Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
First Private Manned Space Flight Attempted; Judge to Make Decision on Chatty Juror in Peterson Trial
Aired June 21, 2004 - 11:00 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are straight up on 11 a.m. on the East Coast and 8 a.m. on the West. We're at CNN center in Atlanta. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We're going to begin this hour with an historic moment above the Mojave Desert in Southern California. It's the first private manned space flight. It is called Spaceship One.
Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has been following the mission as it unfolds this morning. A very important aspect and part of the mission right now -- Miles. Whoa, hello, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Whoa, yes, we're having our own little space ride trip here just to give people a sense of what's going on. We didn't get much of a heads up here, sorry about that.
We are -- They're coming down. That's all we can tell you right now. We do not know if, in fact, they reached that space barrier of 100 kilometers or 62.5 miles.
Some of the radio traffic indicates maybe some of the circuit breakers popped along the way, and the rocket might have shut down prematurely. In other words, the pilot, Mike Melvill, is reporting the rocket stopped sooner than -- as a matter of fact, he was supposed to turn it off and he didn't. It shut off.
Now, the question is did they have enough oomph to reach that threshold into space? We don't know if the record has been accomplished yet. We have not heard an altitude report.
In any case, where is he right now, Dick? Dick Rutan is the brother of Burt Rutan, the designer of this. He's been listening very closely to his friend, Mike Melvill, up there.
What are you hearing?
DICK RUTAN, BROTHER OF SPACESHIP ONE DESIGNER: Well, we've been monitoring. It's not really clear, but they ended up a little bit south of the bull's eye. We haven't really heard how high they went yet.
But he's on the recovery. They want to get him safe on deck.
O'BRIEN: Yes. RUTAN: And he's just right up there at about 25,000, 30,000 feet, eight miles. So he's in good shape for the landing.
O'BRIEN: All right. So there's no -- no issues about him getting back safely. The issue right now is just the question of why the rocket might have shut off and whether they made it to altitude.
RUTAN: OK. Mike's reporting that things seem to be OK.
O'BRIEN: OK. All right. At this juncture, then, when will they have an indication as to what altitude they've achieved?
RUTAN: Well, they know how high he went.
O'BRIEN: We just haven't heard yet.
RUTAN: We just haven't heard yet.
O'BRIEN: OK. So that might leave to us believe they didn't make it to space? It's possible?
RUTAN: No, I'm positive.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: The reason I think they made it is because of the higher G on reentry. Now the last time they came back from 200,000 feet and it was three and a half Gs. This time, Mike reported about five G's. So the higher the G on the reentry, the they have to go.
O'BRIEN: All right. Just to put that in layman's terms, that's the force of gravity, five times the force of gravity. And the higher you are, the higher that G load is as you come down.
So as they say, if he did three when he went to 211,000 feet, do the math on that. It's potentially -- It's possible he could have got...
RUTAN: There's a good chance. And I haven't -- like I said, I haven't heard yet.
What they're trying to do is get him back on safe -- get him back on deck safe.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: The thing is, if you think about it, you're way up there and the higher you hold the ball when you drop it the faster it's going to hit the ground.
O'BRIEN: There you go.
RUTAN: And so the higher he is, the faster he hits the atmosphere.
O'BRIEN: All right. And how soon will it be before he'll touch down here?
RUTAN: OK. Just a couple of minutes.
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's a couple of minutes away.
Let me just run through the animation real quick, Daryn, and explain this to you. And I'll run through the flight for you.
This is a 3-D model of the Spaceship One. It's 25 feet long. The pilot obviously sits up there in the front. He is located up in there, looking through some of those portholes.
And what happens is after it's dropped from the mother ship, the White Knight, that rocket goes. And as we just heard, that rocket might have shut up prematurely. We don't know why yet. Trying to figure that out.
But the idea was to run it for about 75 seconds, 1 minute, 15 seconds and then it was supposed to be turned off by the pilot, Mike Melvill.
And then, after that, it went into this mode. Which is, as you can see, the wings kind of unhinged there and that unhinging right in there allows it to drop like a shuttlecock, really kind of a care-free descent, except for the fact that you're feeling five times your normal weight, which was probably a little bit uncomfortable for Mike Melvill, although he's been training with those high G loads, as it's called.
What he's in now, the configuration he's in now is like this with the wings locked on once again. And what will happen is as he comes down, he'll slow down to about 90 knots or so. That landing gear will come out, and he should land very close to us, right where we stand right here.
Dick -- Dick Rutan, what is the -- keep that microphone handy. What is the hardest part about bringing this thing down on a glider landing?
RUTAN: Well, actually we're coming back with no power, and there's a fairly high rate of sink. And so he has to plan that just right to manage the energy so he arrives right at the touchdown point.
