The majority of the 161 unclassified milsats forecast for production in the next decade will go into service in the near term with production tapering in the outyears.

Michael Grimme has been named senior VP-sales and marketing at AirBaltic, Riga, Latvia. He was director-sales and marketing at TraviAustria.

Mike Leinback has become director of human spaceflight operations at Denver-based United Launch Alliance. He was launch team leader for all NASA space shuttle missions launched since 2000.

David Hygate has joined Denver-based TeamSAI as director for Europe. He was an aerospace consultant who worked mainly for Rolls-Royce.

Cancer has claimed three notable space pioneers. Roger Boisjoly died Jan. 6 in Nephi, Utah. He was 73. As an engineer at Morton Thiokol, he warned that cold weather could cause the O-rings, which sealed field joints in the space shuttle solid-fuel boosters, to fail. Six months later, the shuttle Challenger, launched over Boisjoly's objections after a below-freezing night, was lost when its O-rings failed.

NASA's fiscal 2013 budget request will reflect, and be reflected in, space-exploration spending and priorities worldwide. That isn't a good thing. Those who view civil space exploration as both an uplifting human pursuit and an important economic driver are sure to be disappointed by the details of the U.S. budget plan to be released Feb. 13. We know from previous plans that it will be flat and tight, with no major new initiatives and a lot of backfill from previous spending shortfalls.