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CNN Live Today

SpaceShipOne Sets an Historic Course; 16 Killed in a Pair of Baghdad Car Bombing; Over 70 Palestinian Killed in Israeli Bombings

Aired October 04, 2004 - 10:00   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: Good morning from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.
The creators of SpaceShipOne hope to close a $10 million deal this morning. That's the prize at stake if the private man craft makes its second successful trip into space. SpaceShipOne took off with its mother ship a few minutes ago. If it fails to reach space -- and we are looking at a live picture there from the Mojave Desert; the team still does have a nine-day window to try again.

At least 16 people were killed and 85 wounded in a pair of car bombings in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi recruitment center near the Green Zone was one apparent target, a convoy of Western contractors the other. Gunfire was also heard through the city and U.S. Army helicopters were seen overhead.

The Israeli military operation, Days of Penitence, is in his sixth day in the Gaza Strip. Security forces say that eight Palestinians were killed today. Palestinians say a missile hit a refugee camp. Days of Penitence was launched Wednesday, after a Palestinian missile killed two Israeli children. More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in that Israeli offensive.

Scientists say another eruption of Washington's Mount St. Helens volcano is imminent. A tremor was reported early yesterday. But the magma movement inside the volcano did not cause an eruption. A series of shallow earthquakes has been taking place over the last week and a half.

It is the first Monday in October. That means the opening of the new Supreme Court term. Death penalties for juvenile and prison sentencing cases are major items on the schedule. The nine justices have served together without a retirement or death for more than a decade. That is a modern record.

Live this hour, a privately built spacecraft hurtles into space and possibly into history. At stake, a $10 million reward for the pioneers of SpaceShipOne. Check out the live picture. It looks like we have the chase plane, and we're looking at the rest -- for the rest of us, the promise of some day traveling in space perhaps.

I know that's on the mind of our space correspondent Miles O'Brien. He is on the ground joining us from the Mojave Desert.

Miles, I know you'd pay about a billion bucks to be up there today. MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm trying to figure out how many Delta frequent flyer miles will get me up there.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: It might be more than I've got. Take a look at that live picture. And it's a pretty spectacular shot that we're getting with some of our tracking cameras. In the left-hand portion of your screen is White Knight, that's the craft that is carrying SpaceShipOne. And when it reaches an altitude of 50,000 feet, will cut SpaceShipOne loose without further DeLay. Brian Binnie, the pilot on board right now will get right to it, do a quick checklist and hit that button. And off he will go on a wild 65 to 80 second rocket ride, straight up, and hopefully in excess of 328,000 feet, which is the mythical barrier to space. At least that's what the record keepers say.

The aircraft following it close behind, on the right-hand portion of your screen, is a Beachcraft Starship. Owner and pilot Robert Shearer. That particular aircraft is a Burt Rutan design. Burt Rutan designed, of course, SpaceShipOne and the White Knight, which is carrying it up. And it is providing chase, which means it allows an opportunity to get some pictures. But also more importantly, they're looking very closely at the aircraft to make sure, and the spacecraft, to make sure everything looks good before any attempt at space is tried.

Joining me here, watching this on this spectacular high desert morning is Dick Rutan, the brother of Burt Rutan. He, in December of 1986, flew around the world on one tank of gas. And he, too, this morning is thinking about space.

I bet you'd like to be up there.

DICK RUTAN, BROTHER OF SPACECRAFT DESIGNER: You bet. I would really like to do that. I think anybody would. If you have red blood, right?

O'BRIEN: I think it's the place to be this morning for sure. So far we've been listening to the radios pretty carefully. We've been talking to some of the people on the team. I haven't heard a single problem or issue that they've been dealing with this morning.

RUTAN: No. Everything is doing fine. They're checking in. All the systems seem to be go. They've had a good briefing. And the weather is outstanding.

O'BRIEN: It is.

RUTAN: It is a beautiful desert morning.

O'BRIEN: It's as good as it gets.

Now, the pilot this time is Brian Binnie. Mike Melville who has flown the two previous trips to space on SpaceShipOne, the one on June 21 or 20 that was the first attempt. And then, of course the first prize attempt, that last Wednesday. He's actually flying the mother ship, White Knight. Brian Binnie is going to make the attempt for space today. Now, he flew on December 17, 2003, the centennial flight. Had not a great landing. What's been going on between now and -- then and now?

RUTAN: Well, I can imagine that Brian's concentrating on his landings.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

RUTAN: They've been doing a lot of work on that. In fact, the spaceship, you can't see right ahead. You kind of have to look out the side of the windows.