And he'll come in with the landing gear up most of the way, and right -- just before he lands he'll throw the gear out.
Now, the gear comes down with the bat of an eye. When he pushes a button, it down it goes bang and the gear comes out immediately.
O'BRIEN: Right.
RUTAN: So anyway, he's maneuvering for what we call the high key, and it's the high key position that everybody strives for. And so now we're within the glide path cone, if you would, to get him back in to land. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, he's about to come down. I'll send it back to you, Daryn, if you like, but we should be seeing him touch down here very shortly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, let's have a little bit of a conversation here, Miles, while we're waiting for that to happen.
For spacies like you this is cool stuff. But bigger picture here, explain to us the space race and the importance of this being in the private -- in the private sector.
O'BRIEN: well, I think, you know, it's a question of just where we're standing. We're out here in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Daryn. We're a long way, literally and figuratively, from the Kennedy Space Center.
And I think the point that a guy who has, you know, three or so hangars down the flight line here can put together a craft...
Did they say?
RUTAN: I think they just reported they went over 100 kilometers.
O'BRIEN: They just did. All right. You heard a little bit of history. They actually made it to space. We don't know why the rocket shut off too soon, but it doesn't matter. They still got into the history books here. Right?
RUTAN: Yes. The object of this was to go to 100 kilometers. And if they did that, in fact, and I hope they did, returning -- when Mike returns he is an astronaut, the first civilian astronaut.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, let's put that in perspective here, the fact that this $20 million program could do that is what is, I think, most significant about it, because it really does, I think, spur interest in the general public, and engages entrepreneurs out there who have thought about this for a long time.
Burt Rutan, has proved. Burt Rutan, the designer, his brother, has proved it can be done.
KAGAN: And there's also a big -- this is a race because there's a big prize out there for $10 million.
O'BRIEN: There is that, as well. Although that isn't -- Burt Rutan denies that what motivated him to get into this.
As a matter of fact, he started this program before he knew about the X Prize. The X Prize drill, for those who don't know about it, has been around for about eight years now.
And what happens is, the first civilian team, teams like this, that can fly to space twice in as many weeks with a craft that can carry the equivalent of three people, the team that can do that will win $10 million, a $10 million purse. And that has spurred numerous teams. There's about ten of them out there in various stages. Burt Rutan is clearly the front-runner here. This test today is not a part of an effort to win the X Prize. He's -- Assuming all goes well here today, he will probably -- he will announce what is going to be an effort to do that soon.
I think we have some pictures now of White Knight, which is the mothership, coming down.
KAGAN: We can see it.
O'BRIEN: And but I don't see myself from where I am. The White Knight vehicle is what carried the Spaceship One to altitude.
You see it Daryn? I don't see it now.
KAGAN: We can see it on our screen.
RUTAN: The White Knight will -- The White Knight will land after the spaceship comes in.
O'BRIEN: The White Knight will actually land after the spaceship. It's coming into the area.
Have you been able to spot the spaceship at all?
RUTAN: No, I haven't spotted him yet. But he has two chaser airplanes real close to him so he ought to be able to see it.
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
RUTAN: I was looking at the crowd to see where they were looking.
O'BRIEN: You never know.
KAGAN: The White Knight, there's somebody else piloting that, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, one of the test pilots in his program, as a matter of fact, Brian Binnie, is actually piloting it.
What's interesting about Burt Rutan's philosophy is the cockpit of the White Knight aircraft is identical to the Spaceship One cockpit. And so every time they fly this roll of getting the spacecraft to orbit, it's a little training mission for them.
So just one little example of how Burt Rutan's mind thinks. He has a sense of simplicity and a sense of keeping it simple, that I think serves him well.
KAGAN: Speaking of simplicity, you were describing earlier this morning that these crafts, actually, are somewhat primitive in how they're designed.
O'BRIEN: We are -- We were just talking about this earlier. Dick Rutan is with me. Unfortunately he can't hear you, Daryn. But we were talking about how this is a supersonic craft. It has wires and push rods.
RUTAN: That's right, wires and push rods. And he has to fly it with trim only in the supersonic.
O'BRIEN: So just to explain that, wires and push rods, that's what Charles Lindberg used in the Spirit of St. Louis. The last time we had a supersonic craft that did that was Chuck Yeager, the X-1.
When he's supersonic, you couldn't possible move the control surface. You don't have enough oomph to do that. So they have tiny little electric -- tiny flaps that move back and forth. They call them trim tabs, and he just kind of moves those electric motors ever so slightly when he's flying supersonic.
