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Killing Of Hezbollah Leader Deepens Fears Of A Wider Conflict; Interview With Israeli Ambassador To The United Nations, Danny Danon; Trump Campaigns In Wisconsin, Focuses On Border Security; Harris Visits Border In AZ, Takes Harsher Stance On Immigration; At Least 55 Storm-Related Death Reported; Widespread Flooding Impacting Southeast; SpaceX Launches Rescue Mission To ISS. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 28, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

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[16:59:52]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we begin this hour with breaking news and growing fears of an all- out war in the Middle East.

Tonight, Hezbollah saying it has launched long-range missiles toward Jerusalem after vowing to fight back following the death of its top leader in an Israeli strike on Beirut yesterday.

And tonight, there are questions about what remains of Hezbollah's leadership and what a potential response might look like as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns, Israel is at quote, "an historic turning point".

We have reporters live tonight across the region. Our Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv. We start though with Ben Wedeman, who has the latest on the ground there in Beirut.

Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes Jessica. What we're hearing overhead is an Israeli drone. The anticipation is there will be a new wave of Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs.

This after the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military put out a tweet warning the residents of southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley in the southern suburbs of Beirut, to stay away from any Hezbollah facilities.

And given that Hezbollah is a very secretive organization, most people don't actually know if there might be any Hezbollah facilities in their immediate area. So the assumption is that if you are in one of those areas, you should simply leave.

And what we've seen is that tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have left those areas specified by the Israelis. Before the war, the population of those three areas in that tweet was around 2 million people.

According to Lebanese officials in just the last few days, almost half a million people have fled. And that was a number before we saw this mass exodus from the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Now, were getting a new death toll from the Lebanese ministry of health who say that for today Saturday, at least 33 people were killed in addition to 195 injured. These are all preliminary figures.

For instance, that strike that took place at about 6:00 p.m. yesterday that resulted in the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, it's believed that there may be well over 100 bodies still under the rubble of those six buildings that were brought down by multiple 2,000-pound bombs in cluster buster bomb -- bunker buster bombs -- excuse me, it's been a very long few days -- bunker buster bombs on that location.

Now as the tension rises, what we're seeing is that the United States is increasingly concerned about the situation in the country and has ordered some employees at the U.S. embassy which is north of Beirut, not in Beirut, and their families to leave.

They've also put out on the Internet a form for us citizens in Lebanon who would seek assistance in leaving the country. This may be a preliminary step for the eventual evacuation of these people.

Now in addition to this, Hezbollah has put out notices informing its followers of numbers they can call that would facilitate their departure to Syria. Syria being considered at the moment, a safer place than many parts of Lebanon.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Ben Wedeman there in Beirut.

I want to go to Tel Aviv now where Nic Robertson is. Nic, what is the latest you're hearing and seeing there in Tel Aviv?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. As Ben is hearing the drones there in Beirut, I was just hearing a couple of jets in the skies above us here.

Just obviously Beirut up the coastline from here and it's often in the evenings when there's been heavy bombing activity in Beirut. Then we will hear fighter jets either coming or going, we don't know which, in the skies, but we're hearing them again this evening.

So that may be an indication that -- that operations continue to be underway, which is what the IDF is saying.

The defense minister today has said that he's been evaluating the situation along the border, considering expanding the activities of the troops along the border, hinting potentially there about the possibility of a ground incursion across the border by forces. No announcement of that. And it's something that the defense minister himself and others -- other senior commanders have been signaling, but we don't see an actual decision being taken about that.

The country itself bracing for what could be Hezbollah retaliatory strikes potentially here into the center of Israel, potentially into built up areas like Tel Aviv.

[17:04:53]

ROBERTSON: There was a missile that came in and set the sirens off in Jerusalem that landed a little bit outside before it got to Jerusalem, inside the West Bank in a settlement village there, Mitzpe Hajit (ph) is where it actually landed.

Medical services there say that they went to three sites where shrapnel or parts of the missile had come down. We saw pictures, images of fire on social media around those rescue vehicles. But they say that they found no casualties there.

But of course, one of the other things that people in Israel are bracing for is the potential that Iran well step in to support Hezbollah potentially in some way, potentially choose over the coming days to have its own strikes on Israel.

And the IDF spokesman Peter Lerner had something to say about that just in the past couple of hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, IDF SPOKESPERSON: I would suggest that Iran look very closely how we've dealt with Hamas, the leadership of Hamas, and how in the last week-and-a-half, we've effectively decapitated Hezbollah, from its senior leadership all the way down to the operational and tactical staff.

