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.
SHUTTLE SET: NASA has set a launch time of 6:21 a.m. EDT April 5 for space shuttle mission STS-131 to the International space Station, following a flight readiness review March 26 at which mission managers concluded that all of Discovery’s equipment and support systems are ready. The second of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, STS-131 will deliver science equipment and supplies to the station. Led by Commander Alan Poindexter, the crew will perform three spacewalks.
A National Academies report on monitoring compliance with climate change treaties formally endorses NASA’s plan to build and launch a replacement for its Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) spacecraft, although it suggests the agency consider changing its planned orbit to allow better monitoring of human sources of greenhouse gases.
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has successfully completed a set of rigorous actuator tests, which agency managers hope is a sign that the problem-plagued rover mission has finally turned a corner. “The great news last weekend is that the final actuator that we were having problems with has passed its two-times life test,” Associate Administrator for Science Ed Weiler said during a Space Foundation breakfast in Washington March 4. “So — knock wood — the actuator problem on MSL, which has been the biggest problem, seems to be behind us.”
