Miles O'Brien is a broadcast news journalist who most recently worked as CNN's chief technology and environment correspondent. He was also the network's space and aviation correspondent and an occasional stand-in anchor. O'Brien may be best known for his coverage of the US space program. In February 2003, he led the network's coverage of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Days before the disaster, (and after years of negotiations) CNN and NASA had reached an agreement that would have made O'Brien the first journalist to fly to low earth orbit on the space shuttle to visit the International Space Station.

O'Brien also covered the repair missions to the Hubble Space Telescope; the shuttle dockings at Mir; the launch of the first space station crew from Kazakhstan; several robotic landings on Mars and the private sector endeavors of Burt Rutan and others. In 2000, he produced, shot and wrote a one-hour documentary on the process of readying a space shuttle for flight. "Terminal Count: What it Takes to Make the Space Shuttle Fly" aired in May 2001. O'Brien is a third-generation general aviation pilot and the recipient of numerous Emmy and other awards.