resupply mission with a Cargo Dragon to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:54 p.m. This was the first Dragon launch from SLC-40 since the addition of a crew access arm to support Dragon launches from more than one Space Coast pad and augment normal launches from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. The first-stage booster made a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

March 23 (delayed from March 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-42 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 11:09 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for 19th time.

March 25: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-46 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:42 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the eighth time and landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.

March 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Eutelsat-36X mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:52 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 12th time with a landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This was 20th SpaceX launch from the Space Coast in 2024 and 21st among all companies. Read more.

March 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-45 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:30 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

April 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-47 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:12 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 14th time landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. It was the 275th recovery of a Falcon 9 booster for SpaceX. Read more.

April 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the the Bandwagon-1 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 7:16 p.m, The first-stage booster flew for the 14th time and made a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. The 11 satellites on board are flying to a mid-inclination orbit. This is the first of a new type of rideshare program flying to that orbit that augments SpaceX’s Transporter program that flies to SSO. Read more.

April 9 (Delayed from March 28): United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy on the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 at 12:53 p.m. This was the final Delta IV Heavy rocket launch ever, and last of any Delta rocket, which has been flying for more than 60 years. The Space Force has one more launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket before future missions transition to ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur. Read more.

April 10: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-48 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:40 a.m. The first-stage booster made its second flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

April 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-49 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:40 p.m. The launch set a turnaround record for launches from SLC-40 at two days and 20 hours since the Aug. 10 launch. The previous record was Aug. 3-6, 2023 at three days, 21 hours, 41 minutes. The first-stage booster also flew for a record 20th time making a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

April 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-51 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 12th flight and landed downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

April 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-52 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:40 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

April 23 (Delayed from April 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-53 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:17 p.m. This was the 30th Space Coast launch of the year, with all but two coming from SpaceX. It also marked the 300th successful recovery of a first-stage booster among Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Of note, the launch came 16 minutes ahead of a Rocket Lab launch from New Zealand. Read more.

April 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Galileo L12 mission carrying satellites for the European Commission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 8:34 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for a record-trying 20th time, but was expended getting the payload to medium-Earth orbit. Read more.

April 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-54 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:08 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-55 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:37 p.m. This was the 19th flight of the first-stage booster, which launched both Crew 3 and Crew 4 human spaceflight missions. It’s recovery landing was on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.

May 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-57 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:14 p.m. The first-stage booster for the flight made its 15th trip to space with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic Ocean on SpaceX’s droneship Just Read the Instructions.  Read more.

May 8 (Delayed from May 7): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-56 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 2:42 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the third time having launched Crew-8 and a Starlink mission. It made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-58 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:53 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

May 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-59 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 8:32 p.m. This marked the 21st flight for the first-stage booster, the most in the booster fleet, having previously flown on human spaceflight missions Inspiration4 and Axiom Space’s Ax-1 among others. It made another recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

May 22: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-62 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:35 p.m. This was the eighth flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

May 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-63 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 10:45 p.m. This was the 13th flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

May 28 (Delayed from May 27): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-60 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:24 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-64 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:37 p.m. The booster flew for the 14th time making a landing on the droneship A shortfall of Gravitas, a record turnaround for droneship recovery coming less than 84 hours since the previous recovery landing on May 28. Read more.

June 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink g8-5 mission carrying 20 Starlink satellites including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:16 p.m.  This was the 20th flight of the first-stage booster that made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

June 5 (Delayed from June 1, May 6, 17, 21, 25 2024; July 21, 2023; April 22, 2024): Boeing CST-100 Starliner atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 10:52 a.m. on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) carrying NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station followed by a parachute-and-airbag-assisted ground landing in the desert of the southwestern United States. The May 6 attempt was scrubbed two hours before liftoff because of valve on ULA’s upper Centaur stage that teams continue to investigate. Teams deemed the valve needed to be replaced and the rocket needed to be rolled back from the pad to Boeing’s Vertical Integration Facility. A helium leak in the Starliner capsule further delayed it from a planned May 17 target to May 21 and then May 25. A June 1 attempt scrubbed with less than 4 minutes on the countdown clock. Read more.

June 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-1 mission carrying 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:56 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time landing on the droneship  A Shortfall of Gravitas. It also marked the 300th landing of a Falcon 9 booster.

