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.
On May 24, amateur astronomers spotted the Starlink train of satellites glistening in reflected sunlight as they circled overhead, sparking concerns about interference with ground-based astronomical observations.
In a May 23 memo to employees, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said aerospace executive Mark Sirangelo left after Congress nixed plans for an agency reorganization that would have created a Moon-to-Mars Mission Directorate.
Nearly a year after a propellant leak suspended Boeing CST-100 Starliner launch abort motor tests, the company successfully put the repaired system through a series of static firings.
