Irene Klotz is Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, based in Cape Canaveral. Before joining Aviation Week in 2017, Irene spent 25 years as a wire service reporter covering human and robotic spaceflight, commercial space, astronomy, science and technology for Reuters and United Press International. She also worked with Discovery Communications, Discovery News and was a founding member of Space.com.
Irene cut her teeth on the space beat at Florida Today newspaper, a business writer enchanted by the colorful entrepreneurs who wanted access to Air Force launch facilities and assets after commercial payloads were taken off the space shuttles following the 1986 Challenger accident. Commercial space remains the focus of her work, along with a keen interest in the search for life beyond Earth.
A graduate of Northwestern University, Irene is the 2014 recipient of the Harry Kolcum Memorial News and Communications Award, named in honor of the late Aviation Week managing editor and Cape Canaveral senior editor who was among Irene’s earliest mentors.
A joint venture of the UK government and Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global has won U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to buy aspiring global, high-speed internet-via-satellite operator OneWeb.
The 235-ft. tall, triple-core booster was 7 sec. away from liftoff at 11:54 p.m. on Sept. 30 when the rocket’s Terminal Countdown Sequencer Rack, which controls the final 10 sec. of the countdown, identified “an unexpected condition,” and stopped the launch.
