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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fix in Space; Miracle Baby
Aired August 03, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, the story of life and death. A brain-dead mother gives birth to a very premature, but healthy, little girl. What an amazing story!
And if you can't wait to meet prince charming, we know a place you should go in London.
But first, "Now in the News."
This just in to us, officials in Zambia say they have ordered the extradition of suspected al Qaeda operative Harron Rashid Aswat to Britain. Authorities in London believe he helped or recruited the July 7 London transit bombers.
An American freelance journalist has been killed in the Iraqi city of Basra. Steven Vincent was found shot to death. A Western official says Vincent had been abducted.
In Iran, a hard-line conservative was sworn in today as the country's new president. The new leader was harshly critical of Washington, saying its denunciation of the election shows what he calls the spirit of arrogance.
The new ruler of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, has begun meeting with the public today, one day after the funeral for King Fahd. King Abdullah will be officially crowned today.
To the Forecast Center and Chad with one hot forecast.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hot yesterday, hot today and still hot tomorrow. But then...
COSTELLO: Do you know there's a stagnant air advisory out for our area?
MYERS: Stagnant air advisory?
COSTELLO: I've never heard of that before.
MYERS: Not too much.
COSTELLO: That means just don't breathe.
MYERS: Right, because it's a code orange, basically. Some spots could even get to be code red today, which means, really, don't go out there too much and exercise. Don't breathe any more than you have to. Like if you go out there and run 10 kilometers, then obviously you're breathing in more of that air than you have to. Not that you can't breathe, but some folks, obviously, have problems even with good air.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You know I'm going to make fun of you.
MYERS: Why is that?
COSTELLO: When you said only breathe as much as you have to. I'm just going to take every other breath.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: And that's how I'm going to breathe all day.
MYERS: I guess I'll do the 6:00 hour then.
COSTELLO: I am.
Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: Let's head into space right now. Just under two-and- a-half hours to go before a first-of-its-kind repair job in space. Shuttle Discovery Astronaut Steve Robinson has already started what's expected to be a seven-hour space walk.
Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien standing by with his trusty telestrator.
And, I understand, you know with all those cameras pointed at the shuttle, they found something else?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're going to talk about that in a moment.
But is it OK for me to breathe? I just want to make sure.
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Chad, can I breathe?
COSTELLO: Every other breath, Miles.
MYERS: Not too much.
O'BRIEN: OK, I'm just checking. Every other breath. Thank you.
Hopefully in space today Steve Robinson is doing full breaths. You know we want him to feel good about what he is doing, because in a few hours time, as you look at some live pictures as the space station-space shuttle complex passes over the Caribbean 220 miles above us. As they do that, they are getting ready for a very, very fragile operation indeed.
These pictures don't really do justice to what is about to come up and that is Steve Robinson in close proximity to the shuttle's, well, you could call it the soft underbelly of the shuttle. That is the fragile heat resistant tiles. He'll go up very close proximity to them and pull out a couple of things that are sticking outside of them.
The concern is that they will disturb the airflow in such a way that they will create hot spots, which could ultimately cause some problems for the shuttle on reentry. Nobody says it could be a repeat of Columbia, but nobody wants to take that chance either.
Take a look at the technique that is envisioned here. By the way, the first three hours of the space walk they're going to be working on a separate issue that they were planning on. By the way, just to orient you, well, that's all right, we'll go to the pictures first.
This is astronaut Dave Wolf demonstrating the technique. There you see the gap filler wedged between the tiles. If it doesn't yank out well, they're going to use the hacksaw and some forceps, sawing very carefully as they go across.
And the key here is you know you've got a person with that bulky glove. You see the glove there. And that will be inflated to about four pounds per square inch. So you're inflated like the Michelin Man. And your mass, your bulk is about 30 percent greater than it would be if you're just standing here in normal street clothes. So Steve Robinson is going to be particularly careful, especially for that bulky helmet that he's wearing.
