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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
SpaceX Launches Four Astronauts Toward The International Space Station; U.S. And Other Nations Promise Big Cuts In Carbon Emissions; Alexey Navalny's Doctors Warn Kremlin Critic To End Hunger Strike. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 23, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:39]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, it's Friday. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It is 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.
And these are live pictures from Cape Canaveral where we are awaiting a final countdown for the launch of the NASA SpaceX mission to the International Space Station. Two NASA astronauts, along with one from Japan and the European Union, all securely locked in awaiting liftoff at precisely 5:49 a.m. eastern time.
CNN will go live to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in just a few minutes, so stand by for that.
ROMANS: Yes, super exciting. We'll have live coverage of that as it happens so don't go away.
Now to coronavirus and some encouraging new data there. The seven-day average of new infections is down 10 percent. Cases are dropping or steady in 45 states. The problem is steady isn't ideal at these high levels. Even with a dip this week, averages are at the same level as early March. Sixty thousand cases per day opens the door to new variants that could extend this pandemic.
JARRETT: Yes. Between that and the vaccine supply starting to outpace demand there's also a debate right now about whether masks outside are still needed. On Thursday, the CDC director said we'll be looking at the outdoor masking question, but also in the context of the fact that we still have people dying of coronavirus.
ROMANS: Still, there are some signs of normalcy here.
The San Francisco Giants debuting a fully vaccinated section at the team's home game last night. They're the second team in California to do that. A third will start tomorrow.
We have the pandemic covered from coast-to-coast. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Nick Watt in Los Angeles where this coming Saturday, the Dodgers are going to debut, for their game against the Padres, something called a fully vaccinated fan section. You've got to prove that you're at least two weeks past your last shot. Kids two to 15 can also get in if they've got proof of a negative test.
Now, you will have to wear a mask in that section but you will not have to social distance.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER (on camera): I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 face an increased risk of severe complications and even death. That's according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers looked at more than 2,000 pregnant women in 18 countries. Those who had COVID-19 while pregnant were at a higher risk of conditions like preeclampsia, pre-term birth, and were 22 times more likely to die.
Now, this news comes one day after new data published in the New England Journal of Medicine saying that Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines do not appear to pose a serious risk during pregnancy, though more long-term studies are needed.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Pete Muntean in Washington.
Federal officials are considering an extension of the transportation mask mandate. It is set to expire in only three weeks, on May 11th. Remember, the TSA issued an order that everyone must wear a mask on planes, trains, buses, boats, and also in transportation terminals and hubs back in February. The TSA says it's received about 2,000 reports of violators ever since but it cannot say how many of those people have been cited.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Lucy Kafanov.
Chicago's public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said that due to an increase in COVID-19 vaccine supplies all mask vaccination sites in the city will accept walk-in appointments beginning Friday. The commissioner says the move is part of an effort to accommodate Chicago residents who can't or don't want to schedule appointments ahead of time.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Brynn Gingras in New York City.
Vacant office space in Manhattan is at its highest it's been in nearly three decades and it could get worse. That's according to a recent report by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. It says that the vacancy rate is up more than 11 percent from a year ago.
The good news to this is those unprecedented levels could drive rents down. We've actually already seen rents drop to the lowest price per square foot than we've seen in three years, according to that same report.
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ROMANS: All right.
Speaking of real estate, millions of you looking for a home and can't find one. If you do, prepare to pay above asking -- way above. Home prices hitting records -- the highest price since the National Association of Realtors started tracking prices in 1999.
[05:35:06]
It's a heady combination that spells sellers' market. Not enough homes for the rush of new buyers and homes are going fast. The typical home sold in just 18 days in March -- 18 days, the shortest on record. Eighty percent of all the homes sold last month were on the market for less than a month.
Now, there is more inventory at the higher end of the market but the supply of homes between $100,000 and $250,000 is down 36 percent from last year. Supply and demand and the lack of homes pushing sales down and pushing prices higher, putting homeownership out of reach for more Americans.
JARRETT: All right. In just a few hours, day two of President Biden's climate summit begins.
