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Deep Impact Success; Baghdad Hero Returns Home

Aired July 04, 2005 - 13:29   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: LIVE FROM, live from Control B. Here it is, where all the action is.
Moving on now, "Deep Impact," a 1998 movie starring Robert Duvall. We're not talking about that "Deep Impact."

Not ashamed to admit that I don't know much or understand a lot about what happened overnight, this sort of demolition derby in the skies, but Daniel Sieberg says it was a really big deal.

So, Daniel, I'm watching, listening and hopefully learning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a very happy Fourth of July for scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. High-fives all around over these striking images, the first ever of a manmade object colliding with a comet, a dramatic explosion 83 million miles from Earth that occurred at 1:52 a.m. Eastern. NASA predicted plus or minus three minutes, but in the end, it was right on the money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people said we couldn't do this... XXX comet, a dramatic explosion 83 million miles from Earth that occurred at 1:52 a.m. Eastern.

SIEBERG: NASA predicted plus or minus three minutes, but in the end, it was right on the money.

RICK GRAMMIER, DEEP IMPACT PROJECT MANAGER: A lot of people said we couldn't do this or wouldn't be able to pull it off. And the team stuck together through a lot of adversity and problems to work out, and made it happen. And it happened like clockwork. And I think that's something to be proud of on America's birthday.

SIEBERG: Deep Impact was launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket in January. After 173 days and 268 million miles, the NASA spacecraft had comet Tempel 1 in its sights. Twenty-four hours to impact, the 11-foot craft was about 500,000 miles from Tempel 1 when it released a small copper-fortified probe into the path of the comet.

Scientists back on Earth steered the mother ship into a front-row position about 5,000 miles away to take close pictures of the impact event. The Impactor probe was on autopilot for the final two hours, course correcting for a head-on collision, producing an explosion comparable to five tons of TNT and leaving a crater that could be the size of a football field, though NASA is still looking at the data. MICHAEL A'HEARN, DEEP IMPACT CHIEF SCIENTIST: Interpreting that's going to take a little bit of time. There are lots of structure in it that's of interest to understanding the nature of the comet. We'll be working that out over the next half-day, and weeks, and months, and years. And I just look forward to a wealth of data that will take me to retirement.

SIEBERG: The fly-by ship took these pictures of the collision, debris and crater. This glimpse beneath the surface of a comet was the whole purpose of the mission.

(on-screen): Scientists call comets "undercooked leftovers" from the sprawling cloud of dust and gas that formed our sun and planets more than 4.5 billion years ago. They hope this up-close look will provide a look back in time. Studying the ingredients of a comet could provide answers to basic questions about the origins of our solar system.

Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forty-nine hot dogs eaten in only 12 minutes. It happened here in Coney Island. We'll have all the details coming straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. We are hearing from the attorney of Deepak Kalpoe. He is one of the three suspects being held in Aruba in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Let's listen to that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY OOMEN, ATTORNEY FOR DEEPAK KALPOE: I believe in his innocence. And it's just a matter of time.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Do you have any sense of the judge's feeling towards what you had to say?

OOMEN: No, he is an impartial person who listens to both sides. And he'll make his decision either in the course of today or tomorrow morning.

QUESTION: How is your client feeling today?

OOMEN: My client is OK, yes. He's very optimistic about the outcome.

QUESTION: Did he tell you anything about going to the beach yesterday?

OOMEN: No, well, just briefly that he went to the beach. That's all.

QUESTION: But do you think they're concentrating more on Deepak and Joran? It doesn't seem like they're questioning Satish as much./

OOMEN: No, I can't comment on that.

QUESTION: About how long did the hearing take for your client?

OOMEN: I think about 45 minutes. I don't watch the clock.

(CROSSTALK)

OOMEN: I don't know. It could be more. It could be less.

QUESTION: When do you anticipate an answer?

OOMEN: Like I said, probably this afternoon or otherwise tomorrow morning. But I think the judge is going to take a decision this afternoon, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Did the prosecutor present text messages and e-mail evidence today?

