exploration Archives - Miles O'Brien

What Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins feared most during critical NASA mission

07.18.19.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which first landed American astronauts on the moon’s surface. Of the intrepid crew, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have tended to dominate public attention, but it was pilot Michael Collins who flew the command module to the moon — and faced his own distinct…
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How NASA is preparing to launch another mission to the moon

05.02.19.

The Trump administration wants NASA to get back to the moon by 2024, using any means necessary. But will the money and the commitment be there to support the effort? PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O’Brien talks to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine about technical and political risk, international competition and his broader vision for the…
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Why Europa is the most likely spot we’ll find aliens – with NASA’s Kevin Peter Hand

11.26.18.

Jupiter has many moons, but none are quite like Europa: it has a thick crust of ice and a huge amount of liquid saltwater underneath its surface. In fact, many believe it’s the best place in the Solar System that we could find other lifeforms. To dive deeper into the mysteries of this icy world–and…
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Steve Squyres – On Exploring Mars, and Other Celestial Objects

10.23.18.

Steve Squyres is the principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Program, which gave us the plucky and productive rovers Spirit and Opportunity. With the latter on life support and the former no longer with us, I spoke with him about his amazing run on Mars and what he’s working on now. It’s all out-of-this-world…
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Tiny Starships: how two students came up with the idea to attach small satellites to existing rockets

10.29.17.

A little more than 15 years ago, a pair of researchers were fiddling around with the best way to give students a shot at putting experiments into space, and they decided on a simple box. Jordi Puig-Suari of Cal Poly and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University took the available technology at the time — a…
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WATCH: USS Indianapolis Live – From The Deep

09.14.17.

Our tribute to the crew of this storied ship, aired 9/13/17 on PBS.
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