June 20 (Delayed from June 18, 19): SpaceX Falcon 9 on SES 24 mission flying the ASTRA 1P communication satellite for Luxembourg-based communications company SES for TV markets in Germany, Spain and France from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:35 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time making another recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, the 250th time SpaceX had used a droneship for a successful recovery. Read more.

June 23 (Delayed from June 12,13,14): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-2 mission with 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:15 p.m. An abort at T-0 on June 14 forced SpaceX to delay its launch nine days and change out the first-stage booster. The new booster made its 11h flight with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 25: SpaceX Falcon Heavy on its 10th launch ever with payload of the GOES-U satellite for the NOAA from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. The two side boosters returned for a land landing at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while the center core stage fell into the ocean. Read more.

June 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-3 mission with Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:14 a.m. The booster for the flight made a record 22nd launch with a landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 8-9 mission carrying 20 Starlink satellites including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:55 a.m. This was the 16th flight of the first-stage booster, which was previously on the pad for the Starlink 10-3 mission, but was changed out after an issue when it hit T-0 during a launch attempt. It made a landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Turksat 6A mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:30 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-9 mission launching 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 1:45 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 17th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic. The launch was the first since a California Starlink launch that ended up with a second-stage failure that grounded the Falcon 9. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-4 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:09 a.m. This was the 14th flight of its first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This marked the 300th successful reflight of a booster. Read more.

July 30: United Launch Alliance Atlas V on USSF-51 with classified payload from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 6:45 a.m. One of 16 remaining Atlas V rockets for ULA. Read more.

Aug. 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-6 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 1:01 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 12th time with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. It was SpaceX’s 50th launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Aug. 4 (Delayed from Aug. 3): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the NG-21 resupply mission taking up the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft with cargo to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:03 a.m, The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time and made a land recovery at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 2nd time SpaceX has flown the Cygnus spacecraft. Weather led to a scrub of the Aug. 3 attempt, but SpaceX was able to launch despite Tropical Storm Debby churning off Florida’s southwest coast. Read more.

Aug. 10 (Delayed from Aug. 9): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-3 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:50 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 21st time, one of four boosters with more than 20 flights among the SpaceX fleet. It landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Was scrubbed from Friday because of bad weather in the launch recovery zone in the Atlantic.  Read more.

Aug. 12 (Delayed from Aug. 10, 11): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-7 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 6:37 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 17th time landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Aug. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Maxar 2 mission flying two of Maxar Techologies’ WorldView Legion Earth-observation satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifting off at 9 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time with a recovery at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 199th Falcon 9 launch from SLC-40. Read more.

Aug. 20: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink g10-5 mission carrying 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit, launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:20 a.m. This was the first flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Aug. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 8-6 mission carrying 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting at 3:48 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for a record 23rd time. Its previous missions included the Inspiration4 and Axiom Space Ax-1 crewed launches. It tipped over during its recovery landing attempt downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The FAA grounded Falcon 9 pending a SpaceX investigation. Read more.

Aug. 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 8-19 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 21 Starlink satellites at 3:43 a.m. Its first-stage booster made its 18th flight and stuck the landing without issue on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept. 5 (Delayed from Sept. 4): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 8-11 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:33 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 15th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. A Sept. 4 launch attempt was scrubbed because of poor weather conditions downrange for the booster recovery. Read more.

Sept. 10: (Delayed from Aug. 28, Aug. 27, July 31, summer 2023): Polaris Dawn mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 topped with the Crew Dragon Resilience from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:23 a.m. The private orbital mission will bring billionaire Jared Isaacman to space for a second time after 2021′s Inspiration4 mission. It’s the first of up to three planned Polaris missions, and will feature a tethered spacewalk. Also flying are Scott Poteet, given the title of mission pilot, specialist Sarah Gillis, and specialist and medical officer Anna Menon. Both Gillis and Menon are SpaceX employees. Read more.

Sept. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the BlueBird mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:52 a.m. on a mission to place five BlueBird satellites for Midland, Texas-based AST SpcaeMobile. The satellites are part of a space-based cellular broadband network in low-Earth orbit to be accessible by everyday smartphones for both commercial and government use across the U.S. and in select global markets. Beta test users will be for AT&T and Verizon. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time making a return landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 60th Space Coast launch of the year for SpaceX. Read more.