There is a lot to lose here. I don't think anybody is interested in a further escalation, a broader war, but Israel needs to be prepared for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And the prime minister saying that Israel has a long reach. And that those that harm Israel, they will harm back and clearly that extends to Iran.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Weve got Nic Robertson there and Tel Aviv, Ben Wedeman in Beirut -- our thanks to both of you for that reporting from the ground there.

Joining us now is Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon.

Ambassador, thanks so much for being here with us. We appreciate it. DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Thank you for having me, Jessica.

DEAN: Hezbollah says it has begun to launch missiles into Israel tonight. I think a lot of people are wondering, is a ground incursion into Lebanon from Israel inevitable?

DANON: Well, I consider what would be the end result of that escalation. At the end, we will push Hezbollah north of the Litani River and the residents of the north of -- we come back to the home, the Israelis. Thats will be the end result. How we get to that, you know, it's too early to tell.

I hope that what we did so far will be enough that the Lebanese government would see the opportunity. That will be the opportunity now Jessica, after what happened to Nasrallah and his colleagues in Beirut.

Now is the time for Lebanon to decide where we are heading from here, whether they allow Lebanon to hijack (ph) Lebanon or they will actually stop Hezbollah's aggression and take control of the situation.

We do not want a full war with Lebanon. We have no desire for that. But at the same time, the government decided that we'll do whatever is necessary to bring back those people who left their homes. We're talking about 70,000 Israelis that today live as refugees within their own country.

DEAN: And I want to ask you about Israel's relationship with the U.S. currently in this moment. U.S. officials saying that the U.S. was notified just moments ahead of that strike in Beirut that killed Nasrallah.

How would you characterize the relationship between the Israeli and U.S. governments right now?

DANON: We have a very strong bond and we share the same challenges and the same enemies.

Look at Nasrallah himself, you know, Ibrahim Aqil that we killed recently. They killed hundreds of Americans. We're talking about hundreds of marine soldiers, that attacked U.S. embassies all around the world.

So we are fighting the same fight. At the same time, you know, we are not asking for permission. We are sovereign country. We take our decisions by ourselves.

And I think in general, our allies understand that we will target the leadership of the terrorist organization and we will find them. They cannot hide anywhere all around the world. We are able to find them and to kill them.

And I think what we are doing now is actually we are making the world a better place, a safer for the U.S. and for many other democracies. DEAN: And do you think that there has been frustration on the part of the Biden administration that the Israeli government hasn't always listened to what they have wanted and pushed for, which obviously Israel is its own nation? But how -- there is also this working theory that look in this specific case that Israel didn't tell the U.S. until the last minute because they want to do kind of what they want to do and didn't want pushback from the United States. Do you think that's accurate?

DANON: Well, I will not go into specific about this incident. But in general, I don't think the U.S. actually, they want us to come and ask for permission for every attack. I think it will put them in a very complicated situation.

[17:09:48]

DANON: They don't have the same interest or threat that we're facing and I think in general it's both for -- it's better for both sides. But we will not do that.

In general, we share our intentions but we don't come and get approval for specific attacks. In general, I can tell you, we will continue to hunt down the leadership of the terrorist. They were the ones who started October 7th in Gaza.

And Nasrallah himself, he decided to make the linkage and to tell the world that it will target Israel to show solidarity with Hamas. So the only way to stop it was to kill him. And I think it was the right decision.

DEAN: I also want to ask about any potential ceasefire deal both with Hezbollah or with Hamas. Obviously, the Biden ministration and the White House has been pushing for diplomatic solutions here, specifically with Hezbollah proposing this 21-day pause in the fighting.

But today, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, Israel is going to continue, as you're saying, to go after Israels adversaries. What are the chances of diplomatic efforts working right now, do you think?

DANON: So (INAUDIBLE) that I think we will welcome a diplomatic solution. And I think what we are doing now, adding pressure against Hezbollah, maybe it will open the diplomatic channels again because we saw that in the last few months and then nothing happened, Hamas was not willing to accept the offer that the U.S. put on the table back in May and in August.

And then Hezbollah said, we will continue to target Israel because we support Hamas. So I think now where we are actually showing our capabilities against Hezbollah, maybe there would be an opening to catch that linkage between Hezbollah and Hamas.

And hopefully it can lead to some kind of an agreement with Hamas and with Lebanon.

And I think again, you know, I pray for the Lebanese people. I care about the Lebanese people, but they have to show some courage.

Now is the time.

