Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Iraqi Forces Launch Baghdad Operation; Bush Speaks at Memorial Day Ceremony; Mother Remembers Fallen Son; Remembering the Challenger, Columbia Tragedies
Aired May 30, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Operation Lightning" is under way. Can Iraqi forces rid the streets of their capital of insurgents? A report from the scene is straight ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present arms!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: A full day of remembrance. U.S. troops who gave their lives for freedom, honored across the country today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.
GRACE CORRIGAN, CHRISTA MCAULIFFE'S MOTHER: My husband looked out, and you could see the shuttle. You could see icicles on it. And he said then, he said, "You know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Two terrible days we'll never forget, the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. Part of our look back at 25 years of CNN.
And she's the real thing, folks. Maybe she didn't win the race, but Indy star Danica Patrick won respect on the track. Inside the historic race this hour.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien, going alone on this Memorial Day. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Memorial Day at war. Americans reflect on servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price on a day, in a month, at a time when so many remain in so much danger so far from home. Danger of the sort that killed 27 Iraqi police and civilians today, maybe more, in Hilla, just south of Baghdad.
Tandem suicide attacks targeted police recruits and former cops, who were protesting their dismissals. No U.S. troops were hurt there, but 70 have lost their lives this month alone to a die-hard insurgency that Iraqi forces are confronting like never before. That's called Operation Lightning, and CNN's Jane Arraf is watching with the U.S. Special Forces at Camp Victory in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Iraqi security operation to date is underway. Operation Lightning in Baghdad is coming to fruition, according to Iraqi officials.
Here in the capital, up to 40,000 Iraqi troops, soldiers and police, are running the outskirts of the city, controlling access, and inside the city setting up checkpoints, doing raids, making arrests, rounding up people without proper documents.
According to the deputy commander of multinational forces here in Iraq, it's needed to combat an increasingly sophisticated insurgency.
BRIG. GEN. DANIEL BOLGER, U.S. ARMY: It's a sign of a positive trend, but there's definitely an enemy force here in Baghdad that has to be dealt with. That's why the Iraqis and the coalition forces, Americans primarily here at Baghdad, are working so hard against them.
ARRAF: So far what Iraqis have seen are increased checkpoints on some of the main roads. This operation, backed by considerable numbers of U.S. forces in the capitol, will be moving from sector to sector and then taking on other cities in the country.
All this against a backdrop of Memorial Day, commemorating here at what used to be one of Saddam's main palaces, now, the main military headquarters for the U.S.-led multinational forces. At a ceremony earlier on this day, they sang songs...
(MUSIC)
ARRAF: ... played music, shared the names of those who had died over the past year, 701 of them, Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen. It took almost five minutes to post the names up on that screen.
Soldiers here and the commanders we talked to say that Memorial Day for them is something that happens every day. They never forget those who have fallen.
Jane Arraf, CNN reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: On the home front, the holiday draws the leaders and the loved ones of the fallen to hallowed ground. The U.S. Marine Memorial, which commemorates the Battle of Iwo Jima, Veterans Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknowns. President Bush upheld tradition this morning at Arlington National Cemetery. CNN's Bob Franken with more on that -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a tradition that is based on the sad admiration of a nation for all of those thousands who have died in the wars of the United States. This is the Tomb of the Unknown, which was constructed after World War I, and it contains, of course, those who -- the remains of those who have not been identified. Every year, the tradition goes, the commander in chief comes and he lays a wreath to give the nation's gratitude and also, of course, gives remarks.
President Bush this morning making it very clear that the war for the U.S. is not just history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're fighting a new war against an enemy that threatens the peace and stability of the world. Across the globe, our military is standing directly between our people and the worst dangers in the world. And Americans are grateful to have such brave defenders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And, of course, this war is controversial. These wars are controversial, as some have been in the past, but there is no controversy, Miles, over the gratitude of an entire nation -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Bob Franken at the White House, thank you very much.
