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.
THOR LAUNCHED: Norway’s Thor 5 telecommunications satellite is embarking on several weeks of in-orbit checkout following its launch aboard a Proton M/Breeze M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Feb. 11. The satellite will spend several days executing a planned drift to its operational orbital location at operator Telenor’s 1 degree West Longitude orbital slot. It will provide Ku-band fixed telecommunications and direct-to-home television broadcasting services with its 24 transponders, improving Telenor’s service coverage in the Nordic countries and Europe.
SINCERE DISAPPOINTMENT: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) has written U.S. Army Secretary Pete Geren to express his “sincere disappointment” at the service’s refusal to release a Rand Corp. study that reportedly faults the U.S. government’s planning for post-war Iraq. The study purportedly cites a variety of planning failures, some by military personnel, some by civilians, and some systemic, such as a lack of coordination between agencies.
CREWS ASSIGNED: NASA has assigned crews for the STS-127 space shuttle mission and the Expedition 19 International Space Station (ISS) mission. Targeted for 2009, STS-127 will deliver the final components of Japan’s Kibo laboratory to the station. Mark Polansky will command Endeavour, with Marine Corps Lt. Col. Douglas Hurley piloting, along with mission specialists Navy Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Cassidy, Thomas Marshburn, David Wolf and the Canadian Space Agency’s Julie Payette. Expedition 19 will double the size of the ISS crew, expanding it to six people.