On day one, a new White House pledge to slash U.S. carbon emissions by about 50 percent by 2030. That's right in line with what the U.N. says is needed to avoid catastrophic global warming. President Biden urging other countries to go big as well, an approach already showing results.
CNN's Jasmine Wright is live at the White House for us this morning. Jasmine, good morning to you.
The administration clearly trying to reestablish the U.S. as a leader on climate. What do we expect for day two?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's exactly right, Laura. Look, President Biden is again trying to undo the actions for former President Trump -- and actually go further this time, on climate, as you said -- reemerging the U.S. as a world global leader.
So on day two, White House officials say that we can expect the White House to tie this issue to the economy. It's a similar playbook that they did with the COVID relief bill, as well as an infrastructure package rollout. We're going to see that again today.
And already, some of the administration's efforts are starting to bear fruit with global leaders. We have seen them really re-up their commitments -- including China, the world's top consumer of coal -- really trying to meet these levels that this administration is trying to set. So yesterday when talking to reporters, climate -- special climate envoy John Kerry did not mince his words when he talked about how the effort went, describing what it took for this administration to get here after Trump.
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JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: We had to restore America's credibility. We had to prove that we were serious. And I think today does that in many ways -- the way that reinforces the fact that this is multilateral. That we need to bring all countries of the world to the table and we all need to raise ambition.
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WRIGHT: So, Laura, that raising the ambition notion is already starting to take set in the U.S.
We saw Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a key ally of President Biden, saying that all of the state-owned buildings in Michigan will be 100 percent clean by 2025. Really, a symbolic measure but it is huge as it is the home of car country -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right, Jasmine. Thank you so much -- appreciate it.
ROMANS: All right.
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a new hate crimes bill to combat violence against Asian-Americans. The bill passed 94 to one. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, the only no vote.
Reports of violence against Asian-Americans have spiked since the beginning of the pandemic. This new bill creates a new position at the Justice Department to expedite review of potential pandemic-related hate crimes.
JARRETT: Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny's own doctors are pleading with him to end his hunger strike. The alternative, they say, is all but certain death.
Sam Kiley has the latest now for us. He joins us from Moscow. Sam, any indication here that Navalny is actually going to take this -- these doctors' advice?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The short answer to that is no. Late last night I was in communication with his chief of staff and his response to exactly that question was I don't know.
Now, we may be able to get more sense of which direction Mr. Navalny is going to go in this literally life or death decision in many ways -- which is also, of course, a political decision for him -- later on today if he's able to meet with his lawyers and receive the sort of information that everybody else has, which is the advice from his own doctors based on the survey of his health by a team of independent doctors at a civilian hospital, which indicate that he is in imminent danger of renal collapse, neurological damage and, indeed, of possible heart stoppage. In short, he could die if he continues with his hunger strike.
Now, you'll recall that his hunger strike was over access to independent medical healthcare. He has, in some limited way, had that but it may not be going far enough as far as he's concerned, not least because he's still effectively under treatment for the Novichok nerve agent poisoning he endured back in August last year, which the United States and his own movement, and the European Union have blamed on the government of Vladimir Putin.
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JARRETT: But, I mean, the situation for his health is quite serious. He's facing potential renal failure and heart issues. So I know you're watching this closely, but very disturbing. All right, Sam, thank you.
All right, T minus just almost nine minutes. Four astronauts, the launch, the blastoff, history. It's coming up next.
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ROMANS: All right, 5:44 eastern time. Live pictures from the Kennedy Space Center. We're just minutes away from the launch of the Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station.
The four astronauts -- they are on board. They are on board that spacecraft. They are -- they are ready to go.
JARRETT: Back with now is CNN innovation and space correspondent Rachel Crane, live at Cape Canaveral for us.
Rachel, walk us through. What are the astronauts actually going to be doing during this trip? I always wonder what they're actually doing up there. Are they collecting data? What's happening?
[05:45:06]
RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, they're really busy while they are on this flight. They're collecting data.