O'BRIEN: Well, you can look at it as you see the takeoff just a moment ago, about 15 minutes ago. Look at those -- that series of portholes, and really getting a view of the runway is not an easy thing.

RUTAN: No. Actually right where you want to be looking you can't see.

O'BRIEN: Oh, there you go. That figures, right? There's a Burt Rutan design. Not thinking of the pilot once again. Right.

RUTAN: Oh, no. Actually it's the heat shield and stuff that has to be right on the pointy end.

O'BRIEN: All right.

RUTAN: And that gets real hot.

O'BRIEN: So in any case, he has been practicing with Mike Melville in his Long Easy aircraft, another Burt Rutan design plane that Dick flies frequently as well. Practicing those approaches, trying to get that right. He collapsed one of the man landing gears back in December. In any case, this is a guy -- as you go back to a live picture by the way, as they probably getting close to 20,000 feet now or getting near there. He is a Navy test pilot who has tested just about every kind of Navy Strike fighter there is. Has a tremendous amount of test flying experience.

RUTAN: That's right. And he's highly educated, too, in the aerospace disciplines. And even has a master's degree in engineering. So he is very highly qualified.

O'BRIEN: It's quite a contrast in the two pilots. Mike Melville, a high school dropout from South Africa, who made his way to the desert here and Burt Rutan. And ultimately became integral to his test flying program. And then you have Brian Binnie on the other side of it, kind of the conventional test pilot route.

RUTAN: Well, we were here flying little light airplanes and Brian Binnie was involved in, you know, the high performance jet military aircraft. O'BRIEN: Now, this whole notion of an X-Prize, a $10 million prize, has obviously spurred a lot of what we're seeing here today. I have the sense that your brother, Burt would do this whether there was a prize or not.

RUTAN: Absolutely. I don't think the prize meant anything. He would still be doing it because it's really not the money. It's the achievement. It's opening up a new frontier. And really money has nothing to do with that, other than having to have the money to pay the people and pay the rent on the building.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Of course, this is a $25 million project funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is a space enthusiast. The payoff is $10 million for the prize. You might say well, wait a minute that doesn't sound like the kind of business, which would get you to become a billionaire. But the truth is they've already licensed this technology to Richard Branson, of Virgin Airways. He's talking about a spaceliner perhaps as soon as 2007. Which means -- and it's not a cheap ticket, but there will be tickets available out there for people who aren't necessarily billionaires fairly soon.

RUTAN: Well, that's true. It's reserved initially for the more affluent people. But it was just like when we first started to schedule airlines way back in the '20s. There wasn't a whole lot of people who could afford a ticket on those either.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's take a look at this tape from last week. We're sort of downplaying the risk here a little bit. This is Mike Melville last Wednesday. And of course, we all saw not from this view right away. But you and I were together and it really did take our breath away a little bit, because no one expected to see upwards of 29 rolls. Afterwards, Mike Melville said ah, it was no big deal. I just waited until it pivoted. As you see there. Which is called the feathering process and then got rid of that roll and down he went. Nevertheless, they'd probably prefer not to do that roll today, right?

RUTAN: Well, they probably would prefer it. But I look at it well, when Mike writes his book it will just be a, you know, little more interesting chapter in his book.

O'BRIEN: I should say so.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: And for all of us, it was a moment we will remember, having watched it, Daryn. All right, we still are only about 20 minutes into this flight. It's going to take them another 40 minutes or so to get to altitude and do this launch. We're going to be sitting here listening to the radios very carefully. If we hear anything you need to know about, Daryn, we'll bring it to you. Also I'm blogging on CNN.com. I've become a blogger today with my little Blackberry here. So, if you are interested in some of the minutia that we can't necessarily get into our live shots, feel free to visit us at CNN.com -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, cool. Miles, I'll have to do that while I'm multitasking up here. CNN.com, then what do I do?

O'BRIEN: Like you've got nothing else to do.

KAGAN: Yes. Exactly. No. But where do we find you on CNN.com? Science?

O'BRIEN: Oh -- I -- it's just right there on the main page, front and center.

KAGAN: OK. You are a main page kind of guy. All right we will check back with you later this morning, as well, you blogger you. Thank you, Miles.

Stay with us. If you don't have access to your computer with the latest on this hour's flight on SpaceShipOne. Later this hour, we're going to go back to Mojave and to Miles, and he'll bring us the latest on the flight.

Now to our update on Iraq, where another day of violence has left dozens dead and injured. In central Baghdad, a pair of car bombings erupted within an hour of each other, killing at least 16 people and wounding 85 others. The first blast was detonated near the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British Embassies, as well as many Iraqi Ministry buildings.