KAGAN: And finally, Miles, how far away are we from somebody like you or me being able to buying a ride on something like this?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I've been asking Burt pretty hard and heavy now, and what he keeps telling me is I've got the first passenger seat. So I haven't gotten a better response than that just yet.
But no, the truth of the matter, is this is a test program. There are many more tests that need to be conducted.
RUTAN: Miles, we...
O'BRIEN: What are you hearing?
RUTAN: Miles, we just transitioned from the high chase to the low chase.
O'BRIEN: OK.
RUTAN: And the low chase came down, and he's just looked him over, and everything looks pretty good. He said he heard a couple of pretty loud bangs, but the chase guys have checked him over so he should be in good shape to land him.
O'BRIEN: All right. So there were bangs when he was in power flight or...?
RUTAN: I don't know, but he said he just heard a couple of bangs.
O'BRIEN: OK. All right. That's always a little concerning.
RUTAN: And so those low guys are coming on board, and they're checking him over.
O'BRIEN: All right. So anyway, Daryn, you know, as far as a time frame for this, the question is, you know, how many people will want to license this technology?
Burt Rutan doesn't want to fly tourists himself. He wants this to spur on innovation, spur on entrepreneurs who'd, like, broker or fly tour extensions.
Now, you know, the question is, how many people out there would pay $100,000 or so to say they'd been to space for three minutes? I don't know. I mean, I'm not in that league. It's -- There are some people -- there are some people out there who'd love to say that at a cocktail party and have the money to do it for $100,000.
Now over time, as it becomes more routine, that price clearly could go down.
RUTAN: There they are. There they are, Miles.
O'BRIEN: We're seeing it now as it comes in. Yes, they're real high above us.
RUTAN: The spaceship and starship and the other chaser plane are right next to him.
O'BRIEN: The -- I'm hoping you can see that shot, Daryn. Can you see the three ships there in that shot? If you send me to the telestrator, I'll try to highlight it out, but basically, you've got up high is the spaceship.
KAGAN: We're not seeing that shot yet, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Let's just watch this flight of four coming in. The three -- there's the White Knight, two chase ships, and then you have the actual Spaceship One. It's coming right over our head right now.
We've heard of a premature shutdown of the rocket motor, a couple of bangs on the way down, enough to make us a little nervous about this approach.
What are you hearing right now, Dick Rutan?
RUTAN: Everything is in good shape. The chase airplane just looked him over, and he says he's in good shape.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: So it probably wasn't anything really serious.
O'BRIEN: All right. Right over our head, Daryn, I don't know if you can see that shot. I'm hoping you can. Can you?
KAGAN: OK.
O'BRIEN: It's right over the head, if the photographer can see it. It's right over our head. They're about to turn in for landing.
KAGAN: We're seeing the White Knight. Miles, we're going to have to take a quick break here. There they are. Now we can see.
RUTAN: He's in high key and going to continue the right-hand turn in to land.
O'BRIEN: He's going to drop pretty precipitously here, and we will see him in the ground very shortly.
KAGAN: One of the thing that's remarkable, Miles, you're explaining this spaceship has just gone up into space but it's going to land like a glider. It has no motor, right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, well, I mean, that is not unlike the shuttle. This is just an incredibly simplified version of the shuttle. The shuttle is a $2 billion or $3 billion hardware, depending on how you count. And this entire program cost $20 billion, which is about a 25th of the cost of one shuttle flight.
So yes, but the concept of coming in like a glider is a concept which obviously is good.
All right, now, I think we got everything there. I'm trying to point it out on the telestrator for you. I'm hoping we can see it.
KAGAN: Well, at -- one point about the shuttle, as incredible as this is, what they've done with so much less money, this did not do what the shuttle does. This was a suborbital flight.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Let's not forget that the last time anybody did one of these missions, there were two X-15 flights out here on the high desert that actually went beyond 100 kilometers, 62.5 miles.
But the two Mercury flights, the first two, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom's, were suborbital hops. They, of course, landed in the ocean off the Bahamas there, and then we went into orbital flight.
Now, the difference is worth pointing out. In order to obtain an orbital flight, you have to obtain a speed of Mach 25. Today he reached, what, Mach...
RUTAN: Three and a half.
O'BRIEN: Three and a half. So about eight times more energy to get to orbit. So there is a big step that lies ahead in order to get this into the concept of orbit.
Now, Burt Rutan says he's going for orbit. Not just lower orbit; he wants to build a craft that will go to the planets.
RUTAN: They've got the gear down.
O'BRIEN: All right. The gear is down. They're about to come in for landing.
RUTAN: They're on final approach.
O'BRIEN: And they're on final approach, and as we said, everybody from all the chase planes indicate everything's good. I'm hoping you're getting a good shot...
KAGAN: We are. We are getting a good shot.
