Columbia Accident Shattered Miles O’Brien’s Dream Of Being First U.S. Journo In Space

“NASA was close to naming CNN correspondent Miles O’Brien as the first American journalist in space when the Columbia accident occurred in 2003,” the Orlando Sentinel reports. “For CNN’s 45-year-old space correspondent and weekday news anchor, the Columbia accident finished a lifelong dream that was tantalizingly close to becoming a reality.”

“It was a devastating thing, because it was something I had been focusing on for so long,” said O’Brien, who already was making plans to move to Houston for astronaut training. A very interesting story… (Via Romenesko)