I loved to read the specials and the news stories by Craig and his cohorts back I was in grad school at Florida Tech in Melbourne, FL over 20 years ago. Those articles were very educational and even inspirational to me.

I can say that I've lost touch with Av Week and those writers in more recent times, probably for the most part because I use the web for staying current 90% of the time, and it seems to me like Av Week hasn't smoothly made a transition from glossy paper to the flat screen.

Maybe this is part of that process for them. In any case, best wishes to those guys.

This is indeed a sad day. I first met Craig in Dec. 1985 while covering my first launch at the Cape as a collegiate journalist from Tenn. Tech University. He is the epitome of class, credibility, and professionalism. He had no obligation to give me the time of day, but treated me with respect and courtesy, answering all of my questions. I still have the signed copy of that week's magazine he gave me on my office wall. He remembered me and spoke with me at length about the future of the shuttle program when I returned to cover STS-29, my second launch. I always described my dream job as swapping places with Craig or Bill Harwood. Craig deserves better than this for his years of unmatched coverage of America's space programs. If you read this Craig, thanks for everything, and best of luck to you as you move forward. Credible coverage of activities at the Cape and around the world just took a big hit.

Outrageous. The people AWST fired are irreplaceable and I believe the magazine will regret it.

What the %#$# is wrong with them (AW&ST), those individuals did excellent work, especially Covault...

I got my first issue of Av Week nearly 30 years ago and have been reading Craig's reports from the Cape during that entire time. Caught him asking questions (on NASA TV) at a shuttle briefing just last and remarked to myself on his longevity. This is a big mistake on the part of Av Week and a sad loss for the space community.

I became hooked on Craig's narratives back in the days of the (never to be) Skylab rescue mission. Has always been an excellent interpreter for us wanna-be rocket scientists. Hoping I will see his by-line once again, perhaps on a prominent space exploration web site.

In the mean time, we may be seeing the first signs of AW's eventual demise. All the traditional paper media are in trouble.

This doesn't make any sense. AvWeek is going to lose readers.

I have subscribed to AW&ST for 25 years, primarily to read Craig Covault's coverage of space programs. I will not renew my subscription in response to this shoddy treatment of senior staff.

If NASA is smart they will snap them up for the HQ public affairs office to cover the Constellation Program.

Absolutely unbelievable, nonsensical and outrageous. I met Craig several years ago and he has always been very friendly and courteous and extremely helpful. gone out of his way to be helpful and kind to me. I have been reading his insightful, informative, news breaking AWST articles for 3 decades. and I read AWST because of Craig's articles.

I totally agree with "Steve" above, and like him I dreamed too of switching places with Craig and Bill Harwood. They are the pillars of respected space journalism.

Craig has received numerous renowed journalism awards, including for lifetime achievement. please look here:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/304876/aviation_week_groups_craig_covault_receives_lifetime_achievement_award_from/index.html

Yes, indeed, all too typical of the demise of print media. The people in charge just don't get it that good journalism can and should be practiced regardless of specific media. Very sad, and shame on the beancounters. They WILL regret it.

I have known and worked with both Craig and Dave for many years, both as a fellow journalist and more recently as a PR person and to say they will be missed from the AV Week masthead is an understatement. Whatever genius who decided to close the Cape Canaveral bureau of an aerospace magazine should be fired. For gosh sakes, who's next??? It ain't much, but I'm canceling my subscription, too. Sorry Frank M!

So who's going to handle the ST side of AW?

Oh! Perhaps they'll get that actor fellow Ashton Kutcher in their place! He of such deep knowledge on space and the technological background requirements and the reasons to Go There, demonstrated in his wise comments and strong observations on Space and going to Mars when he was on Bill Maher's Real Time recently ....

I used to read AV&ST growing up, reading anything & everything I could about aircraft technology and space efforts; AV&ST was _THE_ source.

As in so many other businesses, it seems the leadership at AV&ST have also fallen victum to cranial rectumitis.

AvWk's loss ... what's wrong with our businesses??

When I was a kid following the Apollo moon shots Craig Covault was practically the word of God for in-depth mission coverage. You felt like you had the inside track after reading his preview articles in AWST, which contained details, charts and photos found nowhere else in the public press. A first rate technical writer.

Very sad news indeed.

As a relatively new space flight journalist one tends to look up to the likes of Craig. His talent and ability is obvious to all, but on a personal note I always found him to be warm and friendly on the few occasions I've corresponded with him - which really meant a lot to this newbie.