O'BRIEN: ... of Spaceship One as it comes down. KAGAN: And on the way up, Spaceship One, you were explaining, it was powered by tire rubber and nitrous oxide? Laughing gas?
O'BRIEN: Yes. And of course, we know nitrous oxide as laughing gas. I guess if they pull this off today, nobody is going to be laughing about this project.
Let's listen as he touches down.
KAGAN: OK.
O'BRIEN: Mike Melvill, the first civilian astronaut, we think, about to touch down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, touchdown. There you go.
O'BRIEN: Wow.
RUTAN: Get him, Mike.
MIKE MELVILL, PILOT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) land the aircraft.
O'BRIEN: Spaceship One has returned to earth safe and sound. Dick Rutan, put this in -- give me some words to put this in perspective for CNN, safe and sound.
RUTAN: Well, I can't tell you how -- I'm really thrilled. This is really something, especially for Mike. This is -- you know, there's things about milestone achievements, and I think this is really a significant milestone in space flight.
And what's going to happen from that, nobody can even imagine what's going to happen, because a lot of people are going to look around and say, "Hey, Burt, little home builder out there in the high desert of the Mojave did this. I can that, too." So what's going to happen after this is really going to be exciting.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dick Rutan, we're going to space together. Let's do it. All right.
Daryn, why don't you join us? It's a three -- It holds three people to fly it.
KAGAN: It does? OK, I'm on -- I'm on board. It looks like somebody needs to go out and give Mike Melvill -- there. It looks like he's getting -- getting a ride.
And I know with your connections you're going to have a chance to talk with him about what that was like to make space history. So we will check back with you.
O'BRIEN: In a little bit. You just stay -- stay close and we'll get you some comments.
RUTAN: White Knight is going to make a low go. This ought to be really good. KAGAN: You got it.
Thank you so much, Miles O'Brien. Appreciate that.
Much more ahead. That was fascinating to watch some space history right here on CNN. We're going to take a break. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: To the Scott Peterson murder trial. One of the jurors is under the microscope. The judge is concerned about interaction between juror No. 5 and Laci Peterson's brother.
Our Ted Rowlands is in Redwood, City, California with more on that.
Ted, good morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Testimony is expected to begin here in just over a half an hour in Redwood City. The prosecution is expected to bring on more detectives.
Meanwhile, the judge, as you mentioned, is expected to deal with a potential problem with one of the jurors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): The judge in the Scott Peterson double murder trial is expected to subpoena a videotaped copy of an interaction between Laci Peterson's brother, Brent Rocha, and juror No. 5.
The exchange, which was caught by a television news camera, took place inside the courthouse at Rocha and the juror went through security on Thursday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have a comment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, we're all in a very small space in there. It's hard not to, you know, see them in the bathroom. I'm sure it's no big deal.
ROWLANDS: Through 11 days of testimony, the prosecution has focused the bulk of their case on what happened around the time just before and after Laci Peterson was reported missing in late 2002.
Testimony for the week ended with two owners of the Modesto pawnshop, testifying that Laci and Scott Peterson sold them some inherited jewelry shortly before Laci Peterson disappeared.
On Thursday, the judge told the jury that this estimated five- month-long trial is moving along much faster than expected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: And it is unclear what, if anything, the judge is going to do about this interaction between Laci Peterson's brother and juror No. 5. It seemed quite innocent. They talked very shortly and just sort of bumped into each other near the metal detector.
But we'll find out if the judge simply admonishes this juror or if something more serious happens. Most likely we'll find out today or later this week -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And even if that juror were to be kicked off, I'm sure there's alternate jurors ready to go and fill in that seat?
ROWLANDS: Yes, there are six alternates in this case. You hate to lose one so early in the case, but they're more than prepared to lose a juror here and there.
It doesn't seem, legal experts that look at this tape, that anybody believes that this juror will be kicked off. Neither side seems to want the juror kicked off, and that make -- that will be a big -- that will make a big difference in this.
I think the judge will just probably tell him to keep his mouth shut when he's walking into the courtroom.
KAGAN: All right. Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, California, thank you.
Coming up on "CNN LIVE TODAY, he brings a message to millions. The Bishop T.D. Jake joins us live to talk about his latest spiritual mission. More than 100,000 people expected to gather here in Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DARYN: Let's go ahead and check the markets and see how they're doing. They've been open for just about two hours.
Things are looking kind of flat on this Monday morning. You can see the Dow there, up just a point. NASDAQ is in positive territory, but just under three points.
Much more business news ahead and other news as well.
Also we're going to be going back out live to the Mojave Desert, talking with our Miles O'Brien. A live picture there. Spaceship One just making its way down, making space history the first civilian astronaut. We'll be talking with Mike Melvill and our Miles O'Brien, just ahead.
