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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Tonight: Artemis II Returns To Earth After Historic Trip; Inflation Jumps To 3.3 Percent Due To Higher Gas Prices; Exclusive, Former Staffer Says Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Raped Her. Aired 6-6:50p ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm John King in for Jake Tapper.

We're following breaking news tonight as final preparation is underway right now with the crew of Artemis II set to splash down in return to Earth in just about two hours.

[18:00:04]

The Orion capsule carrying the four astronauts is scheduled to land off the coast of San Diego just after 8:00 P.M. Eastern. They finished reconfiguring the inside of the capsule for reentry and moved through their reentry checklist, putting on their launch now -- their launch launching entry suits, excuse me.

The Artemis II team has made history, traveling the furthest ever distance from Earth with their flyby of the far side of the moon. But today's reentry is the riskiest part of this mission yet. They'll come roaring back toward Earth more than 30 times the speed of sound towards a Navy crew, family and friends waiting to receive them.

CNN's Randi Kaye monitoring the latest at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Mission Control, of course, is located. Randi, what's happening up in space right now and with the NASA team ahead of tonight?

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the astronauts have put on their space suits, so they are ready to go. These are the suits that they wore for the launch, and they will put them on -- they have put them on again now for reentry. Mission Control is ready to go as well. Up in the capsule, they did one more burn to try and make sure that their trajectory and their path is correct for reentry towards the Pacific Ocean, where they will land just after 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

Of course, the heat shield, still lingering questions about that. That is the bottom of the spacecraft that is expected to keep the astronauts and the Orion capsule from dealing with this extreme heat. It's going to be about 5,000 degrees outside that capsule.

They've actually changed the trajectory for the Artemis II capsule coming in. That is because, John, you may recall with Artemis I, the heat shield actually came back pockmarked and big chunks of it had fallen off. So, this time they've changed the trajectory and they're hoping, NASA is hoping that this will prevent any major damage or major cracking in the heat shield.

Now, when they reenter the atmosphere at about 400,000 feet above us, they will have about 13 minutes until they splash down, and NASA says that they expect to lose contact with the astronauts for about six minutes during those 13 minutes between reentry and splash down. They're not concerned about that, but they are expecting that.

And then we should note also that the families of the astronauts, John, will be here at Mission Control. There's an observation deck in the back of Mission Control. We actually got to visit there earlier this week. And you can see the Orion spacecraft and its travel. So, the families will be there, they'll be able to see how it crosses the continents, the altitude that it's at, the distance it is from splashdown. So, this is very exciting, but also I'm sure very nerve wracking. Mission Control will be calm as can be but I'm sure it'll be something for the families to watch. John?

KING: And that is always something fascinating to watch, calm as can be, even though maybe on the inside, like you and me, a little bit nervous and excited.

Randi Kaye at the Johnson Space Center, Randi, thanks so much.

Yes, let's dig into those 13 critical minutes. CNN's Tom Foreman here at the Magic Wall to walk us through just what it's going to look like. Tom much has been made of the intense heat as Orion enters the atmosphere. How has NASA adjusted the procedure to try to ease the pressure on that heat shield?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they've done is what some people would call a skip approach. Now, bear in mind when this starts coming back into the atmosphere, when it begins way up there, it's going to be going well over 30 times the speed of sound. That's really fast. That's why you have this compression of the air in front of it that creates that plasma and that intense heat.

So, what they're doing to ease the pressure on that heat seal is something they call a lofted entry. So, they start way up here, coming down. And as they come in here, the atmosphere starts slowing them down. That heat starts building. And right down here, they're going to do a little maneuver where they just kind of pitch it up a tiny bit with the aerodynamics of the ship itself. That will take off some of the most intense G-forces on the crew and on the ship itself. It will also take off some of the most intense heating and, in theory, gives them a little bit better targeting for their landing area.

But everything starts moving really fast at that point because now you've already gone in this process by atmosphere alone from this more than 30 times the speed of sound. You're going to get somewhere down here to 300 to 400 miles an hour just from all of that resistance from the atmosphere. They're still just falling though, John.

