News Archive / Author: Michael Cole

Michael Cole is a life-long space flight enthusiast and author of some 36 educational books on space flight and astronomy for Enslow Publishers. He lives in Findlay, Ohio, not far from Neil Armstrong’s birthplace of Wapakoneta. His interest in space, and his background in journalism and public relations suit him for his focus on research and development activities at NASA Glenn Research Center, and its Plum Brook Station testing facility, both in northeastern Ohio. Cole reached out to SpaceFlight Insider and asked to join SFI as the first member of the organization’s “Team Glenn.”

Articles By Michael Cole

• NASA TAPS ASTROBOTIC TO DELIVER VIPER ROVER TO THE MOON

  June 16th, 2020

  NASA awarded a nearly $200 million contract Thursday to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to a destination at the moon’s south pole in 2023.

• Artemis I Orion completes environmental testing at Plum Brook Station

  March 14th, 2020

  SANDUSKY, OHIO — NASA’s Orion spacecraft, due to fly the Artemis I lunar mission, has completed its final round of testing at NASA’s Plum Brook Station testing facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

• Artemis I Orion spacecraft advancing through tests at Plum Brook Station

  January 31st, 2020

  SANDUSKY, OHIO -- Testing is fully underway on the Orion spacecraft for the upcoming Artemis I test flight mission at NASA's Plum Brook Station testing facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The Orion crew capsule, integrated with its European Service Module, is currently inside the facility's Space Environments Complex undergoing thermal vacuum tests in the largest thermal vacuum chamber in the world.

• NASA officials at Glenn Symposium address recent leadership overhaul

  July 12th, 2019

  CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The reassignment of long-time NASA Associate Administrator for Human Explorations and Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, came as a shock to most everyone in the space flight community. Such was made clear at the Glenn Symposium which was held July 10-12.

• Orion spacecraft progressing toward Artemis 1 flight

  July 4th, 2019

  PLUM BROOK, Ohio -- NASA is making important strides with the Orion spacecraft in preparation for the Artemis 1 mission, the next step in the agency's effort to return humans to the Moon.

• Bridenstine: Artemis mission could send first woman to the Moon

  June 11th, 2019

  GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, Ohio -- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine paid a visit to the agency's Glenn Research Center on Monday, June 10.  During his visit Bridenstine noted how the agency's latest lunar initiative - could make history with the first woman walking on the Moon.

• Soyuz MS-12 trio launches toward ISS, joins Expedition 59 crew

  March 14th, 2019

  Cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch launched in their Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft to travel to the ISS for a six-month stay.

• Crew of aborted Soyuz launch ready to fly again on Soyuz MS-12

  March 12th, 2019

  NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin are about to get a second chance to fly to the International Space Station.

• Astrobotic teams with Airbus for ESA Moon mission

  February 27th, 2019

  The European Space Agency has selected Airbus Defence and Space, in partnership with Astrobotic, to study the delivery of a payload package to the Moon.

• CRS-16 Falcon 9 first stage makes unplanned water landing

  December 5th, 2018

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After 26 straight successful landings of its Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX experienced a landing failure amidst an otherwise successful launch to orbit of the CRS-16 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). 

• With mice well-fed, SpaceX’s CRS-16 mission blasts off but fails to stick landing

  December 5th, 2018

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- Partly cloudy skies along Florida's Space Coast provided a beautiful backdrop for the SpaceX launch of the CRS-16 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While a success, not everything went according to plan.

• Rats! SpaceX CRS-16 mission slips again!

  December 4th, 2018

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- SpaceX has encountered more than its fair share of scrubs, but the one that pushed the planned flight of the CRS-16 mission back 24 hours - is a doozy.

• SpaceX set to launch CRS-16 Dragon to ISS

  December 1st, 2018

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Elon Musk might not be Santa Claus, but the Expedition 57 crew on board the ISS might consider him to be after the CRS-16 Dragon spacecraft arrives.

• Forever Young: NG-10 Cygnus departs Earth, bound for the International Space Station

  November 17th, 2018

  The skies of the U.S. East Coast were lit up as an Antares rocket with the NG-10 Cygnus spacecraft tore brightly and loudly like a torch into the heavens.

• UPDATE: Northrop Grumman preps S.S. John Young for flight to ISS

  November 14th, 2018

  The next Cygnus spacecraft is set to launch from Virginia with supplies, experiments and equipment bound for the space station's Expedition 57 crew.