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Connect the World
Republicans Brace for Mass Defections on Epstein Files; Hegseth Declares Military Mission Against "Narco-Terrorists"; U.S. Announces 20th Strike on Alleged Drug Trafficking Boats; U.S. Aircraft Carrier Now in Place Amid Huge Military Buildup; Heavy Rain Floods Displaced Palestinians' Camps in Gaza. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired November 14, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Washington where the Trump Administration is bracing for multiple Republican
defections as the vote looms on whether to release all the Epstein files. It is 09:00 a.m. there, and it is 06:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi.
I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World". Also coming up, Venezuela's President speaks exclusively to CNN as the U.S. Secretary of Defense
announces operation southern spear. What we know about U.S. plans. Then a difficult night in Kyiv, multiple people killed and injured as Russia
pounds the capital.
And life in Gaza, made even worse by torrential rains and flooding. Right, markets in the United States set to open in around 30 minutes from now.
Let's check in on the U.S. futures. And as you can see, we have a strongly down day. NASDAQ losing 1.5 percent, S&P down 1 percent and DOW also said
to open six tenths of a percent lower.
All right, let's get into the news of the day, an announcement from the U.S. Secretary of Defense begs the question, is the United States taking
its operations around Venezuela to a new level? Late Thursday, Pete Hegseth announced operation southern spear, saying the aim is to, quote, remove
narco-terrorists from the Western Hemisphere and cut off the flow of drugs that are killing Americans.
But it remains to be seen what exactly this operation will bring. The U.S. has already been moving troops to the Caribbean, and this week, it sent in
the world's largest aircraft carrier. So far U.S. military operations have been limited to the sea striking what the Trump Administration says are
drug trafficking vessels.
But the military buildup has led to speculation that the U.S. is eyeing regime change in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is now
appealing directly to the American people, asking them to demand peace and reject any prospect of going to war.
Meanwhile, we're learning from sources that top security officials briefed President Trump this week with a range of options for military action
inside Venezuela. One of them saying Mr. Trump has not made any decisions on how he wants to proceed. So, we're covering the story for you from the
United States and Venezuela this hour.
We've got Stefano Pozzebon in Caracas and our Senior National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen in Washington for us. Thank you for joining us this
hour. Zach, I want to start with you. Operation southern spear announced, but you also have new reporting this is quite important about how military
officials are referring to the strikes in the Caribbean Sea. Take me through that.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah. As far as Venezuela is concerned, we are learning from our sources that President Donald Trump was
briefed this week on a range of options, as you mentioned, that up to and including military strikes inside Venezuela itself and targets that are
connected to the Venezuelan state.
Now, any strikes inside Venezuela against land targets would be a significant escalation of the ongoing military campaign that has really
been limited to date, to strikes against these alleged drug boats in international waters. But again, the military buildup, the U.S. military
buildup just off the Coast of Venezuela, has been raising significant concerns about something more that could be in the works.
As you mentioned to the largest U.S. aircraft carrier just made its way into the Southern Command Area of Operations, which is near Venezuela. And
sources tell us that, that is to the amount of firepower that is currently in the region is far exceeds what is necessary to blow up small drug boats.
So again, the announcement from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of Operation southern spear pretty vague, but does say that it's intended to defend our
homeland from drugs that are killing our people. For Trump's part, he has expressed reservations in the past privately about taking that step forward
and ordering land strikes in Venezuela with the intention of ousting Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro.
But at the same time, sources warning us that really things can change on a day-by-day basis. But at the same time, those strikes in the international
waters targeting alleged drug boats, it's been made clear that those will continue. We've now had about 20 strikes that we know of killing 80 people.
And I'm told that, behind closed doors, in classified settings, Pentagon officials are referring to these 80 individuals who they claim are
terrorists and -- combatants, in the same way that they talked about terrorists that were killed during the global war on terror in strikes in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
[09:05:00]
One source putting it to me this way, the use of phrases like enemy KIA, killed in action, bring back echoes and ghosts from Afghanistan and Iraq.
