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GOP Candidates Hit The Trail Ahead of Tuesday; Clinton, Sanders Battle Ahead of Tuesday Primaries; Memorial Grows Outside Prince's Home; NASA Prepares for Manned Space Mission to Mars; 911 Tape Released in Ohio Murder Case; Hero World War II Pilot Dies. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired April 23, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Five o'clock Eastern. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday. I'm Pamela Brown in Atlanta in for Poppy Harlow.
And we begin with the race for the White House and the countdown to the next Super Tuesday. Republicans Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz are on the campaign trail making last-minute pleas to voters.
CNN's Jason Carroll has been following Donald Trump and he joins me now. So, Jason, yesterday Trump's top aide was heard on this audio saying his candidate is projecting a persona. How have people you've spoken to there reacted to that and what is Trump saying today?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you this, I mean, I think the voters who showed up today saw the Trump that they wanted to see, the Trump that they expected to see. They heard him say some familiar things that we've heard before, Pamela, calling Clinton crooked Clinton, lying Ted Cruz. In fact at one point he said, Ted Cruz lies like a thief (ph). Now, this may not sound particularly precedential and as you know, you know, we heard earlier from Paul Manafort who even spoke to members at the RNC meeting in Florida where he said you're going to see a different Trump privately than you'll see, you know, Trump publicly at some of these rallies and that the candidate will evolve overtime, that the campaign will evolve over time. Well, Trump spoke about that when he spoke to those who showed up for his rally and he also talked about these calls for him to be more presidential.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They had a meeting and they said, yes, Donald Trump, you know, he's really smart and he will be different when he's in private. Which of course we are. Everybody is. When I'm speaking, who's not different than when you're in a private room? If I was presidential, first of all, I'd have a teleprompter. You ever see crooked Hillary Clinton? She walks in, good afternoon, Bridgeport. How are you? This is crooked Hillary Clinton. Then people start yawning, leaving, the whole thing is a disaster. She'll be a disaster as president. She'll be a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CARROLL: Pamela, you could hear from the crowd that showed up here in Bridgeport, they loved it as they loved it earlier in Waterbury, Connecticut when Trump spoke there as well. At a certain point, his rally here was interrupted by a few protesters. You know, when that happened, Trump basically said, look, this makes the rally even more interesting. He said there is nothing more fun than a Trump rally -- Pamela.
BROWN: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you for that. And let's turn to the Democratic side now. Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are making multiple stops in the northeast today. Clinton is holding events in both Connecticut and Rhode Island and Sanders making stop to Maryland and Delaware where he is revamping those attacks against Hillary Clinton calling her out at both of his stops today.
CNN's Chris Frates joins me now for more on this. So, Chris, Bernie Sanders had simmered down the jabs it seems but they're back, right?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Pamela, it seems like he's back to criticizing Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. And he just made the case that he's the most electable candidate as well in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you look at the matchup, the matchup holes between Donald Trump and myself, we are beating him in every instance. And almost always by larger margins than Secretary Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So that was Sanders addressing a rally of supporters in Delaware just moments ago. Now, Clinton for her part, she campaigned on a little bit of a smaller scale today, holding a conversation with workers in Connecticut. In recent days she's largely avoided hitting Sanders. She's focusing her fire instead on Donald Trump. Today she released a video urging voters to remember all his controversial positions as he really starts to pivot toward the general election. And that followed a shot she took at Trump yesterday in Pennsylvania where she criticized his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country.
Now, Clinton leads Sanders in Pennsylvania by almost 30 points. That's according to a new poll there. And both Sanders and Clinton spent Friday crisscrossing the keystone state. It has the most delegates up for grabs on Tuesday when voters there and in Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island will all go to the polls. Sanders will hold a community conversation in Baltimore a little bit later tonight and Clinton, she's ending her day in Rhode Island -- Pam.
BROWN: So, what's the strategy behind these two different types of events that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are holding?
FRATES: Well, look, you see Bernie Sanders continuing to do what he does so well, which is to get the rallies, get thousands of people to come out. And he's really hoping that that turns into turnout that he can then use to cut into Hillary Clinton's lead. Now, the problem he has here is that in a lot of these northeastern states, there are strong minority and African-American communities. That has been a really good Clinton voting bloc. He has been unable really to make his way and cut her lead there. So, he's trying to make sure he gets his excited followers out to the polls.
