CNN on Space

Out of this World

words by > Tony Ware

Rocket Man

*Talking to CNN’s resident space expert—a science buff with a clear mission.

CNN’s award-winning “American Morning” anchor Miles O’Brien shares his name with a chief petty officer on TV’s “Star Trek: Deep Space 9,” and is still waiting on the royalties, he jokes. It’s an appropriate association, though, because if said royalties were received, then O’Brien—also CNN’s space correspondent and an avid aviator—would likely apply them toward some means of personal celestial exploration. Until then, O’Brien can’t get enough of the opportunities offered here on earth as an outdoorsman, father, husband and reporter.

Having shared a desk with broadcasting pioneer Walter Cronkite; led insightful investigative coverage of manned space flights, unmanned scientific missions and civil aviation; and reported live from Hurricane Katrina, O’Brien fully comprehends the media’s profound responsibility. You can enjoy watching him on TV or hearing him on XM Satellite Radio channel 122 weekdays from 6am-10am.

GO: What fueled your initial interest in space?

MO: I grew up in the midst of the space race and I do remember following the Gemini and Apollo missions. I’ll never forget where I was when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon… but i never envisioned myself in Walter Cronkite’s footsteps. I maintained a casual interest in space as I got into television, then CNN was looking for a science correspondent, so i rekindled that interest and it became even more so as I got deeper and deeper into the stories. I can’t think of many more positive events that bring us together huddled around the TV than an achievement such as Armstrong’s. i like the notion of covering a story that is about the very human desire—wired into our DNA—for exploration.

GO: What are your top destinations on earth for exploring space?

MO: Number one, get on an AirTran Airways flight to Orlando and drive down the B Line to the Kennedy Space Center. You’ll find a fantastic tour with a beautifully restored Saturn 5 rocket [pictured left]. In that same facility, you will find really interesting displays of the Lunar Lander and the layout of Mission Control. Houston has a great tour at the Johnson Space Center, where the astronauts live and train. And Building 9 is not to be missed for its mock-ups of the Space Shuttle and Station. Then you can’t miss Washington and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Everything from the Wright brothers’ Flyer to the latest stuff [such as] SpaceShipOne brackets everything of significance in between.

GO: Any favorite place to feel out of this world in the US?

MO: The Mojave Desert, which contains Las Vegas, has parts that might as well be Mars if you look at how the canyons are formed. And that’s where SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan [winner of the X Prize, a contest to jump-start personal space flight] is pushing a new generation of rockets and ideas that may lead to everyday people going into space. When you think about how far those robots have gone and how similar but alien things are, it gives you a sense of connection beyond our planet.

GO: You work to foster an interest in space through the Challenger Learning Centers (www.challenger.org). Why that group?

MO: Somewhere near the tail end of middle school, science and math become uncool. So, what the Challenger Centers aim to do is rekindle that innate curiosity by creating a place for kids where they can role play as astronauts and in Mission Control. In the wake of the loss of the Challenger, June Rodgers, the wife of the Challenger commander and a Ph.D., got together with the families of the astronauts to celebrate the educational mission of the crew. Around the 14th anniversary of the Challenger, I observed kids so engrossed in a mission that i realized something about this was really special. There’s going to be a kid one day maybe standing on Mars saying he was at a Challenger Center in the seventh grade.