Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The Falcon 1 commercial rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time Sept. 28, after three failed attempts since 2006. Developer Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says the successful Flight 4 makes the low-cost launcher the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.
Congress on Sept. 27 passed a continuing resolution (CR) funding NASA until early March of next year that includes an extended exemption to the Iran, North Korea, Syria Non-proliferation Act (INKSNA) that will allow the space agency to continue purchasing Russian Soyuz trips to the International Space Station. The INKSNA waiver extends the previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2011 out to July 2016, covering the projected gap in U.S. human spaceflight capability between the retirement of the space shuttle and the scheduled 2015 debut of the Orion spacecraft.
Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that China’s third human spaceflight mission blasted off Sept. 25 carrying three astronauts who will attempt the country’s first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA). The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft lifted off from Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern China aboard a Long March 2F rocket at 9:10 p.m. local time, the news agency said. Taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are slated to orbit the Earth for three days before landing in their re-entry module.
