• Longtime NBC News correspondent Tom Aspell dies

     

    A veteran foreign correspondent for NBC News, Tom Aspell died Monday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Tom Aspell, a veteran foreign correspondent for NBC News, died Monday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 62 years old.

    After beginning his career as a scriptwriter and cameraman with Visnews in 1970, Aspell joined NBC News in 1985 as a producer based in Cyprus.


    He later became a foreign correspondent, and in this role covered events ranging from the fall of Saigon and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, to the Bosnian War, Beirut and Baghdad — all the while displaying what NBC's Brian Williams described as “an intense brand of cool under fire.”

    "From Southeast Asia to the Middle East… to the Balkans … to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and dozens of other 'hot spots,' Aspell made his mark on behalf of NBC News for 28 years," said NBC News President Steve Capus.

    "To a person, all of his colleagues will tell you Tom was great company in the field who loved sharing stories at the end of a day spent documenting history."

    A native of New Zealand, Aspell's last posting for NBC News was in Cyprus, where he loved spending time on his sailboat.

    Aspell leaves behind a wife and two sons.

    39 comments

    Simply a great reporter. A dying breed, unfortunately.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , ,

  • How do you broadcast TV from a submarine?

    After nearly 100 days of reporting on the Gulf oil spill, how do you find new angles on what seems like an already well-covered story?

    NBC News Chief Environmental Correspondent Anne Thompson explains how she and her crew stay on top of the ongoing environmental disaster by exploring new reporting avenues every day.

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    One way is to send NBC News’ Kerry Sanders, who has been covering the Gulf oil spill for the last three months, as close to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico’s as he can get in a submarine.

    One vexing question Kerry has had in his reporting is: Can you see the oil down below the surface?

    In an effort to answer that question, Kerry and his team of cameramen and engineers have gone to great technical lengths. With the help of a group of scientists, he’s going to try to go about 1,000- 1,800 feet below the surface to look at deepwater coral and try to see if the oil is in the loop current.

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    From broadcasting live TV from a ship in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico to trying to broadcast live from a submarine – Kerry explains the "amazing technical challenges" and the team effort it takes to bring the story home.

  • Going live from the Gulf: Bless GPS

    Dwaine Scott/NBC News

    GPS allows NBC's boat to stay in a fixed position for live satellite transmissions.

    By Kerry Sanders
    NBC News

    GULF OF MEXICO — Eighty miles from Venice, La., we're bobbing in 3- to 4-foot seas aboard the 230-foot Skye Falgout. The Coast Guard boarded our vessel a few hours ago.

    First question: Who are we, and who gave us permission to come to the 5-mile limit of the Deepwater Horizon site?

    I guess our four days of communication with the Coast Guard and the Joint Information Center on land didn't reach the folks out here in the Gulf doing all the work.

    As I feared a tongue-lashing, the chief warrant officer caught me by surprise when he said he was "thankful" we are here.

    "The world needs to see the hard work going on here," he says.

    That, of course, was my goal, so after a few minutes and some marine-band radio chatter, we get the best news a crew could ask for: It's just been approved by those in command — we can park 1.7 miles west of the ongoing operations.

    If you are a weekend sailor, you may wonder how you "park" a boat in the current and wind and hold that position for hours.

    Once upon a time, you'd use anchors.

    Photo by Dwaine Scott/ NBC News

    The satellite that makes broadcasting from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico possible.

    Today, the magic of GPS and multiple engines with thrusters holds a ship like ours within a half-foot of its assigned position for more than eight hours.

    It's called Dynamic Positioning, and we are thrilled because that maritime technology married with our NBC technology will let us tell viewers what's happening live.

    The "Bloom Mobile," named after my good friend, the late NBC correspondent David Bloom, was developed to race across the uneven desert in Iraq as U.S. forces invaded.

    Now, the Bloom Mobile is with us at sea, rocking to the motion of the ocean but locked dead onto a satellite 23,000 miles over Earth.

    The gyroscopes hold the signal with laser accuracy so we can report live.
    There is so much that you can see for yourself in the video, but what is unheralded are the 800 people on 37 vessels and platforms, working 12 hours on, 12 hours off, in some cases for 40 straight days, trying to stop this disaster.

    Our goal in the midst of this crisis is to go live from a rig, the Q4000, or the ROV vessel.

    I have reported live from the battlefield with U.S. Marines under fire, so as I bob here and recognize this is a crisis, I also know if those in charge will allow it, we can report live as this crisis is being battled.

    I am told by the chief warrant officer maybe that will happen — "it just won't be today."