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.
As it prepares to resume night launches next month, NASA is confident that it still will be able to gather useful imagery of the space shuttle during ascent, according to Program Manager Wayne Hale. "At this point, we're as confident as we're likely to get that it's safe to return" to night operations, Hale said during a news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston Nov. 6.
Frank Morring, Jr. and Jefferson Morris (Goddard Space Flight Center)
Upgrades and repairs planned for the Hubble Space Telescope may help astronomers reset the cosmological zeitgeist for future space exploration. But regardless of the scientific outcome, the astronauts who carry out the newly announced servicing mission in the spring of 2008 will work in an operational environment reshaped by NASA's shift to human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have been awarded contracts by the U.S. Air Force to enter the second phase of an effort to define the next-generation of polar military communications satellite payloads. Boeing Satellite Systems and Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems both received roughly $8.4 million to continue with the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) payload study. Work on Phase II will be complete by December 2007.