If someone doesn't snap him up, then hopefully those of us with space flight sites can hire him in for guest articles to the point it's viable for him to remain on the scene.

I gave up on AW&ST last January. They didn't seem interested in manned space anymore. And at the price of the magazine for the amount of coverage. The internet bet them.

I remember reading my first Craig Covault story while I was a student at the University of Tennessee. I was in the library and saw and AvWeek in the magazine rack with a story about a space shuttle main engine test firing. I remember thinking, wow, that guy has a great job. That story got me thinking about space and helped prompt me to drive down to KSC to cover STS-2 for the school newspaper. I was so blown away, I drove down a second time and eventually made it to the Cape full time with UPI and later, CBS News. I soon learned there were two institutions besides NASA at KSC. One was the late Howard Benedict of The Associated Press. The other was Craig. He was, and is, in a class by himself. Every space reporter on the beat, including Howard (and me), had a subscription to Av Week and kept Craig's stories on file for background. His body of work is unrivaled and his attention to detail legendary. No one does long-form space stories better. I only hope when he lands on his feet somewhere else - and he will - that he finally gives in and buys a digital recorder!

Was this just in relation to cost cutting?

I'm absolutely stunned.

At first, I thought this had to be a mistake ... we were just chatting at the STS-126 launch and, not even a week later, AvWeek does the unthinkable.

Craig Covault is, and has always been, a class act and a true gentleman ... and one of the finest reporters ever to cover the beat. I just renewed my subscription - primarily to read Craig's work - but I too will cancel it!

Good luck and Godspeed, Craig ... I'll bet that your phone will be ringing off the hook tomorrow with job offers.

Like so many others in the media, AW&ST has been contaminating their hard news with increasing amounts of editorial content. I can get the news elsewhere on the web with less bias. I recently cancelled my subscription after many years. Decisions like this one to drop these well respected journalists won't help their profitability.

I read Craig's shuttle coverage voraciously during high school and college, making it standard ops for me to hit the library every Monday evening...hoping the new issue of Av Week had arrived and always disappointed if it hadn't. I distinctly recall his piece on the simulator training for STS 7, describing in detail the graphics capabilities and how the facilities were used to prepare for SPAS deploy & retrieve.

Ten years later I had the incredible opportunity to teach shuttle crews in those same facilities, including one mission (STS 80) that deployed & retrieved a SPAS. I never forgot how inspired I had been by Craig's accurate and detailed writing...including the role that very article played in my life.

Thank you, Mr. Covault, for serving something larger than yourself for so many years and for inspiring so many folks so personally. You made an incredible difference for so many.

Either AW & ST is up to something bigger and better for these guys (sometimes in corporate labyrinths folks need to be fired to be re-hired) or the mag management has gone bonkers. Hope it's the former.

I'm in a state of shock.

Craig Covault IS AvLeak at Cape Canaveral.

And in Paris.

And in China.

And in Washington D.C.

And in Houston, Texas, Huntsville, Ala., Pasadena, Calif. and Greenbelt, Md.

Not to mention the Pentagon and the National Reconnaissance Office.

Everywhere there is space technology, Covault IS Aviation Week. He's an institution.

I wish this all was some silly joke.

No AvLeak in Cape Canaveral?

No Covault at AvLeak?

Harry Kolcum is rolling in his grave.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over???!!! I've been an AW&ST subscriber since I was 14 years old...over half a century ago! I have of late noted a change in the magazine, and I'm not sure I like it!

The closing of the Cape bureau and the firing of these gentlemen is an illogical act...unless the magazine's management is getting vibes that the Cape is going to be a ghost town (other than military launches) under the next administration!

Com'mon, McGraw-Hill! You got an explanation for this?

Inconceivable.

Two can play at this game AvWeek:

For the past 20 years of my part-time teaching in the Cal Poly aero engineering department, I have always allowed the SoCal AvWeek rep to come into my classes on the first day of every quarter and give his sales pitch to freshman aero students.

No more. They have now been "fired" from my classroom! That's how I roll.

What’s sad, and scary, is the fact that the owners of newspapers and magazines around the country increasingly see quality journalism by experienced reporters as extravagances they can no longer afford. Is it any wonder why circulations are plummeting and as a society we understand less and less about the world around us? It’s a disgrace. The loss of Craig Covault from the aerospace reporting world impoverishes us all: the readers who counted on his fine reporting, and the colleagues he leaves behind trying to maintain to the high standard he set.