(CROSSTALK)

DANON: Now, is the time for them to do that.

DEAN: But Ambassador, respectfully, you all have been pushing military force both against Hamas in Gaza and now against Hezbollah in Lebanon. But over the course of a year and there's still not been any sort of ceasefire. It has not pushed them to the negotiating table.

DANON: Well, I beg to differ about we were pushing, you know. We were dragged into this situation. We have 100 hostages in Gaza. We cannot forget about them. So we have to take actions to bring them back home.

Same with Hezbollah. They decided to attack Israel and they've sent thousands of rockets since October 8 with no provocation.

So we have to take efforts and measures to bring the Israelis back to their homes. So we were dragged into this situation and yes, when somebody is targeting us, we will hit them back, you know. And we waited almost a year. We waited for diplomacy.

I think the pressure that we are applying now hopefully will change the situation.

DEAN: And I do want to ask you about those hostages that remain held against their will in Gaza. We are almost a year to October 7 that they have been in captivity. So many of their family members and Israelis have pushed your government to accept a deal to get them home.

And many Israelis and some family members feel as if those hostages have been forgotten. What do you say to them?

DANON: We cannot forget them and we will never forget them. We are doing a sincere effort, but we are dealing with radical. And we've seen while, you know, sometimes we don't know whether he's alive or not and what the intelligence are.

And I think that we proved that in the past we were willing to pay heavy prices to release terrorists in order to bring back the hostages. And we're willing to continue to do that.

But today, there is no progress, you know the negotiators including the U.S. tried really hard to come up with some kind of agreement with Hamas but they always refused.

Maybe now, when they see what's happening today in Beirut to their friends in Hezbollah maybe they would change their minds.

DEAN: And so with that in mind, how do you see, let's say the next 72 hours playing out.

DANON: I think we are committed to continue to degrade the capabilities of Hezbollah. We know what the intentions. They want to target civilians. They want to kill as many Israelis.

But we are making sure they are not able to do that. And I hope that, you know, once they will realize that they're not going anywhere, they will cut the linkage they deal with Hamas. And hopefully it will allow Israel and Lebanon to go back to where we were in 2006 when we had a ceasefire and we agreed about the U.N. Resolution 1701, that actually we are willing to go back to the same resolution and call it a day.

[17:14:46]

DEAN: All right.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, thank you very much for being here with us.

DANON: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Still to come, what does Hassan Nasrallah's mean for the Middle East at large? We're going to have analysis from CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

Plus, a flooding emergency in North Carolina where Helene is still putting entire communities underwater and overwhelming first responders there.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:19:56]

DEAN: Back to our breaking news now.

You're listening to sirens in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it launched long range missiles from Lebanon headed to Jerusalem. The launches coming just minutes after the Israeli prime minister made his first public remarks on the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Fareed Zakaria is joining us now. Of course, he's the host of CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS".

Fareed, thanks so much for being here with us tonight.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS": My pleasure.

DEAN: So Benjamin Netanyahu called Nasrallah the central engine of Iran's axis of evil. I just spoke to the U.N. -- the Israeli U.N. ambassador.

he said essentially they're going to keep their foot on the gas here. No talk there of any diplomatic solution at this moment.

I'm curious if you'll just kind of broaden it out for us and talk about this moment in the broader Middle East and how the killing of Nasrallah and what's going on right now is changing the dynamic there. ZAKARIA: So until now, what Iran and its proxies had done was to place a great deal of pressure on Israel through a kind of strategy of attrition of asymmetry.

So all these Iranian-backed militias and they're backed to varying degrees. Hamas is quite independent, but Hamas, Hezbollah, you know, even the Houthis, even to a certain extent some of the Iraqi militias, in various ways, putting pressure and keeping Israel in a sense, you know, mired in Gaza, where they keep having to go back and cleanup operations.

So Israel I think was searching for a way to break out of this situation where it was in a somewhat defensive and trapped position.

Gaza has been difficult because they are now in there and they are -- they are in a sense, de facto reoccupying it for the moment.

But against Lebanon, against Hezbollah, they've thought about this a long time and this was a very dramatic change in the dynamic.

What they just did was they brought the war to Hezbollah. They hit hard. They had superb intelligence. First they start with the cell phone and pagers which cut off all of Hezbollah's communication. Then they begin going after the middle command. Then the weapons caches. And then the central command.

So I think they feel that they are -- they have Hezbollah on the run. They are essentially destroying a large part of it. And I think you're right, they're not going to stop.

and I think that their calculation is that Hezbollah is in no position right now to respond. You know, it's decimated, its communications are gone, its caches are being destroyed and Iran will be very cautious about jumping in.

