Reader Todd M. Edward made offensive remarks about Muslims that struck me as extremely prejudiced (AW&ST Dec. 3, 2012, p. 10). Unfortunately, this kind of thinking has been common in our country since the 9/11 attacks, attempting to paint all Islamic culture with one brush. These views reveal a breathtaking absence of historical perspective, let alone facts.
Non-government test pilots will make the initial flights in commercial crew vehicles under development with NASA funds, and later train astronauts once the agency certificates their spacecraft for human flight, according to agency and company managers. Garrett Reisman, the commercial crew project manager at SpaceX, says his company plans to begin flying its own test pilots in 2015 on an upgrade of the Falcon 9/Dragon combination that already has reached the International Space Station (ISS) twice in a cargo configuration.
Now that he has retired from Congress, outspoken former Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and his wife Jennifer are creating a Washington branch of a law firm that is based in his hometown of Cleveland. His wife served as her husband's chief of staff before becoming a lobbyist for Van Scoyoc Associates, representing Airports Council International-North America. He was a member of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee and a leading voice on transportation matters. Revolving-door rules prevent him from lobbying Congress for one year.
Chris Miner has been promoted to vice president of in-service aircraft carrier programs for Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News (Va.) Shipbuilding Div. from director of the Virginia-class submarine program. Honors and Elections
Boeing has achieved its highest widebody production rate—8.3 aircraft per month, or 100 per year—with a Korean Air 777 Freighter that rolled out Jan. 8. The company has increased 777 production rates twice in the past 31 months, moving from five to seven per month to the 8.3 in about 16-month intervals. Last year, Boeing shipped 83 777s, the equivalent of 6.9 per month. Previously, the 747 had been the rate champion at a peak of seven per month. The 737 narrowbody production line is now turning out 38 aircraft per month.
U.S. Army Col. Leon N. Thurgood has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. He has been deputy program executive officer for missiles and space, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), were presented with a challenge at the start of 2012: get their parties to agree to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget and deal with a series of tax extensions. Failing meant a likely recession caused by inaction, and election-year inertia only raised the stakes.
Limited and uncertain funding has forced NASA to make hard decisions as it selects which technologies to take to the next level in its pursuit of aggressive fuel-burn, noise and emissions reductions for next-generation commercial transports. A victim of its own success, NASA's refocused aeronautics research program has advanced more technologies than its diminished budget can afford to take forward into the next phase of its Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project.
Virgin Atlantic Airways' choice to recruit American Airlines executive Craig Kreeger as CEO indicates the London-based airline is preparing for a new chapter in its history, jettisoning its historic independent streak to embrace a future as a fully fledged network carrier and possible alliance member. But the new CEO will have his hands full.
Boaz Levi (see photo) has been nominated as corporate vice president/general manager of the Systems, Missiles and Space Group of Israel Aerospace Industries. He has been general director of the Air Defense Systems Div.
When former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee as the president's choice to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, look for him to be grilled about his past statements on Iran, Israel and maybe even his views about sexual orientation. But former colleagues in the Republican Party are also likely to take him to task for his support of downsizing the U.S. nuclear force.
NASA's decision to launch the Glory climate-monitoring spacecraft in spite of a recommendation from its own engineering safety office not to (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2012, p. 24) is disturbingly reminiscent of some Columbia Accident Investigation Board findings. Equally disturbing is the risk that was taken to avoid “the cost that would be tied up with a very long launch delay.”
Do you have any policy regarding advertising copy? A recent Airbus ad is infuriating, at best (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2012, pp. 4-5). It attacks a U.S. company with an excellent history. Of course, what is missing from the ad copy is any reference to safety and the number of lives lost on Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft.
Four Skyteam members on either side of the Taiwan Strait are deepening their relationship with closer collaboration in their shared market between the island nation of Taiwan and China. The so-called Great China Connection service also marks one of the biggest steps forward in cooperation between China Southern and China Eastern airlines since the latter's 2010 application to join Skyteam. The application put both carriers in the same alliance and raised the question of whether the two state airlines would ultimately be merged.
Frank Morring, Jr.'s commentary “Bring the Mountain . . .” (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2012, p. 22) highlights the difficulties NASA is facing in establishing a meaningful mission for the SLS/Orion system. Both the Moon and Mars beckon, but due to politics and economics NASA is instead considering the capture and return to cislunar space of a small near-Earth asteroid.
Lockheed Martin has finally delivered the waveform needed to fully utilize the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access capabilities offered by the new Mobile User Objective System narrowband communications satellites.
Warning that a looming trio of budget disasters would hollow the military and devastate readiness, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked the military to begin to prepare for one of them—sequestration. “We really have no choice but to prepare for the worst,” Panetta told reporters during a Jan. 10 news briefing.
Rick Howard has been named chief information security officer for TASC Inc., Chantilly, Va. He was general manager of the iDefense business unit of VeriSign and had led the intelligence-gathering activities at Counterpane Internet Security.
The opening of an expanded terminal at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport signals its aspirations to compete with the larger two airports in the Russian capital, and it also opens capacity for UTair Aviation and its Star Alliance partners.
U.S. government agencies are quietly making “direct arrangements” with airborne Internet providers to obtain certain information flowing through broadband Wi-Fi systems for data and voice in airline passenger cabins.
Improved demand for larger regional jets and sustained sales of its Q400 turboprop helped Bombardier in 2012 post its highest level of regional aircraft net orders since 2007. The 138 sales in 2012 compare with 54 net orders in 2011 and exceed all annual sales since the airframer posted a record 238 orders in 2006. Bombardier's 2012 total includes 73 CRJs—up from four in 2011—and 50 Q400s, up from seven in 2011. CSeries sales, however, fell to 15 in 2012 from 54 in 2011.
Internal studies by Ad Astra Rocket propose key propulsion roles for its Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimr) on formative space missions that draw interest from Washington and abroad. Those missions include the retrieval of a Near Earth Asteroid to prepare for human deep-space exploration and mitigation of the Earth orbital debris threat, as well as commercial initiatives to reboost and refuel Earth-orbiting spacecraft.
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