KING: And that's still very fast at that point. So, how high will it be and how does it reach a safe speed by splashdown? FOREMAN: Yes. Once they get to that zone, that's when we're going to move into the parachute part of this. There are 11 different parachutes. The first one's just carry away a cover here. Then they have these drogue chutes that come out here. Their purpose is to kind of stabilize a little bit, make it slow down, beginning to -- and this is all happening, I will point out, sort of around the area where you would fly in an airline if you were up there flying. And then some more parachutes come out that pull out the big main chutes.

These will be fully operational and it will be on its way down at about 1,500 feet. So, you're getting pretty close to the water.

[18:05:00]

This is all happening very rapidly here. And, by the way, I should point out, it is designed such that if they lost a parachute on two, it can still safely land there. And if all goes properly, it's in the water, these upright systems inflate automatically to make sure that if it's sideways or upside down, and there is a time when testing showed about half of them would be sideways or upside down when we did space missions, this forces it to sit back upright.

And that's when the race is on John as fast. As they came in, that's as fast as these boats and helicopters and the supporting ships will all be racing to the site. They have to clear it out for the splashdown, and then they all have to race into it to get those astronauts out and welcome them home.

KING: That is one awesome preview. Looking forward to watching this play out live.

Tom Foreman, grateful for that, thank you so much.

And joining me now to help us get through this, Bill Wiseman, he's the brother of Artemis II Commander Reed Wiseman. Bill, thank you for your time. I know it's an incredibly important moment for you and the family. How are you feeling? Nervous, excited? All the above?

BILL WISEMAN, BROTHER OF NASA ASTRONAUT REID WISEMAN: Oh, are you kidding me? I'm thrilled. I'm super excited for these guys for the whole crew. I mean, they've -- it's been literally almost a flawless mission. They've done everything they wanted to do. They've done it with humility. They've done it with levity. I think they charmed the world on the way down -- on the way around the moon. And they they're on an awesome trajectory to get back here.

If I channel my nieces or if I channel my father, they're nervous as hell, and they can't wait for this to be to be over. So -- but, yes, everybody's got their own per own perspective.

KING: So, you know the business your brother's in, you've been through this before, but what -- like NASA says, oh, yes, we're going to lose contact for six minutes or so and that's okay, we know that's going to happen. Are you as chill about that as they are?

B. WISEMAN: I wouldn't say I'm chill about it. I bought my dad a box of pencils so he can chew on them during that time. But it's going to be some sweat minutes. And especially, you know, if you look at some of the past Apollo missions, some of those, you know, went well beyond the window to get folks coming back on the radio. So, it's certainly going to be -- it is going to be a knot in everybody's stomach, I think.

KING: Yes. Medical tests obviously happen first, but at some point, hopefully in the hours ahead, days ahead, you're going to get a chance to shake your brother's hand, give him a big hug. What's the first thing you want to say?

B. WISEMAN: It's great to have you back, no question about it. It's going to be great to see you with your daughters again because this has been tough on them. It's going to be great to see him with my dad again. It's been tough on him. But I would say, hey, you guys did an amazing job. You gave the world a lot of hope, and you gave the world, you know, and, frankly, Americans, a lot of pride, and Canadians, at a time where we needed that. And I thought they did it with competence, they did it with humility, they did it with levity. And they had fun doing it, which was an amazing thing to do.

I would say they also ignited passion again for exploration and lunar science and how are they going to use that. You know, it took three years -- I think roughly three years to go from the Artemis I launch to Artemis II. How are we going to keep that cadence up? Because we got momentum, we got to use it.

KING: Amen to all of that, especially the humility and the humor and the camaraderie that we've all got to see. And you're right, we can use some of that in these times right now.

You also mentioned Reid's daughters. The whole team shared message with their children Thursday night, and here's what Reid said to his daughters, Ellie and Katie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: I just want to look at my daughters, Ellie and Katie, and just say, I love you. And their support has been unbelievable. I don't think they knew what this mission really meant when we launched, but they have learned through the outpouring of public support, their friends' support and family support, really the world has come together. We have seen it and we have seen it through their eyes too. And it has been a very proud moment for me as their father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How are they doing ahead of this big moment?

