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.
CLEARED TO LAND: On-orbit inspections of the thermal protection system on Space Shuttle Atlantis revealed no problems that would preclude a safe re-entry and landing on the morning of May 22. The STS-125 crew performed end-of-mission inspections of the wing leading edges and nose cap on May 19 after releasing the Hubble Space Telescope following its final servicing, and NASA spent that night and the following morning reviewing the data.
Boeing has again asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate NASA’s award of the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) space segment prime contract to rival Lockheed Martin. Boeing originally protested Lockheed’s win of the weather satellite contract in December, but before GAO could complete its review process the agency elected to redo the source selection on its own.
The Obama administration’s proposed fiscal 2010 budget for NASA does not contain enough money to realize the George W. Bush administration’s goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020, Acting Administrator Chris Scolese told House lawmakers May 19. “Clearly the situation as it stands right now means we couldn’t do the program of record — putting humans on the moon by 2020,” Scolese told members of the House Science and Technology Committee.
