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.
NASA's latest estimate for the total cost of returning the space shuttle to flight following the Columbia accident is $1.267 billion total spent from fiscal 2003 through FY '06. The cost estimates are included in the latest update to NASA's return-to-flight (RTF) implementation plan. The update, released Feb. 24, is the 11th edition of the plan and the first since the shuttle resumed operations with mission STS-114 in July 2005.
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) Chairman Joseph Dyer is pleased with NASA's recent progress in developing its Independent Technical Authority (ITA), which has been a major concern for the ASAP since the panel was reconstituted in 2004. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) recommended the establishment of the ITA to provide an unbiased look at safety. In the past, ASAP panel members have expressed concern about the pace of the ITA's development (DAILY, July 22, 2004).
After traveling roughly 95 percent of its 300 million mile journey since launching last August, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing for the riskiest phase of its mission on March 10 - insertion into the red planet's orbit. NASA has only a 65 percent success rate with Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI), according to the agency. "Now we're starting to enter into the realm where we've lost two spacecraft in the last 15 years," said Orbiter Project Manager Jim Graf, referring to the 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter and the 1993 Mars Observer.