OOMEN: What was presented, in my view, is beneficiary, is good for my client.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And there you have it, the attorney for Deepak Kalpoe, one of the three suspects being held in Aruba in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Rudy Oomen is the attorney, and we're expecting to hear later today on whether or not the three suspects will be held, bound over for another 60 days, as they can be held under Aruban law, as the prosecutors continue to build a case against those three men. Just moments ago, the attorney for Deepak Kalpoe talking about the state of his client right now.

Army National Guard Specialist William Brooks lost both of his legs when his convoy rolled over an IED in Baghdad in late March. Last week, Specialist Brooks returned home to a hero's welcome in South Haven, Mississippi.

He says he has maintained a positive outlook thanks to a loving family, loyal friends and a supportive community. Specialist Brooks has taken time out from his two-week leave to share his thoughts on this Fourth of July.

Good to see you. Good to see you, William.

SPEC. WILLIAM BROOKS, U.S. ARMY: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Hey, how are you?

BROOKS: I'm doing good. I'm doing real good. HARRIS: It's a basic question, but given everything that you've been through, how are your spirits?

BROOKS: My spirits are real good. Just all my friends and family here made it real easy for me to come home. I'm just so excited to be home and really couldn't be any better, considering what's happened.

HARRIS: The choice between being bitter about what happened to you and sort of accepting and moving on, my understanding is that you don't feel bitter about what has happened here?

BROOKS: No, I don't feel bitter at all. Very honored to have served my country, very honored to do my part. I'm not going to be bitter about something that I chose to do, and, knowing the risk involved, I signed up anyway.

And like I said, very proud of my service, very proud of my brigade that's over there now still serving in Iraq. And you can either choose to be bitter, or you can choose to be happy, and grateful to be alive, and thank God I'm alive.

HARRIS: Let me pursue the bitterness question for just another moment here. You are 23-years-old, correct?

BROOKS: That is correct.

HARRIS: And you are going to live for the rest of your life without your legs?

BROOKS: Well, that's right. But you know what? I'm going to get prosthetic legs. And with the graceness of God, and the help that I've been getting at Walter Reed, the wonderful therapists that I have, they make sure and they're going to push me to walk again.

So it's not a question whether I walk again. Yes, they won't be my legs, but you know what? It's better than being sitting in a wheelchair the rest of my life and feeling sorry for myself.

HARRIS: Yes, very good. Describe the level of support you've received from family. And as we look at this homecoming, it has to be heartwarming for you.

BROOKS: Oh, it's very heartwarming. My community is awesome. The whole Memphis area, the outpouring of support, you know, I couldn't have asked for anything better.

HARRIS: Did you expect it? Did you expect such a...

BROOKS: You know, I don't want to sound egotistical, but I expected it just because of what a wonderful community we have, you know, so patriotic down here and supportive of us. Regardless of your views on the war or not, the people down here, especially in the South, just so supportive. Like I said, it's wonderful.

HARRIS: But, William, what does that mean? We hear that a lot, that family -- and we expect family to be supportive -- but when we talk about communities being supportive, what does it mean, in your case? What have members of this community done to help make this transition for you smoother?

BROOKS: Well, Reeds Williams (ph), the local builder here, started a campaign to help rebuild my house. They gutted the house to make it wheelchair-accessible for me, as well as my dad that's handicapped, because he was in a wreck two-and-a-half years ago.

And so they took the initiative and started, you know, a community outpouring of support to redo the house. People have donated their time, money, and totally free of charge to us, and totally redo the house, so when I do come home from Walter Reed that I'll be able to get in and out of the restroom and through my house with ease. And it's just been wonderful, wonderful.

HARRIS: You need to talk for a moment about your mom. She has been taking care of your dad, who you mentioned just a moment ago was in a wreck. What was that, a couple years ago? Was it 2002?

BROOKS: Yes, it was, yes, 2002, November, the day before Thanksgiving 2002.

HARRIS: Talk about your mom, and, man, how strong is she?

