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 has tapped Lockheed Martin Space Systems to build the unmanned spacecraft that will service the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit after launching in December 2007. According to the terms of the $330.58 million award, Lockheed Martin must deliver the Hubble Robotic Vehicle Deorbit Module (HRVDM) within about 30 months, according to a NASA spokesman. The contract covers work approximately through April 2008, with initial money being reprogrammed from FY '04 funds.
Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne clinched the Ansari X Prize Oct. 4, completing its second qualification flight for the $10 million prize while reaching a record altitude above 360,000 feet. After takeoff from the Civilian Aerospace Test Center at Mojave Airport in California, SpaceShipOne was released by the White Knight carrier aircraft at 7:49 a.m. Pacific time. Pilot Brian Binnie then ignited the vehicle's hybrid rocket engine and soared into suborbital space, beating X-15 pilot Joseph Walker's 1963 aircraft altitude record of 354,200 feet.
With the Elektron oxygen generation system back online, the Expedition 9 astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are not concerned about running out of consumables, according to NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke. "We've been well supplied with the Russian Progress cargo ships, and the Russian partners have done a great job at getting up the necessary food and water and air that we need onboard," Fincke said during a teleconference Oct. 4.