B. WISEMAN: I think they're outwardly, completely chill. I think they're inwardly very nervous, and they can't wait for this to be over. I've talked to Ellie. I haven't been able to talk to Katie this week. And I would say we vacation with them, you know, once or twice a year. And, outwardly, I see the same young women that I've seen for years. But I know it's just -- it's tough on them on the inside. But it's great to see Reid being able to communicate with them. I know he's had a video conference with them over the -- on the way back from the moon. It's great that he gets to communicate with them as much as he does.

KING: I think that next vacation's going to be extra cool.

[18:10:00]

Bill Wiseman, really grateful for your time, thank you so much.

B. WISEMAN: Thank you, Jake.

KING: And much more in our breaking news. In moments as the crew of Artemis II prepares to splash down on Earth tonight after their historic mission around the moon.

Plus, new data out today shows just how much Americans are struggling financially amid the war with Iran. But is the Trump administration paying enough attention?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: In our Money Lead, you can blame the Iran war for inflation hitting its highest level in nearly two years. New data out today puts the annual inflation rate at 3.3 percent in March. That increased largely due to the record 21.2 percent jump in gasoline prices. Separately, University of Michigan's latest consumer sentiment survey is out today and lower than anything in the post-World War II era, including the great recession, the pandemic downturn, and the historic inflation surge afterwards.

[18:15:02]

The charts and graphs only tell part of the story.

Jolene Riessen is an Iowa corn farmer. Jolene, grateful for your time. It's planting season. You're getting hit now higher fuel prices, whether that's gas for a truck or diesel for farm equipment, fertilizer prices skyrocketed, other amendments, the prices for those on a farm have skyrocketed. Tell us about your bottom line now as if we were having this conversation, say, a month or two ago.

JOLENE RIESSEN, IOWA FARMER: Well, to be honest with you, my bottom line for crop-wise that I would be selling, it's up a little bit. So, last month it would've been at my corn would've been worth $4 a bushel for me in order to break even on a corn bean rotation. According to Iowa State, I need $4.37. So, you can see I'm not even there. Yesterday, I sold some corn $4.17. So, we're not breaking even yet.

KING: So, prices are not where you near need them to be. And what about your cost of getting through day-to-day just for running your equipment, getting -- keeping the soil and all that? Those costs are up, right?

RIESSEN: The fuel price is up, yes. Yes. So, it takes about a gallon of fuel an acre. So, this year I'll have 500 acres of corn. And so you do the math, yes, it's more than what I've been spending in the past.

So, the hope is, as I look at out months, the price of corn is going up and, hopefully, with the -- or, you know, getting through and done, hopefully our fuel price will be coming down.

KING: Yes. I was on a farm, a small farm in North Carolina just a little over a week ago. The owner there was worried about the year ahead. How about you? Any hope of making a profit this year?

RIESSEN: Well, you know, that -- and then that, that all comes down to what my corn's going to yield. So, if I am -- you know, and I use the Iowa State's ag decision-maker to help me figure out what my break and stuff are, and that's 200 bushel. And if I can do 230, 240, due to which I have done, you know, before, that makes a huge difference. But Mother Nature always has a hand in what I do and I can't always trust her to do the right thing for me.

KING: How long has this farm been in your family?

RIESSEN: Oh, probably about 85 years, going back for my -- it would've been my husband's father's dad originally came and bought this ground and he came over from Germany.

KING: I asked the question because I come through your part of the country quite a bit. Just this morning at the gym, I had my Explorers shirt on for the Independent Baseball League.

RIESSEN: Wow. There you go.

KING: There you go, not far from where you're from. And I just -- I know the --

RIESSEN: In Sioux City, yes, sir.

KING: Sioux City Explorers. I know the pride that the smaller family farmers take in their land, especially when they're surrounded by the big corporate farms and how hard it is sometimes just to keep your optimism knowing that the math keeps getting harder. If you could have a second with President Trump or a second with Senator Grassley, what could Washington -- you know, Senator Ernst, what could Washington do to help you today and tomorrow? Anything?

