GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -100 Black Men of Greater Florida Gainesville held their 6th annual Aviation Academy and participants say it did not disappoint.

“My favorite part was flying the planes,” Regan Hollinger, a student shared. “The experience of being able to fly over the Gator stadium and over people’s houses, over the interstate, over lakes, it was just an amazing experience and I love being in the air.”

Students started the two-day camp at the Kika Silva Planetarium at Santa Fe college and ended it with a visit to Gainesville Regional Airport’s University Flight School.

“We have individuals that are members of the 100 that are pilots,” Ray McKnight, the President of 100 Black Men Greater Florida Gainesville commented. “They’re taking the kids up in the aircraft some of the kids are even getting the opportunity to fly the plane.”

The future pilots learned about helicopters, military aircraft, drones, and more.

Myla Chilongo, a high school participant says though the name of the organization may be misleading, everyone is welcome to reap the benefits.

“Even though this is for the 100 black men I think that it’s important that this organization and aviation thing is co-ed because it allows black women to think outside the box,” she shared.

Students also enjoyed a catered lunch, a DJ, and a raffle contest.

Officials with University Flight School say in the future, they hope to see the kids enroll with them and take flight as professionals.

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After a back-to-back scrub, followed by a rare T-0 abort on June 14, Space X will try once again to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission.

SpaceX is aiming for a liftoff time of 1:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, yet the launch window runs until 5:01 p.m. if needed.

When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida

SpaceX launch delay from Florida

This is the mission that resulted in an unusual scrub for SpaceX. After the Falcon 9 engines ignited on June 14, spectators watched as nothing happened with the rocket. The clock was at T-0, yet the rocket was still on the pad. There had been an abort − something of a rarity for SpaceX.

SpaceX did not give an official answer about what happened to this Starlink mission. However, the company’s VP of launch, Kiko Dontchev, took to X the following evening with a statement that the rocket had experienced a hardware issue. SpaceX decided to take the troubled Falcon 9 off Space Launch Complex 40 to get German TV satellite Astra 1P to the pad. But then weather got in the way of that launch.

Finally, on Thursday, Astra 1P rocketed off Space Launch Complex 40, ending an almost two-week launch drought on the Space Coast.

The launch drought wasn’t due to just weather and technical issues. With SpaceX only having access to Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A and Space Launch Complex 40, this made for a bit of a rocket traffic jam as teams were already preparing to raise a Falcon Heavy rocket on Pad 39A.

The payload of that triple-core Falcon Heavy is the GOES-U weather satellite, which is set to liftoff as soon as 5:16 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.

SpaceX upcoming rocket launches from Florida

Before we see GOES-U carried to orbit on a Falcon Heavy, SpaceX has plans to get this Starlink 10-2 off from Launch Complex 40. If SpaceX cannot launch during Sunday’s window, a backup opportunity exists on Monday beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Being from the Starlink Group 10, this Falcon 9 will be launching into the northeast.

Follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team for the latest space news from the Space Coast.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.