(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 June 21, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are straight up on 11 a.m. on the East Coast and 8 a.m. on the West. We're at CNN center in Atlanta. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We're going to begin this hour with an historic moment above the Mojave Desert in Southern California. It's the first private manned space flight. It is called Spaceship One.
Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has been following the mission as it unfolds this morning. A very important aspect and part of the mission right now -- Miles. Whoa, hello, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Whoa, yes, we're having our own little space ride trip here just to give people a sense of what's going on. We didn't get much of a heads up here, sorry about that.
We are -- They're coming down. That's all we can tell you right now. We do not know if, in fact, they reached that space barrier of 100 kilometers or 62.5 miles.
Some of the radio traffic indicates maybe some of the circuit breakers popped along the way, and the rocket might have shut down prematurely. In other words, the pilot, Mike Melvill, is reporting the rocket stopped sooner than -- as a matter of fact, he was supposed to turn it off and he didn't. It shut off.
Now, the question is did they have enough oomph to reach that threshold into space? We don't know if the record has been accomplished yet. We have not heard an altitude report.
In any case, where is he right now, Dick? Dick Rutan is the brother of Burt Rutan, the designer of this. He's been listening very closely to his friend, Mike Melvill, up there.
What are you hearing?
DICK RUTAN, BROTHER OF SPACESHIP ONE DESIGNER: Well, we've been monitoring. It's not really clear, but they ended up a little bit south of the bull's eye. We haven't really heard how high they went yet.
But he's on the recovery. They want to get him safe on deck.
O'BRIEN: Yes. RUTAN: And he's just right up there at about 25,000, 30,000 feet, eight miles. So he's in good shape for the landing.
O'BRIEN: All right. So there's no -- no issues about him getting back safely. The issue right now is just the question of why the rocket might have shut off and whether they made it to altitude.
RUTAN: OK. Mike's reporting that things seem to be OK.
O'BRIEN: OK. All right. At this juncture, then, when will they have an indication as to what altitude they've achieved?
RUTAN: Well, they know how high he went.
O'BRIEN: We just haven't heard yet.
RUTAN: We just haven't heard yet.
O'BRIEN: OK. So that might leave to us believe they didn't make it to space? It's possible?
RUTAN: No, I'm positive.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: The reason I think they made it is because of the higher G on reentry. Now the last time they came back from 200,000 feet and it was three and a half Gs. This time, Mike reported about five G's. So the higher the G on the reentry, the they have to go.
O'BRIEN: All right. Just to put that in layman's terms, that's the force of gravity, five times the force of gravity. And the higher you are, the higher that G load is as you come down.
So as they say, if he did three when he went to 211,000 feet, do the math on that. It's potentially -- It's possible he could have got...
RUTAN: There's a good chance. And I haven't -- like I said, I haven't heard yet.
What they're trying to do is get him back on safe -- get him back on deck safe.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: The thing is, if you think about it, you're way up there and the higher you hold the ball when you drop it the faster it's going to hit the ground.
O'BRIEN: There you go.
RUTAN: And so the higher he is, the faster he hits the atmosphere.
O'BRIEN: All right. And how soon will it be before he'll touch down here?
RUTAN: OK. Just a couple of minutes.
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's a couple of minutes away.
Let me just run through the animation real quick, Daryn, and explain this to you. And I'll run through the flight for you.
This is a 3-D model of the Spaceship One. It's 25 feet long. The pilot obviously sits up there in the front. He is located up in there, looking through some of those portholes.
And what happens is after it's dropped from the mother ship, the White Knight, that rocket goes. And as we just heard, that rocket might have shut up prematurely. We don't know why yet. Trying to figure that out.
But the idea was to run it for about 75 seconds, 1 minute, 15 seconds and then it was supposed to be turned off by the pilot, Mike Melvill.
And then, after that, it went into this mode. Which is, as you can see, the wings kind of unhinged there and that unhinging right in there allows it to drop like a shuttlecock, really kind of a care-free descent, except for the fact that you're feeling five times your normal weight, which was probably a little bit uncomfortable for Mike Melvill, although he's been training with those high G loads, as it's called.
What he's in now, the configuration he's in now is like this with the wings locked on once again. And what will happen is as he comes down, he'll slow down to about 90 knots or so. That landing gear will come out, and he should land very close to us, right where we stand right here.
Dick -- Dick Rutan, what is the -- keep that microphone handy. What is the hardest part about bringing this thing down on a glider landing?
RUTAN: Well, actually we're coming back with no power, and there's a fairly high rate of sink. And so he has to plan that just right to manage the energy so he arrives right at the touchdown point.