So really raising some eyebrows on Capitol Hill as lawmakers still question.
Do some phrases like Enemy KIA, killed in action, bring back echoes and ghosts from Afghanistan and Iraq. So really raising some eyebrows on
Capitol Hill as lawmakers still questioning both the legal justification for these strikes and also the strategic justification the end game what is
the Trump Administration ultimately planning to do as far as this military campaign and with all of these military assets they currently have off the
Coast of Venezuela.
GIOKOS: Yeah, Stefano, there's also -- and I want to show you this photo of anti-vehicle obstacles that have been placed on main road leading to
Caracas and perhaps indicating how Nicolas Maduro is perhaps preparing militarily for some kind of worst-case scenario. What is the latest? What
are you hearing on the ground?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, what we're hearing directly from Nicolas Maduro is that he's trying to dispel any geopolitical tension with
the United States, appealing, just like he said directly to the American people, and telling CNN that he wants, he says, to make peace.
He wants to avoid another forever war, not a casual phrase. We know how sensitive the MAGA movement is to the idea of foreign -- American soldiers
in foreign territories and forever wars like the ones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. I was able to ask Maduro exactly that question yesterday.
He was approaching a march of supporters, not a really big March, by the way, Eleni, just a few 1000 people. However, he really wanted to show that
he was surrounded by the people in the streets of Caracas, and this is how the exchange went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: What is your message to the people of the United States, president?
NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA: To unite for the peace of the continent. No more endless wars, no more unjust wars. No more Libya, no
more Afghanistan.
POZZEBON: Do you have a message for President Trump?
MADURO: My message is, yes, peace. Yes, peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: Like I was saying, I don't think that what Maduro said is what's important here is how he said it. He said those types of things before he's
on television very often here in Venezuela. However, he clearly wanted to send the message that he was out on the streets of Caracas surrounded by
regular people.
And this is, by the way, just for context, this is a sitting head of state, but he's also person that the United States directly accuses of being the
leader of a narco-trafficking cartel, and has even placed a bounty of $50 million on his head. It doesn't look like somebody who is preoccupied by
that.
That was my question to him, if he was worried about the buildup of military assets from the United States. And clearly, he wanted to send a
message that he's not willing to bend to the pressure from the United States. This pressure is heavily felt here in Caracas. By the way, most of
the people check daily on updates from sources like the ones that Zachary has just been able to speak with.
We hear this pressure from the United States coming up, especially with the deployment of the largest aircraft carrier in the world that is just a few
100 miles from where I am in the center of Caracas. However, the message from Maduro was that he's standing for, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Well, great reporting there. Stefano, great to have you on. Thank you so much to Zach Cohen. The Pentagon this week said it conducted
its 20th strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat. At least 80 people have been killed in these controversial strikes.
And with the current buildup of U.S. troops and equipment in the Caribbean, the United States has amassed its largest military presence in the region
since the invasion of Panama in 1989. Joining us now to examine where the situation stands right now, we've got Kevin Carroll.
He's a Former Homeland Security Official and CIA Officer, also served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kevin, thank you so much for taking
the time. You know, you just heard our reporters. They're taking us through the dynamics that are currently playing out, and to repeat the USS Gerald
Ford, a massive vessel now in the Caribbean Sea, taking the number of personnel, U.S. personnel to around 15,000.
And you hear this term operation southern spear. What are you expecting next, militarily? What can we expect?
KEVIN CARROLL, FORMER SENIOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: It's looking like they're planning to have airstrikes, presumably supported
by Special Operations Forces and CIA special activity center in an effort to overthrow the Maduro regime. And I'm not sure if the plan is very well
thought through.