Listen to what he said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE ROBINSON, DISCOVERY ASTRONAUT: The thing I'll be watching most closely is the top of my helmet here because I'll be leaning in towards the orbiter and the part of the whole EVA suit will be the top of the helmet. So that's what I'll be most careful with.
The kind of training we've done that is very applicable to this has been tile repair. Which, as you know, we've been involved in over a year. We've done lots of training both underwater, in the laboratories and in the KC-135's zero gravity training aircraft. I think all of this is going to come into play during this EVA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Of course you know what an EVA is, Carol, right?
COSTELLO: Yes, tell us.
O'BRIEN: Extra Vehicular Activity, Extra Vehicular Activity.
I got the tools here. You know it does amaze me. We're talking about a $2 billion craft, as high tech as it can be, and it comes down to a set of forceps and a hacksaw.
COSTELLO: Yes, that's something else.
O'BRIEN: You know sometimes the simple tools.
COSTELLO: Fourteen-billion-dollar mission and a $50 hacksaw and forceps, which I don't like to think about.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Miles. We'll get back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right.
COSTELLO: You can keep track of the shuttle mission just by logging on to CNN.com. Our special "Return to Flight" page has up-to- the-minute information about what the astronauts are doing and exactly why they're doing it, so log on and watch at CNN.com.
We take you "Beyond the Soundbite" this morning with stories of survival, more than 300 of them. Here's an image from inside an Air France jet moments after it skidded off a Toronto runway. You see people running for the exits. The passengers managed to make it out of the plane just before it burst into flames.
Listen as two of them describe their harrowing ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROEL BREMER, PASSENGER: I saw lightning. And maybe the plane had already been hit by lightning. The reason I mention that is because just as we landed, the lights turned off. And that's unusual. So I'm sure that bad weather was responsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLIVER DUBOS, PASSENGER: When we started to approach the airport, the plane was going pretty fast. And just before touching ground it was all black.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BREMER: We had come to a complete stop, so it's not like you think anything else is about to happen. I mean, you know we had a hell of a roller coaster going down the ravine. But as soon as there was some smoke and fire outside, and I can't tell how the other people reacted because I was at the very, very end of the plane, the absolute last seat of the plane. And so you know all I could think of was get off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUBOS: The plane stopped. We opened the emergency doors and, basically, there were lots of flames around. We just tried to escape. There was a lot of panic. We were all running everywhere. There was a lot of gas and smoke. I actually I don't know if everybody managed to get out of the plane. We were all running like crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Everybody did get out. Just a few had injuries that caused them to stay in the hospital for at least a few hours. But everybody made it out alive and everybody is OK this morning. Wow!
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: I'm telling you those pictures, Chad, of course it caught on fire after everyone got out of the plane.
MYERS: Yes, but not very long after.
COSTELLO: No.
MYERS: I mean they said that it was smoking right away, so.
COSTELLO: It's just something else.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You know I want to talk about that hurricane outlook. We were talking about that yesterday.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And you couldn't let out the information because it was embargoed.
MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: And of course that means that entities give us a specific time in which to release information and you couldn't release it.
MYERS: Correct. They give us the information early so that we can be prepared. You know they may give it to us five hours, six hours early so that we can make the graphics, we could be prepared for when it does hit, but they want everybody to get it at the same time. They want everything to come out, not like it's a huge secret, but I just didn't want to give NOAA's secret out because, basically, they're going to do it, they're going to do a news conference.
COSTELLO: Well let it out now, Chad, let it out.
MYERS: It's their football, so to speak, and I only get to play with it.
Here is what NOAA had to say yesterday about what the hurricane season is going to look like. We go right to the weather graphics and we'll show you what that looks like.
The hurricane season outlook for this year, drum roll please, it's not really that good. Named storms, on average, 10. This year, 18 to 21 named storms. We have a tropical depression number eight out there right now, which could be Tropical Storm Harvey. Hurricanes six, that's the average. The forecast is between 9 and 11.