LAUNCHED IN 2023

Jan. 3: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Transporter-6 mission carrying 114 payloads for a variety of customers blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:56 a.m. Read more.

Jan. 9: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off carrying 40 satellites for OneWeb at 11:50 p.m. Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Read more.

Jan. 15: The fifth-ever flight of SpaceX’s powerhouse Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off at 5:56 p.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A on a mission for the Space Force dubbed USSF-67. Read more.

Jan. 18: A SpaceX Falcon 9 on the GPS III Space Vehicle 06 mission for the Space Force rose through the pink, orange and blue horizon at 7:24 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Read more.

Jan. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 5-2 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launched at 4:32 a.m. sending up 56 Starlink satellites. Read more.

Feb. 2: Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-3 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 2:43 a.m. 200th successful flight of Falcon 9 on mission to send up 53 Starlink satellites. Read more.

Feb. 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Amazonas-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifted off at 8:32 p.m. Payload is communications satellite for Hispasat known also as the Amazonas Nexus. Read more.

Feb. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-4 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 launched 55 Starlink satellites at 12:10 a.m. This set a then-record turnaround between launches from the same pad for SpaceX coming just five days, three hours, and 38 minutes since the Feb. 6 launch. Read more.

Feb. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Inmarsat’s I-6 F2 satellite launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:59 p.m. The second of six planned communication satellite launches, the first of which came in 2021 with the final coming by 2025. Read more.

Feb. 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-1 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:13 p.m. carrying 21 of the second-generation Starlink satellites. Read more.

March 2: Crew-6 mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching Crew Dragon Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A at 12:34 a.m. A Feb. 27 attempt was scrubbed with less than three minutes before liftoff. Flying were NASA astronauts mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, heading to the International Space Station for around a six-month stay. It’s the sixth SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Read more.

March 9: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off carrying 40 satellites for OneWeb launched at 2:13 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

March 14: After arrival of Crew-6 and departure of Crew-5 to make room for a cargo Dragon, SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a cargo Dragon spacecraft on CRS-27, the 27th resupply mission to the International Space Station from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at 8:30 p.m. Read more.

March 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES 18 and 19 mission, a pair of communication satellites set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Set a record for SpaceX mission turnaround with launch only four hours and 17 minutes after a Starlink launch from California. Read more.

March 22: Relativity Space Terran-1, a 3D-printed rocket awaiting company’s first-ever launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 16 at 11:25 p.m. While first stage successfully separated, the second stage engine did not get it into orbit. Read more.

March 24: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:43 a.m. carrying 56 Starlink satellites to orbit. The booster made its 10th flight. Read more.

March 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launched at 4:01 p.m. The booster making its fourth flight landed on Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

April 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Intelsat 40e mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 a.m. Read more.

April 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Starlink 6-2 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:31 a.m. with 21 Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its eighth flight with a recovery on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

April 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES 03b mPOWER-B mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:12 p.m. Read more.

April 30: SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch of ViaSat-3 Americas’ communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A at 8:26 p.m. All three boosters were expended, so no sonic boom landings. Also flying were payloads for Astranis Space Technologies and Gravity Space headed for geostationary orbits. It’s the sixth-ever Falcon Heavy launch. The launch pad endured a lightning strike on April 27, but SpaceX said the rocket was healthy for the attempt. Read more.

May 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 56 Starlink satellites at 3:31 a.m. The first-stage booster making its eighth flight was recovered once again on the droneship called A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

May 14: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launnched at 1:03 a.m. Read more.

May 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:19 a.m. carrying 22 second-gen Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its fifth flight and landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in Atlantic. Read more.

May 21: Axiom 2 mission with four private passengers launched to the International Space Station for an eight-day visit flying on a SpaceX Falcon 9 topped with Crew Dragon Freedom from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at 5:37 p.m.  The first-stage booster flew for the first time with a return to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. This is only the second crewed mission from the U.S. in 2023 following March’s Crew-6 mission. The second Axiom Space private mission to the International Space Station following 2022′s Axiom 1 mission. Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is the mission commander with aviator John Shoffner as pilot and two mission specialist seats paid for by the Saudi Space Commission, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni. Read more.

May 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the ArabSat BADR-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 14th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-4 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 22 second-generation Starlink satellites at 8:20 a.m. The first-stage booster made its third flight and was able to land down range on droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. The launch came 13 years to the day since the first Falcon 9 launch in 2010. It was the 229th attempt of a Falcon 9 launch with 228 of the 229 successful. Read more.

