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.
Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on schedule at 1:26 p.m. EDT July 28, marking the end of a busy assembly visit that included five spacewalks and completed installation of Japan’s Kibo laboratory. The Expedition 20 and STS-127 crews bid one another farewell and closed hatches between the station and Endeavour at 11:08 a.m. EDT. After the undocking, the shuttle drifted free and Pilot Doug Hurley performed a close fly-around of the station at a distance of 400 feet to survey its exterior.
Boeing has withdrawn its protest of the award of the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) system space segment contract to Lockheed Martin. The spring protest to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which followed an earlier complaint late last December, sought to overturn a $1.09 billion award by NASA for two GOES-R weather satellites, plus an option for a third, issued on Dec. 10.
The Pentagon’s ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is exploring the creation of air units for irregular warfare, and whether such units would be owned by Special Forces or conventional troops, according to the Pentagon’s top civilian official in irregular warfare needs. Michael Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities, thinks that a “light air” component for irregular warfare is an idea whose time has come.
