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.
International Launch Services orbited the DirecTV 12 broadcasting satellite on Dec. 29 onboard a Proton M booster, marking its seventh mission of the year and confirming the operator’s successful rebound from a 2008 launch failure. ILS also signed 10 firm launch contracts in 2009, including several picked up from Sea Launch, which is struggling to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On Dec.
The International Space Station is fully staffed again after Soyuz TMA‑17 docked without incident Dec. 22, bringing cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA’s Timothy Creamer to join Expedition 22 commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Russian flight engineer Maxim Suraev. Now at full strength, Expedition 22 will spend more time on science than previous crews, who focused on assembly and outfitting. On Jan.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued EADS Astrium a €150-million ($216-million) contract for definition of a higher-power variant of the Ariane 5 intended to keep in step with growing telecom satellite mass and allow the heavy-lift booster to compete against new boosters such as China’s Long March 5 and Russia’s Angara. Expected to make its first flight around 2017, the new version, known as the Ariane 5 ME (Midlife Evolution), will feature a new upper stage, a re-ignitable Vinci upper-stage engine and enhanced avionics and flight software.