June 5 (Delayed from June 3, 4): SpaceX Falcon 9 on CRS-28 launched a cargo Dragon spacecraft, the 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at at 11:47 a.m. The first-stage booster made its fifth flight and SpaceX recovered it downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. This is the fourth flight of the crew Dragon, which will be bring up nearly 7,000 pounds of supplies, dock to the station 41 hours after launch and remain on the station for three weeks. Read more.

June 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-11 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 53 of the company’s internet satellites at 3:10 a.m.  The first stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

June 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the PSN MSF mission to launch the Satria communications satellite for the Indonesian government and PSN, an Indonesian satellite operator. This satellite will provide broadband internet and communications capability for public use facilities in Indonesia’s rural regions. Liftoff was at 6:21 p.m. with the first-stage booster making its 12th flight and once again landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 22: United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy on NROL-68 for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command and the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37B lifted off at 5:18 a.m. This was the second-to-last Delta IV Heavy launch with the final one expected in 2024. Read more.

June 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 5-12 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 carrying 56 Starlink satellites at 11:35 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time and landed on a droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 1: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the ESA Euclid space telescope mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:12 a.m. The European Space Agency telescope is designed to make a 3D map of the universe by looking at billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away across one third of the sky. Read more.

July 9: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:58 p.m. The booster made a record 16th flight and was recovered again downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-15 mission with 54 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:50 p.m. (early Friday scrubbed 40 seconds before launch, and early Saturday option passed over) Booster made a record-tying 16th fligh landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:50 p.m. carrying 22 of its v2 mini Starlink satellites. The booster flew for the sixth time and made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-7 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:01 a.m. with 22 Starlink satellites. Booster flew for the 15th time including crewed launches Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and made recovery landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. The launch set a record for turnaround time for the company from a single launch pad coming four days, three hours, and 11 minutes since the July 23 launch. The previous record was set from Feb. 6-12 at five days, three hours, and 38 minutes. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon Heavy from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A that launched a telecom satellite for Hughes Network Systems called the Jupiter 3 EchoStar XXIV at 11:04 p.m. The two side boosters were recovered at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was the third Falcon Heavy launch of 2023 and seventh overall. Read more.

Aug. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Intelsat G-37 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1 a.m. The first-stage booster made its sixth flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Aug. 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:41 p.m. with 22 Starlink V2 minis. The first-stage booster made its fourth flight with another recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. The turnaround time between the Aug. 3 Intelsat G-37 mission and this mission broke SpaceX’s previous record for time between launches from a single launch pad. Previous record was from July 24-28 with a turnaround of four days, three hours, and 11 minutes. This one came in at three days, 21 hours, 41 minutes. Read more.

Aug. 11: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-9 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:17 a.m. Payload is 22 of the V2 mini Starlink satellites. First-stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

Aug. 16: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 22 of the V2 mini Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its 13th flight and SpaceX was able to recover it again on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Aug. 26: SpaceX Crew-7 mission on a Falcon 9 launching the Crew Dragon Endurance from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A lifted off at 3:27 a.m. liftoff. It’s the seventh SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Flying are NASA astronaut and mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut and pilot Andreas Mogensen, mission specialist JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and mission specialist Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. This will be Endurance’s third spaceflight after having been used on the Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions. The launch will use a new first-stage booster. The crew will arrive at 8:50 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 27. with hatch opening about two hours later. It will stay docked about 190 days. Read more.

Aug. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-11 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:05 p.m. with 22 Starlink satellites. The first stage flew for the third time and landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Aug. 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-13 mission carrying 22 of the v2 Starlink minis from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:21 p.m. It was SpaceX’s ninth launch of the calendar month matching the record nine launches it had in May. It was the company’s 60th orbital launch of the year. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

Sept. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-12 mission carrying 21 of the v2 Starlink minis from Kennedy Space Center’s Space Launch Complex 39-A at 10:47 p.m. It marked the 62nd SpaceX orbital launch in 2023 besting the 61 launches the company performed in 2022. The first-stage booster on the flight made its 10th launch and was able to make its recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-14 mission carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 took off at 11:12 p.m. The first-stage booster made its seventh flight with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Sept. 10 (delayed from Aug. 29): United Launch Alliance Atlas V on the SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 for the National Reconnaissance Office and Space Force from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 8:47 a.m.. Delayed because of Tropical Storm Idalia. This was the second ULA launch of 2023. SILENTBARKER’s classified mission is to improve space domain awareness to support national security and provide intelligence data to U.S. senior policy makers, the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. It will provide the capability to search, detect and track objects from space-based sensors for timely custody and event detection. Read more.