Also black smoke that could be seen from the second blast. A witness has says that the bomb -- the bomber's targeted a Western convoy and destroyed two armored SUVs. The vehicles are popular among Western contractors in Iraq.

In Fallujah, hospital officials say this morning's U.S. air strikes on suspected insurgent targets, killed at least eight people and wounded a dozen more. Coalition officials say there have been now 10 offensive strikes on the Zarqawi terrorist network in the last month.

Some new polls suggesting that presidential candidate, John Kerry, has pulled even with George W. Bush after last week's debate. That is according to a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll. Senator Kerry has erased the lead that President Bush enjoyed since the GOP convention. Both now have 49 percent among likely voters. Bush holds a two-percentage point lead among registered voters. That same poll shows the economy may be a decisive issue. When asked which candidate would do a better job with the economy, 51 percent chose Senator Kerry. The same percentage that had chosen the president the week before.

Today, the Bush campaign is focusing on campaign strategies and tightening the race, and the recurrent theme of tax cuts. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash taking a closer look at that.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the president at this hour is on his way to Iowa, and he's going to use one of the advantages of incumbency. He's going to sign a tax cut bill that is pretty popular among most Americans. It extends most of, or some of the tax cuts aimed at the middle-class, that were originally passed in 2001. These tax cuts that even John Kerry's campaign, he supports.

Now, back on the campaign trail, that's where the president is going. But a very different race from last week. Of course, as you mentioned, polls showing the race is now neck and neck. Now, Bush aides say they take solace in the fact that, at least at this point, John Kerry at least doesn't have a majority. Now what's the strategy to rebound, to regain the president's majority? Well, senior Bush aides say that their plan is to go on the attack, attack John Kerry's record every day for the next 30 days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): The president spent a rare day off the campaign trail on a bike trail, as his post-debate lead against John Kerry evaporated. Now a neck and neck race. And his campaign team is trying to regroup from what they only privately admit was a disappointing debate.

DAN BARTLETT, COMMS. DIR., WHITE HOUSE: Every good team goes back and looks at the tapes and looks at transcripts. And does that to see where opportunities could be, you know, found and things like that.

BASH: The president went over some potential opportunities at a Sunday debate prep session inside the White House. While still trying to manage expectations, aides hoping the format for Round 2, a town hall, will help.

BARTLETT: President Bush is very comfortable talking to real people, and talking to them about the big issues of the day.

(CHEERING)

BASH: One-issue Bush officials would rather not talk about, but camp Kerry is pouncing on, whether the White House brushed aside known doubts about Iraq's nuclear capability in the run-up to war. In September 2002, on CNN's "LATE EDITION," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned of aluminum tube shipments to Iraq.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: High-quality aluminum tubes that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.

BASH: An exhaustive "New York Times" report says Rice and staff knew then the Energy Department had already concluded what was later widely accepted. The tubes were not for nuclear use. Rice now says she was aware of some debate, but relied on a multi-agency intelligence assessment and has no regrets.

RICE: If you underestimate the nuclear threat of a tyrant, you make a really big mistake. And I stand by that decision of the administration to this very day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now since last week's debate, the president has been trying to shift the Iraq discussion from his defensive war, what you just heard from Condoleezza Rice, back to what Senator Kerry would do as commander in chief. Bush aides feel that is a critical part of making sure that this neck and neck race doesn't turn into a John Kerry lead.

Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you for that.

Speaking of John Kerry. He is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today. He is conducting a town hall meeting talking about stem cell research. Let's listen in for a bit.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Bush just doesn't get it. Faced with the facts, he turns away. Time and again he's proven that he's stubborn, he's out of touch, he's unwilling to change, he's unwilling to change course.

(APPLAUSE)

And it's not, obviously, a stubbornness limited to this field, because we see it in the conduct of our foreign affairs, we see it in the decisions and choices made about Iraq, we see it in the unwillingness to be realistic about bringing countries to our side.

(APPLAUSE)

And we can talk about that when we open it up and have, sort of, the open part of this.

But, you know, this isn't about politics. This is really about fundamental American values. It's about how we save lives. It's about how we actually respect life itself.

And the fact is that leaders from both political parties -- Michael mentioned John McCain; Orrin Hatch, the leader on the Health and Human Services Committee, and others -- we got about 58 senators who are cosponsors of this. But you can't get the president to look, stop and change his mind.

Forty-eight Nobel prize-winning scientists are supporting my campaign for the presidency of the United States, citing stem cell research as one of the primary reasons.

(APPLAUSE)

The fact is that the majority of the American people support stem cell research and it's high time we had a president of the United States who does, too.

(APPLAUSE)

But instead of listening to the American people, you know what they say?