The headstones look alike, says President Bush, but each honors a singular sacrifice, someone precious and irreplaceable, someone such as Marine Corporal Stephen Rintamaki, 21 years old, of Lynnwood, Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stephen was killed in Iraq September 16 of 2004. He was just finishing up what he called a keeping the peace mission, and that's where they go out with their Humvee, and they were passing a donkey cart, kind of a innocuous situation, just driving along. And they were about five minutes from base, returning to base, and either -- it was either a suicide bomb or a remote -- remotely detonated bomb that exploded.
Last year after coming home for Christmas, he went back to Hawaii and volunteered for Iraq and then went back down to Camp Pendleton and joined 31, and trained for Iraq, and then shipped out to Iraq in June of last year.
It was kind of a shock to the family that he chose to volunteer, because he actually would have spent that fourth year in Hawaii. He had just gotten back off deployment just prior to Christmas. So he would have had a pretty cush (sic) time, I think, for his fourth year.
But I think his Marine brothers called, and his commitment to being a Marine. What he told us was that this is what he was trained to do.
Daily I actually think he's still alive. I think he's there, and I have to remind myself that, no, he's not. I can pretend he's off on deployment, and that's why, actually, I'm going down to Camp Pendleton when the battalion comes in. In a way to, No. 1, welcome the other guys home and to say thank you for, you know, being there with my son, working with my son, knowing my son, and also caring for my son while he was there. But also to make sure my son isn't going to get off that plane, you know, just verification.
When you know -- you know that's true, in your mind, you know, but yet visually I need to see that.
I may look OK on the outside. I can function on the outside. I can get dressed. I can get up in the morning. I can go to work or I can go to school, but on the inside, it's -- it's a deeply turmoil that you have to reconcile his loss for what was gained.
And I'm not ever sure that you come to a conclusion on that reconciliation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Memorial Day 2005.
Still ahead this hour, it's been 25 years since CNN first went on the air. A good time to revisit some of the big stories we've covered over the years. Coming up, a look at two of the most heartbreaking moments ever carried live on this network. Remembering the astronauts who gave their lives in two shuttle disasters. That's straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
Also ahead, two Americans are charged with aiding al Qaeda. We'll bring you the latest on that, as well.
And avoid the soggy weather this holiday. Drag the grill inside and cozy up to Jacqui Jeras' weather forecast next. There's a lot of rain out there, folks.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, rain could dampen big Memorial Day plans across much of the country today. CNN's Jacqui Jeras, keeping an eye on it all from the weather center.
It's a grim map, isn't it, Jacqui?
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
News across America, a Florida doctor is one of two U.S. citizens charged with conspiring to support al Qaeda. Dr. Rafiq Abdul (ph) Sabir of Boca Raton and a New York martial arts arrested over the weekend. The two accused of -- agreed to help provide medical assistance to wounded terrorists and train others in hand-to-hand combat. Ohio authorities believe an 18-year-old is responsible for a murder-suicide that's left six dead and a community stunned. Seven were found shot in two neighboring farmhouses in Bellefontaine yesterday. One victim, a 15-year-old girl, survived. The sheriff says the alleged shooter was to have graduated from high school yesterday.
And an Arizona man visiting his son's grave when he was struck and killed by lightning. The 70-year-old man was found by cemetery workers yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, remember the looted treasures from the Iraqi museum? Find out why the director of that museum doesn't want some of the stolen stuff back.
Amazing but true. A ring tone rocks the British pop charts, leaving Coldplay cold and kind of played, frankly.
Just don't call him Cinderfella, OK? The inspiring true comeback story behind the must-see movie "The Cinderella Man." That's tomorrow on LIVE FROM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: This week CNN is taking a look back in history making -- marking events that have defined the past 25 years as part of the network's 25th anniversary.
Two events, the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters, particularly devastating to me, as they were to the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That day it was so bitterly cold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Launch of the 51-L mission planned for 11:38...
