2015: “The Year of Connection!” Published Jan. 15, 2015 By Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno Commander, 45th Space Wing PATRICK AFB, Fla. -- Let me give a hearty congratulations to SpaceX, NASA, all our mission partners and to our great "Team Patrick-Cape" members who did an outstanding job with the successful launch of CRS-5, lifted to the skies on a Falcon 9 Dragon spacecraftin the early morning hours of January 10. This was the fifth of 12 SpaceX flights NASA contracted with the SpaceX to resupply the International Space Station, and we are proud we kicked off 2015 with such an important - and highly successful - launch from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Now we quickly turn our focus to Tuesday (Jan.20) evening's launch of the Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-3) which will take off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape. If you think three launches in the first few weeks of January is busy, let me introduce you to 2015. It's going to be a very busy year! We're planning for 24 launches and an AFSPC/IG Unit Effectiveness Inspection -- that's right, another UEI. In order to face such a high ops tempo, we're going to do what we always do -- focus on our top 3 priorities: 100% Mission Success; Invest in People; and Ignite Innovation. We'll band together, and build an even stronger team. And we'll use this theme to guide us -- 2015: "The Year of Connection!" Following the unbelievable success of last year's "Year of Innovation" - and trust me innovation will not be put to bed on my watch - we are asking all of us to "connect" and build an even stronger team in 2015. How do we do that? I'm glad you asked. During The Year of Connection, we'll better connect our people to the launch mission, and our people to each other. We'll further develop mentoring and networking. We'll reach out to our deployed families and better connect to them during long deployments. We'll connect our key spouses to their squadron personnel. We'll better connect to our mission partners and understand their needs. We'll connect the present to the future as we define the Spaceport of the Future. And we'll demand a culture of respect -- the natural outcome of a cohesive team who grows strong, connective bonds. Team, when we "connect" like this together, our future is boundless. Stay Focused Sharks! And CONNECT!