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.
Outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe offered succinct advice for his successor during a Dec. 17 press conference formally announcing his departure: "Take the president's vision for space exploration, support it, and implement it." President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and prepare for a human landing on Mars represents "a great legacy" that the next administrator will inherit, he said. The next administrator "has the opportunity now to build on that baseline ... I wish my successor well in that task," he said.
In accordance with the White House's new policy on the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Transportation Department will take a larger role in planning and paying for enhancements to the system's civil services.
The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group closed out three more Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) recommendations during a meeting in Huntsville, Ala., Dec. 16, satisfied that NASA has taken sufficient steps to fulfill them. Before the meeting, the group had "conditionally closed" five of the CAIB's 15 return to flight recommendations, meaning that it required additional information for a final approval. NASA last week submitted to the Task Group "closure packages" describing its efforts on the remaining 10 recommendations.