Sept. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-16 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launching at 11:38 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission made its fifth flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. It marked SpaceX’s 65th orbital launch of the year including missions from Canaveral, KSC and California. Read more.

Sept. 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-17 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launching at 11:38 p.m. This was a record reuse flight for the first-stage booster flying for a 17th time with a recovery landing on the droneship A Short Fall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept.23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-18 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:38 p.m. The first-stage booster made a record-tying 17th flight with a recovery landing down range on droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept.29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-19 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10 p.m. The booster on this flight made its 10th launch having flown on CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19 and five Starlink missions. It made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. This was SpaceX’s 69th launch of the year, its 49th from the Space Coast, 39th from Cape Canaveral and the other 10 from KSC. With only three non-SpaceX flights this year, it was the Space Coast’s 52nd overall. Read more.

Oct. 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-21 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:36 a.m.  The booster made its eighth flight with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. This was SpaceX’s 70th launch of the year, its 50th from the Space Coast, 40th from Cape Canaveral. With only three non-SpaceX flights this year, it is the Space Coast’s 53rd overall. Read more.

Oct. 6: United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:06 p.m. Payload was Amazon’s two test Project Kuiper satellites that were set to fly on ULA’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket, but switched to one of the nine Atlas rockets Amazon had previously purchased from ULA as Vulcan had been delayed to no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2023. Read more.

Oct. 13 (Delayed from Oct. 12): A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launched NASA’s Psyche probe into space launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A at 10:19 a.m. The probe was delayed from 2022, and headed for the asteroid Psyche, using a Mars-gravity assist and not arriving until August 2029. Psyche is a nickel-iron core asteroid that orbits the sun beyond Mars anywhere from 235 million to 309 million miles away. The two side boosters returned for a land landing at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Read more.

Oct. 13 (Delayed from Oct. 8): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-22 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:01 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission is making its 14th flight, and made another recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas down range in the Atlantic. The launch came 8 hours and 42 minutes after the Falcon Heavy launch from nearby KSC earlier in the day. Read more.

Oct. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-23 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:36 p.m. This is the first-stage booster made its 16th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. This marked the Space Coasts’ 57th launch of the year, which matched the total it had in 2022. Read more.

Oct. 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-24 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:17 p.m. The first-stage booster made its fourth flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This became the record 58th launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Oct. 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-25 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:20 p.m. This was the 59th launch from the Space Coast for the year. The first-stage booster flew for the eighth time and made a  recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed down range in the Atlantic. Read more.

Nov. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-26 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:37 p.m. This was the 60th launch from the Space Coast for the year. The first-stage booster flew for a record 18th time and made a  recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed down range in the Atlantic. Read more.

Nov. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-27 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 12:05 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 11th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 61st launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Nov. 9: SpaceX Falcon 9 with cargo Dragon on the CRS-29 mission to carry supplies to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-B at 8:28 p.m. It’s the 29th resupply mission for SpaceX with its cargo Dragon filled with 6,500 pounds of supplies for the Expedition 70 crew with an expected arrival to the ISS about 5:20 a.m. Saturday. It includes NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) science experiment to measure atmospheric gravity waves and how it could affect Earth’s climate and the Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low-Earth-Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T), a technology demonstration for laser communications among the ISS, an orbiting relay satellite and a ground-based observatory on Earth. The first-stage booster flew for the second time and landed back at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Nov. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES O3b mPOWER mission to medium-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40  at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:08 p.m. First stage made its 9th flight with a recovery landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Nov. 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-28 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:05 a.m. with 23 Starlink satellites. First-stage booster flew for the 11th time and landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions This was the 64th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. This launch came hours ahead of the Starship and Super Heavy launch attempt in Texas. Read more.

Nov. 22: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-29 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:47 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. This marked the 65th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. Read more.

