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.
President Bush has ordered NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe to reprogram $11 billion of the agency's budget over the next five years to meet his new vision of returning human beings to the moon by 2015-2020 and paving the way for human missions to Mars. O'Keefe will be reviewing all of NASA's space flight and exploration activities to refocus the agency on the president's plan. Bush also plans to request that Congress approve an additional $1 billion for the agency over the same five-year period.
While praising the Administration for trying to shape a national vision for space, congressional sources told The DAILY that the Administration's proposal leaves many questions unanswered, such as how much it will cost after the first five years. "It's good to finally be setting some goals, but we need to see how real this is," one source said. "It's not clear how they get there." For the Crew Exploration Vehicle, it is unclear why there would be a six-year gap between the first unmanned and manned flights.
If the Bush Administration directs NASA to establish a permanent human presence on the moon or send a crew to Mars, Spacehab's module designs could be adapted for such purposes, according to a company spokeswoman. Spacehab develops, owns and operates habitat and laboratory modules and cargo carriers designed to fly aboard NASA's space shuttles and operate on the International Space Station (ISS). The company's Research Double Module (RDM), which housed experiments, was destroyed when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated on Feb. 1, 2003.