But they're also -- important to remember, they need to sleep. This is about a 24-hour journey before they rendezvous with the International Space Station. So, of course, they'll be doing all kinds of data checks.
But one thing to point out though, Laura, is there's not much in terms of piloting the spacecraft because it's designed to fly autonomously, meaning that it can kind of fly on its own.
But right now, Laura, I want to bring you up to speed on where we are on the tick-tock here before this launch. We're under just about three minutes before launch.
You can see the rocket -- the vaporization of the liquid oxygen, which is the fuel and the RP-1. That's what that smoke is that's coming off of the rocket, so that's totally normal. That's what you expect to see on the crewed launches as well as the cargo missions. And there's over a million pounds of propellant loaded into this system here.
Important to point out that the rocket -- the Falcon 9 -- you can see scorch marks and soot on it. That's because it's already flown to space. It was the exact same booster that flew Crew-1 to the International Space Station back in November.
And also another first. That space capsule -- space capsule -- spacecraft Endeavor has also already flown to space. That was the space capsule that brought Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station on that historic Demo-2 mission back in May of 2020.
What's really interesting to note is Megan McArthur, who is the NASA astronaut that is piloting this mission -- Bob Behnken is her husband. So she's actually sitting in the exact same seat that her husband did almost a year ago, flying this historic flight.
This is, of course, the third crewed mission for SpaceX and their Crew Dragon. This is all, of course, part of a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to take over these ferry missions back and forth to the International Space Station. We've been reliant on the Russians since 2011, when the space shuttle program was retired, to get our astronauts back and forth to the International Space Station.
So this has really been a historic program -- the commercial crew program, relying on the commercial sector to take over for these ferry missions back and forth to the International Space Station so NASA can focus more on those deep space missions. Going back to the moon. Going back to -- and going to Mars. And NASA is hoping to bring us back to the moon as early as 2024. That's part of the Artemis mission.
And you asked earlier about what they're going to be doing on this journey. Well, one of the things that they're doing on the space station is doing a lot of experiments -- over 200 of them. And some of those experiments are intended specifically to look into the kinds of systems they're going to need to pull off that Artemis mission and hopefully get to that 2024 date.
But Laura, I am -- I've got to tell you, I have crazy launch butterflies in my stomach right now. You can feel the mood shifting here at Kennedy Space Center, everybody sort of gravitating and looking towards the rocket because we know this is about to take off any second. I'm going to -- I'm going to stop talking so we can pay attention to the NASA feeds and watch this extraordinary mission take flight.
JARRETT: Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Dragon and can issue an abort if necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FTS is armed. Falcon 9 is in startup and is now controlling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon is in countdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, 50 seconds to go. Everything is ready for an on-time launch today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, go for launch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, go for launch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ground teams are ready and the crew inside Dragon is ready. Thirty seconds to go until launch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: T minus 30 seconds. T minus 15 seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition and liftoff of Endeavor and Crew 2.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, one alpha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Endeavor launches once again. Four astronauts from three countries on Crew 2 now making their way to the one and only International Space Station. The vehicle is pitching downrange, nine engines on the first stage providing 1.7 million pounds of thrust. Hearing good calls for first stage performance so far.
[05:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are T plus 30 seconds into the second rotational crew mission onboard Dragon and Falcon 9. Falcon 9 will be throttling down the nine Merlin engines shortly here in preparation for -- in preparation for maximum dynamic pressure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throttle down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's that callout for the throttle down. Maximum dynamic pressure max q is the largest structural load that the vehicle sees throughout assent, so throttling down does help us pass -- throttling down helps us pass through this period which should be coming here shortly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Max q.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is that callout that we have just passed through max q.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage one, throttle up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, bravo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, one bravo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, one bravo is the second abort mode on the first stage. The first stage continues to fire for two minutes, 35 seconds. One and a half minutes into today's flight. Falcon 9 now traveling at more than 1,500 miles an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the engine chill started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, the engine chill for the second-stage single Merlin engine has started. About 30 more seconds of the first stage firing to bring our four astronauts into orbit. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now from here, coming up in about 20-some seconds
we're going to have three major milestones. We'll have shutdown of the nine Merlin engines. We are beginning to throttle them down. We will then get stage separation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine nine throttle down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we will get ignition of the second-stage engine that propelled Dragon and the Falcon 9 second stage into orbit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two alpha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, two alpha. (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have ignition of the second stage. You see the green flash of that TEA-TEB fluid. The expansion nozzle on the second stage Merlin vacuum flowing that bright red that we like to see. Good performance on the second stage, so far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And on the left side of your screen we saw the exhaust of the second-stage engine streaming past the first stage as the grid fans are coming out. We also briefly had a view of the lights of central Florida in the background.