[17:05:18] Hillary Clinton, showing a little bit different of a size, sitting down with health care workers in Connecticut today and really displaying some of her policy chops, showing that she understands the issues and empathizing with people on a very individual and personal basis. So, their campaign, you know, looking a little bit toward the general election and trying to, you know, show voters that they can empathize with Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton understands them. And so there's almost two different optics, two different objectives at play today -- Pam.
BROWN: All right. Chris Frates, thanks so much for that reporting.
And Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, their campaigns go head to head again on Tuesday. Five states all in the American northeast. We'll cast their primary ballots. And Sanders is promising to press on after his defeat in New York, answering the call of his enthusiastic supporters. But many of his critics are wondering why.
Joining me is Democratic strategist and Sanders supporter Nomi Konst and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona, she's a Clinton supporter. So, Nomi, first to you on that question. Sanders said she was running to make Clinton a stronger candidate. Is she and might it be time for him to step down?
NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No. I think that what we're hearing is a lot of pressure from the Clinton campaign for many reasons. Part of the reason is they want his list of donors and users to prepare for the general election. But really it does come down to math. And the math is that she has only picked up 33 pledge delegates. And if she were to win the nomination she has to get to the magic number of 2,384 pledged delegates by June 7th to get to the convention. But at this race where we're looking, even if she were to win the next five states, the margins are where the story is.
She was expecting a huge win in New York. She needed to pick up 100 more pledged delegates than Bernie Sanders. She only picked up 33. So, by the time we hit June 7th in California where right now they're tied in a statistical tie in California, she will not pick up enough pledged delegates, and neither will Bernie Sanders. So, what we're expecting is that it will go to the convention. But this is all based on DNC rules. You know, a lot of people reporting that the pledged delegates and the super delegates are together. The DNC rules state that the super delegates are to be declared at the convention and that's how it was designed to be sort of an insurance policy against someone like a trunk. And it was really originally just designed for an elected officials and that it expanded outwards to DNC members and party leaders. BROWN: So Maria, I'm going to get to you in one second. But just on piggy back on what Nomi had to say, the Sanders camp has said that they're banking on -- their strategy is to pull in more super delegates. But given the vote, given the math, given the states that Clinton has won, wouldn't that be controversial for these super delegates to turn on the will of what the voters have said?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely it would be. And it's not going to happen. And not only is it not going to happen, it's completely antithetical to the whole ideas and values that the Democratic Party is based on and frankly, the Sanders campaign has been running on. I mean, let's remember, at the very beginning, they were kicking and screaming about super delegates and how undemocratic they are.
BROWN: Yes.
CARDONA: And now they're focused on trying to get them to flip at the convention, even though Hillary Clinton will get there with my more pledged delegates than Bernie Sanders. They want to try to convince them to go against the will of the people. I mean, let's just --
KONST: That's not what they're doing.
CARDONA: Let's just -- what those words mean. And it's just not going to happen. Look, from here on out, even if Hillary loses every contest between now and the end, by 15 points, Bernie Sanders will not catch up to her on pledged delegates. Bernie Sanders will not catch up to her.
KONST: That's not true.
CARDONA: On the popular vote.
KONST: No.
CARDONA: So, she will get to the convention with more delegates than Senator Sanders. She may not get there with the 2,384, but then that's where the super delegates come in and historically super delegates have never and nor will they unless we have a Trump situation. They will never overturn the will of the people. It didn't happen --
KONST: What about Mondale? It happened in '80s. It happened in '80s, Maria.
CARDONA: It didn't happen in 2008 when Barack Obama got to the convention with less than half of the lead of pledged delegates.
KONST: Different scenario.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: And with less numbers on the popular vote.
BROWN: I want you to respond to what Maria said Nomi just about this notion that it's sort of hypocritical, that now they're focused on super delegates and it would go against the will of the people as Maria said in her argument.
KONST: Well, not exactly. That's a little bit flawed and that is coming from the messaging camp. You know, David Brock sent out this release to correct the records to all of their surrogates to send that out. The reality is, a lot of these super delegates have pledged against Bernie Sanders even though Bernie Sanders won their states and their districts. So, there are a lot of super delegates that are elected officials that have already been chosen that have endorsed Hillary as far back as August of last year, way before there was a vote, way before the state conventions were held.
