SPACE SHUTTLE: Covault directly covered about 100 of the 135 space shuttle missions flown between 1981 and 2011 spanning an enormous range of payloads and flight operations.PLANETARY: He has done a wide array of planetary mission development and flight coverage for U. S. missions as well as European, Russian and Japanese exploration flights. This included Japan’s pioneering mission to sample an asteroid and Soviet Lunar and Venus missions, especially Venera radar imagery that helped propel… Show more SPACE SHUTTLE: Covault directly covered about 100 of the 135 space shuttle missions flown between 1981 and 2011 spanning an enormous range of payloads and flight operations.PLANETARY: He has done a wide array of planetary mission development and flight coverage for U. S. missions as well as European, Russian and Japanese exploration flights. This included Japan’s pioneering mission to sample an asteroid and Soviet Lunar and Venus missions, especially Venera radar imagery that helped propel mid 1980s cooperation with the U. S. He covered virtually all Soviet lunar and planetary missions of the 1970s.He has done substantial writing on Galileo, Cassini, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the failed Mars South Polar Lander and successful Phoenix lander. Dr. Steve Squyres the MER PI allowed Covault to embed 3-4 times with the Mars Rover Spirit and Opportunity science and engineering teams for a series of Aviation Week articles that drew wide praise.SOLAR: He provided detailed coverage of the Skylab emergency actions to save the station then specialized in unique solar imagery acquired by the Apollo Telescope Mount . He has continued his attraction to solar missions by providing extensive coverage of multiple solar spacecraft launched since the ATM, especially Solar Max., SOHO and Solar Dynamics Observatory and well as numerous smaller solar spacecraft. Show less

MILITARY AIRCRAFT: As Paris Bureau Chief for Aviation Week in 1992-1996 he covered European military aeronautics and space developments and NATO air operations during the Bosnian war. He also managed Aviation Week participation in two Paris Air Shows. He has written about his flights in numerous bomber, high performance fighter and command and control aircraft. These include Air Force One, the F-100, F-106, F-4E, F-111A, FB-111, B-52, EC-135, the AV-8 Harrier along with flights in the F-15… Show more MILITARY AIRCRAFT: As Paris Bureau Chief for Aviation Week in 1992-1996 he covered European military aeronautics and space developments and NATO air operations during the Bosnian war. He also managed Aviation Week participation in two Paris Air Shows. He has written about his flights in numerous bomber, high performance fighter and command and control aircraft. These include Air Force One, the F-100, F-106, F-4E, F-111A, FB-111, B-52, EC-135, the AV-8 Harrier along with flights in the F-15 and AWACS in Alaska. RUSSIA: Covault has made about 12 trips to the Russia often meeting at IKI (the Soviet Space Science Institute) with Soviet lunar, Mars and Phobos mission planners and science personnel. He has provided extensive coverage on the Phobos sample return mission development. He had major scoops on Soviet Space Shuttle development and problems with its 6 Salyut space stations. He has been to the Baikonur Cosmodrome several times for launches of Proton and Soyuz booster missions. CHINESE PROGRAMS: Covault has specialized in Chinese space development and made six trips to China where he visited the Xichang Launch Site, Long March Booster and Satellite Plants in Beijing and Xian and twice lectured at Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xian. He scored an international scoop in 2007, about China’s first Asat Test, which sparked major space policy changes around the world. He has provided extensive coverage of the Shenzhou manned program and China’s growing military satellite program. Show less

Joining Aviation Week & Space Technology in 1972, Covault spent 20 years in Washington where he rose to Senior Space Editor writing on National Space Policy, and budget impacts on future missions. He covered numerous unmanned science missions along with Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and the detailed design and development of the space shuttle.COMMERCIAL SPACE: Covault helped pioneer commercial space coverage and led a team that earned a major business journalism award for commercial space… Show more Joining Aviation Week & Space Technology in 1972, Covault spent 20 years in Washington where he rose to Senior Space Editor writing on National Space Policy, and budget impacts on future missions. He covered numerous unmanned science missions along with Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and the detailed design and development of the space shuttle.COMMERCIAL SPACE: Covault helped pioneer commercial space coverage and led a team that earned a major business journalism award for commercial space coverage in 1984, when many people were disparaging the topic. According to Discovery Mission 51A astronauts, his stories about the underwriters and insurance companies helped the two sides reach agreement to support Mission 51A’s recovery of two wayward HS-76 satcoms in 1984.He broke major stories on SpaceX booster development and Bigelow Aerospace inflatable module development and costs. SATELLITE SERVICING: Covault also led coverage of satellite servicing by the space shuttle, stories that also generated pickup by other media. He was the only journalist who was allowed to practice extravehicular activity (EVA) tasks in a space suit underwater. The highlight of this operational access was a Marshall Space Flight Center suited underwater simulation of Hubble Space Telescope servicing, specifically the replacement of a Fine Guidance Sensor and the Wide Field Planetary Camera. He made two additional neutral buoyancy runs in space suits, one a shuttle payload bay familiarization run then another involving station tasks, with the late Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad. Throughout his career he has also flown numerous launch and reentry simulations with Shuttle astronauts.COMETS: Covault led coverage of early NASA comet mission strategy and focused the sharp debate and rivalry between Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory about how to conduct NASA’s first mission to a comet. Show less

APOLLO Program: Grants from Reader's Digest Magazine enabled Covault to begin his space writing career in 1969-70 while still a junior and senior at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Reader’s Digest gave him entree to Apollo lunar mission simulations, participating with Apollo astronauts at the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers. This early opportunity for “participatory journalism” set Covault on a career that coupled science and engineering. A reputation for accuracy, discipline and… Show more APOLLO Program: Grants from Reader's Digest Magazine enabled Covault to begin his space writing career in 1969-70 while still a junior and senior at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Reader’s Digest gave him entree to Apollo lunar mission simulations, participating with Apollo astronauts at the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers. This early opportunity for “participatory journalism” set Covault on a career that coupled science and engineering. A reputation for accuracy, discipline and attention to detail gained him access to many other simulators, high performance aircraft flights and military and civilian control centers, including the famed Russian Mission Control Center in Moscow where he was able to embed for a week during the Shuttle/Mir program. Show less