And he'll come in with the landing gear up most of the way, and right -- just before he lands he'll throw the gear out.
Now, the gear comes down with the bat of an eye. When he pushes a button, it down it goes bang and the gear comes out immediately.
O'BRIEN: Right.
RUTAN: So anyway, he's maneuvering for what we call the high key, and it's the high key position that everybody strives for. And so now we're within the glide path cone, if you would, to get him back in to land. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, he's about to come down. I'll send it back to you, Daryn, if you like, but we should be seeing him touch down here very shortly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, let's have a little bit of a conversation here, Miles, while we're waiting for that to happen.
For spacies like you this is cool stuff. But bigger picture here, explain to us the space race and the importance of this being in the private -- in the private sector.
O'BRIEN: well, I think, you know, it's a question of just where we're standing. We're out here in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Daryn. We're a long way, literally and figuratively, from the Kennedy Space Center.
And I think the point that a guy who has, you know, three or so hangars down the flight line here can put together a craft...
Did they say?
RUTAN: I think they just reported they went over 100 kilometers.
O'BRIEN: They just did. All right. You heard a little bit of history. They actually made it to space. We don't know why the rocket shut off too soon, but it doesn't matter. They still got into the history books here. Right?
RUTAN: Yes. The object of this was to go to 100 kilometers. And if they did that, in fact, and I hope they did, returning -- when Mike returns he is an astronaut, the first civilian astronaut.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, let's put that in perspective here, the fact that this $20 million program could do that is what is, I think, most significant about it, because it really does, I think, spur interest in the general public, and engages entrepreneurs out there who have thought about this for a long time.
Burt Rutan, has proved. Burt Rutan, the designer, his brother, has proved it can be done.
KAGAN: And there's also a big -- this is a race because there's a big prize out there for $10 million.
O'BRIEN: There is that, as well. Although that isn't -- Burt Rutan denies that what motivated him to get into this.
As a matter of fact, he started this program before he knew about the X Prize. The X Prize drill, for those who don't know about it, has been around for about eight years now.
And what happens is, the first civilian team, teams like this, that can fly to space twice in as many weeks with a craft that can carry the equivalent of three people, the team that can do that will win $10 million, a $10 million purse. And that has spurred numerous teams. There's about ten of them out there in various stages. Burt Rutan is clearly the front-runner here. This test today is not a part of an effort to win the X Prize. He's -- Assuming all goes well here today, he will probably -- he will announce what is going to be an effort to do that soon.
I think we have some pictures now of White Knight, which is the mothership, coming down.
KAGAN: We can see it.
O'BRIEN: And but I don't see myself from where I am. The White Knight vehicle is what carried the Spaceship One to altitude.
You see it Daryn? I don't see it now.
KAGAN: We can see it on our screen.
RUTAN: The White Knight will -- The White Knight will land after the spaceship comes in.
O'BRIEN: The White Knight will actually land after the spaceship. It's coming into the area.
Have you been able to spot the spaceship at all?
RUTAN: No, I haven't spotted him yet. But he has two chaser airplanes real close to him so he ought to be able to see it.
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
RUTAN: I was looking at the crowd to see where they were looking.
O'BRIEN: You never know.
KAGAN: The White Knight, there's somebody else piloting that, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, one of the test pilots in his program, as a matter of fact, Brian Binnie, is actually piloting it.
What's interesting about Burt Rutan's philosophy is the cockpit of the White Knight aircraft is identical to the Spaceship One cockpit. And so every time they fly this roll of getting the spacecraft to orbit, it's a little training mission for them.
So just one little example of how Burt Rutan's mind thinks. He has a sense of simplicity and a sense of keeping it simple, that I think serves him well.
KAGAN: Speaking of simplicity, you were describing earlier this morning that these crafts, actually, are somewhat primitive in how they're designed.
O'BRIEN: We are -- We were just talking about this earlier. Dick Rutan is with me. Unfortunately he can't hear you, Daryn. But we were talking about how this is a supersonic craft. It has wires and push rods.
RUTAN: That's right, wires and push rods. And he has to fly it with trim only in the supersonic.
O'BRIEN: So just to explain that, wires and push rods, that's what Charles Lindberg used in the Spirit of St. Louis. The last time we had a supersonic craft that did that was Chuck Yeager, the X-1.
When he's supersonic, you couldn't possible move the control surface. You don't have enough oomph to do that. So they have tiny little electric -- tiny flaps that move back and forth. They call them trim tabs, and he just kind of moves those electric motors ever so slightly when he's flying supersonic.
KAGAN: And finally, Miles, how far away are we from somebody like you or me being able to buying a ride on something like this?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I've been asking Burt pretty hard and heavy now, and what he keeps telling me is I've got the first passenger seat. So I haven't gotten a better response than that just yet.