[17:10:18] And then they're still pledging towards Hillary Clinton even though their states and districts have voted for Bernie Sanders. Now, put that aside, there's still 40 percent of the super delegates have not been determined because state conventions have not been held. And many of those super delegates are very friendly to Bernie Sanders and we call them soft pledge. So even though we are against the system of super delegates, you know, there still has to be a nomination. Should we have super delegates that are party leaders and DNC lobbyists? No. I don't think that's fair. Should we have elected officials? Definitely. Because they have an obligation to their voters to answer to the need of their voters. And there's a difference between 2008 and this year. And we have done this before in the '80s.
CARDONA: What's the difference?
KONST: The difference is that you have a consortium that was very different for Barack Obama. You guys locked down super delegates.
CARDONA: What do you mean by consortium?
KONST: Let me finish. Let me finish. You had a lot of time, Maria.
CARDONA: Go ahead.
KONST: You know, Hillary Clinton got 500 super delegates pledged in August of last year blocking any other candidates from entering the race. It was not a democratic primary which is why it opened up an opportunity for the independent Bernie Sanders who's progressive to come in. The other difference here is that super delegates were not designed, and we're going back to the hunt commission, which I read all the reports for. You know, they were not designed to announce at the beginning of the process.
They were designed to announce at the end in case there was a tie. And look at it, neither of the candidates are going to hit the magic number. That's just math. Hillary Clinton has to win 72 percent of the remaining states. And right now, California has 475 pledged delegates and they're tied in a national poll. She will not hit that number. And we have to pay attention to that in the media and stop reporting that pledged delegates and super delegates are being counted together. They don't get counted until the end of super delegates. CARDONA: I agree. I actually agree with that. But the fact of the matter is, is that Bernie Sanders is not going to catch up with her on pledged delegates. Bernie Sanders said himself yesterday that it will be very difficult to win if he gets to the convention without more pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton. Right now it is more than probable that that is exactly what's going to happen and the super delegates are not going to give this to the candidates who has less pledged delegates. Period.
BROWN: OK. So looking, you know, put those arguments aside. I want to look at this latest NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll because it shows Clinton losing to Kasich by a lot in a hypothetical general election matchup. Take a look here. So, Maria, what does she need to do to appeal to moderate Republicans and Independents?
CARDONA: I think that, well, first of all, right now, general election polls really don't mean anything. I mean, let's just ask President Romney who was ahead by more than 11 points at this point against Obama. So they don't mean anything. Number two, Hillary Clinton will have somebody to run against after July. Once you make that comparison -- and by the way, it most probably, in fact, I can guarantee you that that person is not going to be John Kasich. But to your point, yes, she does need to get out there and start garnering the support of more moderate Republicans.
I guarantee you, that is going to be very easy to do when the comparison is with either Ted Cruz or with Donald Trump who are anything but moderate. Who are anything but mainstream? And her message is going to be that she will be the candidate to fight for middle class values, middle class families, working class people, people who have been left out. And she's going to be the one breaking down the barriers while the other candidates are going to be the ones who want to build walls. That's going to be a winning message.
BROWN: All right. Nomi, final words to you.
KONST: But Bernie Sanders beats Donald Trump by 20 percent and Hillary does not. He beats every single Republican candidate and has the blue collar Independent vote that you need for a general election and Hillary Clinton does not have that vote.
CARDONA: He has never had one negative ad run against him by Republicans.
BROWN: OK. Nomiki Konst, Maria Cardona, I try to get in there when I can. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
CARDONA: Thanks, Pam.
BROWN: And by the way on Tuesday, voters in five more states head to the polls including the big delegate prize, Pennsylvania. Join us for all-day coverage on Super Tuesday, right here on CNN.
And ahead this hour, we're going to take you live to Paisley Park where the tributes for Prince continue to pour in. How fans are remembering the purple one. And later, CNN takes you to Mars. Well, sort of. A must-see story on whether humans are fit for life on the red planet. I'm really curious about that. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:17:58] BROWN: And welcome back. We want to take you to the growing memorial outside Paisley Park where fans have been gathering all day to celebrate the musical genius of Prince. The legendary artist who blended soaring guitars, funk and flamboyant dance moves. And as those tributes continue to pour in, we're learning more about his final days. An official cause of death, though, could take weeks as authorities await the results of an autopsy. Adored by millions of fans worldwide, Prince was alone when he died, his body found slumped inside an elevator.
