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World's First Commercial Spacewalk Underway; Harris Team Enters New Phase as Trump Tries to Move on from Debate; Millions Face Flood Threat as Francine Moves Across Southeast. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we are following breaking news of the historic kind history in space happening right now. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew opened the hatch minutes ago for a historic spacewalk. We're going to show, this is moments ago as they opened the hatch. The commander, Jared Isaacman, heading outside? Why it is historic, he is not a professional astronaut the first civilian spacewalker In the history of space.

Let's bring in CNN's Kristin Fisher for much more on this. Kristen, this is so cool. Talk to us about what history this is that's being made.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we just saw the missions commander Jared Isaacman test out SpaceX's brand new Space suit in the vacuum of space for the very first time. And the reason this is so important is because up until this point, there has only been NASA astronauts or government astronauts, professional astronauts that have been able to do these incredibly risky but necessary maneuvers in space. You know, it's one thing to go to space. It is another thing to do a spacewalk. It is one of the most difficult things you can do.

And so, yes, these are civilian astronauts, but this crew has been training for two and a half years for this moment. And so, in addition to Jared Isaacman, the crew's commander, going out, pretty soon, we're going to see the mission specialist, Sarah Gillis, step out into the vacuum of space.

And the reason Sarah was selected for this specific mission was because she is SpaceX's lead astronaut trainer. And so anytime a NASA astronaut has gone up on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, same spacecraft as this one, Sarah Gillis has had a hand in overseeing their training, but she herself has never been to space. So, that's why she was selected for this mission. So, she has firsthand experience of what this is like when she goes back to Earth and starts training NASA government astronauts for this mission.

But back to the private and civilian astronaut aspect of all this, you know, when SpaceX attempts to go to Mars, which is what all of this is building to, it's going to require spacesuits that are developed much faster and much cheaper than what NASA has been able to do. And so that's why these spacesuits are so important.

So, there you have Sarah Gillis right there. She is the mission specialist. She's also the lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, the lead astronaut trainer. And she is the person who trained Jared Isaacman on Inspiration4 to go into orbit.

So, Jared Isaacman, you may remember, he first flew to space three years ago on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. That time he just orbited the Earth. Now, he's really taking it up a notch by actually doing a spacewalk, guys.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And these are live pictures you're looking at right now of inside SpaceX. They're all wearing the space suits because the nature of this aircraft is there's no airlock, so it's all on pressurized right now. They're all essentially in outer space.

I want to bring in Miles O'Brien, CNN aerospace analyst. And, Miles, just talk to us exactly about what we're seeing right now.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Yes, John, this is a record, by the way, to have four individuals exposed to the vacuum of space in suits like this. And, you know, these are like the world's smallest spacecraft, these suits. There you see Sarah Gillis and making her way toward the hatch.

And the goal here, John, is, you know, space suit design is a tricky combination of making it hardy and protective against the elements, if you will, of space huge temperature differences upwards of 200 degrees-plus, almost 200 degrees-minus over the course of one orbit, but also you got to be able to work in these things.

[07:05:00]

And when you inflate them, imagine trying to close your glove, an inflated glove, time and again, it'll make your hands raw. So, you want to make them pliable and yet protective.

And so what they're testing here is just that, how useful is this suit design once you're really out there in the void of space.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It's interesting watching this because it does look like it's difficult. Every little movement appears to be difficult, as they're trying to get up and out. That's Sarah Gillis trying to get up and out of the aircraft, or the spacecraft, as you call it.

Kristin, what is the riskiest part of all of this? Where does the risk lie?

FISHER: So, all of it's risky, right? I mean, if you get a hole in your spacesuit, that's it, right? So, the spacewalk itself, very risky, but the other part of this mission that's really going to test SpaceX, the vehicle and the crew is when they close the hatch, right?

So, we've spent all this time depressurizing the spacecraft so that it matches the pressure inside the spacecraft, match the pressure outside. But they've got to once the spacewalk is over, they have to close the hatch and re-pressurize the spacecraft.

So, you know, what happens if they can't re-pressurize it? What happens if the hatch doesn't close properly? I had the chance to interview the crew, Jared Isaacman. Actually, let's go ahead and listen to this moment right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I said it before. A lot of us work here because we want to do this. All right, really cool to see one of our own out there. That's awesome.

FISHER: So, that is Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis stepping outside of the hatch into the vacuum of space. And as I was saying, I had the chance to interview the crew before they launched. And Sarah Gillis and Commander Jared Isaacman, they described what they would be doing in space. They said, it looks like we're moving like caterpillars. And at one point, Jared said, yes, I feel like I'm a dancing caterpillar.

It looks weird what they're doing. But what they're doing is they're working the suit through mobility checks. They're checking out all the joints, seeing how difficult it is to move this pressurized suit. And, you know, NASA astronauts often talk about getting hot spots on their suits because it takes effort to simply move your arm up or open your hand or close your hand. And if your suit's not fitting in the exact right way, it can cause blisters or hot spots.

So, that's what she's doing right there. They warned us it may look a little bit funny but that's what they're doing. And so the goal is to take all this information back to the SpaceX engineers on the ground so they can make the adjustments necessary to make this a spacesuit that can someday walk on Mars.

