Tag Archives: United States
← Older posts |'This Week In Space' – April 10, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week In Space” is hot off the presses. Check us out! [youtubevid id="srrNVWJ72p0"] Hello and welcome – and happy Yuri’s night – hard to believe it has now been 49 years since the first human … Continue reading
Tagged Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, International Space Station, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Space, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Discovery, United StatesNew 'This Week In Space' – March 6, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week In Space” – hosted by Yours Truly, is out! Watch here! [youtubevid id="S5icnMDAGsI"] I gotta admit, I am getting a little tired of launching the program with the latest skirmish in the war over … Continue reading
Tagged Buzz Aldrin, International Space Station, Kay Bailey Hutchison, NASA, Space, Stanley Cup, Technology, United StatesTo the Moon? I think not, Alice….
[youtubevid id="8bjcl14OC6s"] (ed. note: these remarks are part of my testimony to the Senate Committee on Science and Transportation hearing “Challenges and Opportunities in the NASA FY 2011 Budget Proposal” on February 24, 2010) Washington – we have a problem … Continue reading
Tagged Cold War, Earth, Human spaceflight, International Space Station, John Glenn, NASA, Space, Space exploration, Space Shuttle, Technology, United States, Vision for Space ExplorationWorse than Nixon – or a Masterstroke?
So who will have the last word on what NASA does next in space? Maybe some powerful members of Congress…at least that is what Constellation supporters are hoping this week – as they move from the shock and denial – … Continue reading
Tagged Constellation, Constellation program, Education, International Space Station, Michael D. Griffin, Mike Griffin, NASA, President of the United States, Space, Space Adventures, Space tourism, Technology, United StatesA Room with a View
As the the joint station/shuttle team bolted on the Tranquility Node – with its 7 windowed cupola…would that the NASA nation could see the future as clearly as this… The cupola is supposed to be there to make it easier … Continue reading
Tagged International Space Station, NASA, Neil Armstrong, Space, Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-130, Technology, United StatesFlying with the Low Bidder
(Ed. Note: Please watch your PBS Station tonight at 9pm (8 Central) for the Frontline program “Flying Cheap” ) There is an old, apt bromide in flying world: It’s easy to end up with a million dollars in the aviation … Continue reading
Tagged Airline, Aviation, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, Fixed-wing aircraft, Frontline, Jimmy Carter, United StatesCongress Holds the Purse Strings
The debate is by no means over – it just will shift venues. Congress holds the purse strings – and the Constellation program has some very powerful supporters on both sides of the building and both sides of the aisle. … Continue reading
Tagged Alabama, Bill Nelson, Florida, Human spaceflight, Richard Shelby, Space, United States, United States CongressFlexible Path 'Lite'
There was something else that further cemented this deal – it was the work of the Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, headed by veteran aerospace executive Norm Augustine. The group delivered its list of options to the Obama … Continue reading
Tagged Augustine Committee, Barack Obama, Committee, Human spaceflight, Leroy Chiao, NASA, Norman Ralph Augustine, Obama Administration, Presidency of Barack Obama, United StatesAlan Bean – Moonwalker and Artist
You best not have a frozen budget if you want to buy a painting from the only artist who has walked on the moon. His name is Alan Bean – and this past summer I was lucky enough to get … Continue reading
Tagged Alan Bean, NASA, National Air and Space Museum, Space, Space Shuttle, Technology, United States, Washington DCCaptain Underpants and the Illusion of Security
DESHAILES, GUADELOUPE – I doubt there are many people who would look forward to leaving this little piece of paradise. I am sitting on the deck of a sailboat anchored in the harbor of this quaint fishing village. I just … Continue reading
Tagged airport, Al-Qaeda, Delta Air Lines, homeland security, Janet Napolitano, Richard Reid, terror, United States, War on Terrorism ← Older postsO'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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