Nov. 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-30 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40at 11:20 p.m. This was a southerly trajectory launch. The booster flew for the 17th time (3rd booster to do so) and landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. It was the 66th launch of the year from the Space Coast, 62nd from SpaceX in Florida, and 87th orbital launch from SpaceX including California missions. Read more.

Dec. 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-31 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11 p.m. First stage booster flew for the sixth time and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. It marked the 67th launch of the year from the Space Coast, 63rd from SpaceX in Florida, and 89th orbital launch from SpaceX including California missions.

Dec. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:07 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 68th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. Read more.

Dec. 18 (Delayed from Dec. 11, 12, 13) SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-34 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:01 p.m. Read more.

Dec. 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:33 a.m.  This was a record 19th flight for the first-stage booster having flown previously on Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and 13 Starlink missions. It made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 70th Space Coast launch of the year. Read more.

Dec. 28 (Delayed from Dec. 10, 11, 13): SpaceX Falcon Heavy from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A on USSF-52, the third mission for the Space Force, launching the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on its seventh trip to space at 8:07 p.m. The side boosters flew for the fifth time, previously used on the Psyche mission, two Space Force missions and one commercial flight with another double land landing at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Read more.

Dec. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-36 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 11:01 p.m. This was the 12th flight for the first-stage booster with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. This was a record turnaround among SpaceX launches from Space Coast launch pads at 2 hours and 54 minutes besting October’s double launch that saw a Falcon 9 launch at CCSFS just eight hours, 42 minutes after a Falcon Heavy launch at KSC. Read more.

Follow Orlando Sentinel space coverage at Facebook.com/goforlaunchsentinel.

The news media is in a tizzy about the extravagant spending of former University of Florida president Ben Sasse, who apparently was spending the school’s money on hosting a lavish holiday party for big-money donors that featured a $38,610 sushi bar.

As a result, Gov. Ron DeSants’ administration has directed the state auditor general to investigate Sasse’s expenditures as part of a previously scheduled audit of the university.

I have an even better idea:

How about we get the state auditor general to investigate the exorbitant, wasteful contracts that UF and Florida State have bestowed upon their now-embattled football coaches — Billy Napier and Mike Norvell?

These bloated coaching contracts make Sasse’s sushi bar look like the popcorn shrimp basket at Long John Silver’s. The outlay for Sasse’s expense reports is chump change compared with the football spending sprees at Florida, Florida State and most other big-time institutions of higher earning.

I understand the state media and government beancounters digging into Sasse’s sushi-spending habits, but if you want a real fishy scandal and a misappropriation of funds in higher education then somebody should do a deep dive into the finances of the athletic associations at Florida and Florida State.

Let’s start with the Gators, who are seemingly close to pulling the plug on Napier not even three years into the 7-year, $7.4 million-a-year contract he signed in December 2021. If Napier gets fired, the Gators are on the hook for the $27 million it would take to buy out the remaining four years of his deal.

The obvious question: Why, after three losing seasons, does Napier still have four long years left on his original deal? In other words, why did UF athletic director Scott Stricklin give Napier a 7-year deal instead of the traditional 5-year deal? Napier was at freaking Louisiana, where he wasn’t even making $1 million a year. Wouldn’t he have gladly accepted a 5-year, $3 million-a-year contract to get his foot in the door as a head coach in the SEC? Or, if Stricklin wanted to be really generous, he could have offered Napier $5 million a year.

I’ve never understood why schools pay coaches more than they need to. The only explanation is ego and status. Some people show off their status by overpaying for luxury cars; college ADs show off their status by overpaying for football coaches. After all, it’s not like Napier was about to be scooped up by some other prestigious program. At the time of his hiring, LSU was pursuing Brian Kelly and Miami was pursuing Mario Cristobal. Florida was Napier’s only attractive option.

It also has been said that after previous coach Dan Mullen left behind such a dilapidated program that Napier needed a longer deal because of the immensity of the rebuilding project. If that’s the case then why is UF considering firing him two years and three games into the project?

The bottom line is this: If Napier gets fired, the Gators will have spent about $65 million buying out their previous four head coaches (Napier, Mullen, Jim McElwain and Will Muschamp) and their staffs. That’s right, $65 million to pay coaches not to coach.

Now let’s talk about the Seminoles and how they, too, were used like a roll of toilet paper by super agent Jimmy Sexton, who represents Napier, Norvell and just about every other big-name coach in college football.