CNN's Ryan Young joins me now right outside Paisley Park. You've been talking to people coming to pay tribute, Ryan. Set the scene for us.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we wanted to show you something. This is a large piece of property. And on the back end we've seen this line sort of form here. We believe maybe their might be a memorial service here today at some sort. Because some close friends have shown up in the last few hours. You can see everyone kind of creating that "u" shape there because the police have been letting special cars through. But just in the last 30 minutes or so, some friends and family members of Prince have come out and they actually started delivering these purple boxes out to people who have come from all over. And inside the box, if you don't mind opening it up, show it to us, this is what they've been giving fans who have been standing outside. What was in your box?
TEAIRA MCMURRAY, PRINCE FAN: So, I have -- just it looks like it came from his home. I'm just going to, you know, keep to that. But it's just a booklet and then for some reason to me, this fits my personality so well.
YOUNG: Beautiful.
T. MCMURRAY: Yes, it is.
YOUNG: Open that for us so we can see it. Here we go. I mean, what did you get in your box?
ALANDO MCMURTRY, PRINCE FAN: It's amazing. Because you can tell that I have a tank top. I pursue body building and I pursue weight lifting. And it's like a personal gift. It seems like for him to give me a tank top, you know, it's amazing.
T. MCMURTRY: On your birthday.
A. MCMURTRY: On my birthday.
YOUNG: Wait. You guys traveled here from Milwaukee to be here.
T. MCMURTRY: Yes.
YOUNG: Why so important for you guys to travel all the way here?
A. MCMURTRY: It's just the significance, the inspiration that Prince has given us over the years, you know, since we've been seven, eight- years-old. You know, he's unbelievable, you know, he's motivated to us pursue our dreams. You know, I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I just moved from Phoenix to pursue dreams and you know, listening to Prince it encourages you to do that. You know --
YOUNG: Just basically I know people have been staying out here playing music. Can you talk about being in the crowd? Because everybody obviously is sharing the love about Prince.
T. MCMURTRY: Yes. I mean, it's beautiful to be in the crowd.
A. MCMURTRY: It's a blessing.
T. MCMURTRY: To be, you know, among just everybody who is experiencing the same, you know, the consciousness of Prince, it just seems like he is just living and breathing. You know?
A. MCMURTRY: He's all around.
T. MCMURTRY: And he, you know, one of the things that I wrote from one of his songs, you know, all the flowers that you planted mama in the backyard all continue to live when you went away, they didn't die. They're continuing to live. This is just beautiful, it's just life.
YOUNG: Were you shocked when a family member walks outside during a time like this and starts handing out boxes.
T. MCMURTRY: I mean, yes, and to be handed in your hand, it was like, really? Thank you.
A. MCMURTRY: This is personal. So, it seems like something Prince would do.
T. MCMURTRY: Oh, God yes.
A. MCMURTRY: He would give back, you know, to us, he would want us to have these type of gifts coming from his home.
T. MCMURTRY: Yes.
A. MCMURTRY: You know, it's just a blessing to be here and to be able to be around others that feel the same way.
T. MCMURTRY: Yes.
YOUNG: Thank you, guys. I appreciate you so much for sharing that box with us.
T. MCMURTRY: Thank you.
YOUNG: So, I would say more than a dozen of those boxes were handed out to the crowd. And they went pretty quickly. No one sure if the gates will open back up from what will come out next.
Pam, it was one of those things when you sit here and you know, what's going to happen next year? Because it seems like every half hour something special sort of happens.
BROWN: Yes. Quite a crowd behind you there, too. Ryan Young at Paisley Park, thank you so much.
And we'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:25:11] BROWN: We still don't know the cause of Prince's death but we do know he leaves behind a huge void. His influence as a performer and fierce advocate for musical ownership reaches far and wide in the music industry and beyond.
Let's talk it over with music industry executive Shanti Das. She was senior Vice President at Columbia Records when she worked for Prince's team. And W. Kamau Bell, a comedian and host of CNN's "United Shades of America" premiering tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Eastern. Thank you both for coming on.
Shanti, let me start with you because you work closely with Prince and even attended his final concert in Atlanta. Tweeting these words. Let's take a look here. You say, "Prince was euphoric, sexy, amazing and the sound was magical. Prince is the most special artist I've witnessed." Prince even retweeted you. You were already a long-time fan, you began working with him on musicology. But what was it like working with him? And by the way gained a retweet.
