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Miles O'Brien

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Miles O'Brien

About Miles @milesobrien

Miles O’Brien is a veteran, independent journalist who focuses on science, technology and aerospace.

He is the science correspondent for the PBS News Hour, a producer, director, writer and correspondent for the PBS documentary programs NOVA and FRONTLINE and an aviation analyst for CNN. He owns MOBIAS Media, Inc., a production company that creates award winning documentary films primarily for PBS as well as several educational and corporate clients.

For nearly seventeen of his thirty-nine years in the news business, he was a staff correspondent and anchor with CNN, based in Atlanta and New York. He served as the science, environment and aerospace correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.

While at CNN, O’Brien secured a deal with NASA to become the first journalist to fly on the space shuttle. The project ended with the loss of Columbia and her crew in 2003 – a story he told to the world in a critically acclaimed sixteen-hour marathon of live coverage. He later served for ten years as a member of the NASA Advisory Council, offering strategic advice to the NASA administrator.

Prior to joining CNN, he worked as a reporter at television stations in St. Joseph, MO, Albany, NY, Tampa, FL and Boston. He began his television career as a desk assistant at WRC-TV in Washington, DC.

O’Brien is an accomplished pilot and is frequently called upon to explain the world of aviation to a mass audience.

He has won numerous awards over the years, including six Emmys, a Peabody and a DuPont.

He has produced, written and directed nine films for PBS NOVA: Mind of a Rampage Killer (2013), Manhunt Boston Bombers (2013), Megastorm Aftermath (2013), Why Planes Vanish (2014), Nuclear Meltdown Disaster (2015), Fifteen Years of Terror (2016), The Nuclear Option (2017), Inside the Megafire (2019) and The Great Electric Airplane Race (2021).

He also produced, wrote and directed FRONTLINE Coronavirus Pandemic (2020) and was a writer and correspondent for four FRONTLINES: Flying Cheap (2010), Flying Cheaper (2011), Nuclear Aftershocks (2012) and Dollars and Dentists (2012).

In February of 2014, a heavy equipment case fell on his forearm while he was on assignment. He developed Acute Compartment Syndrome, which necessitated the emergency amputation of his left arm above the elbow. Despite the loss of his arm, he has completed two marathons, several ultra-distance bike rides, a half Ironman, and has returned to flying airplanes.

Born in Detroit and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, he is based in Vero Beach, Florida. He was a history major at Georgetown University. Miles has two grown children. His son is a US Navy Lieutenant stationed in Catania, Italy and his daughter is a social worker in New York City.

Full Bio

Miles’s Recent Stories

Science Apr 20

Starship test flight ends with explosion, Musk says SpaceX ‘learned a lot’ for next launch

Thursday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the first test flight of Starship, its 400-foot rocket meant to one day send people to the moon, and eventually, Mars. The most powerful rocket ever built blasted off from its launch base in Texas…

Nation Mar 17

After near-collisions on airport runways, FAA calls for safety review

U.S. airports have seen an uptick in near-collisions involving commercial planes. The problem prompted the FAA to call for a safety summit, launching a review of standards and procedures to prevent catastrophe. Geoff Bennett reports on the close calls and…

Science Mar 01

Is climate change accelerating the risk of disease spreading from animals to humans?

Scientists researching the aftermath of California wildfires say they are finding evidence that climate change is accelerating the risk of disease spreading from animals to humans. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports.

Nation Feb 01

20 years later, Mark Kelly reflects on the space shuttle Columbia disaster

Wednesday marks 20 years since the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on its way home. The tragedy not only killed all seven astronauts on board but also was the beginning of the end for the space shuttle program and changed how…

Science Jan 19

A look at the environmental and health effects associated with gas stoves

There's been a heated debate lately about gas stoves and potential government regulation. The fire was lit last week after a member of a federal consumer agency suggested the government might ban them in newly built homes. That was quickly…

Science Jan 11

More homes using heat pumps as cheaper, greener alternative to fossil fuels

U.S. emissions fell during the height of the pandemic as people were stuck at home, but that changed as the pandemic eased. Many researchers, scientists and lawmakers argue that Americans need to reduce their use of fossil fuels much sooner…

Science Dec 13

Breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology could dramatically alter clean energy landscape

For the first time, scientists have produced a fusion reaction that created more energy than was expended, a breakthrough to tap into the same kind of energy that powers the sun and stars. It could have huge implications for potentially…

Science Dec 09

Space historian examines parallels of NASA’s last moon landing and the Artemis mission

The nearly month-long Artemis 1 mission to the Moon is slated to end on Sunday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. On that very day 50 years ago, Dec. 11, 1972, the last Apollo astronauts set foot on the…

Nation Nov 23

The challenge of tracking methane emissions and why they are higher than publicly reported

The COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt put a spotlight on the problem of methane emissions, which are responsible for more than a quarter of the warming on the planet today. More countries are pledging to reduce those emissions, but methane…

Science Nov 16

NASA’s Artemis rocket finally lifts off after political, financial, technical delays

For the first time in half a century, NASA is starting to make its way back to a lunar landing. The Artemis rocket was finally able to launch early Wednesday morning after prior delays, sending an unmanned capsule around the…

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