Craig, I hope that you still get your email at AvWeek. I've been reading your work since high school (I'm now 40) and it shocked me to find out about your departure from Aviation Week.

Please follow in the footsteps of the former editor of The New Republic, Andrew Sullivan www.andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com) and Keith Cowing (www.nasawatch.com) and make a *spectacular* one-man blog that draws higher ratings than all of Aviation Week!

Do you know that Andrew Sullivan's blog has more viewers that "The Nation", the left-oriented political magazine?

Andrew Sullivan is also a philosopher of blogging, check this out. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/andrew-sullivan-why-i-blog .

Best of luck to you, Craig! Robert Pickar

I am stunned. Absolutely frozen in disbelief.

Craig, you will land safely from this abort and be back in the left seat before you know it.

It has been getting harder and harder to justify renewing my subscription. This may tip the scales. Without covering the Cape, the magazine becomes much less relevant to my interests, both personal and professional. After reading his articles for over thirty years, I will miss Mr. Covalt's reporting.

I've been reading Craig Convault's stories in Aviation Week for the last 13 years off and on - he is the guv'ner. Didn't he break the Mars meteorite story first? This seems like a very strange decision...

In 2006 a film came out called Idiocracy, about how stupid our society will devolve to in 500 years.

This AW&ST move is just another sign of things to come.

I have relied on Craig's writings as a definitive source for information on civil, commercial, and national security activities since I frist arrived in Washington in 1975. His insights and network of sources have provided enlightenment on technology, missions, and policy whether covering the routine, the complex, or the baffling. He is one of the most fair journalists I have encountered and was clearly dedicated to seeking truth without trying to humilitate or tear dow the focus of his stories.

He will be greatly missed and I believe AWST is being extremely short-sighted. With his talent and network I am sure he will go on to even better assignments in the future.

Maybe Craig Covault can report for SpaceRef.com Bring all that capability to this site.

I see AvLeak is following Circuit City into oblivion by emulating their: "Fire the real experienced talent and keep the minimum wage monkeys" model.

Craig Covault was as much a brand himself as he was an employee. They don't seem to realize that brand is not transferrable to another employee.

Very sad.

I've long considered Craig a dean of the space beat. Whether intentional or not, he's done more than report his own stories, he's kept an eye on the larger frontier. That includes my own little covered wagon. A new door will open for Craig, I predict. Mark Carreau/Houston

With the loss of Craig, the "& Space Technology" on Aviation Week's banner has grown far smaller in stature... and respect.

Craig Covault is a pillar of Aviation Week. It will be a lesser and less valuable publication without him.

Dan Billow
WESH-TV

I've valued Aviation Week for 30+ years for its solid reporting and knowledgeable analysis. That comes from reporters like Craig and Dave Hughes. They turned out pages a week of solid news. Their loss will hurt deeply.

Craig Covault's departure from AWST will be felt all through the aerospace reporting community. His accuracy and subject knowledge made him an exceptional reporter of what could be very complex issues. My best to you Craig in your future endeavors.

Tom Usciak
Photographer

I started reading Aviation Week in junior high school back around the time Craig started with the magazine. I consider him to be one of the finest writers in the field.

Transitioning to new ways of doing things doesn't always go as we'd like it to. All the free sources of information on the internet destroy a lot of other business models that are becoming obsolete. It's a challenge not to go the way of the ice delivery man when refrigerators in the home became practical.

In my line of work I see often older managers of technology companies that got their feet wet in their industries long before computers started dominating the desktop. Many of them struggle with how to incorporate new technology they aren't comfortable with and how to develop new workable business models. I don't know if this is the case with management at Aviation Week, but I suspect it's so.

Good Luck Craig. I hope it helps to know that many of us have read your work, have thoroughly enjoyed it, and have been inspired by it. I do hope that a new media company out there hears about this and makes you an offer to continue that is just too good to refuse.

What's the point in subscribing to AW&ST without Craig Covault....I have no intention on renewing my subscription.

I’m gobsmacked by this affront. I’ve known Craig during my stints as a reporter and a flack for the space biz. The only thing better than Craig’s dry sense of humor was his sense for a great story.

Besides being a gentleman, I think a lot of us considered him the unofficial leader of the press corps at the Cape.

I wish Craig well and know that he’s on to better things.

Thanks for all the great reporting Craig!

Glen Golightly

Simply stunned.

Craig Covault is a class act and a legend in our business. Aviation Week has made a big mistake to let him go.