BROOKS: Well, my mom is a wonderful woman. She is, like I said, the rock of the family, as I said before. She takes care of me and my dad, doesn't complain about it. Just, you know, no matter how bad we feel, you know, she doesn't let you see how she feels. She just does an outstanding job, outstanding.

HARRIS: William, what have you learned about yourself through all of this?

BROOKS: I've learned that, you know, if you had asked me before my legs got taken off if I'd be able to live with it, I'd probably told you no. But I've learned that, no matter what life hands you, God always gives you the strength to carry it through, doesn't give you anything you can't handle. So I'm a perfect example of that, and I'm going to live by that.

HARRIS: Specialist William Brooks, thanks for taking time this Fourth of July.

BROOKS: Thank you.

HARRIS: We'll take a break and come back with more LIVE FROM right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The story of saving Private Lynch lifted the spirit of Americans in the early days of the war in Iraq. Nineteen-year-old Jessica Lynch was a supply clerk in the Army's 507th Maintenance Company when it was ambushed. Her dramatic recovery nine days later from an Iraqi hospital became instant legend, but later some of the facts surrounding her capture and rescue were stretched by the military.

PRIVATE JESSICA LYNCH, RESCUED DURING IRAQ WAR: I was definitely a little angry at the whole stories, because it wasn't the truth, and I wasn't going to allow myself to sit there and let a lie kind of build.

O'BRIEN: She came home with a broken body but a new-found celebrity status. Jessica was everywhere. She helped write a book called "I Am a Soldier, Too" and was the subject of a TV movie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see that first sergeant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LYNCH: I don't consider myself a hero. I don't consider myself anything higher than a soldier who was doing my job in the military.

O'BRIEN: Jessica is now 22-years-old and will soon retire from the military. She plans on attending college this fall to become a teacher. She still walks with a cane, has no feeling in her left foot, and undergoes daily physical therapy.

LYNCH: I am the former prisoner of war. That is how people recognize me, but that's not all I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Oh, it wouldn't be the Fourth of July without one of the day's more disgusting traditions, Nathan's famous annual hot dog eating contest on New York's Coney Island. For the fifth straight year, 144-pound champion Takeru Kobayashi from Japan comes away with the title.

Our Allan Chernoff is live on Coney Island with the wrap-up -- Allan?

CHERNOFF: An incredible feat of digestive prowess. Forty-nine hot dogs eaten in only 12 minutes. As you said, Tony, once again, Takeru Kobayashi taking home the mustard-yellow international belt back to Japan for the fifth consecutive year.

Now, we do have, however, a new American record. Sonya Thomas was able to eat 37 hot dogs.

How do these competitors do it? What they do is they take the hot dog, and they split it in half, then shove it in. We have Sonya Thomas with us right now to explain the technique.

Sonya, first of all, congratulations on setting a new American record.

SONYA THOMAS, HOT DOG EATING CONTESTANT: Thank you very much.

CHERNOFF: How do you do it? We've got the hot dog. You split it in half. What do you do from there?

THOMAS: No, I just eat separately...

CHERNOFF: Separately?

THOMAS: ... separately dog.

CHERNOFF: So you eat the dog separately. Just put it right in. Oh, there we go. This is incredible to see it up close and personal once again, followed by the bun.

THOMAS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: Now, Sonya, I hate to ask you to speak while you're eating, but I'm going to have to. What you normally do is you stick the bun into some water and then you eat it?

THOMAS: Then just swallow.

CHERNOFF: OK, but I guess you can't put too much water in, right? How do you know how much water? How do you pull that off?

THOMAS: Just dump it quick, very quickly, then just swallow.

CHERNOFF: Very quick? Was this a tough competition for you this year?

THOMAS: Yes, it was a little bit difficult contest this year.

CHERNOFF: Now, Sonya, I understand you manage a McDonald's restaurant back home in Virginia?

THOMAS: No, not a McDonald's! Burger King.

CHERNOFF: A Burger King, excuse me, Burger King.

THOMAS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: Do you prefer hamburgers to hot dogs or hot dogs?

