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 U.S. Air Force plans to offer a "healthy incentive" to the prime contractor of the Global Positioning System III (GPS III) program to try to advance the launch of the first spacecraft to 2011 from its current projected date of 2013, according to Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base. "We believe speed-to-market is a key element of our future success," Hamel said during a teleconference Sept. 19.
NASA has delayed the planned Sept. 20 landing of space shuttle Atlantis by at least 24 hours while flight controllers attempt to identify two mysterious objects seen drifting near the orbiter on Sept. 19. The first object was inadvertently spied by mission controllers over a video feed from a camera in the shuttle's open payload bay at 2:45 a.m. Eastern time. Viewed as a small black object moving against the backdrop of the Earth, its size could not be determined.
The international Solar-B mission is set to launch Sept. 23 from Uchinoura Space Center in Japan, when it will begin a three-year mission to gather data on the sun's magnetic field that could one day improve space weather prediction. Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Solar-B is a collaboration between the space agencies of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom and Europe. Following launch, Solar-B will enter a polar orbit that will put it in continuous sunlight for nine months of the year.