And major hurricanes two. That means a Category 3 or higher. Category 3 is 111 miles per hour to 130. Anything higher than 111 it's considered a major hurricane. Usually there are two of them. This year there's going to be five to seven. Warm waters out there and very low wind sheer, we call it, not much wind out there in the Atlantic Ocean, that will cause those hurricanes to develop, Carol. So that's what NOAA had to say at 10:00 yesterday.
COSTELLO: So nothing good?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, we know if it's a boy or a girl. We'll let you know next. It's tough to tell in a panda.
And a "Friend" is coming back to the small screen. We'll tell you where you will find Matthew Perry.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Here's a follow-up on the panda mystery we've been following. Are you ready -- Chad?
MYERS: Carol, what is it?
COSTELLO: There's -- look, they're trying to determine whether the panda is a boy or a girl. That's the scientific method right there.
MYERS: Looking at his teeth.
COSTELLO: Yes, that's the way they tell that. It's a boy -- Chad.
MYERS: It's a boy!
COSTELLO: Yes, this is the baby panda at the National Zoo. He weighs one pound, eight ounces.
MYERS: Wow, how cute!
COSTELLO: Now of course the zoo must go about naming the little guy. They were waiting to know the sex before that process began, which is a smart thing.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Personally, I think they should name it Chad.
MYERS: Well.
COSTELLO: Chad, the panda.
MYERS: No.
COSTELLO: Chad panda.
MYERS: It's not really much of a Chinese name.
COSTELLO: True. Still be a month or two before the cub takes his very first steps. Of course we'll be following this story in detail for you throughout the many hours of DAYBREAK to come.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
Two of Discovery's astronauts are on the outside looking in this morning. One of the tasks during the space walk will be fixing filler material between some of the shuttle's heat tiles. We'll have a live report on the mission coming up at the top of the hour.
An American journalist was found dead in Basra this morning. A Western official says Steven Vincent had been abducted by unknown gunmen. Vincent had written articles for various newspapers, including "The New York Times" and was working on a book about the history of Basra.
In money news, American automakers saw a rally in car sales for July. The Big Three, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all jumped at least 20 percent. New employee pricing plans are being credited for a big part of that increase.
In culture, Prince William in wax may now become a star attraction at Madame Tussauds. His likeness was unveiled for the first time just a couple of hours ago at the world famous wax museum. That's not the wax figure because it's moving.
In sports, another major leaguer has been suspended for steroids. Seattle Mariners' pitcher Ryan Franklin will have to sit out 10 games after his positive test. Franklin is the eighth major leaguer suspended this season under the league's new steroid policy -- Chad.
MYERS: Wouldn't you love to know how many players have actually been tested?
COSTELLO: Yes, I would.
MYERS: They don't tell you how many have passed. Is it like 8 or is it 800?
COSTELLO: Two.
MYERS: I don't know.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MYERS: You know is it two?
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: It's time for our e-mail segment -- Chad.
MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: And we're asking a very interesting question this morning and we've got a lot of response, actually. We're asking this question, should intelligent design be taught in schools?
MYERS: Yes, and you know I didn't know what to think about how these people were actually going to respond, but they really responded quite interesting.
Carol, I don't have any printed out here, but do you have any there?
COSTELLO: Let me get into my e-mail box.
MYERS: I have a couple on my e-mail says from Bob (ph) in Georgia, the intelligent design concept is not a science. It belongs in religion class, not the science class. But it's a faith-based idea based on the supreme designer but with no scientific explanation of where that designer came from.
And I guess that's the same story. Where do you go with this? I mean is it separation of church and state? Not sure. But where do you start? Is it like a regular catechism class? I mean where do you start with this intelligent design?
COSTELLO: Well we're going to talk more about that in the next hour of DAYBREAK. Let me read another e-mail right now.
This is from Ken (ph). Where are you from, Ken? Doesn't say. Ken says, simplest answer, no, it violates separation of church and state. Expanded, if taught, then all versions would have to be taught, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Judaism, Native American, et cetera. Although the people who came up with intelligent design says it's not teaching creationism, it's not really a religious science.