But no, the truth of the matter, is this is a test program. There are many more tests that need to be conducted.
RUTAN: Miles, we...
O'BRIEN: What are you hearing?
RUTAN: Miles, we just transitioned from the high chase to the low chase.
O'BRIEN: OK.
RUTAN: And the low chase came down, and he's just looked him over, and everything looks pretty good. He said he heard a couple of pretty loud bangs, but the chase guys have checked him over so he should be in good shape to land him.
O'BRIEN: All right. So there were bangs when he was in power flight or...?
RUTAN: I don't know, but he said he just heard a couple of bangs.
O'BRIEN: OK. All right. That's always a little concerning.
RUTAN: And so those low guys are coming on board, and they're checking him over.
O'BRIEN: All right. So anyway, Daryn, you know, as far as a time frame for this, the question is, you know, how many people will want to license this technology?
Burt Rutan doesn't want to fly tourists himself. He wants this to spur on innovation, spur on entrepreneurs who'd, like, broker or fly tour extensions.
Now, you know, the question is, how many people out there would pay $100,000 or so to say they'd been to space for three minutes? I don't know. I mean, I'm not in that league. It's -- There are some people -- there are some people out there who'd love to say that at a cocktail party and have the money to do it for $100,000.
Now over time, as it becomes more routine, that price clearly could go down.
RUTAN: There they are. There they are, Miles.
O'BRIEN: We're seeing it now as it comes in. Yes, they're real high above us.
RUTAN: The spaceship and starship and the other chaser plane are right next to him.
O'BRIEN: The -- I'm hoping you can see that shot, Daryn. Can you see the three ships there in that shot? If you send me to the telestrator, I'll try to highlight it out, but basically, you've got up high is the spaceship.
KAGAN: We're not seeing that shot yet, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Let's just watch this flight of four coming in. The three -- there's the White Knight, two chase ships, and then you have the actual Spaceship One. It's coming right over our head right now.
We've heard of a premature shutdown of the rocket motor, a couple of bangs on the way down, enough to make us a little nervous about this approach.
What are you hearing right now, Dick Rutan?
RUTAN: Everything is in good shape. The chase airplane just looked him over, and he says he's in good shape.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
RUTAN: So it probably wasn't anything really serious.
O'BRIEN: All right. Right over our head, Daryn, I don't know if you can see that shot. I'm hoping you can. Can you?
KAGAN: OK.
O'BRIEN: It's right over the head, if the photographer can see it. It's right over our head. They're about to turn in for landing.
KAGAN: We're seeing the White Knight. Miles, we're going to have to take a quick break here. There they are. Now we can see.
RUTAN: He's in high key and going to continue the right-hand turn in to land.
O'BRIEN: He's going to drop pretty precipitously here, and we will see him in the ground very shortly.
KAGAN: One of the thing that's remarkable, Miles, you're explaining this spaceship has just gone up into space but it's going to land like a glider. It has no motor, right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, well, I mean, that is not unlike the shuttle. This is just an incredibly simplified version of the shuttle. The shuttle is a $2 billion or $3 billion hardware, depending on how you count. And this entire program cost $20 billion, which is about a 25th of the cost of one shuttle flight.
So yes, but the concept of coming in like a glider is a concept which obviously is good.
All right, now, I think we got everything there. I'm trying to point it out on the telestrator for you. I'm hoping we can see it.
KAGAN: Well, at -- one point about the shuttle, as incredible as this is, what they've done with so much less money, this did not do what the shuttle does. This was a suborbital flight.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Let's not forget that the last time anybody did one of these missions, there were two X-15 flights out here on the high desert that actually went beyond 100 kilometers, 62.5 miles.
But the two Mercury flights, the first two, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom's, were suborbital hops. They, of course, landed in the ocean off the Bahamas there, and then we went into orbital flight.
Now, the difference is worth pointing out. In order to obtain an orbital flight, you have to obtain a speed of Mach 25. Today he reached, what, Mach...
RUTAN: Three and a half.
O'BRIEN: Three and a half. So about eight times more energy to get to orbit. So there is a big step that lies ahead in order to get this into the concept of orbit.
Now, Burt Rutan says he's going for orbit. Not just lower orbit; he wants to build a craft that will go to the planets.
RUTAN: They've got the gear down.
O'BRIEN: All right. The gear is down. They're about to come in for landing.
RUTAN: They're on final approach.
O'BRIEN: And they're on final approach, and as we said, everybody from all the chase planes indicate everything's good. I'm hoping you're getting a good shot...
KAGAN: We are. We are getting a good shot.