When I started covering space 20 years ago my hope was to be as good as Craig -- I'm still trying! He truly is an inspiration to all of us who cover the space program. He offered me plenty of encouragement during my early trips to the Cape and continues to offer his support to this day.

I tip my fez to you Craig!

Steven Young

Spaceflight Now

I'll join my voice to the chorus of those wishing Craig the best. I almost, though, feel sorrier for AvWeek: while Craig will likely have his pick of future opportunities to pursue, how will the magazine ever replace him?

Craig is not just the smartest, most knowledgeable and best-sourced reporter covering the space program, he is also one of the nicest. He beat me regularly; the only time the rest of us had a bit of break in being regularly beat was when he was based in Paris (and it only was a bit because he could still beat us a continent away). I prefer to think of Craig's reporting in the present tense, putting his skills in the past tense would be a disservice to the reading public.

Back in the 1980s, I had the honor of being the unofficial campaign chief for Craig Couvault to become the first Reporter In Space. That campaign went nowhere after the Challenger accident, but can you imagine the reams of precise, "you are there" copy that he would have written, to place us right alongside him on the flight deck, if it had? He has mentioned to me, more than once, his increasing frustration over the declining emphasis that McGraw-Hill has placed on the space program in recent years. His worst fears have now been realized. With him and his colleagues gone, we should now refer to the magazine as AW&st.

Sad. But, the economy is sh** and print media are dying a slow death. Not really that much of a surprise when you think about it.

It is hard to believe with 10 - 11 space shuttle flights and Constellation that Aviation Week would shed one of the best and brightest reporters to ever cover the beat.

So goes the way of the corporate world. They go from down sizing to dumb sizing.

I am shocked and stunned to hear of the firing of Craig Covault and David Hughes both,and then to hear of the firing of David Collogan, well, this just adds insult to injury to the poor space and aviation reporters who were shot in the back by Corporate American bean counters at AW&ST who think they know what they're doing, when in fact, by their actions, clearly demonstrate that they don't.

To me this is another example of the continual atomization and degradation of American culture and society that has gone on for three decades now,and has accellerated in the 21st century to the point where the average joe or jenny in the street knows in their gut that something is dreadfully wrong with America, but can't quite put a finger on it.

We are headed for a train wreck of epic proportions in this country, and with an atomized culture unable to agree on exactly what is wrong, much less agree on what to do about it, coupled to growing Authoritarianism in government, and the takeover of our financial system from a private bank acting instead of a national bank, well, if you don't call that cultural, finacial, and societal suicide, I don't know what is.

It was my hope space development and space settlement could mitigate the worst that could happen, but with a billions of dollar overbudget, years behind schedule descoped space station, a lunar return that hangs by a thread in Congress and the Administration, and a US populace that is largely clueless (see Ashton Kutcher article above), I'm beginning to think a new Dark Age is coming, and coming soon.

I have to admit, I haven't gone to AV Weekly's website in a while, but I am absolutely stunned of this decision.

I wonder if this a result of the print media, economy, etc. - but why on Earth would you let got of a group of high quality professionals like that!? Why!? They may be small in number, but huge in presence and respect in the industry.

...this seems like a major blunder. It reminds me of the time when NPR replace Bob Edwards w/Inskeep & Montagne. I mean, are they trying to refresh themselves? Is this a fully severed relationship for the three experienced professionals or are they taking on a new roles as commentators, etc.?

Best,
Shalin

Craig’s unceremonious dismissal is disturbing on 2 levels. It represents another tragic step on the road to an impoverished society absent the mechanisms to learn and grow, plus, on a more personal note, the ‘Space’ community is further diminished with the loss of one of its few gentlemen.

I’ve no doubt Craig will land on his feet. I’m not so sure about the rest of us.

I'm afraid this has been a characteristic of Velocci's takeover from David North and the ongoing transition of AWST from an Aerospace Journal of record to just another business and commercial aviation/airport trade mag.

The magazine has gone downhill for a decade or more with coverage of space and military aviation developments being curtailed with every issue, including today's. I don't wet the bed at night after reading stories about a new commercial aviation winglet development, airport scanner, or A380 toilet tender announcement.

I've always believed Craig to be the finest writer on staff and has the ability to come up with the most dynamic article introductions possible, something that always has eluded the wire service writers and many of the staffers as well.

I don't see one of their now famous "Letter from the Publisher" on this week's issue. Doesn't seem like someone who largely often carried the magazine received much notice from his employer.

What else can I say except Good luck Craig and thanks for all the outstanding articles over many years.

