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.
A March 4 story on the upcoming launch of the second Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft gave the impression that the flight was delayed because of a prior Atlas V launch anomaly. According to the U.S. Air Force, the mission was pushed back from its original December 2008 target because the service wanted to perform additional environmental testing on the spacecraft.
WGS LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force plans to launch the second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 9:24 p.m. EDT on March 17 from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The flight originally was slated for March 14, but was bumped to allow the space shuttle Discovery to launch first. The first spacecraft in the WGS military communications constellation was launched in October 2007 and became operational in April 2008. The third spacecraft is slated for launch in August.
Jefferson Morris (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Already facing a budget crunch, the European Space Agency’s first rover mission to Mars is now struggling to stay within its specified weight limits, making the downsizing of its science payload seemingly inevitable.
