Curt Brown, Eileen Collins and Bonnie Dunbar have been selected for induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Brown is a veteran of six space shuttle flights; Collins is the first woman to pilot and command a space shuttle; and Dunbar served as a shuttle mission specialist and payload commander.
North Korea said last week it would conduct its third nuclear test and continue long-range missile trials designed to reach the U.S. just as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was gearing up for a long-awaited return to flight of the system designed to protect the U.S. homeland from such an attack. The vow came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a Washington-backed set of sanctions for Pyongyang in response to its December rocket launch.
Eric Trappier has been appointed chairman and CEO of Velizy-Villacoublay, France-based Dassault Aviation, succeeding Charles Edelstonne, who will retire but remain a director of the company. Trappier was VP for the Middle East and North Africa.
Plans for a 90-seat turboprop are rapidly taking shape on the drawing boards of European regional airliner manufacturer, ATR. On the back of a record year in terms of sales and deliveries, the company has also been quietly working on a business plan, which they hope will urge joint owners EADS and Finmeccanica to green-light the project this year.
David Cran (see photo) has been named airport manager of Cambridge Airport in England. He was airside operations manager at London Stansted Airport for BAA.
Orbital Sciences Corp. engineers are preparing for a static first-stage test of the company's Antares liquid-fuel rocket next month, with only one wet dress rehearsal to go before the on-pad test at Wallops Flight Facility, Va. A month to six weeks after that test, the company plans to launch an Antares with an instrumented test version of its Cygnus cargo carrier. And if that test flight goes well, first flight of an Antares/Cygnus stack to a grapple-and-berth linkup with the International Space Station would come in May or June, depending on ISS scheduling.
Kevin Sargent has been appointed chief operating officer of Derby, England-based Pattonair. Richard Gayle has become group commercial director and acting U.S. general manager in Fort Worth, and Richard Mogg has joined the company as commercial finance director. He comes from Capita's IT Service and consulting division. Steve Williams will head the human resources department, and Sue Williams, who has been with BAE Systems, will become group supply chain director.
Lillian Zarrelli Ryals has been promoted to director, senior VP and general manager of the FAA-sponsored Center for Advanced Aviation System Development at the McLean, Va.-based Mitre Corp. She has more than 30 years' experience in the National Airspace System research, modernization and operations. Sarah MacConduibh has been appointed VP of Air Force programs at Mitre. She was Air Force portfolio director of the organization's command and control center.
Curt Brown, Eileen Collins and Bonnie Dunbar have been selected for induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Brown is a veteran of six space shuttle flights; Collins is the first woman to pilot and command a space shuttle; and Dunbar served as a shuttle mission specialist and payload commander.
When safety issues arise with products used by millions of Americans, Congress is often quick to exercise its oversight role. But for the most part, lawmakers are willing to let the FAA and Boeing take time to discover just what caused the 787 battery fires that have grounded the fledgling fleet (see page 30). Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee who plans to retire in 2014, is one exception. He had a brief outburst last week pressing for congressional inquiry into the matter.
Mark Arimoto (see photos) has been promoted to associate general counsel from assistant general counsel at Hawaiian Airlines. Robin Kobayashi and Scott Miyasato have been appointed assistant general counsels. Kobayashi was an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, and Miyasato was general counsel for a medical device company.
Russian Helicopters plans to showcase its light multi-purpose Ka-226T, which is a contender to fulfill the Indian defense ministry's requirement for surveillance and reconnaissance helicopters, at the ninth Aero India conference, which begins Feb. 6 in Bengaluru. India wants 197 light helicopters: 133 for the Army and 64 for the air force. The competition has been fraught with controversy since India issued its first request for proposals (RFP) in 2003. The Bell 407 and Eurocopter AS550C3 were short-listed and underwent extensive trials.
The launch of Europe's Swarm Earth explorer mission atop a Russian Rokot is on hold as Moscow investigates the cause of a launch mishap this month involving the vehicle's Briz KM upper stage. The three-stage liquid-fueled Rokot delivered three Russian military telecom satellites to their intended orbit 1,500 km (935 mi.) above Earth following a Jan. 15 launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Afterward, however, the vehicle's Briz-KM upper stage failed to perform a depletion burn needed to lower its perigee and accelerate orbital decay.
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The “when” may be in question, but the “what” is becoming clearer as NASA pushes ahead with research into future generations of civil transport aircraft. Not only do significant fuel-burn, emissions and noise reductions look increasingly feasible, but advanced computational tools are taking shape that will enable fast, efficient design and analysis of new aircraft.
As the development of Stratolaunch's Air Launch and Scaled Composites' WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft shows, the use of wing-borne platforms for delivering rockets to orbit is set to grow as the industry strives for lower launch costs. However, unlike the latest purpose-built air launchers, which build on the experience gained over the years of proven mothership vehicles such as the Boeing B-52 and Orbital Sciences' Lockheed L-1011, a newly unveiled NASA air launch concept differs in one major aspect in that it has no engines.
Maria Sastre (see photos) has been promoted to president, in addition to her role as chief operating officer, of Orlando, Fla.-based Signature Flight Support Corp., a BBA Aviation company. Geoff Heck has been promoted to senior VP-sales and marketing from VP-Midwest.
In a recent editorial you invited reader comments (AW&ST Dec. 31, 2012/Jan. 7, p. 154). I am a 40-year subscriber, one of the “legacy readers” you wrote about. I remember when the magazine was more technical and contained detailed explanations—by legendary writers such as Philip J. Klass—of how things worked. Now it seems the focus has shifted to marketing, covering production rates, purchases by international airlines and maintenance.
NASA's loss is Boeing's gain, as former space shuttle program manager John Shannon retires to head up the company's International Space Station program. “It is really great to be back in an operational program again,” Shannon says. Not so great for his space-agency bosses, who continue to see rising stars bail out while Congress and the White House squabble over NASA's future.