SHANTI DAS, FORMER SENIOR VP OF MARKETING COLUMBIA RECORDS: Well, first of all, let's start with the concert. It was probably one of the best concerts I've seen, that he's ever done.
BROWN: Why?
DAS: And I couldn't even tell that he had been sick. You know, we've heard rumors about him having the flu. He was not nasally. I mean, his voice was pristine. And it was just him and a microphone. I mean, think about how many artists can really do that.
BROWN: Uh-hm.
DAS: So, it's quite spectacular. He did a lot of classic Prince material which we all really loved. But my experience working for him working at Columbia Records was by far probably the highlight of my career. When I first met him, I literally froze in my tracks. And the one thing about him, he is super professional. So, I had to remember like, come out of fan mode and snap back on the senior vice president hat. And he immediately welcomed me in and broke the ice and wanted to know what I thought about his musicology video. It was just really special.
BROWN: Wow. And I'm sure you made a lot of famous artists but it seems like he really struck a chord with you. DAS: He did. And the one thing I think that was truly special about
Prince was, he was a genius, and he was a real stickler for professionalism. And he knew exactly what he wanted. I recall being on tour in 2004 and we needed to get some additional photos to use for publicity for international. And it was 2:00 in the morning. Most artist don't even want to do an interview after a concert. But he did a complete photo shoot at 2:00 in the morning. And it was pretty spectacular.
BROWN: Wow! And, you know, we're learning so much about Prince in the wake of his death and his focus on issues that were near and dear to his heart. Your new CNN show focuses on tackling the cultural divide. How effective was Prince at breaking down this racial and gender barriers in America?
W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": I mean, I think as Prince was a black man, it certainly defined himself as such but he also knew that he was allowed to live his blackness and his maleness however he wanted to live it. And that was a great example to everybody but specifically to black people. A lot of times we feel like we, maybe feel like we have to, blow in a box, it was certain kind. But Prince was saying, hey, just like in "Controversy," am I black or white, am I straight or gay? You know, he's saying, I can define myself by who I want to be even when I am certainly a black man.
BROWN: And on that note, even with gender, he wore this gender bending dresses. People may wonder, was this a deliberate act by Prince to make this point or is this just who he was, Shanti?
DAS: I think that was who he was. I jokingly tell people he wore the best lace shirts better than any of my girlfriends. He was just carefree and I don't think he want it to be define by anything.
BROWN: He also wore those heels that I think a lot of women couldn't even wear.
DAS: He did.
BROWN: Kamau, to you, because we played some clips earlier of songs that Prince either influenced or wrote. I personally was surprised that some of these songs he wrote under pseudonyms and wrote songs for famous people like Madonna. Tell us about that.
BELL: I mean, Prince was about the art. I mean, I don't think he was about, when he wrote songs about the defining them as an R&B songs, or a rock song. I mean, "Purple Rain" is one of the best rock albums of all time and also one of the best R&B albums at all time at the same time. You know, I don't think Prince is about defining himself in the heart box and that's the lesson it takes for him is this, do your thing, do it to the integree (ph). And let the haters hate and keep moving.
BROWN: He was certainly a perfectionist going back to those heels Shanti. He was five feet, two inches tall. He famously wore those high heels. Did you ever get the impression that he did it to make himself feel taller? I'm just curious because you have this interaction with him that others didn't --
DAS: I think we were about the same height.
BROWN: Is that right?
DAS: I'm 5'1", 5'2". But he had this air about him, if you will, but it wasn't arrogance. It was just like he was this, you know, quite giant who was a complete genius. And, you know, I think he purposely wore those to give himself a little bit more push, you know, on the height. But he was fantastic.
BROWN: Yes. And Kamau, I wanted to just get your thoughts on what you will remember most about Prince.
BELL: Well, I'm not going to take the heels with me because I'm 6'4".
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Yes. You don't need those.
BELL: I don't need those. I don't need those. But for me it's about defining, I'm a Black man, he's a black man. We're very different but it's about doing yourself to the nth degree and defining yourself to the way you want to, and not letting other people pressuring you all through your path.
[17:30:06] BROWN: Hmm. Interesting. And Shanti, last note very quickly. There's 70 percent, someone told me today, of unreleased music by Prince. What do we think will come from that?
