The US military is racking up deals with commercial rocket companies to explore the idea of using rockets typically tasked with launching satellites or astronauts to shuttle military cargo around the world at record speeds.
The website, which uses a network of receivers to track planes’ location and speed, said Wednesday that more than 708,000 people across the globe were tracking the flight when it landed in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. And more than 2.9 million people tracked at least a portion of the flight amid uncertainty about whether Pelosi would follow through on her pledge to visit the island nation, whose independence is not recognized by China.
Though the stop in Taiwan was not part of Pelosi’s offical schedule for her tour of Asia, a Taiwanese and US official confirmed to CNN on Monday that she would be making the stop off. The decision came amid warnings from Biden administration officials, who raised concerns about how China would respond.
Pelosi, whose visit to Taiwan was the first of its kind in 25 years, said she intended the trip to make it “unequivocally clear” that the United States would “not abandon” the democratically governed island. She was greeted by Taiwan’s president, Tsai In