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.
The chances are "very low" that the space shuttle will fly again in September or October as NASA had been planning, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Answering questions before the House Science committee in Washington Feb. 12, O'Keefe said the schedule is likely to slip because of ongoing modifications to the shuttle's external tank, as well as the development of a boom camera that will be able to examine the shuttle's underbelly for damage while in orbit.
House Science Committee Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-Texas) unsuccessfully pressed NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and White House Science Advisor John Marburger to provide a specific cost estimate for returning humans to the moon by 2020 during a hearing in Washington Feb. 12. President Bush's space exploration program calls for robotic probes to begin visiting the moon this decade to begin mapping resources and scouting landing sites, followed by a human landing no later than 2020 (DAILY, Feb. 5).
The commission formed to advise the president and NASA on the implementation of the country's new vision for space exploration held its first public meeting in Washington Feb. 10, where members discussed how best to sustain support for the policy over the long term. The new policy, announced by the president last month, would return astronauts to the moon by the middle of the next decade to gain the knowledge required for future visits to Mars and elsewhere in the solar system (DAILY, Jan. 16).