SHANTI DAS, POP CULTURE EXPERT: If I could place --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: If you had a magic wand.
DAS: Exactly. I would say he'd set it out and release it every year. So we'll probably have new material. The new album "Hit and Run" that he gave away at the concert last week is fantastic. Those of you who have not heard the new album, you must go pick it up.
BROWN: Shanti Das, thank you so much.
DAS: Thank you.
BROWN: And, Kamau Bell, we look forward to seeing your new show, "United Shades of America," premiering tomorrow at 10:00 p.m., right here on CNN.
Thank you to you both.
Coming up on this Saturday, we've only been able to imagine what life is like on Mars until now, until now
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a distinct spell in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, eight months of B.O. trapped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: CNN explores the future of space travel. Where are we going? How will we get there? And can we actually handle the trip? We go way up there, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: For centuries, humans have looked up and wondered what life on Mars might be like. NASA scientists have set their sights on a manned expedition to Mars and they hope to learn some of those answers in advance.
CNN's Rachel Crane shows us how scientists are already testing the limits of the human mind to see if astronauts can even handle the trip.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: There's a distinct smell in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, eight months of B.O. trapped.
CRANE: It's crazy that you guys have been living in this dome for eight months, six of you in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you calling me crazy?
(LAUGHTER)
CRANE (voice-over): But that's actually why these six crew members were chosen for this special mission, to see if they would go crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It definitely has that potential.
CRANE: I was one of the first civilians they saw in months.
(on camera): This is pretty tiny.
(voice-over): That's because they were stuck living inside this small dome, pretending to be on Mars, except Mars is the top of this dormant volcano in Hawaii.
[17:35:12] (on camera): Some say this is the most Martian-like environment we have on earth. It's isolated, desolate, rocky and cold. I truly feel like I'm on another planet.
(voice-over): They lived here because NASA needs to figure out a major problem, if the mind can handle a trip to deep space.
LAUREN LEVETON, ELEMENT SCIENTIST FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH & PERFORMANCE, HUMAN RESEARCH PROGRAM, NASA: These missions are incredible undertakings, unprecedented in terms of distance, duration and confinement.
CRANE (on camera): We don't know how it's truly going to impact our brains.
LEVETON: Yes, exactly. We want to be able to quantify this risk.
CRANE (voice-over): That's where the High Seas mission comes in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The goal of this mission is to look at crew, cohesion and performance. We want to see how we can select people and then support them so they can do long duration space missions without --
(CROSSTALK)
CRANE (on camera): Going crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically.
CRANE: There have been similar experiments but High Seas is one of the longest --
(SHOUTING)
CRANE: -- and the first to focus solely on a coed mission to Mars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to wear these thermometers while awake. They would measure interaction.
CRANE (on camera): They would measure how close you are to other crew members --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CRANE: -- see who likes each other. How loud your voice is when you're talking to someone. Whether you're whispering or having a heated discussion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That never happens.
CRANE: Right.
(voice-over): A Mars mission could last over a year. Researchers studied how the High Seas crew behaved during this extend period of time in this confined space.
(on camera): Is there anywhere you have privacy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Visual privacy. You can go to your room and close the door. But there's no sound privacy at all.
CRANE (voice-over): But it's not just how the crews get along.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The data we're getting out is giving NASA information about how much water crews use, how much food they eat, what kinds of foods they eat, how much energy they use, how much space they need.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the largest room in the house.
CRANE: The crew members selected are this mission are as astronaut- like as possible, chosen for their education and temperament. But even they had a hard time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to try different things, like, OK, maybe if I from people for a while, and that doesn't work.
CRANE: But if we want to make it to another planet we have to figure out how to deal with anxiety, depression and boredom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We play board games five nights a week.
CRANE: You guys get bored a lot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Movies and TV shows and board games were about the only social activities we had.
CRANE (voice-over): NASA psychologists say that a very important part of keeping us happy is food.
(on camera): This is where you guys did all your cooking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CRANE: This is not your typical cooking. You are dealing with freeze dried food here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CRANE: Nothing really fresh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can always find someone making something in here. It's the most social room.
CRANE (voice-over): Unlike closer space missions, earth is so far you can't see it from Mars. So the crew here didn't have much of a view either.
(on camera): I want to see where you slept.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. These are -- this is Sophie and I's room.