ZARRELLA: This was an enormous event. Because it was going to be the launch of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher in space.
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE, DIED IN CHALLENGER DISASTER: Teachers are excited about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was so effervescent and had a great personality and smile.
CORRIGAN: She just loved life, and she loved to encompass everybody around her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Big smiles today. CORRIGAN: I think that's really the reason why she was chosen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.
CORRIGAN: My husband looked out, and you could see the shuttle. You could see icicles on it, and he said then, he said, "You know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just getting in about three minutes. And they think they can do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are counting. The ice is cleared away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other networks had stopped covering shuttle launches. It had become routine. CNN, because we're a news network, went ahead and covered it. And so nobody else had it, and we did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, and liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger roll (ph), Challenger.
ZARRELLA: Watching the assent of the vehicle, and it goes up, and -- it was normal.
TOM MINTIER, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the 25th space shuttle mission is now on the way.
ZARRELLA: Then you hear the call from NASA...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenger (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction.
ZARRELLA: Everybody was waiting for Challenger to emerge from behind the cloud of smoke that we could see. Of course, it never was going to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. The director confirms that. We are looking at recovery to see what can be done at this point.
ZARRELLA: First thing I did was just, quick, run up and get on the phone and try to report what I saw.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Silence. Get me into Zarrella. He's live at the cape.
ZARRELLA: Everybody's just stunned. They're in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Listen in.
ZARRELLA: You could hear the chaos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up in here. Open their mikes.
ZARRELLA: In the center of the fire and the smoke, you can't see anything.
There was much chaos in the newsroom, people yelling and screaming, as they was, you know, at the NASA press site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here are the spectators watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember a really gripping piece of video. It was a camera that was trained on Christa McAuliffe's parents. And as the shuttle exploded, the expression on her mom's face instantly changed to one of, "Oh, my God, what has happened?"
It was clear her father didn't quite grasp it, because he had a look of puzzlement. And then, when it was clear that he realized what had happened, it became a look of, "Oh, no."
CORRIGAN: Thinking back on it, I don't think it was that we didn't understand something very horrible had happened. I think it was the fact that we didn't want to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Setting down to the surface. Congratulations!
CORRIGAN: I think Christa would be very pleased to see the wonderful legacy that she has left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is mission control.
CORRIGAN: Challenger learning centers are wonderful, wonderful tools for education.
That trip wasn't successful, but Christa's mission really was. It is her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff.
CORRIGAN: Challenger was an education mission. She was going to teach lessons from space. So it's continuing the Challenger mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia finally after way.
O'BRIEN: After Challenger, you know, everybody paid a lot of attention to the launch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking no adrenaline.
O'BRIEN: Whew. The first 8 1/2 minutes were OK. We're home free.
Got a little problem on the space shuttle Columbia. It has been out of communication now for the past 12 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, we did not copy your last.
O'BRIEN: And, of course, 17 years later, it was just the other end of the mission. It was the re-entry.
Within a few minutes of the shuttle not appearing, WFAA fed that dramatic tape. I see multiple trails there. I count one, two, three, four -- it was obvious what we're watching was an in-flight breakup.
Within a short period of time, NASA officially announced that the crew was lost.
The real tragedy of the Columbia disaster is that, if you substituted foam striking the leading edge of the wing for o-rings in the solid rocket booster, it's an identical story to Challenger. They repeated the same mistakes 17 years prior.
Look at that piece, right there. What was that?
A problem cropping up, explaining it away, and then ultimately seeing that problem lead to a tragedy.
We were within two weeks of announcing that I was going to fly on the shuttle. We had put together a deal with NASA, and I knew on that date my dream was certainly deferred, probably over. But in the grand scheme of what was lost, that didn't amount to much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, as it stands right now, NASA plans to return to flight by the latter part of July. A crew of seven astronauts is set to launch to the aboard the shuttle Discovery, seen there on the pad a little while ago. It's back in the hangar now.
