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.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency, has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department to help beef up the economies of Brevard County and nearby regions affected by the shutdown of the space shuttle program.
ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, says the country’s human space program is “teetering right on the edge,” with a final shot coming this week for Congress to approve a blueprint for NASA.
Kennedy Space Center engineers plan to meet Sept. 29 to evaluate data collected after five lightning strikes hit within 5 mi. of the space shuttle launch pad. Preliminary sensor readings indicate no damage to Launch Pad 39A or shuttle Discovery, which is at the pad in preparation for its last flight. Liftoff is targeted for Nov. 1. A tropical depression that brought heavy rain and wind to Kennedy Space Center is expected to pass offshore the morning of Sept. 30, forecasters with the 45th Space Wing said in a NASA status report.