CRANE: It's pretty compact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty compact.
CRANE: No windows.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
CRANE: You have to block from the space radiation, right? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Exactly, yeah.
CRANE (voice-over): The power and water on Mars s limited. They could only take one six-minute shower per week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We track everyone's usage of the shower.
CRANE: There's also a 20 minute communication delay to and from earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had delayed communication. Family and friends could communicate with us. That's important to a lot of the crew members.
Stepping into the legs.
CRANE: Whenever they went outside to simulate space walks, they actually wore a space suit.
(on camera): Having gone through this experience, would you still go to Mars?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
CRANE: Would you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday.
(SHOUTING)
CRANE (voice-over): Even though they didn't really go to Mars, they survived an extreme test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This moment is pretty awesome to be able to come out and walk around. And that first beer is going to be so good.
CRANE (on camera): I bet it's the best of your life.
(voice-over): Their struggles may bring us one step closer to getting there. The next High Seas mission is currently under way, this time for an entire 12 months. They'll be back to life on earth in August of this year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: What a fascinating report.
Rachel Crane, thanks for bringing that to us.
Incredible, just this notion of these people in this small dome for so long. They seem pretty upbeat, regardless. This isn't the first mission of its kind but how important is this type of experiment to space travel?
CRANE: You know, NASA has been running these types of missions for year they've run them in the arctic, the desert, on top of a volcano as you just saw. And even under water. This diversity highlights just how important these types of missions are for NASA. Scott Kelly who just spent nearly a year on the international space station, one of the most important parts of that mission was to track his mental health. He journaled while he was up there. NASA is going through that data right now. If we are going to send astronauts on these deep space missions to mars, we have to really understand what's going to happen to their brains whale they're up there and in regards to the hi-seas mission, it highlights the element of crew cohesion. You have to make sure you select astronauts that are going to work well together and the future astronauts are not going to be the same types of astronauts we send to the moon, those steely eyed pilot types.
[17:40:36] BROWN: I'm going to ask what everyone else watching this is thinking and wondering. Six coeds alone in a dome for eight months, did any relationships develop under the dome?
CRANE: You know, Pamela, we are all animals and we all have sexual desires and I spoke with the participants about this topic. And they mentioned to me that they did all get together and talk about how they felt about relationships developing inside the dome. And they told me that relationships did bud while they were in there but wouldn't give me details because what happens inside the dome stays inside the dome. On a more serious note, NASA has toyed with the idea of single couples to space because through these psychological studies like the hi-seas mission they recognize just how important, what a large role sexual health plays in mental health.
BROWN: What happens in the dome, stays in dome. I think that's fair.
Rachel Crane, thank you so much.
If you'd like to see more of Rachel's series, looking at the NASA planning for a trip to Mars, check it out at CNN.com.
We appreciate it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:45:12] BROWN: Turning now to a horrific story out of Ohio where police are searching for a killer or killers responsible for execution-style murders of eight members of the same family. Now we have the 911 calls made right after those people were killed.
Our Nick Valencia joins me now
Nick, you have more information. What have you learned?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over the course of the last 24 hours, Pamela, this manhunt has intensified. The attorney general's office telling me is statewide with dozens of agencies involved for the hundred for the suspect or suspects. It was just a couple hours ago that a Cincinnati-based restaurateur offered a $25,000 award leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for this heinous crime, this ruthless slaying. They can't comprehend it happened in this tiny little town.
BROWN: You've heard these 911 calls. Anything helpful to police? It's very alarming, these killer or killers are still on the run.
VALENCIA: This is a gruesome audio. We want to play a portion of that. It is relative that stumbled upon two of her family members when she called 911 about 7:30 on Friday morning to say they had been killed. She initially thought they had been beaten to death.
We want to let you listen to this audio.
We should warn you, some people who are about to listen to this may find it graphic.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, ma'am, tell me what's going on.
CALLER: There's blood all over the house.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
CALLER: My brother-in-law is in the bedroom. It looks like someone has beat the hell out of him.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
CALLER: There's blood all over.
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, can you tell me what county that's in?
CALLER: Pike County.
911 OPERATOR: Pike County?
CALLER: Yes. And they dragged them in the back room.
911 OPERATOR: OK, OK. I need you to get out of the house.
Did you drive over there?
CALLER: Yes, I did.