We're going to get there. Did you want to ask a question? Can I...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) and I know that there won't be any cure in time for me. I'm voting for you and everything you stand for.

(APPLAUSE)

KERRY: Thank you so much. Thank you. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) wonderful speech.

KERRY: Oh, no, I love you. My gosh, come on.

(APPLAUSE)

Do you need some assistance? Do you need any help? Are you OK? Are you all right? OK.

(APPLAUSE)

All right. God bless. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

I've got to tell you, folks, when you hear somebody stand up and say to you, "I support you, but it's too late for me," that's pretty tough.

KERRY: And it really tells you something about what this means to people who do lie awake at night, who are in tears, who worry about the possibilities, and who know that there's a way to do this with ethical guidelines, with standards; that we could be leading the world in the effort, as we ought to.

What disturbs me so much about it is that, you know what this administration says? It says that, instead of listening to the facts, that supporting stem cell research is giving people false hope.

Now, I want you to think about that for a minute. Imagine if we'd told researchers researching polio, "You're giving people false hope." Imagine if we'd told those who were working to eradicate smallpox, "Oh, false hope." It's unthinkable.

But that is exactly what the administration is saying to scientists, to people whose lives are dedicated to trying to make these judgments about facts, and who want to study Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, osteoporosis -- so many different possibilities. And that's just an honest difference between President Bush and me. I believe that when it comes to promising research, there's no such thing as false hope.

(APPLAUSE)

I believe that it's part of the American spirit that when we put our minds to things, when we go out and pull and push and get the best minds at our colleges and laboratories and universities and venture capitalists and scientists all working toward a goal -- who knows whether you'll reach that goal, but guess what has always happened in America: We find something new and different and promising and helpful that raises the quality of life.

KERRY: Just today two Americans, Richard Axel and Linda Buck, won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their pioneering research. It's an example of what we can do when we start...

(APPLAUSE)

But when you have a president who refuses to listen to the facts, who wants to play to the cheap seats, who wants to go down to the politics of division and the politics of ideology, dismisses scientists and turns his back on science, then we wind up saying no to discovery and no to innovation and no to the people who desperately need cures.

You know, it's not any accident, I think, that Nancy Reagan -- a woman of great courage, compassion and grace -- put it best when she said, quote, "I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this. We've lost so much time already. I really can't bear to lose any more." Well, neither can I.

(APPLAUSE)

KAGAN: Listening to Senator John Kerry speak in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today. He is talking in favor of government-funded stem cell research. Actor Michael J. Fox is there with him, as well. The Bush administration's anticipating today's statement released its own statement saying that they wanted to point out that President Bush is the first president to be the first to support federally funded stem cell research, the difference between the two candidates, where they draw the line on how far science should go.

Want to invite you to join us tomorrow night for the debate between the vice presidential candidates. Dick Cheney and John Edwards will scare off in Cleveland. The presidential candidates, Bush and Kerry, go at it again on Friday night. Again in a town hall kind of format. For both events our coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

Ten million bucks on the line. Today the team behind SpaceShipOne could claim that prize for flying a privately built rocket into space. Stay with us as we track the historic space flight.

And residents can only wait and see what Mount St. Helens has in store to do next. A live report from Washington State coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, whether the market is bull or bear, it is probably a good time to check your 401k plan. Our Gerri Willis is along with tips on that.

Gerri, good morning to you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning to you, Daryn. The third quarter is over. It wasn't pretty. We'll tell you what to do with your 401k coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired October 4, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.
The creators of SpaceShipOne hope to close a $10 million deal this morning. That's the prize at stake if the private man craft makes its second successful trip into space. SpaceShipOne took off with its mother ship a few minutes ago. If it fails to reach space -- and we are looking at a live picture there from the Mojave Desert; the team still does have a nine-day window to try again.

At least 16 people were killed and 85 wounded in a pair of car bombings in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi recruitment center near the Green Zone was one apparent target, a convoy of Western contractors the other. Gunfire was also heard through the city and U.S. Army helicopters were seen overhead.

The Israeli military operation, Days of Penitence, is in his sixth day in the Gaza Strip. Security forces say that eight Palestinians were killed today. Palestinians say a missile hit a refugee camp. Days of Penitence was launched Wednesday, after a Palestinian missile killed two Israeli children. More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in that Israeli offensive.

Scientists say another eruption of Washington's Mount St. Helens volcano is imminent. A tremor was reported early yesterday. But the magma movement inside the volcano did not cause an eruption. A series of shallow earthquakes has been taking place over the last week and a half.

It is the first Monday in October. That means the opening of the new Supreme Court term. Death penalties for juvenile and prison sentencing cases are major items on the schedule. The nine justices have served together without a retirement or death for more than a decade. That is a modern record.