O'BRIEN: ... of Spaceship One as it comes down. KAGAN: And on the way up, Spaceship One, you were explaining, it was powered by tire rubber and nitrous oxide? Laughing gas?
O'BRIEN: Yes. And of course, we know nitrous oxide as laughing gas. I guess if they pull this off today, nobody is going to be laughing about this project.
Let's listen as he touches down.
KAGAN: OK.
O'BRIEN: Mike Melvill, the first civilian astronaut, we think, about to touch down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, touchdown. There you go.
O'BRIEN: Wow.
RUTAN: Get him, Mike.
MIKE MELVILL, PILOT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) land the aircraft.
O'BRIEN: Spaceship One has returned to earth safe and sound. Dick Rutan, put this in -- give me some words to put this in perspective for CNN, safe and sound.
RUTAN: Well, I can't tell you how -- I'm really thrilled. This is really something, especially for Mike. This is -- you know, there's things about milestone achievements, and I think this is really a significant milestone in space flight.
And what's going to happen from that, nobody can even imagine what's going to happen, because a lot of people are going to look around and say, "Hey, Burt, little home builder out there in the high desert of the Mojave did this. I can that, too." So what's going to happen after this is really going to be exciting.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dick Rutan, we're going to space together. Let's do it. All right.
Daryn, why don't you join us? It's a three -- It holds three people to fly it.
KAGAN: It does? OK, I'm on -- I'm on board. It looks like somebody needs to go out and give Mike Melvill -- there. It looks like he's getting -- getting a ride.
And I know with your connections you're going to have a chance to talk with him about what that was like to make space history. So we will check back with you.
O'BRIEN: In a little bit. You just stay -- stay close and we'll get you some comments.
RUTAN: White Knight is going to make a low go. This ought to be really good. KAGAN: You got it.
Thank you so much, Miles O'Brien. Appreciate that.
Much more ahead. That was fascinating to watch some space history right here on CNN. We're going to take a break. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: To the Scott Peterson murder trial. One of the jurors is under the microscope. The judge is concerned about interaction between juror No. 5 and Laci Peterson's brother.
Our Ted Rowlands is in Redwood, City, California with more on that.
Ted, good morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Testimony is expected to begin here in just over a half an hour in Redwood City. The prosecution is expected to bring on more detectives.
Meanwhile, the judge, as you mentioned, is expected to deal with a potential problem with one of the jurors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): The judge in the Scott Peterson double murder trial is expected to subpoena a videotaped copy of an interaction between Laci Peterson's brother, Brent Rocha, and juror No. 5.
The exchange, which was caught by a television news camera, took place inside the courthouse at Rocha and the juror went through security on Thursday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have a comment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, we're all in a very small space in there. It's hard not to, you know, see them in the bathroom. I'm sure it's no big deal.
ROWLANDS: Through 11 days of testimony, the prosecution has focused the bulk of their case on what happened around the time just before and after Laci Peterson was reported missing in late 2002.
Testimony for the week ended with two owners of the Modesto pawnshop, testifying that Laci and Scott Peterson sold them some inherited jewelry shortly before Laci Peterson disappeared.
On Thursday, the judge told the jury that this estimated five- month-long trial is moving along much faster than expected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: And it is unclear what, if anything, the judge is going to do about this interaction between Laci Peterson's brother and juror No. 5. It seemed quite innocent. They talked very shortly and just sort of bumped into each other near the metal detector.
But we'll find out if the judge simply admonishes this juror or if something more serious happens. Most likely we'll find out today or later this week -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And even if that juror were to be kicked off, I'm sure there's alternate jurors ready to go and fill in that seat?
ROWLANDS: Yes, there are six alternates in this case. You hate to lose one so early in the case, but they're more than prepared to lose a juror here and there.
It doesn't seem, legal experts that look at this tape, that anybody believes that this juror will be kicked off. Neither side seems to want the juror kicked off, and that make -- that will be a big -- that will make a big difference in this.
I think the judge will just probably tell him to keep his mouth shut when he's walking into the courtroom.
KAGAN: All right. Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, California, thank you.
Coming up on "CNN LIVE TODAY, he brings a message to millions. The Bishop T.D. Jake joins us live to talk about his latest spiritual mission. More than 100,000 people expected to gather here in Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DARYN: Let's go ahead and check the markets and see how they're doing. They've been open for just about two hours.
Things are looking kind of flat on this Monday morning. You can see the Dow there, up just a point. NASDAQ is in positive territory, but just under three points.
Much more business news ahead and other news as well.
Also we're going to be going back out live to the Mojave Desert, talking with our Miles O'Brien. A live picture there. Spaceship One just making its way down, making space history the first civilian astronaut. We'll be talking with Mike Melvill and our Miles O'Brien, just ahead.
(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