I thought it was interesting that President Maduro mentioned Libya and Afghanistan, where in 2011 and in 2001 we were able to remove the Gaddafi
regime, the Taliban regime with a similar mix of air power, Special Operations Forces, CIA officers, but we weren't able to establish a stable
government afterwards.
[09:10:00]
And so, I think that there's a real risk of failure. Also, we've been giving quite a lot of weapons to the Ukrainians and the Taiwanese, which
really incentivizes the Russians and the Chinese to give arms to Venezuelans to see if they can somehow embarrass the United States right in
our own neighborhood.
And I'm conscious of the fact that when the British had their campaign against Argentina and the Falklands in 1982, they lost several ships. And I
think we shouldn't be too casual about the risks that are involved here.
GIOKOS: Yeah. So, you're saying that the deployment of USS Gerald R. Ford, there is a precursor to what you believe are airstrikes. And it's
interesting you say that because President Trump was briefed this week to understanding that he's hesitant to take any action in Venezuela right now.
Give me a sense of the military options that he has that his team would have gone through with him right now.
CARROLL: So, my understanding is they only have about 2500 marines that are deployed afloat off the Coast of Venezuela. So, it's not enough for ground
operation. Venezuela is a big country. It's 28 million people. It's about the size of Egypt or Nigeria countries that I think most people would
describe as pretty large.
There's not enough of a ground force component here, even though you could presumably drop in paratroopers or rangers as well. It's looks like it's
going to be airstrikes, and as the B roll footage there showed the Venezuelans have sophisticated air defense missiles that they've obtained
from the Russians, as well as anti-ship missiles.
And so, they have to the U.S. planners, have to plan on the contingency of having downed pilots inside of Venezuela, which provides a whole additional
complication about how to exfiltrate them.
GIOKOS: OK, so tell me about the timeline, because this is what you're reading into it, that you're anticipating airstrikes. When do you think
this will happen? I want you to give me a sense of how you believe this will play out militarily.
CARROLL: You know -- really conditions -- carrier strike group having was really the last step that was needed to get the forces in place. So, it
would be just a matter of when the United States night vision capabilities could be most used to our advantage. It sounds as if there were some
decision briefs given to the White House earlier this week, so I would suspect that you could see action any day.
GIOKOS: OK, so I want to talk about regime change, because Maduro did mention he said, no more Libya, no more Afghanistan. And we also know that
President Trump signed off on a CIA covert operation in Venezuela. So, do you believe this is about targeting the narco-trade, or do you believe
intertwined in this is regime change, and how would the CIA go about that?
Do you then believe it is about airstrikes and not something happening internally on the ground?
CARROLL: Sure. So, the Trump Administration's position is that drug dealers are terrorists, which is something I disagree with. Terrorists are
motivated by ideological, political, religious considerations. Drug traffickers are motivated by profit, right -- to make money off of the sale
of drugs.
And they conflate the fact that the drug trade is basically allowed to flourish in Venezuela with the entire regime, you know, being associated
with these narco-terrorists. So that seems to be the theory that they're going in on. One of the things, one of the mistakes they've already made,
is discussing this CIA, this presidential covert action, finding to CIA in public.
It's not very covert if the president is talking about it in public and his staff is talking about it in public. And one of the things it does is it
undermines any potential opposition, domestic political opposition to the Maduro regime that the CIA might want to covertly support because it makes
them look like puppets of the United States.
But I guess the plan, such as it is, would be to do some high-profile leadership strikes, or strikes on leadership targets, to shut down
communications for strikes --
GIOKOS: Wouldn't the U.S. need a justification for strikes?
CARROLL: They would, and I don't think they have a good one, you know, which is why the G7 at their recent meeting was very critical of what we're
doing, even with just the strikes on the boats, and why the British and the Canadians and probably others are cutting off information sharing with us,
because there's under international law, there's just really not a good justification for what they're doing.
