Irene Klotz is Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, based in Cape Canaveral. Before joining Aviation Week in 2017, Irene spent 25 years as a wire service reporter covering human and robotic spaceflight, commercial space, astronomy, science and technology for Reuters and United Press International. She also worked with Discovery Communications, Discovery News and was a founding member of Space.com.
Irene cut her teeth on the space beat at Florida Today newspaper, a business writer enchanted by the colorful entrepreneurs who wanted access to Air Force launch facilities and assets after commercial payloads were taken off the space shuttles following the 1986 Challenger accident. Commercial space remains the focus of her work, along with a keen interest in the search for life beyond Earth.
A graduate of Northwestern University, Irene is the 2014 recipient of the Harry Kolcum Memorial News and Communications Award, named in honor of the late Aviation Week managing editor and Cape Canaveral senior editor who was among Irene’s earliest mentors.
CAPE CANAVERAL — A United Space Alliance (USA) worker died March 14 after falling off Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, where shuttle Endeavour is being prepared for an April 19 launch. Emergency medical personnel were unable to revive the man, identified as James D. Vanover, an engineer for shuttle contractor USA. NASA canceled all work at the pad for the rest of the day and offered counseling and employee assistance to workers. The incident is under investigation, NASA said in a statement.
CAPE CANAVERAL — A United Space Alliance (USA) worker died March 14 after falling off Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, where shuttle Endeavour is being prepared for an April 19 launch. Emergency medical personnel were unable to revive the man, identified as James D. Vanover, an engineer for shuttle contractor USA. NASA canceled all work at the pad for the rest of the day and offered counseling and employee assistance to workers. The incident is under investigation, NASA said in a statement.
CAPE CANAVERAL — A classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 rocket on March 11. The 211-ft.-tall Delta 4 blasted off at 6:38 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 37. The rocket used a single common booster core with a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) RS-68 main engine; two Alliant Techsystems GEM 60 solid rocket motors; a PWR RL10B-2 upper-stage engine; and a 4-meter-dia. upper stage and composite payload fairing.
