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
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NASA Administrator Bridenstine says NASA Glenn critical for return to Moon
September 22nd, 2018CLEVELAND, Ohio — NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine paid a visit to the space agency's Glenn Research Center earlier this week, as well as its associated testing facility, Plum Brook Station in nearby Sandusky.
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Acoustic testing begins on AA-2 Orion capsule at NASA Plum Brook Station
August 23rd, 2018SANDUSKY, OH -- The Orion crew capsule test article for the upcoming Abort Ascent-2 (AA-2) test has arrived at NASA's Plum Brook Station testing facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The test article is being readied - to be blasted with sound.
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Astrobotic awarded NASA contracts to develop lunar lander technologies
August 22nd, 2018NASA recently awarded Astrobotic two contracts that could help move the Pittsburgh-based company closer to making its first lunar landing. The contracts are for developing technologies for the company's Peregrine lander, but could possibly make lunar landings easier and more accessible to others in the future.
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Thundering toward light: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe begins journey to Sun
August 12th, 2018CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's long-awaited Parker Solar Probe launched thunderously into the night sky atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket in the early morning hours of Aug. 12. Its goal? To unlock the secrets of Earth's parent star.
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Parker Solar Probe stands ready to be propelled into the face of the Sun
August 9th, 2018KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is edging closer to its long-awaited launch, scheduled no earlier than (NET) 3:33 a.m. EDT (19:33 GMT) on Saturday, August 11. The spacecraft will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37B (SLC-37B) atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket on its mission to study the Sun's corona and the solar wind.
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It keeps going and going: Stirling Engine test sets long-duration record at NASA Glenn
July 30th, 2018GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, Ohio -- If you are wanting to perform some science at Neptune, or Pluto, or beyond in the dark depths of the outer solar system, your spacecraft is going to need power for a very long time. Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, are working to make that happen and have, been at it for a very long time.
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3 CubeSats flying with OA-9 Cygnus spacecraft
May 22nd, 2018WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — The launch of the OA-9 Cygnus resupply mission to the ISS carried with it supplies and experiments. Also riding with the freighter are 15 CubeSats to be deployed by the outpost's astronauts. These micro-satellites include a trio designed to greatly-enhance different areas of Earth observation.
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Neil Armstrong’s Dyna-Soar abort training aircraft being restored for Moon landing anniversary
May 20th, 2018A piece of Neil Armstrong's pre-astronaut space history is being restored in preparation for next July's 50-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
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NASA successfully tests new Kilopower reactor for space missions
May 4th, 2018NASA announced the successful demonstration of a new nuclear reactor power system that could enable robotic missions to deep space and provide power for crewed spacecraft and human outposts on the Moon and Mars.
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Gallery: TESS mission ascends atop SpaceX Falcon 9
April 19th, 2018KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Liftoff of NASA's TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, took place at 6:51 p.m. EDT (22:51 GMT) April 18, 2018. SpaceFlight Insider's Visual Team covered the flight from multiple angles with still and video cameras and captured the mission's start in extreme detail.
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Exoplanet-hunting TESS spacecraft ready for launch
April 15th, 2018CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA and SpaceX are set to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). If everything goes according to plan, the observatory will conduct a two-year mission to survey more than 85 percent of the sky, searching for exoplanets around bright stars in the 300-light-year distance range.
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Parker Solar Probe prepped for delivery to Kennedy Space Center
March 31st, 2018GREENBELT, MD -- NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is getting ready for its flight to space. The spacecraft is currently scheduled for launch in July or August of this year (2018). PSP is NASA's long-awaited mission to explore the Sun's corona and is designed to discover more about the solar wind, and learn how conditions there interact to create space weather.
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Astrobotic ready to become delivery service to the Moon
March 19th, 2018PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Not far from downtown Pittsburgh is a somewhat drab commercial area of nondescript brick and concrete buildings, dating back to the days of when steel machine companies ruled the town. Notably, the former site of Westinghouse, where the original air brake was developed. Today, no passersby would suspect that one of these buildings houses a lab for a small fleet of spacecraft and rovers designed to go to the Moon.
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Astronaut Jack Fischer shares “Awesome” ISS experiences during visit to NASA Glenn
January 27th, 2018GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, Ohio -- Astronaut Jack Fischer's favorite word is Awesome. And why not? If your job consists of rocketing into orbit aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and spending 136 days on the International Space Station, the word awesome is probably an accurate descriptor.
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NASA Glenn reinventing the wheel to aid future Mars rovers
December 8th, 2017GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, Ohio — One of the most important high-tech components of future Mars rovers may be, of all things, its wheels.