Iran has so far always shown that it is willing to fight to the last Houthi, to the last member of Hezbollah. But they have never wanted to enter this themselves. So that's the calculation that the Israelis are pursuing.

And I think there they might be right.

DEAN: That's -- I did want to ask you about the Iran piece of all of this because obviously as you just laid out, they are at the -- they are backing all of these different groups but have yet to really get in there themselves.

And so it sounds like the question for so many is will they or won't they, right?

ZAKARIA: Well, I spoke with the president of Iran in what's his first interview to a Western media outlet and it was before this latest strike. But there had been many strikes.

And the impression I got and viewers will see the interview on Sunday -- the impression I got is that the Iranians have been cautious. It did not signal a massive new escalation. And even since Nasrallah's death, they have not, you know, the rhetoric has not been the kind which would presage some kind of major attack.

Look, the important thing that I think we need to understand is Israel is the military superpower of the region. It can counterpunch very hard. The question is, does it want to. Does it want to get involved in a huge military operation? But if there were one, Israel would win and you're seeing that in Lebanon right now.

DEAN: And you mentioned your exclusive interview with Iran's new president. We actually have a clip of it. So I'd love to play that and get your reaction on the other side.

ZAKARIA: Sure.

DEAN: Here's that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT: Hezbollah, by herself, cannot stand against a country that is armed to the teeth and has access to weapon systems that are far superior to anything else.

Now, if there is a need, Islamic countries must convene a meeting in order to formulate a reaction to what is occurring.

[17:24:51]

PEZESHKIAN: Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by western countries, European countries and the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: It's so interesting Fareed. Again, that's your interview which is airing tomorrow.

But he seems to be admitting there that it's very difficult as you just laid out to go up against the Israeli military and their allies.

ZAKARIA: That's right. I mean he's saying, let's have a committee meeting if there -- if this goes on. That is not the response of somebody, you know, ready to hit and hit hard.

And this has been proved. The Iranians, in general, they are cautious. They are -- they are, you know, as far as I can tell, I've always found them very rational in pursuit of their objectives. And they, generally-speaking, have preferred this kind of low-grade strategy of attrition.

And look, it does put, you know, exacts a price for Israel. Israeli reservists have now been larger than three months out. They've been out a year. You know, Israel is bogged down in Gaza.

It means, for example, that because of the Houthis a lot of the ship traffic has been diverted away from the Gulf. If you look at what is happening with airlines. 62 airlines, I think

used to land in Jerusalem every day and I think that what I saw recently with it, maybe they just down to a lot, the Israeli Airline.

So there is a cost, particularly for Israel, which is very plugged into the global economy. And what, you know, what Israel prefers -- would prefer is a short, sharp war. They win and then there is some kind of negotiated peace.

The question is, will the Iranians and Hezbollah agree to that or will this low-grade pressure return, you know, kind of come back because that's their only strategy. That's what they can do.

They can't win an all-out fight.

DEAN: And then lastly, just the U.S. piece of this and that relationship with Israel. Obviously, the Biden administration has continued to push for a diplomatic solutions. That doesn't look likely at this particular moment in time.

How do you see that relationship right now between the U.S. and Israel?

ZAKARIA: Look, they've had real disagreements on Gaza. I think there are fewer disagreements about Hezbollah because I think the administration correctly realizes that the Israelis do have -- did have to do something about the fact that in northern Israel 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes. This couldn't go on forever.

What the administration should now do is try to say, let's try to find a way to get a negotiation going with Hezbollah. Get them to agree to that -- those U.N. resolutions.

So that they stop the aerial harassment of Israel, so that you can get some kind of a peace there. Because otherwise for Israel, the problem is, do they keep this on unendingly? Do they reoccupy parts of southern Lebanon? How does this end?

And the end game is where I think the administration can come in most usefully.

I don't think there's any point in criticizing what the Israelis have done. I think Israel did what it felt it had to do. But there is an end game.

There is a kind of strategic place where this has to land and the Biden administration could be helpful there.

DEAN: All right. Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much. It's really great to see you.

ZAKARIA: Always a pleasure.

DEAN: And be sure to tune into Fareed's exclusive interview with Iran's new president. It airs tomorrow Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Still to come tonight, how former President Trump is keeping his foot on the gas when it comes to talking immigration, something his campaign sees as a winning issue for him.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:28:47]

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[17:33:11]

DEAN: The race for the White House coming down to the wire, with only 38 days now left until Election Day. Both candidates are on the campaign trail this weekend.