Stunned, I thought that Covault was AvWeek.

Nothing like throwing away an icon in the industry. Av week will be out of business in the next year, just watch. Craig, you are on the last lifeboat rowing away from the Titanic! Your work and reputation speak for itself-you will be back doing what you love and know best in a better place. My best wishes to you in this unfortunate situation......Godspeed!

AvWeek has been phoning me to subscribe, but after this firing the magazine is on a downhill slope.

...if I had to rank space beat reporters today...here's my number 1 and number 2...
Craig Covault
Bill Harwood

...I'll tell you why...no spin...they deal in the truth and they report facts...

Milt Heflin
NASA JSC

I want to know where Craig and Bill find new work. I'll let my av week subscription expire and send my dollars & attention there.

A very disappointing decision by the current AV Week management.

George Rachor
Hillsboro, Oregon

I'm as stunned as everyone else, and I hope these talented, classy folks are grabbed up quickly.

I just renewed for three years before I found out about this and the space articles are pretty much all I read. So how do they intend to cover manned and unmanned space missions now?

Well, the writing has been on a slide since Klass left.

And I just renewed my subscription last month!!! Now I feel like I've been totally ripped off.

BAH.

I'm calling them on Monday, sending an email to Hendricks, canx my subscription and demanding my $$ back.

Craig:

I echo what has been said many times here - your work has been the best in the aerospace reporting industry.

AW & ST is going down, and, regardless of whether you were pushed or departed on your own, please keep in mind:

"The strongest swimmers jump (or in your case, get pushed), first."

Keep the faith - we will all be waiting to see where you will land. I am certain, it will be an improvement.

I was going to subscribe again to Aviation Week just before the first Falcon 9 launch and had budgeted money for that purpose. Now, while we are starting to refer to the "conomy" and look ahead to the low disposable-income times after that in the "conom", I will not spend that line-item. Aviation Week loses.

How a corporation could rid itself of 97 writer/reporter years of specialized experience in one decision, at a moment in history when private-sector space launches will become a new industry, puzzles me deeply.
To voluntarily give away your best differentiating datasource against vastly increased competition on the web is not best practice.

sadly,
Paradox Olbers

Smart, gracious, friendly, helpful, resourceful, the best. All of the above describe Craig, who's been a wonderful example for all on the space beat. And nobody has served his readers better. What a terrible loss.

Just renewed my 15 year subscription but if the Covault story is true it'll be my last renewal.

Thank you Craig!

I am completely stunned, and can assure Craig and his many, many colleagues that this will be noted very gravely here in Europe. In addition to his outstanding professional work, Craig has been a stellar ambassador of the United States abroad. I know from long experience that his personal courtesy, and his readiness to give advice and perspective, have been greatly appreciated by the European space research community, aerospace agencies and media over very many years. Of course AvWeek is entitled to take whatever decisions it sees fit, regardless of the high commercial and reputational risks involved. I am mollified only by the certainty that Craig will most assuredly move on to bigger and better things.

I already made an anonymous post (it is the 4th comment from the top of the list) but after seeing some of my peers post with their full names I realized that these 3 folks deserve better from me…especially Craig.

This is nuts!!!!!! An aerospace industry magazine that closes a bureau at the epicenter of U.S. Space Operations and fires a significant portion of its brain trust no longer qualifies as an aerospace magazine in my opinion.

I was just about to renew my membership – I let it lapse while I was overseas –but now what is the point. My profession requires that I stay abreast of aviation and space activities but it is not like I can count on Aviation Week & Space Technology for that anymore…

I’ve been reading Craig’s work since 1981. Much like the stories in some of the comments I have read here, I too was in the school library (junior high) when I read my first Covault article about the Space Shuttle Columbia’s Flight Readiness Firing of its three main engines as it was being prepared for its maiden flight. From then on I was hooked and I immediately coughed up the hefty subscription fee – a lot of money at the time for a 7th grader – and was from then on a fan of Craig’s and AW&ST.

He has gained the respect of folks at all levels of the space industry and from his colleagues in the press corps. Let’s hope that an organization much smarter than Aviation Week and Space Technology picks him up and puts his talent to good use very soon.

Good Luck to all 3 of you!

Mark

This is the response I received back from AW&ST.

_________________________________________________________

Mr. Hancock,

Thank you for your thoughtful note and your interest in Aviation Week.