As always, CNN will be there with extensive live coverage during every phase of the mission.
Back with more LIVE FROM in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 30, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Operation Lightning" is under way. Can Iraqi forces rid the streets of their capital of insurgents? A report from the scene is straight ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present arms!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: A full day of remembrance. U.S. troops who gave their lives for freedom, honored across the country today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.
GRACE CORRIGAN, CHRISTA MCAULIFFE'S MOTHER: My husband looked out, and you could see the shuttle. You could see icicles on it. And he said then, he said, "You know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Two terrible days we'll never forget, the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. Part of our look back at 25 years of CNN.
And she's the real thing, folks. Maybe she didn't win the race, but Indy star Danica Patrick won respect on the track. Inside the historic race this hour.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien, going alone on this Memorial Day. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Memorial Day at war. Americans reflect on servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price on a day, in a month, at a time when so many remain in so much danger so far from home. Danger of the sort that killed 27 Iraqi police and civilians today, maybe more, in Hilla, just south of Baghdad.
Tandem suicide attacks targeted police recruits and former cops, who were protesting their dismissals. No U.S. troops were hurt there, but 70 have lost their lives this month alone to a die-hard insurgency that Iraqi forces are confronting like never before. That's called Operation Lightning, and CNN's Jane Arraf is watching with the U.S. Special Forces at Camp Victory in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Iraqi security operation to date is underway. Operation Lightning in Baghdad is coming to fruition, according to Iraqi officials.
Here in the capital, up to 40,000 Iraqi troops, soldiers and police, are running the outskirts of the city, controlling access, and inside the city setting up checkpoints, doing raids, making arrests, rounding up people without proper documents.
According to the deputy commander of multinational forces here in Iraq, it's needed to combat an increasingly sophisticated insurgency.
BRIG. GEN. DANIEL BOLGER, U.S. ARMY: It's a sign of a positive trend, but there's definitely an enemy force here in Baghdad that has to be dealt with. That's why the Iraqis and the coalition forces, Americans primarily here at Baghdad, are working so hard against them.
ARRAF: So far what Iraqis have seen are increased checkpoints on some of the main roads. This operation, backed by considerable numbers of U.S. forces in the capitol, will be moving from sector to sector and then taking on other cities in the country.
All this against a backdrop of Memorial Day, commemorating here at what used to be one of Saddam's main palaces, now, the main military headquarters for the U.S.-led multinational forces. At a ceremony earlier on this day, they sang songs...
(MUSIC)
ARRAF: ... played music, shared the names of those who had died over the past year, 701 of them, Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen. It took almost five minutes to post the names up on that screen.
Soldiers here and the commanders we talked to say that Memorial Day for them is something that happens every day. They never forget those who have fallen.
Jane Arraf, CNN reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: On the home front, the holiday draws the leaders and the loved ones of the fallen to hallowed ground. The U.S. Marine Memorial, which commemorates the Battle of Iwo Jima, Veterans Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknowns. President Bush upheld tradition this morning at Arlington National Cemetery. CNN's Bob Franken with more on that -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a tradition that is based on the sad admiration of a nation for all of those thousands who have died in the wars of the United States. This is the Tomb of the Unknown, which was constructed after World War I, and it contains, of course, those who -- the remains of those who have not been identified. Every year, the tradition goes, the commander in chief comes and he lays a wreath to give the nation's gratitude and also, of course, gives remarks.
President Bush this morning making it very clear that the war for the U.S. is not just history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're fighting a new war against an enemy that threatens the peace and stability of the world. Across the globe, our military is standing directly between our people and the worst dangers in the world. And Americans are grateful to have such brave defenders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And, of course, this war is controversial. These wars are controversial, as some have been in the past, but there is no controversy, Miles, over the gratitude of an entire nation -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Bob Franken at the White House, thank you very much.