It looks like they're dead.
911 OPERATOR: You think they're both dead?
CALLER: I think they're both dead. It looks like someone has beat the crap out of them.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Is there anybody else in the house?
CALLER: Not that I know of.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
CALLER: The door was locked when we got here. But I know where the keys are at. And I went in and they were laying on the floor.
911 OPERATOR: I need you to get out of the house.
CALLER: I'm standing outside right now.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Stay out of the house. Don't let anybody go in there, OK?
CALLER: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: All right. We have deputies on the way. OK?
CALLER: Thank you.
911 OPERATOR: You're welcome.
(END AUDIO FEED)
VALENCIA: That's a 911 tape from the moment one of relatives found the eight family members shot and killed execution style. Police tell me they believe the family was targeted. These were calculated killings, Pamela. That's making it all the more difficult to stomach here for this community -- Pamela?
BROWN: So horrific just listening to that 911 call.
Nick Valencia, thank you very much. Please keep us posted.
Up next, we honor a true unsung -- honoring a hero of World War II and how he helped in the war in the South Pacific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:52:05] BROWN: Well, a World War II hero has passed away. You likely never heard of Navy Pilot Dusty Cleese, but you should. He's last surviving dive bomber from the famed Battle of Midway.
CNN's Richard Roth talked with the Captain Cleese last October.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: The stories told by the hero pilots may rewrite all textbooks on naval warfare.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American pilots changed the course of World War II. In the decisive Battle of Midway in the Pacific, the U.S. airmen destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers, halting Japan's military advance.
One of those hero pilots was Navy Captain Norman Jack Cleese, a kid out of Kansas. A year before Midway, he earned his famous nickname avoiding a runway collision.
CAPT. NORMAN JACK "DUSTY" CLEESE, WORLD WAR II PILOT: Just came up in the air, and the tower, said, unknown Cessna, who the hell are you?
ROTH: It wouldn't be the last time Dusty Cleese would fly in by surprise. June 4, 1942, U.S. pilots catch the Japanese by surprise, not from Midway Island but aircraft carriers, LIKE Dusty's ship, "The Enterprise".
ANNOUNCER: Navy planes roar from the depths of our carriers.
ROTH: Dusty and his dauntless Douglas Squadron arrive while the Japanese were loading bombs on the carrier.
CLEESE: I went up to 20,000 and I circle on the target, I dived down vertically.
ROTH: Others missed but Cleese was the second pilot to hit the Kaga.
CLEESE: I don't plan where to put my bomb.
(EXPLOSION)
CLEESE: The main bomb went down four decks below.
ROTH: Hurdling downward, he pulled the plane up above the ocean, as the Kaga erupted in flames.
Back on the ship, Dusty took a brief nap, and then joined in an attack on another carrier.
CLEESE: It was a bonfire that could be seen ten miles away.
ROTH: He received the Naval Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his dive-bombing heroics.
CLEESE: I'm anything but a hero.
ROTH: On board, Cleese would write in the naval log books and to his girlfriend, Jean, who he would marry soon after Midway.
Captain Cleese would later say no one had the good luck he had in his century of life.
CLEESE: I figure, God, in his mercy, has given me the ability to do certain things.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:58:41] BROWN: Tensions on the Korean peninsula are reaching a new level after the north reportedly fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile. Officials in South Korea said the missile flew 19 miles before dropping into the sea. For it to be a true threat, it needed to reach 185 miles. But still, one U.S. official tells CNN that the U.S. is watching this closely and, quote, "North Korea's sub- launch capability has gone from a joke to something very serious."
Meantime, we want you to meet an 86-year-old farmer in North Carolina who is anything but retired. For 20 years, Harry Swimmer has introduced hundreds of children with disables to the healing power of horses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY SWIMMER, CNN HERO: Horses are very special animals. People just don't realize it.
What do you say now?
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Walk on.
SWIMMER: That's my girl.
We had a child on a horse who had a seizure, and that horse stopped dead in his tracks. When nobody else noticed it, the horse caught it first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Harry Swimmer is this week's "CNN Hero." You can watch his full story CNNheroes.com. While there, nominate someone who you think deserves to be a "CNN Hero."
I'm Pamela Brown in Atlanta. I'll be back at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
"Smerconish" starts now.
[18:00:14] MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: I'm Michael Smerconish.