Every storied institution must evolve, and so it is with Aviation Week & Space Technology. Craig Covault was a valued member of our editorial team for more than 36 years, and his many contributions will not be forgotten. The magazine will continue to deliver space coverage to our readers, but our emphasis will shift to activities managed from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write.

Regards,
Tony Velocci, Editor-in-Chief
Aviation Week & Space Technology

Craig Covault has long personified AvWeek's brand of technically competent, insightful space reporting. Like many, I grew up reading stories under Craig's byline, and I have known him now since the earliest days of the Shuttle. If AvWeek can't find a place for Craig in their shop, then there is no place for AvWeek on many a shelf. Tony Velocci says just above that institutions must evolve: well I hope his magazine evolves back to its senses and remembers what it means to have a brand name its customers care to keep,

The sacking of Craig will clearly be a regretable decision....The earlier comment to the Bob Edwards removal at NPR is on target....Craig's depth of understanding and just plane outstanding journalistic ability made his reporting the best in the industry.....Av Week's action has precipitated the cancelation of my subscription.....Ed Gormel .....Merritt Island, FL

I chose to not renew my 45-year subscription in July. The aeronautics and space coverage took on too much sophomoric editorial content in the past several years, not the comprehensive and incisive technical and programmatic content that made AW&ST a useful resource. Give me the facts and I'll make up my own mind---if you fail, I'll go elsewhere.

I enjoyed Craig Couvault's reporting ever since I started reading AW&ST in high school during the Apollo Program.

I am sure Craig will find employment at another media outlet that can utilize his talents as a technical writer and reporter with no equal.

Craig has been a valued member of the space family for almost as long as I can remember. He imbodied the very best attributes of responsible journalism. With his leadership AvWeek maintained a respected place in all of our lives.

While I understand the crass monetary business reasons for the layoffs, firings or whatever you want to call them, I do not understand any possible rationale for letting go of the most knowledgeable and able reporters on the magazine. The years they have been employed by McGraw-Hill represents an investment that has resulted in growth, understanding and contacts that the company will only regain with a similiar investment. I anticipate that when the new people gain the same pinacle of their career, they too will be discarded. That is not the way to attract the best minds and certainly not the best way to retain them.

We will miss Craig's erudite stories in AvWeek, but hope to see them elsewhere where he will be better appreciated for the star he is.

Hugh Harris, retired Director of Public Affairs, NASA, KSC.

I have known Craig Covault for many years. While doing my radio program, when ever I got stuck for an answer, he was always there for me. His knowledge of the space program is second to none. The thought of not seeing Craig seated near me at the KSC Press Site is unthinkable.

AvWk....What were you thinking?

Randy Segal
WSTU Radio

A follow-up for any current AvWeek subscribers ...

Call 800-525-5003 (select option 5) and you can cancel your subscription effective immediately ... and you will receive a refund applied to your credit card for the balance of the subscription.

Let's help turn penny-wise into dollar-foolish for the AvWeek 'brain trust' (and I use that term sarcastically).

I've lost count of how many commenters have promised to cancel their subscriptions.

With that in mind, here's my pitch:
1 - Take the money that you would have spent on subscriptions (add it up, just from this comment thread, and it's substantial. I'll wait)
2 - Apply said money to sponsorship for a new blog.
3 - Said sponsorship would pay for hosting and all the minutae of keeping a Web media play online. It would also pay for Mr. Covault's and Mr. Collogan's salaries.
4 - Everyone gets to continue to benefit from their incredible expertise and journalistic leadership. They get to maintain careers connecting with people who obviously feel passion for their work - and are willing to pay for it.

What say you?

Carmi

Maybe they all got a sweet buy-out to kick start their retirement. Has anyone actually talked to them about their supposed predicament?

I have known Craig since the early days of the Shuttle program. Chet Lee introduced me to Craig when we were first building Shuttles. Craig reported on our efforts to market and sell flights on the Shuttle. His reporting was always insightful, truthful and accurate.

Craig was so much a part of the program that we let him in on a secret MBB banner flown on the SPAS-01 payload. He got the scoop on that flight. We had other dealings with Craig during good times and bad. He was our voice sometimes. All of us in the Shuttle Office at HQ respected Craig.

I will miss him in the pages of AvWk. Wherever he lands, I will follow and read his reports from there. I wrote to Tom expressing my concern that AvWk is in poor hands as evidenced by the poor judgment with Craig’s firing and the KSC office closing.

I cancelled my subscription.