[09:15:00]
It's this novel theory that selling -- permitting the selling of drugs, is killing Americans in the same way that al-Qaeda blowing up the World Trade
Center that the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor is an act of war, and I just don't think it makes sense.
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right. Kevin Carroll, thank you so much for your time. Good to have you on the show. No point in waiting. That's what a Republican
leadership source in the U.S. House is telling CNN about Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to quickly schedule a vote on the release of the Jeffrey
Epstein files.
Multiple sources tell CNN Johnson and the White House realized the bipartisan measure to force the vote couldn't be stopped. All this
happening after the government shutdown ended and Johnson recalled House members to Washington while Congress is fully back in session.
Air travelers are still feeling the sting of the shutdown and flight delays as well as cancelations continuing across the United States. We've got
Arlette Saenz joining us now to break it all down. Arlette, I want to start off with you know, there's a big question about how many Republicans is
going to be voting in favor of the release of all the documents? What are you hearing?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Republican leaders are really preparing for the potential of a cascade of members from their GOP
conference to back this effort to release the full Epstein files. House Speaker Mike Johnson has really shown a significant shift in strategy, as
he is now fast tracking a vote on this measure, after spending months working with the White House to delay this vote from even happening.
The view resources say within the Republican leadership conference right now is that they really can't do anything to stop this, so might as well
get this out of the way and have lawmakers vote on it next week. The big question now is how many Republicans might go against the president to vote
to release these files.
Supporters and proponents of this bill are hoping that they can somehow reach a veto proof majority that would require the support of two thirds of
House members. Right now, it's unclear whether they will reach that, but here is how one Epstein survivor described this moment as she is hoping
that lawmakers will face pressure to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNIE FARMER, JEFFREY EPSTEIN ACCUSER: I feel like it's important to note that so many things that are unlikely have happened when it comes to this
case. You know, it was very unlikely that we would get the signatures we needed for this discharge petition. And here we are.
We have them. All right, it was very unlikely that Andrew would no longer be a prince, and that's happened. And I think, you know, for years, people
said it was unlikely that anyone would care or know about the crimes of Epstein and his co-conspirators, and people clearly do.
So, I just, I really believe that we that there, that people are going to demand that this move forward, and I think it's very likely it will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, Johnson has yet to say what specific day the House will vote on releasing these files, but that is expected at some point next week, a
major moment as President Trump and the White House have really tried to delay and push this from happening.
GIOKOS: All right, Arlette, give me a sense of the next steps. What happens if House passes the release of these documents?
SAENZ: Well, that's -- Yeah, that's where the bill really could meet a very uncertain fate. If the House passes, it would still need to go over to the
Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, so far, has said that he didn't think there needed to be a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
He has pointed to the fact that the Justice Department has released information. But what supporters of this bill in the House are hoping is
that their passing it over there will just increase the pressure on senators to act on this matter. If all Senate Democrats were to vote
together, they would still need 13 Republicans to get on board.
It's unclear whether they will get that. And then even if it does pass the Senate, President Trump would have the option to veto this, but that is
part of the reason why Democrat and Republicans are working to try to get as many people as possible to support this bill so they can try to override
any veto that could happen.
GIOKOS: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you so much. Russia takes aim at Ukraine's capital, leaving scores of casualties and buildings on fire.
Still ahead, the aftermath of what Ukraine calls a new mass attack on Kyiv. And more misfortune in Gaza as rain and floods bring misery to those
already displaced.
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GIOKOS: All right, Ukrainian officials say at least six people are dead and dozens of others injured after that latest wave of Russian drone and
missile strikes, residential apartments and a medical facility were also damaged. Ukraine, meanwhile, launching its own aerial assault late
Thursday, striking an oil depot in a Russian port city, according to local officials.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine for us, and he joins us now live from Rome. Ben,
and you know, the aftermath of these strikes in Kyiv really devastating. Take us through the latest.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it seems that this is really what is happening in the war between Ukraine and Russia,
both sides settling into a nightly pattern of when the sun goes down, the bombing begins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Flashes in the sky over Kyiv. It's another night of Russian bombardment. Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept most of
the drones and missiles, but not all. This strike hitting the heart of the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian officials say the strikes killed at least six
people, wounding dozens.