Currently, the first stage is continuing to coast up to apogee. It's unpowered. It will reach a peak height and then begin to descend back down toward the earth's atmosphere where it will light three engines to slow down in preparation for what will be a landing burn on the drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
You can see the grid fans are deployed right now. The first stage pulsing --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, trajectory nominal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're pulsing the thrusters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Bermuda.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. A nominal trajectory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hear a callout from the crew, nominal trajectory. So we're beginning to move the first stage into position so it can do the entry burn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four minutes, 15 seconds into today's flight. Second stage propelling our four astronauts up the eastern seaboard. We'll continue to fire. It's a six-minute burn to deliver the astronauts into orbit. We'll wait for a cue for good orbital insertion after that.
Meanwhile, we will be hearing check-ins on the vehicle's trajectory and performance, as well as check-ins with some of the ground stations as it passes over throughout the six minutes of the second-stage firing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, trajectory nominal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. Nominal trajectory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting good views of both the first and second stage from the onboard cameras.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The New Hampshire tracking station has acquired the second stage telemetry signal. Meanwhile, the first stage has reached apogee and it's now beginning to descend from a height. It's currently about 167 kilometers up. In a few minutes, we will get the entry burn of the second stage -- of the first stage.
[05:55:15]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, trajectory nominal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. Nominal trajectory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on cue, those check-ins on the second stage performance once a minute. Everything's looking good on that second stage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Propulsion is nominal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage two continues to climb. The vehicle now exceeding 8,000 miles an hour at an altitude of about 124 miles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just about one minute from now we will begin the entry burn of the first stage. That would consist of lighting the center engine and then shortly afterwards two more engines for a three-engine burn to slow down the first stage in preparation for entering the earth's atmosphere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, trajectory nominal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. A nominal trajectory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another check-in. The crew confirming they're hearing the same thing. The vehicle exceeding or about to exceed about 10,000 miles per hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meanwhile, first stage down at 90 kilometers. It's getting ready. It will relight three engines for the entry burn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage two FTS is saved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got the center engine ignition and here come the two side engines. Now, this entry burn will last about 29 seconds. It's going to significantly slow down the vehicle in preparation for hitting the denser part of the earth's atmosphere.
Entry burn complete. We are down below 35 kilometers, continuing to look good on the first stage heading to the Atlantic Ocean for a landing on the drone ship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second stage is less than a minute away from cutoff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage two in terminal guidance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shannon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, Shannon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shannon called out at the back end of stage two -- a few seconds until cutoff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, launch escape system disarmed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Launch escape system disarmed, copy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, nominal orbit insertion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. Nominal orbital insertion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. The Falcon 9 second stage has done its job delivering our four crew into orbit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear the applause here in Hawthorne. We're waiting to get a video signal back from the drone ship. Of course, I still love you. And the view from the onboard camera -- we saw it just briefly. It looks like first stage on the drone ship. Getting views of the Dragon chart.
So the first stage is on the drone ship. It successfully landed. And more importantly, second stage is in a nominal orbit with the Dragon spacecraft getting ready for some important events coming up, Gary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. About two more minutes, the Dragon and the second stage of the Falcon 9 will be in a coast phase. It will take that long until the spacecraft separates from the Falcon 9. Of course, both now in a nominal orbit.
It's great to see some of the views of the earth as it passes by over the North Atlantic Ocean.