Mike Smith

The latest issue of AWST (or is it airliner business world?) is out and no articles written by, or mention of Craig Covault. Like many other commenters I too was rather young in the seventies when I was first exposed to Craig's articles. I also remember the magazine was pure gold sofar as interesting stories on aviation developments. Today something like the aborted STS military launch facility at Vandenberg seems long forgotten by the current writers.

It's hard to believe that a Senior Editor like Craig Covault with his tenure doesn't manage the slightest mention that I can see in the issue, especially in the middle of a shuttle mission.

I think it's finally time after 35 years to write a letter to the editor. I hope a few of you will join me over the next few weeks.

E. Rogers

What a shock, what would my Dad ,Harry Kolcum say???? I'm sure he is shaking his head right now.As for myself, Av Week, I'm sure,will regret this.

Axing the dean of space journalists and others, shutting down the Cape bureau? Maybe they should change the name of the magazine to Aviation Weak and Space Technocracy.

My dad brought home discard copies of Aviation Week & Space Technology when he was Quality Control Manager of the Rocket Division of Bell Aerospace Textron's plant in Niagara Falls.

I have had a subscription for a good fraction of the time since then. I let my subscription lapse during the later 90's when it seemed there just wasn't much space-news and Aviation Week wasn't spending much effort reporting it.

After the announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration, I renewed my subscription, as there was more to cover and AWST had renewed printing unique articles on space that was not duplicated elswhere.

In the Age of the Internet, it is hard for "Dead-Tree (print) media to prosper, but they have to provide content of value that cannot be found elswhere.

With the firing of Dave Hughes and Craig Covault and the closing of the Cape bureau, I expect that space coverage in AWST will largely deteroriate to printing summaries of press releases. I will not cancel my subscription, but it is unlikely I will renew it.

Sorry to be tardy, but I just heard about this.

I sat next to Craig at the NASA press site for the last 10 years or so, and have known him longer than that.

I can say, without hesitation, that I never encountered a more professional, generous and knowledgeable colleague during my 35 years as a reporter.

This is a great loss to science coverage, to the citizenry and, though they're obviously too dense to realize it, to the managers of AvWeek.

And now, I read that Miles O'Brien has been fired by CNN.

What a shame. Trust me when I say that what is happening to newspapers, magazines, trade journals and now the few networks that still take (took) pride in professional coverage poses a significant danger to democracy.

Marty Merzer
ex-Miami Herald (buyout in May 2008)

This is also a belated posting, partly because I could hardly believe it was true. But with word of Miles O'Brien of CNN also being let go, it become clear that a chapter has closed on quality aerospace journalism.

Excellence and quality are no longer measures of value in journalism. It's just dollars and nonsense.

How could anyone or any publication not want to keep Craig Covault or Dave Hughes at any cost? Doesn't anyone remember what "best of the best" really means?

I was fortunate enough to cover the space program, of an on, for more than 20 years -- first for The Associated Press and later for The New York Times. I think of my good fortune to have worked with Howard Benedict, John Noble Wilford and other giants of aerospace reporting. And I think of the privilege of sharing desk space and many, many conversations with the likes of Craig and Bill Harwood, who are absolutely the best at what they do. You measure yourself against the best and these guys were always my models.

Much has been said of Craig's courtesy and generosity. Whatever has been said, it is not enough. I occupied the newscenter desk next to Craig's for scores of shuttle missions and could not have asked for a better colleague. He would share everything, from a radio link we shouldn't have been monitoring to a source who could verify a fact to make sure it was accurate. He taught me the importance of detail in space coverage and nuances of working at the Cape that made me a better, more insightful reporter.

Craig was THE class act among the many class acts I worked with at the Cape, including my knowledgible colleagues from Florida Today, the Houston Chronicle, Space.com, the AP, Reuters and many more. The best of the best.

Warren Leary - The New York Times (retired and bought out June 08)

