Tag Archives: Space Shuttle program
New 'This Week in Space' – March 12, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week in Space” is now available. Check us out! [youtubevid id="hqycNoARYv4"] Hello and welcome – President Obama will finally say something about his plan for NASA – but there are still mixed messages coming out … Continue reading
Tagged Air and Space Museum, Film, International Space Station, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lori Garver, Low Earth orbit, Lyman Spitzer, NASA, Space, Space Shuttle program, SpaceX, STS-125The Big 'Y'
I was fast asleep when the Challenger exploded. It was almost high noon – but I had turned in only about three hours before. I had spent the night in a citrus grove in Polk County, Florida. I was a … Continue reading
Tagged Cape Canaveral, John Glenn, Low Earth orbit, NASA, Space, Space exploration, Space Shuttle program, Vandenberg Air Force BaseSome Stories are too Good to Check Out…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — WESH 2 News struck a nerve with an exclusive report as NASA actively works to prevent shuttle sabotage from within its ranks. While there is no indication that sabotage has ever or will ever happen, officials … Continue reading
Tagged Cape Canaveral, Fuel tank, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle program, Technology, United Space AllianceHubble Spacewalk Gallery
Tagged Add new tag, atlantis, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle programFirst Dog trumps Final Frontier?
There is a lot of hand-wringing in the space community these days about the Obama Administration’s inability to fill the corner office on the ninth floor at NASA headquarters. The incredulous refrain among space cadets: “they picked the First Dog … Continue reading
Tagged Ares, Ares I, Columbia Accident Investigation Board, Constellation, George W. Bush, NASA, Shuttle, Space Cadets, Space exploration, Space Shuttle program, Thomas O. PaineO'Brien BLOG »
Science for Sale »
posted March 13, 2013 by Miles O'Brien
HINKLEY, Calif. – We all love a neat, tidy Hollywood ending to a David and Goliath story. Sadly, in the real world, they are hard to come by. More often than not, the little guy might win a battle, but Goliath prevails over the long haul — winning the war.
Before I went to Hinkley, I did, of course, watch the movie once again. As it turns out Erin Brockovich is accurate in many respects.
You might remember the woman who gets a big check at the end of the movie after the down-on-her-luck, crusading legal assistant has brought a giant utility to its knees for polluting the groundwater beneath the tiny desert town half way between L.A. and Las Vegas.
In the movie, she was known as Donna Jensen (and played by Marg Helgenberger). There is no real-life Donna Jensen — the details of her story are a composite of several real-life travails.
But Roberta Walker was the main inspiration. Naturally, it was not long after I met her that I asked her what she thought of the movie.
Read the rest of the post and see the video story here.
About Miles
Miles O’Brien is a veteran freelance broadcast and web journalist who focuses on science, technology & aerospace.
He is the Science Correspondent for PBS NewsHour, and a regular correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE and the National Science Foundation Science Nation series.
For nearly seventeen of his thirty years in the news business, he worked for CNN as the Science and Space Correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.
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