BOLDUAN: And, Miles, there's like a lot of firsts and cool things about this mission, the spacewalk, of course. And I was also seeing this will be, or the goal is that it will be the furthest journey from Earth by anyone since NASA's moon landings more than 50 years ago. It's just awesome to be able to see this in real time.

And I'm looking at -- I hope you can see it. If you guys can drop the banner, they might be able to see it, and, Miles, you can talk about this is what SpaceX has is like these indicators so you can see it all kind of happening live. And if you look at that also, well, they look like they're moving like caterpillars. They're moving at the speed of almost 26,000 kilometers per hour. A little Kate math on the Google, 25,000 kilometers per hour is 15,000-plus miles per hour.

BERMAN: Shout out to the metric system this morning, by the way.

O'BRIEN: It's hard to do math in public, isn't it? But actually, to be accurate, it's 17,500 miles an hour. And, yes, their hair isn't even getting blown back. It's kind of amazing, right? It's -- yes, this is a risky mission by any crew. They went to the highest altitude, you know, the previous being, of course, the moon missions, but Gemini 11 as well had, as far as Earth orbiting missions, was the previous record. And part of that was to test what happens when you get into what are called the Van Allen belts, which are supercharged particles that are highly radioactive. And if you're going to go to Mars, you have to protect your crew against the exposure to radiation.

And so this crew, they became guinea pigs by flying up there to see exactly what kind of radiation dosages they're going to get. So, there's a lot of risk involved in this mission.

BERMAN: We're watching Sarah Gillis right now, obviously trying out that space suit.

[07:10:02]

BOLDUAN: Next, the Macarena.

BERMAN: Right, moving her hands. She does have one hand graphs on the handrail there. I don't think she's done a look mono (ph) hands yet. As she pokes her head out, she may be going back in a little bit right there.

Hey, Kristin, at the risk of upsetting our bosses, I do want to say we've been doing spacewalks since the 60s, right? So, in terms of what this means for the future instead of the past and just not redoing what Americans and humans have done for 60 years now, what's going to make this new and better?

FISHER: It's a great point, John. And you look at what SpaceX is doing right now, and it really does mirror, as you were saying, what NASA was doing in the 1950s and 60s, right? First, there was the Mercury program, in which NASA astronauts just flew in space. Then there was Gemini, where NASA astronauts first conducted a spacewalk. And then there was the Apollo program, when NASA astronauts first landed on the moon.

What SpaceX is doing with the Polaris program, and which really started with Inspiration4 with Jared Isaacman at the center, the commander and the financier of these missions, Inspiration4 was kind of like Mercury, right? They just orbited the Earth. Now you have Polaris mission, Polaris Dawn, very similar to NASA's Gemini program, where the astronauts go out and do a spacewalk.

But this is just the beginning of the Polaris program. This is the first of three missions that Jared Isaacman is partially funding alongside SpaceX to advance the company's endeavors in space exploration. And the next thing he wants to do, the third mission of the Polaris program, is he's going to be on the first crewed flight of SpaceX's Starship, the biggest, most powerful rocket that's ever flown, that is someday going to hopefully land humans on Mars, and before that, the NASA Artemis astronauts on the surface of the moon.

So, it is similar to what NASA did all those years ago, but the difference is this is a private company doing it, and they're doing it so much faster.

SIDNER: And we should mention, you know, all of these people, it is not just like you or I. I was hoping that there was somebody who could go in there. These are all engineers, former Thunderbird pilots, F-16 pilots.

BERMAN: People who can do math.

SIDNER: People who can do math.

BOLDUAN: Yes, in the tens of thousands?

BERMAN: I can't do it. I can't do it either.

BOLDUAN: Miles, what --

SIDNER: We have Miles O'Brien here to give the exact specifics on the math. But this is incredible, just watching this. It really is incredible to see this happening with nonprofessionals out there.

BOLDUAN: Someday soon, it will be us.

And as we're going to continue to watch this, and we're going to leave this for a moment, we did hear Isaacman right when he popped up. I think I might be paraphrasing and getting a couple words off, just something to leave everybody with, which is, he said, back home, we got a lot of work to do, but up here, it sure does look like a perfect world. So it's a pretty -- I thought that was, I love to hear those kind of planned statements that the make on these kind of historic moments. It always leaves a little bit.

It's good to see you guys. Thank you so much. This will continue to watch as it plays out.

BERMAN: Yes, it sounds like Captain Isaacman was watching what's been going down here on Earth and the campaign trail. We've got new reporting on what the Harris campaign has in store after a debate that even Trump insiders are now whispering did not go well for him.

Major flooding after Hurricane Francine dumps more than a month of rain in a matter of hours and a rescue caught on camera.

A big night at the Video Music Awards. Get this, Taylor Swift thanked Travis Kelce in her acceptance speech for video of the year. What does that mean? What are the implications of that?

BOLDUAN: Is that the point?

BERMAN: We also have a best new artist.