After Norvell’s Seminoles won 10 games two seasons ago, FSU gave him  a nice, big raise and a contract extension that averaged $8 million a year. Not even a year later, after he went unbeaten last season and flirted with Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement, FSU athletic director Michael Alford panicked and gave Norvell yet another contract extension — a massive 8-year, $10 million-a-year contract.

Now, just a few months later, FSU is 0-3 and probably headed toward a losing season. Hopefully for Seminole Nation, this is just an aberration and Norvell will get the program back up to speed next year, but what if he doesn’t? What if he has another bad season next year?

You know what happens then, right? The social media vitriol will begin (if it already hasn’t), fans and boosters will start calling for Norvell’s job and the Seminoles would have to come up with $55 million to buy out his contract.

Why did Norvell deserve an 8-year extension?

Why not 5 years?

Or, better yet, 3 years?

And why don’t ADs demand that the buyouts go both ways? If a coach gets fired, the school must pay him the remainder of the contract. Likewise, if the coach leaves for another job, he must pay the school the remainder of the contract. It makes sense, right?

Of course, it will never happen because there is no real governmental oversight of  financially irresponsible college football programs that continue to perpetuate a business model that is the biggest scam since bottled water. The sport has been getting free labor for generations by not having to financially compensate their employees, er, student athletes. And now that the players are getting paid, the money is not even coming from the schools themselves; it’s coming from the fans and boosters pouring their hard-earned money into NIL collectives.

Then came the groundbreaking news on Tuesday when the University of Tennessee, in what is believed the first arrangement of its kind, told its fans that they are are going to be charged a 10% “talent fee” on tickets to help pay athletes.  You know it’s only a matter of time before every other program does the same. Their reasoning is simple: Instead of cutting some of the excessive spending, why not just put the financial burden on the loyal – some might say blindly loyal – fans.

College ADs will tell you that there is not enough money in their budget to financially compensate players for playing, but they don’t even think twice when flushing tens of millions of dollars down the toilet to compensate coaches for not coaching.

Will somebody please call the state auditor general?

Shouldn’t we be more upset about $50 million coaching buyouts than the esteemed guests at Ben Sasse’s Christmas party gorging themselves on a plate of bluefin tuna sashimi and lobster tempura rolls?

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and MARI YAMAGUCHI

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday test-fired multiple ballistic missiles toward its eastern seas, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, adding to its military demonstrations as tensions with Washington and neighbors escalate.

The launches come days after North Korea offered a rare view into a secretive facility built to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs as leader Kim Jong Un called for a rapid expansion of his nuclear weapons program.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected North Korea firing multiple short-range ballistic missiles from north of its capital, Pyongyang, and said they traveled about 400 kilometers (244 miles) while flying toward the northeast.

The joint chiefs said it was closely communicating with the United States and Japan while analyzing the launches but didn’t immediately provide further flight details.

Japan’s defense ministry said it detected at least two launches but didn’t immediately say what types of missiles they were and how far they flew.

Japan’s coast guard said the missiles were believed to have already fallen into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan and urged vessels to watch out for falling objects. Japan’s NHK television said the missiles were believed to have landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The South Korean joint chiefs condemned the launches as a provocation that “seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.” It said in a statement that South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely monitoring North Korean activities while maintaining a combined defense posture “to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation.”

North Korea didn’t immediately confirm the launches. They followed a previous round of ballistic tests last week as Kim vowed to have his nuclear force fully ready for battle with its rivals.

The North said the launches on Sept. 12 involved its “super-large” 600mm multiple rocket launchers, which it describes as capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads. Experts say North Korea’s large-sized artillery rockets blur the boundary between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery.

Since 2022, North Korea has ramped up its weapons testing activities to expand and modernize its arsenal of nuclear missiles targeting the U.S. and South Korea. The allies have expanded their combined military exercises and are updating their nuclear deterrence strategies based on U.S. assets to counter the North’s growing threat.

Analysts say Kim’s long-term goal is to force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

While disclosing the uranium enrichment facility last week, Kim called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” increase its number of nuclear weapons in the face of what he described as U.S. threats. State media published photos that showed Kim talking with military officials and scientists between long lone lines of centrifuges used to produce weapons-grade uranium, but the reports didn’t say where the facility was located or when Kim made the visit.

