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Isa Soares Tonight
Artemis II Crew Getting Close-Up Look at the Moon; Artemis II Crew Breaks Record for Farthest Distance Flight; Trump Warns that Iran Could be "Taken Out" in One Night; Trump Recounts Daring Rescue Mission of U.S. Airmen; Trump Issues New Threats to Iran. Aired 2:00-3p ET
Aired April 06, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello and a very warm welcome, everyone. I'm Isa Soares.
You have been listening to my colleagues you saw there in the U.S. after President Trump's news conference on Iran. We're going to have more on
that, on the development and the war in the Middle East in just a moment.
But first, as if really taking a page out of a "Star Trek" script, today the crew of the Artemis II moon mission is quite literally going where no
man has gone before. In just a matter of minutes, less than five minutes, in fact, the spacecraft will begin its flyby of the moon. It will take
about seven hours and will include a pass over the far side of the moon, an area human eyes have never seen before.
Just a short time ago, Artemis II set a new record for distance traveled from Earth. They are now about 250,000 miles, 400,000 kilometers from
Earth, beating the record held by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission.
And these were the scenes just moments ago as the crew surpassed that record. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From cabin of Integrity here as we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring
the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration.
We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most
importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Integrity, and congratulations to you and the rest of the Artemis II team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Quite a feat. Joining us now to provide some perspective on this historic day is Tim Peake. He's a retired British astronaut with the
European Space Agency who has spent nearly 200 days in space across his career. Tim, so grateful to have you on the show this historic day. In
about, what, four minutes or so, less than that, we'll see the fly by around the moon. Just explain to our viewers what that means in real terms
and what we're likely, potentially likely to see here.
TIM PEAKE, RETIRED ASTRONAUT, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY AND PODCAST HOST, "13 MINUTES PRESENTS: ARTEMIS II": Absolutely, yes. Thank you for letting me
join you on the show. And as you mentioned, about 45 minutes ago, the Artemis II crew broke that record set by the Apollo 13 crew so many years
before. They're still moving further away from the Earth and they're still moving closer towards the moon and they're going to be transiting around
the far side of the moon.
As they do so, that's going to take about seven hours in total. So, we've got the rest of the evening here in the U.K. to enjoy this. And they'll be
going from kind of daylight on the moon into darkness. And they'll also be seeing a solar eclipse, which is going to be fascinating.
So, for about 50 minutes there, they'll be able to observe that solar eclipse and they'll have a communications blackout for about 46 minutes as
well, where there'll be no communication with mission control. So, a lot's going to happen in the next seven hours.
SOARES: And I'll ask you about the -- you know, the blackout in terms of that. That's fascinating, nerve-wracking at the same time. But in terms of
this seven-hour period, what exactly will they be looking for, Tim? Are there any specific kind of lunar targets on the moon they're trying to look
out for?
PEAKE: Absolutely, yes. When you link the human eye to the human brain, you get one of the best observation devices in the universe. And so, that's
why we have four crew members. They're going to be taking it in two-person shifts, using their cameras there to observe 15 major targets. They've
actually got a whole list of about 35 targets. This crew have been very, very well trained.
Dr. Kelsey Young is NASA's lead scientist. And she was just giving them a recent update as to where these targets are going to be and what kind of
interesting features they're looking for. And the kind of things they'll be able to pick out is the topography, the structure, the texture, but also
the color. The moon is not just black and white. There's a lot of color down there. And that can tell us a lot of things about the surface.
For example, Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17, he was the one who found the orange soil that told us that volcanic activity on the moon is much more
recent than we thought. So, they're going to be very busy. There's a lot to look at, a lot to photograph, a lot to document in a short period of time.
SOARES: And let me just pick your brain, because I was reading this, Tim. I'm not sure if there's any truth to this. But I was reading that in the
distance that astronauts will actually be observing is something like 4,070 miles from the moon. So, I mean, how good will their eyes be? I mean, how
do you think you can observe from so far away? Because I know we have sent probes before. So, how does that compare?
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PEAKE: They will be able to observe a lot of these features. I mean, the Orientale Basin, the OHM Basin, for example, they're large features, large
structures. And because the spacecraft is flying past these features at different lighting levels, they'll also get to see the shadow. And that
will give them an idea of the topography. You can already hear the excitement in their voices when they're seeing, you know, sort of mountain
ranges much, much higher than they expected them to be.
And they've got some great cameras up there. They've got the Nikon D5s. They've got the Z9 camera. And there are cameras all over the Orion
spacecraft as well. So, they're going to be getting a range of different images back. They've got some special cameras to use when they photograph
the solar eclipse, which is going to tell us a lot about the corona as well.
So, yes, I think with all the equipment they've got on board, it's going to be a real exciting package of science that's going to come back.
SOARES: Can I hear just -- you know, when we look -- when we talk about the near side of the moon to the far side of the moon, how different is it,
Tim? Talk to the topography on both sides, topography crossed, how different are both sides?
PEAKE: Well, the interesting thing is that, you know, we don't know as much about the far side as we do about the near side, because the near side
is always facing Earth. So, we've always been able to, you know, use telescopes to look at it and to gain information. Over 60 percent of the
far side of the moon has never been seen by human eyes. So, we are relying on those probes that we've had before and the images that they've taken.
So, to have four humans be able to see this, and they're also going to be able to see the North Pole, the South Pole of the moon, they'll be able to
even scope out potential landing sites for the future Artemis 4 mission. So, there's a whole array of different information.