Former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin. That event centered on immigration and border security, as he accuses Harris of mismanaging the issue while she was vice president. This comes after Harris visited the border yesterday.

And joining us now, CNN's Steve Contorno, who's on the trail with Trump.

Steve, tell us about the event today.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jessica, it's interesting. We've seen Donald Trump turn speeches that were supposedly about the economy and inflation and crime into immigration speeches. Well, today's event was billed as an immigration event, and it was certainly delivered. It was full of supercharged rhetoric, racially charged rhetoric, and at times very personal attacks on Vice President Harris and her intelligence, speaking about her in incredibly demeaning terms.

It was also a dark, which is a word that he actually used to describe the speech that he was giving today and certainly fit that description. Take a listen to what he had to say about what would happen if Vice President Harris was elected in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They've crossed our border. They've been taken out by their countries and set free into the United States of America. So they're free to kill again. Oh, they'll kill. These are killers. These are killers that at a level that nobody's ever seen. Not even your great law enforcement has ever seen people like this. They got a dose of it, though. Recently, they got a dose of it.

Their jobs have become a lot tougher. And you remember when they say, no, no, these are migrants." And these migrants, they don't commit crimes like us. No, no. They make our criminals look like babies. These are stone cold killers. They'll walk into your kitchen. They'll cut your throat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:35:09]

CONTORNO: Trump choosing to deliver that speech in Wisconsin in a small town in the southwest part of the state to try to make the point that these types of crimes that he says are caused by migrants can happen anywhere in the country. An interesting batch of Wisconsin in a small town in the southwest part of the state to try to make the point that these types of crimes that he says are caused by migrants can happen anywhere in the country. An interesting backdrop as well, because this is an incredibly tight race for this state.

The poll of polls that CNN just put out today shows it's still within the margin of error. And Trump will actually be back here on Tuesday just showing how important Wisconsin is to the electoral map.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Steve Contorno for us there in Wisconsin. Thank you so much for that.

As I mentioned earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris went to Arizona yesterday to visit the southern border where she went on the offensive against Trump on this topic of immigration. And during her campaign stop, she outlined how she intends to tackle border security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: To reduce illegal border crossings, I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from reentering for five years. We will pursue more severe criminal charges against repeat violators. And if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Harris also said she would sign the bipartisan border bill that she says Trump helped tank due to political reasons earlier this year.

When we come back, we are taking you to Western North Carolina, where Helene brought catastrophic flooding, mudslides and widespread power outages. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Asheville. He'll have a report for us.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, the impact of Hurricane Helene will be felt here in the southeast for months perhaps. And we will have all the details when we come back.

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[17:41:43]

DEAN: Tonight, widespread destruction across the southeast in the aftermath of Helene. At least 55 storm-related deaths have been reported, and communities devastated by widespread flooding. Millions now without power as well.

CNN's Rafael Romo is in hard-hit Asheville, North Carolina. Tell us what you're seeing there.

ROMO: Hi, Jessica. Well, the devastation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene is everywhere. Just take a look behind me. This is a mobile taco stand that is still partially submerged, more than 24 hours after the hurricane. And Jessica, that's not water, that is mud. It gives you an idea how bad the situation was here.

And let me show you how far the water, the floodwaters got here. This, what I have right in front of me, is the debris line. There are several feet between the level of that taco stand and this part of the grass where you all this debris.

So that is creating a lot of problems for officials here. And we heard earlier from the University of North Carolina Asheville saying that they will cancel classes until October 9.

In a statement by Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, she said that many trees fell on campus, that many parts of campus are inaccessible. And she also said that mobile service and internet are also down.

And we've been talking to residents here who tell us that they had never seen anything like this. This area where we stand is not too far from the river and it floods on occasion, but not to this level.

I spoke earlier with a gentleman who told me that he's been living here for 40 years and this is the first time he sees it so bad. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a railroad bridge just north of town and that's never been underwater. Even -- even in, I believe it was 1916, it was a big -- that wasn't underwater and yesterday it was underwater.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Jessica, the other main problem here is that many people do not have running water and they're when will the service be restored? We heard from officials earlier who said that crews are going around the city looking at mains. There was a main that broke trying to make an assessment first about the damage before they can determine how quickly they can restore service.

In the meantime, the entire city of Asheville is under a boiling advisory.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo, thank you so much for that.

