Steve Hartman, his Intern, and NASA
From conception to fruition, it took 10 years to get "Everyone in the World Has a Story"on the air.
Why so long?
Because I was dead-set on having the astronauts randomly select the countries and wasted nine and a half years assuming NASA would never agree to it.
In fact, "Everyone in the World has a Story" (EWHAS) would still be just a pipe dream if not for a CBS News summer intern named Miles Doran.
Miles is a University of Florida journalism major and one of the most mature young men I've ever met.
About the International Space Station
I don't how we got on the subject, but near the end of his internship I told him about my crazy dream of getting NASA to take an inflatable globe to the international space station.
"You should do it!" he said. "Really, why not?!"
I vaguely remember coming back with something snarky like, "Yea, right. I'm sure between building the world's first stepping stone to extraterrestrial travel and discovering the origins of the universe, NASA should have plenty of time left to fly a beach ball into outer space for CBS News. Why don't you call up and ask 'em if they wouldn't mind doing that for us?"
That was the end of that.
Everyone in the World Has a Story
Then two months later my phone rang. It was Miles.
"NASA says you're going to need to sign something called a "Space Agreement."
Turns out, NASA loved the idea.
The rest is history.
And yes, if he wants it, Miles has a job waiting for him here at CBS News.