RIESSEN: Well, I guess I would ask that, you know, the collusion, the antitrust that is going on in the fertilizer industry and the packer industry that maybe President Trump could be that first president to actually pursue a lawsuit against, you know, the bigger fertilizer companies.

You know, there's like four fertilizer companies in the United States, and two of them pretty much have a stranglehold on phosphate and potash, two critical nutrients that we have to have in order to grow corn. And there's a countervailing duty on any fertilizer that is brought in from Morocco, which would be -- which would certainly help out as far as for shortage on fertilizer here in the United States. But there's countervailing duties and so then that makes it too high. So, they need to get rid of that, the DOJ to step up and pursue antitrust lawsuits that need to happen.

I mean, this fertilizer thing, it just didn't happen because we had the war. This is -- we had been -- this probably had been ten years, you know, that we've been having this issue. And now as our margins are incredibly tight, you know, repairs are very expensive, equipment is expensive, you would have, you know, a new combine is the price of what somebody would buy a house for, and I only use it once a year.

[18:20:00]

So, there's all those things to take in consideration.

KING: It's a long list, but I hope they listen to some of it.

Jolene Riessen, grateful for your time today. I'm going to try -- hopefully you'll let me stop by next time I'm out in that area, I get out there quite a bit. I love it out there. Thank you so much for your time today.

RIESSEN: You just do that.

KING: I will. You can put me -- you can --

RIESSEN: Yes, very good. Thanks to you.

KING: You can put me to work for free and I'll come.

RIESSEN: Okay. You know where the -- if you know where the Galva ethanol, find it, you can five miles south and there I am.

KING: I will find you.

RIESSEN: You come see me anytime.

KING: I promise, I will find you. I appreciate it very much.

RIESSSEN: All right, sounds good.

KING: The crew of Artemis II is almost home after their historic journey around the moon. Splashdown just after 8:00 P.M., and we're tracking every major moment in the lead up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with our breaking news coverage, the crew of Artemis II set to splash down back on Earth in just over an hour and a half. It's one of the most dangerous parts of this mission, given how fast the capsule will go and how hot the exterior will get.

[18:25:04]

We're talking up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

CNN's Jackie Wattles is down at Johnson Space Center for us. Jackie, how confident is NASA in the heat shield on that Orion capsule holding up?

JACKIE WATTLES, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER: Yes, well, NASA says they're very confident. They spent quite a while convincing the press and the public of that fact. But there are naysayers. There is a group of ex-NASA engineers, and including a former NASA astronaut, that have their concerns. They say that this mission shouldn't have been flown with astronauts on board, and that is all because of this heat shield.

Really, the issue here goes back to 2022 during an uncrewed test flight called Artemis I, after that mission, which sent the capsule without astronauts around the moon. It came back. And during the reentry process, we saw uneven cracking and pockmarking on that heat shield, and that deeply concerned NASA. It's not supposed to behave that way, it's supposed to char and erode away very evenly.

So, they spent about a year investigating what went wrong. And they found out the issue was that the heat shield wasn't permeable enough. That allowed gases to build up in the interior and it caused chunks of it to pop off, right?

But the problem was by the time they figured that out, the heat shield was already installed on this spacecraft. So, it's flying with the suboptimal spacecraft. I remember an astronaut who was involved in the investigation telling me this isn't the heat shield that NASA would want to give its astronauts but we are confident that it's safe. NASA highlights that even if astronauts were on Artemis I, they would've survived and that capsule came back intact.

And for this mission, they're doing some mitigation measures where they're altering that reentry trajectory, trying to make more favorable heating conditions, hoping that heat shield, you know, stays intact and does its job here. So, I know mission controllers are anxiously awaiting the results here.

KING: As we all are. Jackie Wattles for us live at the Johnson Space Center, Jackie, thank you so much.

She's in Houston. The crew expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego. Crews there standing by, Navy crews, to take them onto a Navy ship and then to shore. That's where we find CNN's Elex Michaelson at the Naval Base San Diego.