The headstones look alike, says President Bush, but each honors a singular sacrifice, someone precious and irreplaceable, someone such as Marine Corporal Stephen Rintamaki, 21 years old, of Lynnwood, Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stephen was killed in Iraq September 16 of 2004. He was just finishing up what he called a keeping the peace mission, and that's where they go out with their Humvee, and they were passing a donkey cart, kind of a innocuous situation, just driving along. And they were about five minutes from base, returning to base, and either -- it was either a suicide bomb or a remote -- remotely detonated bomb that exploded.
Last year after coming home for Christmas, he went back to Hawaii and volunteered for Iraq and then went back down to Camp Pendleton and joined 31, and trained for Iraq, and then shipped out to Iraq in June of last year.
It was kind of a shock to the family that he chose to volunteer, because he actually would have spent that fourth year in Hawaii. He had just gotten back off deployment just prior to Christmas. So he would have had a pretty cush (sic) time, I think, for his fourth year.
But I think his Marine brothers called, and his commitment to being a Marine. What he told us was that this is what he was trained to do.
Daily I actually think he's still alive. I think he's there, and I have to remind myself that, no, he's not. I can pretend he's off on deployment, and that's why, actually, I'm going down to Camp Pendleton when the battalion comes in. In a way to, No. 1, welcome the other guys home and to say thank you for, you know, being there with my son, working with my son, knowing my son, and also caring for my son while he was there. But also to make sure my son isn't going to get off that plane, you know, just verification.
When you know -- you know that's true, in your mind, you know, but yet visually I need to see that.
I may look OK on the outside. I can function on the outside. I can get dressed. I can get up in the morning. I can go to work or I can go to school, but on the inside, it's -- it's a deeply turmoil that you have to reconcile his loss for what was gained.
And I'm not ever sure that you come to a conclusion on that reconciliation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Memorial Day 2005.
Still ahead this hour, it's been 25 years since CNN first went on the air. A good time to revisit some of the big stories we've covered over the years. Coming up, a look at two of the most heartbreaking moments ever carried live on this network. Remembering the astronauts who gave their lives in two shuttle disasters. That's straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
Also ahead, two Americans are charged with aiding al Qaeda. We'll bring you the latest on that, as well.
And avoid the soggy weather this holiday. Drag the grill inside and cozy up to Jacqui Jeras' weather forecast next. There's a lot of rain out there, folks.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, rain could dampen big Memorial Day plans across much of the country today. CNN's Jacqui Jeras, keeping an eye on it all from the weather center.
It's a grim map, isn't it, Jacqui?
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
News across America, a Florida doctor is one of two U.S. citizens charged with conspiring to support al Qaeda. Dr. Rafiq Abdul (ph) Sabir of Boca Raton and a New York martial arts arrested over the weekend. The two accused of -- agreed to help provide medical assistance to wounded terrorists and train others in hand-to-hand combat. Ohio authorities believe an 18-year-old is responsible for a murder-suicide that's left six dead and a community stunned. Seven were found shot in two neighboring farmhouses in Bellefontaine yesterday. One victim, a 15-year-old girl, survived. The sheriff says the alleged shooter was to have graduated from high school yesterday.
And an Arizona man visiting his son's grave when he was struck and killed by lightning. The 70-year-old man was found by cemetery workers yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, remember the looted treasures from the Iraqi museum? Find out why the director of that museum doesn't want some of the stolen stuff back.
Amazing but true. A ring tone rocks the British pop charts, leaving Coldplay cold and kind of played, frankly.
Just don't call him Cinderfella, OK? The inspiring true comeback story behind the must-see movie "The Cinderella Man." That's tomorrow on LIVE FROM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: This week CNN is taking a look back in history making -- marking events that have defined the past 25 years as part of the network's 25th anniversary.
Two events, the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters, particularly devastating to me, as they were to the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That day it was so bitterly cold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Launch of the 51-L mission planned for 11:38...
ZARRELLA: This was an enormous event. Because it was going to be the launch of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher in space.