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[07:15:00]

BERMAN: New this morning, what Trump insiders whispering to CNN and others that they believe Donald Trump lost the debate, a colossal missed opportunity is what they tell The New York Times. The Harris campaign this morning is launching new plans to capitalize what they are calling an aggressive new phase, visits to key battleground states, North Carolina and Pennsylvania among them, and new television and digital ads highlighting key moments of the debate.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the vice president will be later today. What's on tap?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: John, look, the vice president's aides know it's going to be a tight race. And so that is the assumption that they're operating under and going to these battleground states on the heels of the presidential debate.

Now, going into that debate, just to rewind a little bit, I spoke to a close Harris ally who said that was an important moment for voters to get to know her, for her to introduce herself or reintroduce herself. Now, on the other side of it, that still holds true because while there were large audiences that tuned into that debate, now the campaign is isolating moments to amplify to the airwaves, to digital.

And one of the decisions they made in their first ad was to focus on her message about a new way forward.

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That is what this is going to be, the new way forward tour. And that is telling, because the campaign choosing here to take their first moment after the debate to provide a stark contrast yet again with former President Donald Trump and, again, with the message from the vice president of trying to establish or illustrate a new vision for Americans.

Now, North Carolina, of course, is a crucial state for the vice president. It's one that President Joe Biden narrowly lost back in 2020. But the governor here is a supporter of the vice president. He was in the spin room after the debate. And he said that he thought that it could move the needle with voters here. He also said that health care and reproductive rights are top of mind for voters in this state.

So, those are the types of issues that we're going to hear the vice president hone in on today while she is in the state, especially that issue of reproductive rights. Of course, that was some of her stronger moments during the debate, talking about that issue, trying to needle the former president on it and his muddled messaging. And that is an issue that is very important in this state. In fact, the reproductive rights bus tour that we talked about a few days ago that they launched in Florida, well, it's also in this state right now.

So, expect this to be a front and center for the vice president as she begins this new aggressive time on the campaign trail. Of course, it has been a condensed race for her and all of those around her are keenly aware that even if it's weeks to go, it's going to be a very intense weeks.

BERMAN: Yes, I'm very curious to see if the stump speed changes post debate from what we kept on hearing before the debate.

Priscilla Alvarez in Charlotte, great to see you there, thanks so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Taylor Swift makes history at the VMAs and she's making waves in politics. The impact of her endorsement of the Harris- Walz ticket, that's ahead.

And incredible pictures as a Good Samaritan saves a stranger from floodwaters, all of it caught on camera in Louisiana.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just have to go in there and do it. I'm a nurse, so you got to save lives, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SIDNER: Just a new video of the danger from floodwaters in New Orleans left by Hurricane Francine. A Good Samaritan approaches a submerged truck. The driver, he's escaping out of the back window, and then responders arrived. At least 26 people had to be rescued, including children, as the storm surge followed Francine's landfall.

Francine has weakened now to a tropical storm but threatens the southeast today.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the very latest for us. What are you seeing out there, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Sara, that really harrowing video coming out of New Orleans yesterday as they received over a month's worth of rain just in a very short period of time from what was Hurricane Francine, as it plowed through the state of Louisiana.

We were in Morgan City and we saw similar experiences unfolding across the area here in Morgan City as numerous roads were flooded. In fact, we had to at the very last minute, evacuated, abandoned our live shot location because water started over top of this berm that was protecting our area, and so we quickly evacuated. But getting back to a safe location even became a challenge and an adventure in itself because so many of the roads are closed within this very low-lying St. Mary's Parish were flooded. So, there were many homes that took on water, many roads that looked like rivers, and we experienced it firsthand our self.

Now, this storm system is not done yet. So, we want to talk about what happened in Louisiana when we're talking about 0.38 inches of rain in such a short period, that eclipses their normal monthly average, and some locations got over nine inches.

But here's the latest from the tropical storm. It's actually currently located near the border of Mississippi and Alabama, still churning in, a lot of moisture across the Deep South. So, the flood threat still remains for some locations, about 14 million Americans, Birmingham all the way to Tallahassee, New Orleans are still under a flood warning. It was a flashflood emergency yesterday as the bulk of the heavy rain came through, but that has since come to an end. Then on top of that, the tornado threat that is ongoing this morning. In fact, you can see some of these spin up little thunderstorms near Panama City. We want to keep a close eye on that because it doesn't take much for these tropical systems to interact with land and they spin up brief tornadoes that can cause damage and be quite disruptive as well.

There was a lot of wind. We experienced it yesterday with wind gusts in excess of 90 miles per hour near the areas where we were located. So, that will take down trees, also cause more power outages.

But, Sara, look at this. It was supposed to be a category 1 hurricane. In fact, it strengthened to a category 2 just before landfall, winds topping 100 miles per hour in Eugene Island.

SIDNER: Wow. And as you always say, though, it is usually the water that is the most dangerous, the flooding, and we saw that play out there as well.

Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for being out there and giving us the updated report. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, now the aftermath and the cleanup there.

Ahead for us, A.I. at the White House, why ChatGPT executives are in Washington today meeting with the Biden administration. We'll get more on that.

And more follow-up from the debate, some Republicans now calling it a missed opportunity, as the sprint to Election Day kicks into high gear.

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