News Archive / Author: Michael McCabe

A native of Lonedell, Missouri, Michael McCabe is a former Long Island firefighter and emergency medical technician. He is a non-active Florida EMT with 20 years of fire rescue experience. He is also a lifelong science fiction and space enthusiast. At the age of 10, he watched in his school classroom as the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. In 2008, he moved to the Sunshine State and works as a private tour guide at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for a private company based in Orlando. McCabe has been a fan of SpaceFlight Insider since our inception in 2013. He reached out to ask how he could assist our efforts to spread space flight awareness. Shortly thereafter, he was welcomed into our expanding team.

Articles By Michael McCabe

• Profiles of Inspiration4: Chris Sembroski flying to space in the ‘generosity’ seat

  September 12th, 2021

  Chris Sembroski, an engineer from Washington state, is set to fly to space in less than a week as part of the Inspiration4 mission.

• Profiles of Inspiration4: Hayley Arceneaux set to be the youngest American in orbit

  September 10th, 2021

  The first person announced to join Jared Isaacman for the Inspiration4 mission was Hayley Arceneaux, a childhood cancer survivor and current St. Jude Children's Research Hospital employee.

• Europa Clipper mission to launch atop a Falcon Heavy

  July 28th, 2021

  After years of debating on a launch vehicle Europa Clipper spacecraft, NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy for the mission to Jupiter’s icy moon.

• Space Launch System stage adapter and ICPS upper stage stacked

  July 9th, 2021

  NASA's Space Launch System, currently being assembled in the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis 1 mission later this year, recently received its Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and upper stage.

• Pam Melroy confirmed, sworn-in as NASA deputy administrator

  June 21st, 2021

  Former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy was sworn-in as NASA's 15th deputy administrator on June 21, 2021, at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

• NASA releases 3D video of Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s 3rd flight

  May 31st, 2021

  On April 25, 2021, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performed its third test flight. Recently, NASA engineers converted a video of the flight into anaglyph 3D.

• China orbits ‘Tianhe,’ the core of its multi-module space station

  April 29th, 2021

  China has begun construction of a large three-module space station with the launch of the Tianhe core module, starting a two-year assembly sequence.

• Engineers detail plans for Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s first flight

  March 24th, 2021

  Now that NASA’s Perseverance rover is safely on Mars, all eyes are shifting toward the deployment of a small technology demonstration, a drone-like helicopter called Ingenuity.

• Astra suffers anomaly following first orbital-attempt liftoff

  September 13th, 2020

  Astra suffered a setback during their first orbital attempt, as their Rocket 3 series rocket lifted off into the skies over Launch Pad 3B in Kodiak, Alaska at 7:19 P.M. ADT, before an anomaly occurred causing the rocket to fall back to earth. 

• President Trump delivers remarks after Demo-2 launch

  June 6th, 2020

      President Donald J. Trump gave a speech inside of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building after the successful launch of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

• Astronauts Behnken, Hurley arrive in Florida; only 7 days until Demo-2

  May 20th, 2020

  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana welcomed the crew of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the Cape on May 20, 2020. Set to lift off in just 7 days, Demo-2 will be the first crewed launch from American soil since OV-104 Atlantis took her final flight on July 8, 2011. […]

• Boeing CST-100 Starliner Testing Deficiencies Identified

  March 9th, 2020

  Details are emerging about exactly what and how testing was performed prior to Boeing launching their Starliner test capsule on December 20, 2019, a flight which resulted in a mixed outcome instead of what was supposed to be a resounding and highly anticipated success.

• Gallery: SpaceX’s Dragon clears safety check paving way for crewed missions

  January 19th, 2020

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Images from the Jan. 19 test of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft which successfully demonstrated the vehicle's ability to pull astronauts away from the rocket in the event of an accident on its way to orbit.

• Collision likely factor in creation of tiny Neptunian moon

  March 6th, 2019

  A moon orbiting Neptune that was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013 finally has an origin theory, according to NASA.

• Final RS-25 hot-fire test of 2017 completed

  December 13th, 2017

  NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have conducted the final RS-25 hot-fire test of 2017 at their Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The six-minute, 40-second test was conducted at Stennis' A-1 Test Stand. The test also continued the development of components that utilized additive manufacturing (a.k.a. "3-D printing").