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE, DIED IN CHALLENGER DISASTER: Teachers are excited about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was so effervescent and had a great personality and smile.
CORRIGAN: She just loved life, and she loved to encompass everybody around her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Big smiles today. CORRIGAN: I think that's really the reason why she was chosen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.
CORRIGAN: My husband looked out, and you could see the shuttle. You could see icicles on it, and he said then, he said, "You know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just getting in about three minutes. And they think they can do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are counting. The ice is cleared away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other networks had stopped covering shuttle launches. It had become routine. CNN, because we're a news network, went ahead and covered it. And so nobody else had it, and we did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, and liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger roll (ph), Challenger.
ZARRELLA: Watching the assent of the vehicle, and it goes up, and -- it was normal.
TOM MINTIER, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the 25th space shuttle mission is now on the way.
ZARRELLA: Then you hear the call from NASA...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenger (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction.
ZARRELLA: Everybody was waiting for Challenger to emerge from behind the cloud of smoke that we could see. Of course, it never was going to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. The director confirms that. We are looking at recovery to see what can be done at this point.
ZARRELLA: First thing I did was just, quick, run up and get on the phone and try to report what I saw.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Silence. Get me into Zarrella. He's live at the cape.
ZARRELLA: Everybody's just stunned. They're in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Listen in.
ZARRELLA: You could hear the chaos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up in here. Open their mikes.
ZARRELLA: In the center of the fire and the smoke, you can't see anything.
There was much chaos in the newsroom, people yelling and screaming, as they was, you know, at the NASA press site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here are the spectators watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember a really gripping piece of video. It was a camera that was trained on Christa McAuliffe's parents. And as the shuttle exploded, the expression on her mom's face instantly changed to one of, "Oh, my God, what has happened?"
It was clear her father didn't quite grasp it, because he had a look of puzzlement. And then, when it was clear that he realized what had happened, it became a look of, "Oh, no."
CORRIGAN: Thinking back on it, I don't think it was that we didn't understand something very horrible had happened. I think it was the fact that we didn't want to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Setting down to the surface. Congratulations!
CORRIGAN: I think Christa would be very pleased to see the wonderful legacy that she has left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is mission control.
CORRIGAN: Challenger learning centers are wonderful, wonderful tools for education.
That trip wasn't successful, but Christa's mission really was. It is her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff.
CORRIGAN: Challenger was an education mission. She was going to teach lessons from space. So it's continuing the Challenger mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia finally after way.
O'BRIEN: After Challenger, you know, everybody paid a lot of attention to the launch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking no adrenaline.
O'BRIEN: Whew. The first 8 1/2 minutes were OK. We're home free.
Got a little problem on the space shuttle Columbia. It has been out of communication now for the past 12 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, we did not copy your last.
O'BRIEN: And, of course, 17 years later, it was just the other end of the mission. It was the re-entry.
Within a few minutes of the shuttle not appearing, WFAA fed that dramatic tape. I see multiple trails there. I count one, two, three, four -- it was obvious what we're watching was an in-flight breakup.
Within a short period of time, NASA officially announced that the crew was lost.
The real tragedy of the Columbia disaster is that, if you substituted foam striking the leading edge of the wing for o-rings in the solid rocket booster, it's an identical story to Challenger. They repeated the same mistakes 17 years prior.
Look at that piece, right there. What was that?
A problem cropping up, explaining it away, and then ultimately seeing that problem lead to a tragedy.
We were within two weeks of announcing that I was going to fly on the shuttle. We had put together a deal with NASA, and I knew on that date my dream was certainly deferred, probably over. But in the grand scheme of what was lost, that didn't amount to much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, as it stands right now, NASA plans to return to flight by the latter part of July. A crew of seven astronauts is set to launch to the aboard the shuttle Discovery, seen there on the pad a little while ago. It's back in the hangar now.
As always, CNN will be there with extensive live coverage during every phase of the mission.
Back with more LIVE FROM in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