Elex, that's a nice backdrop. That's about as good as you can get. Walk us through how this retrieval mission will unfold tonight.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's about as nice a day as you can get, John, which is really important for this retrieval mission. So, they're going to splash down into the ocean. It's about 50 miles off the coast. There's a big ship called the Murtha that is out there waiting for them. First, though, there's going to be smaller ships that go out to meet them, make sure they're okay. Then they'll helicopter them onto the Murtha.

We shot some video aboard the USS Murtha a little earlier. Part of the reason they chose this ship is because it has space for helicopters which are going to be part of this, and an ability to bring the capsule back onto it. We talked about this with the head of the Navy who is running this whole operation. Here's some of what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: The hatch door opens, your team, meets the astronauts. What are they looking for? What does that first initial assessment look like?

LT. COMMANDER MACRAM HASSANIEH, U.S. NAVY MEDICAL PLANNER: They're looking for obvious signs of trauma. They're looking to make sure that they're conscious. They're making sure that they're able to articulate, understand where they're at. That Navy dive medical officer has experience, whether operationally or also on a daily basis working at our military medical treatment facilities, what does emergency medical care look like.

It's an amphibious ship. So, what that means, it's got a couple core capabilities, one, to be able to launch and recover aircraft. We can put four helicopters on this, which is the requirement for the mission. And then amphibious also means that it can take craft into and out of the ship itself. So, the ship can drop its back gate down, it's called the stern gate, take on some water and then we can actually float the capsule right in to the ship, secure it, and then bring it back home safely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: So, the capsule itself is expected right back here tomorrow, but the astronauts themselves, they're going to be coming back to San Diego later tonight, and then heading back to Houston perhaps even later tonight.

But everybody here is very excited and honored for the opportunity to go see those astronauts pretty soon. John?

KING: Remarkable few hours ahead for you. Elex Michelson for us in San Diego, California, thank you so much.

And we're following every big moment as the Artemis capsule prepares to splashdown here back on Earth. CNN has special coverage all night as the crew makes its way back home.

Please stick with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

KING: New tonight, CNN with exclusive reporting about Congressman Eric Swalwell. The California Democrat has ascended in the governor's race there, and he's faced recent rumors on social media about sexual misconduct that he has denied.

CNN's Pamela Brown and her team have spoken with four accusers, including a former staffer who went on camera to share her story. Pam, tell us what our investigative team have learned. PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we have spoken with four women who have various kinds of sexual misconduct claims against Congressman Swalwell, ranging from inappropriate messages and pictures to unwanted kissing and touching, and in one case, rape, from a woman we spoke to on camera in shadow to protect her identity due to fear of professional retaliation.

She's a former Swalwell staffer and she says it began when she was 21 years old. There were two very serious sexual assault allegations she made, one in 2019 as a staffer, and the other from 2024 when she had left his office.

She also described inappropriate messages and nude images with the congressman using Snapchat with disappearing messages.

[18:35:02]

Now, after the first incident where she said she woke up in his hotel room as a staffer naked after a night of heavy drinking, she told us about what she says happened several years later in 2024 after she had left his office. I want to warn you, what you are about to hear is graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I decided to ask him to meet me for a drink. And I did this because I was so far removed from what had happened in 2019. I felt safe because I was established. I had a partner. I felt more secure that I could have a strictly professional relationship with this person.

After that bar closed, we went to another, I went to the bathroom, and I don't remember anything after that.

BROWN: You don't remember anything?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember the next day, I can see flashes of that evening of him on top of me, me pushing him off, him grabbing me. It was a lot more aggressive. It was aggressive.

BROWN: Did you say no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I said no. I said I -- in my flash that I can recall, I was pushing him off of me saying no.

BROWN: And what did he do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't stop.

BROWN: He didn't stop? And you woke up the next morning?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I woke up the next morning naked, alone in his hotel room. I, for a moment, didn't even know I was in his hotel room. That's how intoxicated I was. And I called my mom, the only person I could think that could help me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And we were able to corroborate that by speaking with friends and family. She confided in reviewing photos and screenshots of contemporaneous text messages, and we also reviewed a message from her medical provider the week after she received the pregnancy and STD test, calling her a, quote, survivor.

