CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – America’s Atlas rockets are flying again, successfully launching a communications satellite for the Navy.
The unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into a brilliantly clear sky Friday morning. It was the first Atlas flight by rocket maker United Launch Alliance since March, when a fuel-valve problem popped up on a space station delivery for NASA.
The first stage of that rocket shut down six seconds too soon, but the second stage took control and put the Cygnus cargo ship in the proper orbit. United Launch Alliance grounded its Atlas fleet until it could fix the problem. Everything worked right Friday, and the satellite reached its targeted orbit.
The launch was the fifth in a series of advanced Navy communication satellites for use by the U.S. military worldwide.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy has fired a second commander in connection with the 10 American sailors who wandered into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf in January and were captured and held by Iran for about 15 hours.
Vice Adm. Kevin M. Donegan, commander of Naval Forces Central Command, has relieved Capt. Kyle Moses of his duties as head of the command’s Task Force 56. Moses has been reassigned.
A U.S. official says additional punishments against seven other sailors are under review, and decisions will be announced next week. The seven include the squadron commander who already was fired and reassigned, and his executive officer, as well as three of the sailors who were detained.
Donegan says he initially took administrative action against Moses based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the Iran incident. He says that after going over the results of the final investigation, he decided that more action was necessary.
WASHINGTON – House Republicans led by Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled a plan for a simpler tax code, the sixth and last installment of a GOP agenda designed to be a policy counterpoint to the personality-driven campaign of Donald Trump.
Ryan and other Republicans announced the plan Friday. The proposal would lower tax rates for both families and businesses, although it falls short of the 25 percent top rate for individuals that Ryan promised not long ago.
Instead, the tax reform plan proposes a 33 percent top tax bracket instead of the current top rate of 39.6 percent restored by President Barack Obama in a 2013 victory over Republicans in the wake of his re-election.
The Ryan plan also lacks the detail required to measure whether it maintains the current distribution of the tax burden by income range.
Associated Press
