The Long Wait on Blue Origin
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos started his private spaceflight company called Blue Origin back in 2000. About ten years ago, he came to Florida to announce plans to build and launch rockets from our Space Coast. Over time, plans materialized, and anticipation grew. A rocket manufacturing facility was built just outside Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin was poised and ready to launch its New Glenn rocket, the company’s first orbital launch vehicle, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this week. That debut launch was scrubbed in the final minutes of the final countdown on Monday morning. Central Florida Public Media Assistant News Director and host of Are We There Yet? Brendan Byrne covered it in 2015 when Bezos announced his plans for Cape Canaveral. Brendan Byre joins Engage to discuss the significance of the scrub.
C.I.A. Officer’s Survival Secrets
A former C.I.A. agent from Lake County is sharing insider survival secrets. Michele Rigby Assad grew up in Mount Dora. The former homecoming queen and self-described southern belle, eventually became an international spy. In her world working in counterterrorism in the Middle East, she frequently faced life or death challenges. Today she lives on the Space Coast. She and her husband operate a security advisory firm. Michelle just released her new book called Get Off the X: C.I.A. Secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life’s Mission. Michele Rigby Assad joins Engage to share stories from her career to teach you how to overcome the obstacles you encounter in life.
The Beatles’ Hello to Florida and Goodbye in Orlando
We know the Beatles as global stars and musical icons who defined a generation and transformed the industry. You may not know how significant Florida is to their meteoric rise and the ending of the Fab Four. The band officially broke up in Orlando. Local historian Bob Kealing, the author of Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida, joins Engage to talk about the role Florida played in propelling them to super-stardom.
Starting in the early 1970s, Brooklyn native May Pang worked as an assistant for Beatle co-founder John Lennon. Later she became his romantic companion during a period known as the Lost Weekend that lasted a year and a half. She had a camera in hand and took a library of photos of John and the rockstars within his orbit. Pang took several at Disney World including the one that captured the moment John’s signature wrote the final chapter to the book of the Beatles. May Pang joins Engage to discuss her upcoming exhibition in Ormond Beach revealing a private look at life with Lennon.
“The Lost Weekend – The Photography of May Pang” free exhibition showcasing her photos is Tuesday, January 21, and Wednesday, January 22, at Ocean Art Gallery in Ormond Beach. She will be there both days from noon to 8 p.m. for a meet and greet with customers.