Peaceful residents live here, says Kyiv resident, Anastasia Shevchenko (ph), there are no critical infrastructure facilities here. These are
residential neighborhoods, ordinary people, peaceful residents are suffering. Officials say Russia fired almost 450 drones and missiles
overnight plunging parts of Kyiv and other areas into darkness.
My front door was blown off. Recalls Maria Kalchenko (ph), flames were bursting out of there. I grabbed my dog and searched for the cats, but I
couldn't find them. I made my way out to the street through a hole. The choice of targets is not accidental, says Kyiv Mayor, Vitaly Klitschko.
VITALI KLITSCHKO, KYIV MAYOR: Kyiv's -- symbol of Kyiv -- symbol of Ukraine is heart of the country, and that's why, from beginning the war, always
Kyiv wasn't still target of Russian army, and especially before the winter.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Since August, after presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska, Russia has focused much of its fire on
Ukraine's energy sector, depriving Ukrainians of heat and power as winter approaches. The fire, however, is going both ways.
Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at targets in Russia. At a time when diplomatic efforts to end or even pause this war have come to naught, the
people on both sides are facing the prospect of a cold, brutal and bloody winter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (on camera): And it appears both sides are following a similar tactic, basically to target oil refineries, fuel storage tanks, power
plants and other things really, to cripple the others, not just economy, but also their ability to wage war. And Ukraine, even though it's the
smaller of the two countries, with smaller military and less resources, it seems to be inflicting a fair amount of pain on the Russians.
[09:25:00]
But the Russians do have a numerical advantage on the ground within Ukraine itself. And what we're seeing is that increasingly in the eastern part of
the country, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russians are steadily gaining more ground against a Ukrainian military that after these
three years of war is increasingly exhausted, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. Now to Gaza, where displaced families woke up to water rushing into their tents in Gaza City,
Friday, after heavy rainfall overnight, the Gaza Civil Defense told journalists that officials have received hundreds of pleas for help, but
that resources are nonexistent.
It comes as the head of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees warns that they don't have enough time, money or supplies to adequately help the
people of Gaza. CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is live in Jerusalem for us. And we're images of the flooding and, of course, water
seeping through into these tents.
It's really quite devastating to see this. Give me a sense of what kind of action the agencies on the ground are able to deploy in terms of resources.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, it's water seeping into tents. It's water gushing in through holes in roofs and
nonexistent roofs and a patchwork of efforts for people to give shelter to their families when there are tens of thousands, if not more tents that are
waiting to be allowed into Gaza by Israel, stored up in countries like Jordan and massive, overstuffed warehouses unable to get it into to the
people that need it in Gaza.
It's a reminder that look. It was about 10 centimeters of rain that fell almost four inches. It started 02:30 in the morning, absolutely torrential,
not the worst flooding that Gazans have experienced over the years, but in terms of their current predicament and situation with and you can see it,
you know, broken homes, broken infrastructure, broken sewage networks.
You can see in some of the images, water, literally in the overstuffed and broken sewage systems flowing out of those sewage covers saturating around
the tents. But in all of this, as we've seen during the war part of the last couple of years, it is children who suffer the most.
And this witness in a parenting in Gaza says, still the same, it's the children that they worry about the most. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to look after our children in these conditions. There are children here, as you can see, this child was submerged in the
water. We carried some of the children, and some of the children have been working to get rid of the water. This is our situation, and it's actually
harder than the displacement itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So, you know, you have this situation where there is a ceasefire, where there's sort of the bare bones of an agreement of how you
move forward on a ceasefire, but really no international momentum, and there's no way, obviously, that a switch can be flicked, that can all be
put into place, that suddenly people can have shelters.