THOMAS: A hot dog is preferred. Yes, I love them.

CHERNOFF: That's your thing?

THOMAS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: Now, tell me, Kobayashi was a little slower this year than last year. You were a little faster. What made the difference for you?

THOMAS: I have a goal for -- I want to be a number one in the world. So I practice. You know, I have a problem with speed, like speed, my speed has really the problem. And last year, so I working on more speed.

CHERNOFF: How do you train? How exactly do you train? THOMAS: Train, I try to get small piece and then swallow fast.

CHERNOFF: So a lot is in the swallowing. A little bit of chew and then you swallow?

THOMAS: The swallow. Yes, that's correct, yes.

CHERNOFF: OK, and I saw one last point. You were slowing down near the end. What happened to you, Sonya?

THOMAS: I think my jaw getting tired, my jaw string is getting tired chewing.

CHERNOFF: So right now, we finished the competition. It's about 45 minutes after the end of the competition. Does your stomach hurt, or does your jaw hurt, or both?

THOMAS: Stomach actually doesn't hurt, but my jaw is tired. I can tell.

CHERNOFF: Sonya, what are you having for dinner?

THOMAS: Maybe tonight I'm going to eat a light dinner, like salad...

CHERNOFF: No more hot dogs for some time?

THOMAS: Not hot dogs right now.

(LAUGHTER)

CHERNOFF: Well, Sonya Thomas, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations on your new American record.

THOMAS: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

CHERNOFF: Tony, after an event of this magnitude, frankly, if New York were to win the Olympic Games of 2012 in two days, it really probably would be just a little let-down after such a great event here. Back to you.

HARRIS: And now we'd have a new Olympic event.

Allan, I'm passing up about a thousand snappy one-liners based on that report just to get us to break. I'm going to thank you and tell everyone we'll be back with more of LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN: New video of Joran Van Der Sloot in Aruba. He is one of the three suspects being held in Aruba in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. There you see him in a car there with sunglasses on in the backseat.

A judge will decide later today -- as you know, there was a hearing that wrapped up inside the hour. A judge will decide later today if Joran Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers will be held for another 60 days, as prosecutors continue to build a case against them in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

We'll have more on the case in Aruba in the next hour of LIVE FROM.

Also coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, we expect to hear more from Idaho authorities on the case of the Groene children. We'll talk you live to the news conference when it starts, also ahead.

Killed for an iPod? A pair of teens are charged. The rest of the story when LIVE FROM returns right after this.

First, here's meteorologist Brad Huffines in the CNN Weather Center.

Oh, we apologize for that. We'll get to Brad in the second hour of LIVE FROM. First, a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Nation's weather today, looking at the travel delays, a big problem. Later tonight, especially, in the red states here from Michigan down through the Plains, travel trouble spots there, but for the rest of the country outside of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the southeast, traveling shouldn't be an issue across most of the United States today.

Let's take a look at the current airport delays. Lots of people getting from here to there today. Airport delays in Atlanta and also in Chicago, and expected weather delays today around the United States, especially across the New England states shouldn't be an issue because of the gorgeous weather up the northeast.

And the southeast and Midwest, that's where we expect to see the weather travel trouble spots because of the developing thundershowers in places like, Detroit, St. Louis, and Chicago. Down south, delays expected in Dallas, Atlanta, and Orlando. And out west, because of high traffic volume, delays are going to be a problem from San Francisco down to Los Angeles.

Now, that's not the only weather trouble spot that we're looking at right now, with high temperatures across the south near 100 degrees today again. Cool in the north. Cool in the northeast.

Tomorrow's high temperatures, again, hot from the desert southwest down through parts of the Lone Star State. And in sections of the southeast, highs in the 80s. But this is one to watch. This could be Tropical Storm Cindy in the next few days coming off the Yucatan into the Gulf of Mexico. All gulf interests need to be prepared for the arrival of what could be a tropical storm or a weak hurricane sometime later this week.

We'll go back to CNN LIVE FROM coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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