Blasting off to the rescue, ahead the new mission to get a pair of astronauts back home after their extended stay in space.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:49:18]

DEAN: And they're off. A NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut successfully taking off aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft earlier today. The two-man team now on its way to bring two NASA astronauts home from the International Space Station.

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded on the ISS since June, after their Boeing Starliner capsule was deemed too risky for the flight back to Earth.

CNN's aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien is joining us now with more.

Miles, great to see you. To my eye, watching that video, it looks pretty flawless, like the launch was pretty great today. How would you evaluate it? And how soon will this crew get to the ISS?

[17:50:11]

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Yeah, Jessica, I think SpaceX did well. This was their 15th piloted mission of the Dragon capsule. A really remarkable accomplishment. And they were looking at the weather, and the weather was a little bit iffy, but they obviously were able to launch. They've got about a 28-hour ride to the International Space Station, so they'll show up there at 5:30 Eastern time tomorrow for a historic docking.

And as you said, they have two empty seats and some extra suits and supplies for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are up there for an unanticipated long mission, to say the least.

DEAN: Yes, to say the least. They've been there now for months.

Now, SpaceX has now launched nine crewed missions for NASA since the end of the space shuttle program. Is this kind of the future that we're looking at, where we see private enterprise and NASA kind of joining together?

O'BRIEN: Yes, and I think probably as it should be. The idea way back when, when they first were thinking about handing over a piece of this to the commercial sector in a more robust way, was to develop industries in space to encourage private enterprise one way or another.

What we've been seeing, in addition to those NASA launches, are some fascinating privately funded missions. Most recently, the Polaris Dawn mission, funded by Jared Isaacman, the shift for payments billionaire, who conducted the first private spacewalk, among other things. And that's an exciting thing for those who would like to see space expand beyond the realm of the government.

And so I think NASA has seeded this pretty well, and at least in one case. Now, in the case of Boeing, that's another story. DEAN: What would you say with the Boeing situation?

O'BRIEN: Well, we still don't really know what the problem was with the Boeing Starliner, which is the second path to the International Space Station. NASA wanted to have redundancy. So if one of those spacecraft was not operative, they had another way to get there.

Well, this launch today is sort of the case in point, isn't it? It's good to have another way to get there, and not having to rely on the Russian Soyuz, because that's problematic for a lot of reasons.

But for Boeing, this is a big problem. It was a fixed price contract. That's the key thing to understand about this new era of space, is that SpaceX and Boeing are not on cost plus kind of defense style contracts. They have a fixed price and they're supposed to deliver. And Boeing has not delivered and is having to eat all these costs at a time where Boeing has a lot of other problems, as we know.

DEAN: Yeah. And why do you think it is taking so long to get them back, the two astronauts that are stranded up there after the Starliner was deemed not safe enough?

O'BRIEN: Well, it was easier in the grand scheme of operation of the International Space Station to just slot them in to this crew, that two people are on the ground now watching that launch today from the Cape that were supposed to be strapped into those empty seats and spend a six-month stint on the space station. Rather than sort of tailor-making or providing an Uber in space for Suni and Butch, they just opened up those seats and told them, hey, you're going to have to stick around and be drafted into this crew.

Now, a lot of people say, wow, they're stranded. But if you're an astronaut, this is exactly where you want to be, is in space. So hopefully they have their bills on autopay and they're studying up on the manual for SpaceX so they know how to get back.

DEAN: Yeah. All right. Well, we shall see. Miles O'Brien, as always, thanks so much.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure, Jessica.

DEAN: Women of color are still vastly underrepresented in STEM careers. And this week, CNN Hero experienced that firsthand while studying engineering at MIT, where she was one of only two black women in her class. And now she's tackling that imbalance head-on using a unique approach that hooks young girls of color onto science, technology, engineering and math.

Meet Yamilee Toussaint.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YAMILEE TOUSSAINT, CNN HERO (voice-over): We bring STEM and dance together by allowing the girls to create dance performances that combine the two so they can work on costumes that light up as they move. And they're learning how to program the circuit so that when they press a button on the circuit, the lights turn blue or whatever effect that they want to be able to convey a message.

(On camera): We're going to talk about song structure today.

(Voice-over): They can create their own song through computer science and AI.

[17:55:00]

(On camera): So these are the poses in the beginning.

(Voice-over): And then be able to make a dance routine to that song that they created.

(On camera): Love it. This is going to be so fly.

(Voice-over): We're normalizing that girls of color can do computer science and create something together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[18:00:02]

DEAN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Jessica Dean in New York. We're following breaking news in the Middle East.