But the reality for those people in those saturated, oversaturated tents is they're going to have a winter of this. Because even that glimmer of hope,
the glimmer that there could be an international stabilization force, that there could be an inflow of reconstruction for them, for their livelihoods,
for their children.
It's not happening, and it really just underscores the lack of momentum there on that ceasefire that looked so optimistic just a month ago, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right, very quickly, I want to ask you about the violence that we've seen this week in the West Bank.
ROBERTSON: Yes, so just on the heels of an attack on a dairy distribution facility, a Palestinian dairy distribution facility a couple of days ago,
by a large number of settlers, just last night, another attack not far away. Not clear if it's the same group of settlers or the same people
organizing them, but setting fire to a mosque spray painting graffiti Mohammed is a pig.
Clearly, according to officials in the West Bank, this is intended to disturb the Palestinian Muslim community there by targeting their place of
worship. It's been condemned by the U.N. it's been condemned by a number of different countries, Canada, Germany, other countries are speaking out
about it.
[09:30:00]
But on the ground, the settlers appear not to be being reined in. And they also sort of put-up graffiti indicating they don't care what the IDF
commander is saying. The IDF has been particularly outspoken this past week about this surge in violence. 264 settler attacks in October alone,
according to the U.N. and the graffiti put up by the settlers said, we're not afraid.
Avi Bluth, that's the IDF commander in the area, not afraid of his strong words, not afraid of his condemnation. And so, in brief, the settler
targeting, if you will, of Palestinian communities, businesses, places of worship, not homes and cars, as we've seen before. But a different tactic
here. It's going on a pace.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Nic Robertson, thank you so much, good to have you on the show. Much appreciated. Nic Robertson, there. All right, so markets in the
United States have just started trading. I want to check in on the DOW JONES, and in fact, it's another sizable downward trend in today's trade.
You can see the DOW is down almost 1 percent and you've got the S&P and NASDAQ also taking a very big knock to the downside. You're seeing those
tech stocks coming under significant pressure. A lot of questions around whether the AI stocks, the tech stocks, have been over valuated, and that,
of course, not adding pressure.
You see S&P and NASDAQ also negative territory. Right, we're going to go to a very short break. We'll be back right after this. Stick with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: All right, so a few minutes into the side of trade in New York, and you can see the markets are totally spooked again, after yesterday, sharp
losses. And I was talking about how the tech stocks are really driving things lower, and NASDAQ is down almost 2 percent.
It's AI concerns, its valuations, big focus on tech stocks and were to from here. And then there's a lack of crucial data that's coming out of the
United States. A leading economic official in the Trump Administration says the October jobs report is going to be incomplete due to the government
shutdown.
Without that data, Federal Reserve policymakers will be flying somewhat blind on whether or not to reduce interest rates come December, and that's
creating a lot of unease as well. All right, I want to take you to another story now, and the White House is now looking to inject some relief into
the U.S. economy.
On Thursday, the Trump Administration agreed to lower some tariffs on Latin American countries that framework deals remove import levies on a number of
goods that are not grown, mined or produced in the United States.
[09:35:00]
Think things like coffee and bananas and other foodstuffs in return Argentina Ecuador El Salvador and Guatemala have all agreed to lower their
own trade barriers and improve market conditions for the United States. Right ahead on "Connect the World" Blue Origin successfully launches. We'll
bring you an update on that in just a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. Jeff Bezos' Space Tech Company Blue Origin has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket on board a pair of satellites
that will eventually head to Mars, and they are set to investigate solar winds and atmosphere on the red planet. And in a major milestone towards
making the rocket reusable, Blue Origin also landed the first stage of New Glenn back on the platform for the first time.
And after a nine-day delay, three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth. Their journey home was postponed after debris hit their spacecraft,
leaving it with a cracked window, the astronauts were deemed to be in good physical condition, after an assessment. So much to get through in the
world of space.