Now, the Swalwell campaign released a statement from Congressman Swalwell saying, quote, these allegations are false, and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor. For nearly 20 years, I have served the public as a prosecutor and a congressman, and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.

KING: It's remarkable reporting. As you note there, the congressman fiercely denies this and notes that it's coming in close proximity to the California primary. Why are these women willing to speak now?

BROWN: It's a fair question, John. All the women we spoke with believed that they were alone and their interactions with the congressman. And then after seeing chatter from social media influencers, they realized that they were not alone and they felt more compelled to speak out. In fact, two of the women have since received cease and desist letters from Swalwell's lawyer, but those women stand by their statements to us. John?

KING: And, obviously, this comes at a -- does come at a big moment in the campaign. What are you hearing about the campaign?

BROWN: Yes. Well, I can tell you that we have been in touch with them over the last few days. We've reached out this afternoon with some very specific details of these allegations and some specific questions. And sources have told us that members of Swalwell's team have left. One staffer told CNN, they left after receiving information about these allegations. And we also learned a key co-chair has left.

I want to note for our full investigative report with my colleagues, Alli Gordon, Isabelle Chapman, and Casey Tolan, you can go to cnn.com to learn more. John?

KING: Pamela Brown, important reporting. To you and your team, thank you very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

KING: We're back with more of our Out of This World Lead, standing by for the Artemis II's reentry and splash down in just over an hour.

My panel here with me, former astronauts, Scott "Scooter" Altman, Joan Higginbotham and Andrew Feustel. Scott, so I just mentioned the time, right, almost the final hour before splashdown. So, if you're up there, what are you looking for right now?

SCOTT ALTMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, you're watching your displays, looking at the trajectory, trying to make sure everything's going the way you expect, getting ready to come back. It's an exciting time.

KING: And, Joan, describe the feeling, you're coming home, you're looking forward to that, but you're hurtling toward Earth at this enormous speed. What does that feel like?

JOAN HIGGINBOTHAM, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: You know, it's funny, since you're moving with a vehicle, you don't really have a sense of how fast you're going. Unless you're of course looking out the window, you can kind of see things. But besides that, you're traveling with a vehicle and you're not feeling those forces until you hit entry interface, and at which point, you know, gravity starts to take over and things get pretty heavy and you have all the super heated gases and so forth.

But as far as actually feeling the velocity, you can't really tell that you're going that fast.

KING: And, Andrew, I don't know if you could hear or the last segment, our correspondent out in San Diego says, NASA and the Navy all say they're thrilled because the weather conditions are so great right now. They think it's about ideal for the splashdown. How much can that, just simply the weather here on earth, influence how well things go?

ANDREW FEUSTEL, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, it has a huge influence. They wouldn't be coming home if they didn't have a good hold on the weather forecast. I'm watching the feed. The weather looks good. The wave height looks about right. That's something that's stopped several of us from coming home in the past, weather conditions that keep you in space for longer than you want to be.

But, you know, they had to execute -- you know, basically they executed the burn, the translunar injection burn, several days ago that put them on this path to land today.

[18:45:03]

So in some sense, we're lucky the weather has still held for them. But I think they had a good understanding of what the weather patterns we're looking like. And so, we look forward to a calm, calm night from once they get down.

KING: And this is familiar to all of you, but, Scott, the Orion capsule we laypeople learned supported by an attachment at the base. It's called the service module. And we've also learned there's a leak in the propulsion system which affects the engines in that module. Now, NASA says it has fail safes. Could this impact the reentry process? SCOTT ALTMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, not really. I mean, there's

a the systems designed with some blow-down capability. There's helium there.

The leak is small enough that it's not going to be a problem with that. And of course, they get rid of the service module before they reenter. It's just was there really to give them a boost to get back and protect the entry heat shield until you let go of that.