So we're going to get to the bottom of that, too.
MYERS: Well it's not going to be in science class.
COSTELLO: It is going to be in science class.
MYERS: It is?
COSTELLO: Yes, it's going to be taught right alongside evolution.
MYERS: Well.
COSTELLO: And that's the controversy.
MYERS: I see.
COSTELLO: We'll talk more about it later.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, what a bittersweet day for the Torres family. A very small, but healthy, baby girl was born, but mom -- that's a sad story. We'll have more ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A brain-dead woman has given birth to a baby girl. The woman had been kept alive on life support for nearly three months so her fetus could develop.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a bittersweet day for Jason Torres. His wife, Susan, gave birth to their second child, Susan Anne Catherine Torres. A team of doctors had worked round the clock to save the child long after they knew they couldn't save her mother.
Susan and Jason Torres, both 26, were college sweethearts. They got married and had a son, Peter, now 3. She was pregnant with their second child and living her dream, doing vaccine research at the National Institutes of Health.
JUSTIN TORRES, BROTHER: It was a wonderful partnership because Susan was tough and focused and Jason was fun-loving and sort of easy- going.
COHEN: When Susan was 17, a small spot on her shoulder was diagnosed as melanoma. Doctors removed it and she remained cancer free. Then a couple of months ago...
JU. TORRES: She had started to have headaches and dizziness and nausea and symptoms like that that got sort of progressively worse.
COHEN: On May 7, Torres had a stroke that left her brain-dead.
JASON TORRES, HUSBAND: The melanoma metastasized and went to the brain and caused a bleed in the brain which then the pressure just built up and built up.
COHEN: She was put on a ventilator to keep her lungs going as doctors tried to save the baby and allow her to develop. It was a race against time. They had to wait 12 weeks to let the baby develop. But during that time there was a risk of the cancer spreading to the placenta. Doctors say it's unusual, but it does happen. DR. DAVID LAWSON, ONCOLOGIST, EMORY UNIVERSITY: There are only about 21 or so cases of that reported of melanoma going to the placenta and only about 5 cases reported of the fetus actually having melanoma.
COHEN: Even so, experts say the baby, who is 12 weeks early and weighs just 1 pound and 13 ounces, is not out of the woods just yet.
DR. SIVA SUBRAMANIAN, GEORGETOWN UNIV. HOSPITAL: Potentially after one to two years we need to look at the mature that there is no disease that has spread to the baby.
COHEN: And while today is a day of mixed emotions, Justin says he will have a message for his niece.
JU. TORRES: You have no idea how hard some people fought for you. And you have no idea how important you are to us.
COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: What's it like to walk in outer space? In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll speak with an astronaut who did just that. And Miles O'Brien will tell us what else those cameras focused on and what they saw on the shuttle.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning, "Friends" star Matthew Perry will star in the upcoming TNT original movie "The Ron Clark Story." It's the real-life exploits of a teacher who left his small hometown to teach in Harlem. Perry will play the title character who won Disney's 2000 Teacher of the Year award. TNT is owned by CNN's parent company Time Warner. We must remain honest with you.
"Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher has some pearls of wisdom for women hitting the big 40, and she plans to share it in a new advice book she's writing called "Burnt Toast." The 40-year-old actress has become something of an icon to women approaching -- we're not going to call 40 middle age -- approaching 40, which is the new 30, by the way.
Actress Jennifer Aniston says she still loves her husband Brad Pitt, and she denies gossip column speculation that the pair split because she didn't want to have children. That's according to her interview in the September issue of "Vanity Fair." Aniston tells the magazine she hopes to have a husband and child in five years, but it will not be with Brad Pitt.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: It is Wednesday, August 3.
Discovery astronauts go where they've never gone before. It's like a high-flying mission like never before, one that requires a very steady hand. You're looking at live pictures from mission control.
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