Wednesday, June 28, 2006
First on WHAC: CNN to Offer Live Coverage of Discovery Launch On-Air, Online
Source: CNN Press Release As the only broadcast network to air every NASA shuttle launch live, CNN plans to continue that tradition across numerous platforms with live footage both on-air and online of the Space Shuttle Discovery launch on Saturday, July 1. Coverage includes live reports on CNN/U.S., CNNRadio and CNN Pipeline as well as an hour-long launch day special.The special, "Shuttle Discovery: Miles O'Brien Reports" will air on Saturday from 3-4 p.m. on CNN/U.S. to coincide with Discovery's scheduled liftoff at 3:48 p.m. CNN space correspondent and American Morning anchor Miles O'Brien and Eileen Collins, commander of the previous shuttle mission and the first female shuttle commander, will host the special.
Online, CNN Pipeline, CNN.com's on-demand broadband news video service, offers its own launch special with O'Brien and Collins on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. with live, anchored coverage continuing through the launch. The service also will provide numerous reports and NASA feeds throughout the day.
The Discovery launch will mark NASA's first manned space flight since the previous Discovery mission in July 2005 and only its second since February 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. O'Brien had reported extensively on the Columbia prior to the flight and led the network's coverage of the disaster, subsequent NASA hearings and safety reviews. O'Brien had been accepted by NASA to be the first journalist to travel aboard a shuttle flight before the loss of the Columbia space shuttle.
O'Brien provides several shuttle-related packages about flight training and preparations for Saturday's launch that will air this week on American Morning. CNN's technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg will offer live shuttle reports starting on Friday, June 30.
CNNRadio plans to offer regular shuttle reports on Friday, June 30, beginning at 6 a.m. and on Saturday, July 1, beginning at 9 a.m. Correspondent Lisa Goddard will report live from Kennedy Space Center for both days. On launch day, the network also will provide one-minute special reports at :30 past the hour from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A clean feed of the launch audio from NASA will be available to affiliates through NewsLink.
# posted by ATN @ 11:53 AM 