Analysts say North Korea could conduct a nuclear test explosion or long-range missile test ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November with the intent of influencing the outcome and increasing its leverage in future dealings with the new U.S. administration.

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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

Epidemiologists and a federal health agency have criticized new COVID-19 guidance from Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo as “dangerous” and a repeat of “misleading and false statements about COVID-19 vaccines.”

The guidance, issued by the Florida Department of Health on Thursday, advises Florida doctors and other medical providers against giving updated mRNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. Doctors concerned about protecting patients over 65 or with underlying health conditions that leave them vulnerable to the virus should use the protein-based Novavax vaccine, the guidance states.

“Based on the high rate of global immunity and currently available data, the State Surgeon General advises against the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” it reads.

But the state’s message directly contradicts recommendations made by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends the mRNA shots or the Novavax vaccine as protection against severe COVID-19 symptoms and hospitalization. All three vaccines were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in August to protect against newer variants.

The vaccines are being offered at major pharmacies in Florida, including CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Walmart and at doctor’s offices. Florida is the only state in the nation advising against the vaccines, which are also being used in other countries.

“This messaging is dangerous and it contradicts established scientific evidence and public health recommendations,” said Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Department of Health officials did not provide a response to the criticism but referred a reporter to a post by Ladapo on the social media platform X where he wrote that the CDC and FDA are gaslighting Americans “with their new, unproven COVID-19 boosters.”

“We say bring data, acknowledge serious safety concerns & acknowledge the many people who believe they’ve been injured by these vaccines,” the post states.

The guidance repeats claims made by Ladapo in January and in September 2023 when he advised against getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Many of those claims were debunked by experts.

Among Ladapo’s concerns was that the vaccine was approved despite not undergoing clinical trials. However, it is standard once a vaccine has been tested as safe that it can be modified to target new variants, Wallace said. The same process is used to produce a influenza vaccine every flu season, a shot that some Florida county health departments currently offer.

“The clinical trials are done on the vaccine product and each year you can tweak the target of the vaccine so it more closely matches the surface proteins of the circulating virus strains,” Wallace said.

Florida’s guidance cites a study that found that mRNA vaccines include fragments of DNA. Ladapo has previously said that the fragments pose a risk to people’s health and the “integrity of the human genome” and could affect newborns.

But experts have said the odds of such a limited DNA strand penetrating the nucleus of a cell and then matching to the correct section of more than 3 billion base pairs in the human genome are “infinitesimally small.”

Also, the quantity of DNA fragments found in the study cited by Ladapo was well within limits set by the FDA, said Jonathan Laxton, a physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba.

Ladapo also cites studies published in Switzerland and Thailand as evidence that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines heighten the risk of developing myocarditis.

But the Swiss study had no patients that met the clinical definition of myocarditis and the Thai study only one, Laxton said.

“There are many, much better-done studies that address this issue and they do not show widespread ‘subclinical’ myocarditis or increased risk of death after COVID vaccination,” he said. “This guidance is a mess. It is based on cherry-picked data and misrepresentation of studies.”

Ladapo’s guidance also describes the new shot as a booster when it’s actually a revised version of the original vaccine amended to protect against current variants.

Ladapo’s guidance comes just ahead of flu season when the CDC is hoping that Americans will get COVID-19 shots at the same time as influenza ones. Nearly half of the United States reported “very high” levels of COVID-19 activity based on testing of wastewater data collected in the last week of August.

“COVID cases have been very high in the U.S. recently and all these infections are at the very least disruptive to our lives, and are leading to hospitalizations,” said Matt Hitchings, an infectious disease epidemiologist and professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida. “More concerning is the use of this official announcement to repeat misleading and false statements about COVID-19 vaccines.”

A Harvard-trained doctor, Ladapo was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as surgeon general in 2021. As a UCLA researcher, he had expressed skepticism that vaccines could help end the pandemic and penned op-eds in the Wall Street Journal challenging assertions by national health experts.

Since his appointment, he has clashed repeatedly with federal health agencies over guidance on masks and vaccines.

Florida was the only state that did not preorder the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines for the nation’s youngest children after they were approved in 2022.

That same year, Ladapo said young men should not get the shot based on a state analysis showing an increased risk of heart-related deaths. But before publishing the analysis, the state removed data that showed that catching COVID-19 increases the chances of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the vaccine, a Tampa Bay Times investigation found.

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