The sixth time was the charm Wednesday as shuttle Endeavour finally lifted off. Endeavour will link up with the International Space Station in a couple hours, and covering it all is former CNN anchor and correspondent Miles O’Brien, who is a partner in Spaceflightnow.com. O’Brien left CNN in December when the network shuttered its science, space and tech unit.
While standing-by for Endeavour to lift off five previous times, he also made an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Happy Hour” ahead of Wednesday’s successful launch, where he was dubbed the show’s “space junkie.”
O’Brien talked with DailyFinance about his new role with the online site and his departure from CNN.
O’Brien is splitting the revenue (and occasional financial bloodbaths) on the live shuttle broadcasts, which have essentially become his personal laboratory for working out the bugs in streaming technology and becoming a network of one.
“It got to the point where CNN just didn’t think people cared about the subject I was best known for. They’d shrink the shuttle coverage down to two minutes. I was basically there in case it blew up.</blockquote
When CNN eliminated the science division and his position, O'Brien was just one year into a three-year contract, effectively leaving him with two years of severance at full salary. So what happens if Spaceflightnow.com doesn't achieve lift-off?
"I've been looking at all the options," he tells DailyFinance. "I've talked to Discovery about some projects. I just signed a deal to do a Frontline for PBS on aviation safety. I talked to a major corporation about being their director of communications, which probably would have been the smart thing because on the one hand I'm sure these two years will be up before I know it. But ultimately I decided I'm having too much fun doing all these independent projects and working on SpaceFlightNow. I'm certainly learning a lot and it sure feels like the direction broadcast is headed."