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.
NASA is gearing up for the Jan. 15 re-entry into Earth's atmosphere of a 101-pound canister containing cometary and interstellar dust samples gathered by the agency's Stardust spacecraft. The completion of the mission will mark the first time comet samples have been brought back for study, according to NASA, as well as the longest journey ever taken by a spacecraft that has returned to Earth - 2.88 billion miles round-trip since its launch in 1999.
The stalemate continues between Boeing and the union representing much of the company's Delta rocket work force, which has been on strike since Nov. 2. Roughly half of the company's Delta employees went on strike after a three-year contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 expired. Talks on a new contract broke down in late October. Some union-represented employees have since returned to work, according to Boeing.
NASA's authorization bill for fiscal years 2007 and 2008 reaffirms Congress' expectation that NASA will do all it can to maintain a "continuous" ability to send human beings into space.