But the two sides of the moon, I mean, they're not significantly different. It's obviously all one celestial body, but there are differences in terms
of craters, structures, potential volcanic activity, color shading, this kind of things.
SOARES: And, Tim, I just want to bring attention to our viewers who may have missed this earlier, of course. We saw a really touching moment on
Artemis II. I'm sure you were following it. As we heard that a crater being named Carroll, and I think that's in memory of the astronaut Reid Wiseman
's late wife, I believe who died from cancer back in 2020. Let's play it so you can hear it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we would like to call it Carroll. And you spell that C-A-R-R-O-L-L.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: And you can hear, Tim, his voice breaking, they're cleaning their eyes, just the emotion of that moment, the weight of that moment.
PEAKE: Absolutely. I did listen to that live. It was a very special moment, a very emotional moment. As Jeremy Hansen said there, we are a very
small-knit community. We all know each other's families. It was an incredibly sad moment when we lost Carroll. And so, to have a bright spot
on the moon named after Carroll is just wonderful. And I know that would have been incredibly special for not just the crew, but of course, for the
families back home.
SOARES: Very fitting indeed. Tim, really appreciate you coming on the show, Tim Peake. Thank you for staying with us, Tim. Thank you.
We are going to take a short break. We'll see you on the other side.
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SOARES: And if you're just joining, bringing up today to the breaking news this hour. An extraordinary new threats on Iran from the White House, as
President Donald Trump warns the entire country could be taken out tomorrow night. The U.S. president just spoke to reporters, as we've showed you, as
the clock ticks towards his Tuesday evening deadline of 8:00 p.m. Eastern for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump says if Iran
doesn't, it will have no bridges, no power plants, no anything, he says.
He insists he's not worried that attacks on critical civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes. Here's what he said just moments
ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, Mr. Trump also talked about the dramatic rescue mission of two U.S. airmen whose F-15 jet was shot down over Iran, who you recount had
daring operation to locate as well as extract the second service member from deep in the mountains over the weekend.
I want to go to retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks, who joins me now. Major General, great to have you on the show. Let me first
get your thoughts on what we heard from the U.S. President about that daring mission to rescue those two airmen. I was writing down what they
were saying. General Dan Caine said this was an extremely dangerous mission, very audacious indeed. Your thoughts?
MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.) AND HEAD OF GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY, ACADEMY SECURITIES: It truly was. I mean, we shouldn't be
surprised by the capability that the military can bring to bear. I would say it's unprecedented. Not many nations, if any other nations, can do
this. And it also is, it's about the reputation that the military has that we will not leave anyone behind, irrespective of cost. And let's be frank,
this was a very costly engagement, very high level of risk.
The number of individuals engaged at multiple levels and across the force is quite phenomenal. And he laid it out in as much detail as we can.
Clearly, this capacity, this capability will remain classified. And then we'll learn more about it, obviously, over the course of time.
What I heard from the president in terms of next steps are almost like anybody's guest. I really don't know how this is going to go, whether there
is sufficient evidence that where we are right now is good enough, or if it's now just back to what's called the air task order, which is just
walking through the targets that are available and then addressing those targets over the course of the next 24 hours. I mean, it really is up in
the air.
SOARES: We did hear president -- the president say we are dealing with them, talking about Iran. I think it's going well. We think they're
negotiating in good faith. But he did say -- of course, he mentioned that deadline approaching. Of course, that's Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And
now, president just doubling down, saying, you know, they'll decimate and they will strike power plants and bridges, basically civilian
infrastructure. Is this a real military option, you think, or do you think this is a bluff?
MARKS: No, it's a real military option. I mean, obviously, what overhangs all of this is the legality of it. I have to leave that to somebody else to
determine. Truly, this is an electric power attack, or it's what I would describe as a mobility attack. If you start cutting off, dropping bridges
throughout the nation, you've now isolated pockets of individuals. Commerce can't take place. Communications now is completely degraded. That just kind
of brings up the level of pressure that everybody feels.
I think where we are is truly there are really two things. The Straits of Hormuz as a defining element right now in this fight. Can you ensure safe
passage? And there are ways to do that. And then on the other hand, it's the Iranian people. If there really is a desire to change the regime,
irrespective of what has been labeled, the regime in place right now looks very much like the regime that was there before, except it's immensely
weakened.
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It's immensely chaotic. Nobody really knows who's in charge. And I don't think anybody wants to raise a hand to say, hey, I'm in charge and then go
outside to take a smoke break or get a breath of fresh air because that person is going to get killed.
It's very, very difficult to know what type of voices we are hearing from the regime. But if you're really enthusiastic about the Iranian people, and
about 70 percent of those 90 million are fed up with the regime as it existed over the course of 50 years, if you're looking for some type of
resistance, you got to give them an opportunity. And cutting off their power, I think, does not do that.
So, it really goes back to Straits of Hormuz. That's an off ramp for Iran. If they can continue to pump oil, they're 3 million barrels a day through
the Straits, that's good for them. I think they would enjoy that. That's money in their pocket to start to rebuild. And it would be good for the
United States as well, because we've been able to achieve a military effect on the ground. And every decision going forward is political.
SOARES: Major General, I really appreciate you coming on the show. It's been a very busy hour of breaking news. Thank you very much. I really
appreciate it.
MARKS: Thank you.
SOARES: Well, do stay right here, I'll be back with "What We Know" in just a few moments.
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