We have Miles O'Brien CNN's Aerospace Analyst, good to see you. Let's start off with Blue Origin. I mean, it's the space race is fully underway, but
very exciting about these two satellites that can eventually go to Mars. I mean, take me through it. You're the expert. What are we saying?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Well, let's talk -- yeah, let's talk about Blue Origin first, Eleni, this is a big deal, after many years of
delays, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has launched its heavy lift rocket successfully on a commercial mission. And this really changes the equation
for the commercial advancement of space, you know, SpaceX has such a lead and has done so well on launching those Falcon 9 spacecrafts.
And Bezos and his team have gone, gone a little bit more slowly. But this launch was quite significant, not only because it successfully delivered
that NASA payload, those escapade science probes. We can talk about that in a moment, but perhaps even more importantly, and dramatically, it stuck the
landing.
The first stage is reusable, and they were able to land it. It's like landing a skyscraper straight up on a platform off the Coast of Florida.
And this rocket, this New Glenn rocket, has a lot more lift capacity than the Falcon 9. So, this was quite an accomplishment.
GIOKOS: Very exciting, amazing what can be achieved? Tell me you're talking about escapade. What is it and the significance?
[09:40:00]
Escapade is an interesting mission because it will not get to Mars for a couple of years. Actually, it's in on its way to what's called a Lagrange
point. These are place.
O'BRIEN: Escapade. It's an interesting mission because it will not get to Mars for a couple of years actually. It's in on its way to what's called a
Lagrange point. These are places in the solar system where the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun sort of equal each other out.
It's kind of a good place to loiter in space, and these two spacecrafts will do that because of delays on New Glenn, they missed their launch
window. Launch windows to Mars here on Earth only open up every 26 months. That's when the planets are close enough to make it possible to do a
practical voyage.
So instead of waiting for the next 26-month window to open up, it was decided by NASA and the contractors to launch it and put those two
spacecrafts instead of, it's like being in a traffic circle for about 12 months, and then they'll go on their way to Mars.
GIOKOS: Wow.
O'BRIEN: Where they will study, interestingly, how, why the atmosphere of Mars has dissipated over the years.
It's an interesting problem, and might have a lot of relevance as far as exploring Mars in the future.
GIOKOS: OK, so I -- you know, we came across story Chinese astronauts were stuck in space. They had to delay their way back home. There was a window
that was cracked. I mean, it sounds absolutely scary. They're now back on Earth, which is exciting, but I want you to talk to me about the sort of
the new focus on the dangers of astronauts going to space, because this is sort of second big, high-profile story that we've seen in as many months.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, it's reminiscent, of course, of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, June of 24 they went up for an eight-day mission to the
International Space Station.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: The Boeing Starliner was a disaster. They couldn't come back on it. They ended up there for nine months. What's interesting in this case,
there's some parallels here, because China did have a vehicle that was on its way there, and it's what, in fact, that the crew that had already been
there for six months took home.
So that leaves the fresh crew without a safe lifeboat home, which is not a good idea. Suni and Butch were on the space station for several months
before the dragon came. They had some contingency plans to go back home in an emergency on the dragon that was there already, but that wouldn't have
been an ideal situation.
This crew on the Chinese space station will probably only have to wait a shorter period of time because there is another spacecraft ready, the
Shenzhou-22 which they will launch fairly soon. It upsets their launch schedule, for sure, but it is a reminder that this is, you know, we take it
for granted sometimes. They are hurtling around the planet, 400 kilometers above us.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Traveling at 20,000 kilometers per hour, and its serious risky business.
GIOKOS: It is. It's so it's really scary to think about. Miles, but thank you always for joining us and unpacking all these fantastic stories. Much
appreciated Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: All right, good luck.
GIOKOS: All right, we're going to very short break. I'll be back at the top of the hour. Sports comes up after this. Stay with CNN.
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