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.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael Taverna (Paris), Irene Klotz (Cape Canaveral)
The first of 12 planned next-generation Global Positioning System satellites should enter service in three to six months after its May 27 launch from Cape Canaveral AFS on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket. The 206-ft.-tall launch vehicle, assisted by two strap-on solid rocket motors, soared off Launch Pad 37B at 11 p.m. EDT, ending a string of delays including a dramatic abort seconds before liftoff due to an anomalous reading from one of the strap-on motors’ steering systems.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) received clearance from the 45th Space Wing Range Safety Office on June 3 to proceed with a launch attempt of the first Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT June 4 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 40. If successful, the Falcon 9 will place a mockup Dragon capsule into a 250-km. (160-mi.) circular orbit, inclined 34.5 deg. relative to the equator.
The U.S. Department of Labor on June 2 announced a $15 million grant to help space shuttle workers in Brevard County, Fla., launch new careers. Half the funds under the National Emergency Grants program will be released immediately to the Brevard Workforce Development Board, which is spearheading efforts to mitigate economic effects from the planned shutdown of the space shuttle program later this year. “We know we have a tremendous challenge here,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said at a press conference at Kennedy Space Center.
