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.
On April 7 the space shuttle program will begin its debris certification review, one of the key milestones that prompted the Stafford-Covey review panel to postpone its most recently scheduled meeting to await its results. NASA has redesigned the external tank to reduce instances of foam insulation shedding. The final analysis of how large a piece of debris may come loose during launch - and how critical the damage would be if it struck the orbiter - is coming in somewhat later than expected, according to shuttle managers.
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are developing a unique shape-shifting lunar rover that they hope will become part of the Goddard-run Robotic Lunar Exploration Program early in the next decade.
The aging Russian Elektron oxygen-generation unit onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is once again offline, although the astronauts still have ample supplies of tanked oxygen to draw on. "The current unit onboard is getting old, it's a little cantankerous," Commander Leroy Chiao said during a press conference April 4. "It comes up, works for a while, then needs a little more TLC." A replacement Elektron unit could be brought up to the station as early as June, according to NASA officials (DAILY, March 18).