Greed Driven Payoff Firings

By C. P. Vick

I have known Craig Covault since the mid 1960’s as a friend and fellow reporter. To loose Covault is to loose the eyes and ears to the ground looking at the truly endangered US human spaceflight effort. Brought up during the awesome era of the famed Aviation Week & Space Technology, Editor and Chief Robert Holt when it was done right leaves a very large empty spot in the coverage of this unique still developing U. S. space program. It is worse than just troubling in the face of the new Ares-1 and Ares-5 launch vehicles designs with it new Constellation - Orion CEV human spacecraft as well as the new Altair lunar Lander human spacecraft as they approach their most critical review by the new incoming administration.
Truly it is an end of an era in its most dangerous period of greed driven political design bureau payoff decisions that should undergo a total step back rethink for their exceptional danger to U. S. human spaceflight continuance.
We must step back and re-think the Ares-1 design unless this new administration desires to kill U.S. manned spaceflight. The Ares-1 is nothing less than a suicide political design bureau imposed design for political payoff that must be stopped and reconsidered and done right. As much as I personally respect the inline design concepts presented by the old late Dr. von Braun’s team we must ask ourselves how much longer must our astronauts endure the solid motors imposed design and get killed for it in the name of politics before we learn that this is not the way to go. No self respecting spacefarer devoting most of their lives careers to the space program projects would in their right mind place themselves on that mad dog Ares-1 pencil booster design. I do not think this incoming administration wants the responsibility for this suicide design. To quote several of the von Braun American team members in relation to the present Ares-1 design “Not on my watch”. I think that says it all for the still surviving American team taught by the Dr. von Braun team.
I find the Constellation – Orion – spacecraft woefully inadequate to the planned tasks as definitely not robust enough and lacking adequate spacefarer structural and safety features that should be totally reworked. Clearly the Ares-1 needs a new liquid propellant Saturn first stage that will provide the robust payload mass that is required for a robust vastly safer Orion spacecraft. I can live with the Ares-1 and Ares-5 upper stages but not its first stages. If I have said it once I have said it a hundred times that Saturn-V and its variant configurations are the answer that the American people spent a fortune in treasure to develop only to have it thrown away which is total failure in leadership. To rebuild the Saturn-V based space program is to help rebuild the once mighty industrial base that was America’s strength and world leadership.
By letting go of Craig Covault and the others that were keeping their eyes on this is truly tragic. The chief’s above them have worse than degraded, politicized the product they have rendered the product worthless for the sake of greed. I see no down sizing of their salaries or the social New York, Washington styled parties political game of self congratulations that is totally abusive reflecting the last almost 40 years of greed driven decisions that have so abuse the space program since the Nixon era.
Do not tell me that everything is fine and that everything is ok with NASA and the new human booster spacecraft program because that is to deceive one’s self into delusions of grandeur asking for catastrophic failure.
I remain uninterested in the political agenda free enterprise driven efforts that to date have to a large degree fallen in their face as well they should. Yes it is not the business of government to interfere with free enterprise but it is the business of government to maintain control that assures competition. It the government finds that that it is in competition with free enterprise it must decide what is more adequate to meet its requirements. To date the smaller industries have been trying to compete with the larger established industries with government contending with its demanding requirements that has not been met to say the very least.
Several times now congress did not even punt much less step up to the plate and force the administrations to do it right preferring to keep that payoff status quo. Not merely do the politicians appropriate for the job they also appropriate for their next election in the submitted legislation which industry duly appropriates back as campaign appropriation no matter how it is masqueraded.
It really rattles one to see this kind of assault that is nothing less than greed based that is totally out of control tearing this country to shreds and they are still at it like lemmings on a sinking ship on a feeding frenzy get even sacrifices that is truly sickening. We are in self destruct mode from my perspective over here. I have great fears for the US space effort that is already too late. The game is lost in the face of Chinese competition so we must step back and rethink and do it right for our free world spacefarers. The world knows we are no longer a world power as they rush to fill the vacuum but what is filling that vacuum leaves me in great fear for humanity. We sold our industrial base destroying our strength end up loosing the final acts of the cold war and for what. And for what! To rebuild the space effort is to rebuild the once mighty industrial base that was America’s strength.
Dammed few of us make it to retirement with out being fired for doing our job so they do not have any obligations. I want the chiefs above including the editor and chief’s of Aviation Week & Space Technology resignation in writing in an unsealed envelope yesterday and that also goes for the board of directors now. You are all fired. Period. Subscription cancelled.
CPV

If this is a business decision then I would say both AVweek and CNN have finished themselves off! I hope they both know they have relegated themselves to irrelevance! Although CNN has been that for several years as far as I am concerned! I hope either or both of these two guys ( Covault and O'Brien) could take public relation positions at NASA as was said previously.

Craig is a giant in the aerospace/spaceflight world. His stature is the result of extensive and thorough research and knowledge, a skill he consistently honed over the 36 years as AW & ST. To cut him loose is a travestiy. AW & ST has dropped from its lofty perch it so enjoyed. Craig is also the "genuine article." I will continue to enjoy his excellent writing and reporting in Spaceflight Now. They have gained the crown jewel!