KING: And so as the mission plays out, Andrew, we all get fascinated by, you know, they sleep in bags attached to the wall and how do they get hydration up here? Well, the, the service module is not the only piece of equipment involved. It's had a bit of some difficulties during the 10-day mission. The crew had to troubleshoot the toilet issues with the toilet, and NASA put out a video explainer on that today. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Urine is stored in a tank and then vented overboard each day by the crew. And it does sound like there was a bit of an issue there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of a complex engineering issue when you expose a liquid to vacuum. It's a pretty chaotic environment and there's a lot of theory and textbook work done when you assume it's pure water. But when you introduce the variable of it being wastewater, there's other complex phenomena that we don't quite yet understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I mean, they have gotten more distance than anyone has gone before. There's enormous scientific gains coming back from this, but we all get fascinated by the thing. When I'm getting up off the set here and I got to walk by the men's room on the way out, how does this work in space?

How does it work? And, you know, have you had issues in the past when you've been up there?

FEUSTEL: Well, I have not flown on the space -- was that for me?

KING: Yeah.

FEUSTEL: I have flown on a spacecraft that's had issues, but its, its not unusual for this to happen. We know of other spacecraft that have gone to orbit, and had challenges with their -- with their bathroom systems.

They talked about a few things during this mission. I think the fan was one of them dumping the urine over the side of the vehicle was another one. The space shuttle used to have some challenges like that as well, trying to dump fluids over the side can be problematic, especially if there's mineralization or minerals in the fluids like there is in urine. So this is not a new problem. Fortunately, there's enough contingency

capture devices available to them that they can overcome this. And for a short day mission, you know, at least it's not broken for six months, which you know, can happen for longer flights.

KING: It happens in this building, trust me. You must laugh. You must -- you all must laugh. Given your expertise with the lay people. Ask these ridiculous questions, but its like, oh, that's pretty cool. They have the same problems up there that we have down here.

Joan, when you when you've returned in the past from a space mission, what's the most difficult part about adjusting back to earth? And does that come in, you know, our one, two and three, or is that down the road a bit

JOAN HIGGINBOTHAM, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: For me, it came right away when I was trying to get off of the shuttle. My -- I didn't have my land legs and I stood up to exit the vehicle and I just plopped back down in my seat, took off the chute, which had, you know, a couple of pounds on it, stood up and fell right back down. So it took a little while to get my land legs back, as I call it. And I just made it a point when we got on the crew vehicle to just walk very gingerly up and down the corridor until I kind of felt somewhat normal again.

But it'll take a bit of an adaptation period, but they'll be fine. It's only been ten days.

KING: Andrew, how about you?

FEUSTEL: Yeah. I mean, coming home is always challenging. I had the good fortune of spending about six and a half months on ISS and that was a lot harder than, you know, the two-week missions on space shuttle. So I think it depends on the duration. It took me about three or four weeks because before I felt like I was really walking the way I did before I went to space after that long mission.

KING: So, Scooter, I'm going to close this conversation by asking you this. So the first meal they said they want when they get back is uncrustables sandwiches. So as I was joking earlier, my teenager somehow snuck up there on that thing. What is -- when you're coming back down?

Obviously, you can't have breadcrumbs, you know, get in the equipment and mess everything up. What you -- is that what you're thinking about when you're coming back? Have you got too much business to do?

ALTMAN: It's certainly in the back of your mind. It was not at the forefront of my mind because to land the shuttle, you had to act hands on the controls to land. But we had a plan to get together and have pizza as a crew once we got back. So that was always a fun thing to do, to have that get back to normal food and be able to sit down and eat with your family.

KING: Well, it's just been a remarkable, remarkable mission and grateful. Scooter Altman, Joan Higginbotham, Andrew Feustel, really helped appreciate your time helping us get to these final hours here. And coming up Sunday on "STATE OF UNION," you don't want to miss this,

former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. That's Sunday, 9:00 a.m. Eastern and noon right here on CNN.

[18:50:00]

And our breaking coverage of the Artemis II splashdown continues right now with CNN's Erin Burnett.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett on this Friday, and welcome to a very special edition of OUTFRONT on this Friday, "Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Returns".