Live this hour, a privately built spacecraft hurtles into space and possibly into history. At stake, a $10 million reward for the pioneers of SpaceShipOne. Check out the live picture. It looks like we have the chase plane, and we're looking at the rest -- for the rest of us, the promise of some day traveling in space perhaps.

I know that's on the mind of our space correspondent Miles O'Brien. He is on the ground joining us from the Mojave Desert.

Miles, I know you'd pay about a billion bucks to be up there today. MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm trying to figure out how many Delta frequent flyer miles will get me up there.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: It might be more than I've got. Take a look at that live picture. And it's a pretty spectacular shot that we're getting with some of our tracking cameras. In the left-hand portion of your screen is White Knight, that's the craft that is carrying SpaceShipOne. And when it reaches an altitude of 50,000 feet, will cut SpaceShipOne loose without further DeLay. Brian Binnie, the pilot on board right now will get right to it, do a quick checklist and hit that button. And off he will go on a wild 65 to 80 second rocket ride, straight up, and hopefully in excess of 328,000 feet, which is the mythical barrier to space. At least that's what the record keepers say.

The aircraft following it close behind, on the right-hand portion of your screen, is a Beachcraft Starship. Owner and pilot Robert Shearer. That particular aircraft is a Burt Rutan design. Burt Rutan designed, of course, SpaceShipOne and the White Knight, which is carrying it up. And it is providing chase, which means it allows an opportunity to get some pictures. But also more importantly, they're looking very closely at the aircraft to make sure, and the spacecraft, to make sure everything looks good before any attempt at space is tried.

Joining me here, watching this on this spectacular high desert morning is Dick Rutan, the brother of Burt Rutan. He, in December of 1986, flew around the world on one tank of gas. And he, too, this morning is thinking about space.

I bet you'd like to be up there.

DICK RUTAN, BROTHER OF SPACECRAFT DESIGNER: You bet. I would really like to do that. I think anybody would. If you have red blood, right?

O'BRIEN: I think it's the place to be this morning for sure. So far we've been listening to the radios pretty carefully. We've been talking to some of the people on the team. I haven't heard a single problem or issue that they've been dealing with this morning.

RUTAN: No. Everything is doing fine. They're checking in. All the systems seem to be go. They've had a good briefing. And the weather is outstanding.

O'BRIEN: It is.

RUTAN: It is a beautiful desert morning.

O'BRIEN: It's as good as it gets.

Now, the pilot this time is Brian Binnie. Mike Melville who has flown the two previous trips to space on SpaceShipOne, the one on June 21 or 20 that was the first attempt. And then, of course the first prize attempt, that last Wednesday. He's actually flying the mother ship, White Knight. Brian Binnie is going to make the attempt for space today. Now, he flew on December 17, 2003, the centennial flight. Had not a great landing. What's been going on between now and -- then and now?

RUTAN: Well, I can imagine that Brian's concentrating on his landings.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

RUTAN: They've been doing a lot of work on that. In fact, the spaceship, you can't see right ahead. You kind of have to look out the side of the windows.

O'BRIEN: Well, you can look at it as you see the takeoff just a moment ago, about 15 minutes ago. Look at those -- that series of portholes, and really getting a view of the runway is not an easy thing.

RUTAN: No. Actually right where you want to be looking you can't see.

O'BRIEN: Oh, there you go. That figures, right? There's a Burt Rutan design. Not thinking of the pilot once again. Right.

RUTAN: Oh, no. Actually it's the heat shield and stuff that has to be right on the pointy end.

O'BRIEN: All right.

RUTAN: And that gets real hot.

O'BRIEN: So in any case, he has been practicing with Mike Melville in his Long Easy aircraft, another Burt Rutan design plane that Dick flies frequently as well. Practicing those approaches, trying to get that right. He collapsed one of the man landing gears back in December. In any case, this is a guy -- as you go back to a live picture by the way, as they probably getting close to 20,000 feet now or getting near there. He is a Navy test pilot who has tested just about every kind of Navy Strike fighter there is. Has a tremendous amount of test flying experience.

RUTAN: That's right. And he's highly educated, too, in the aerospace disciplines. And even has a master's degree in engineering. So he is very highly qualified.

O'BRIEN: It's quite a contrast in the two pilots. Mike Melville, a high school dropout from South Africa, who made his way to the desert here and Burt Rutan. And ultimately became integral to his test flying program. And then you have Brian Binnie on the other side of it, kind of the conventional test pilot route.

RUTAN: Well, we were here flying little light airplanes and Brian Binnie was involved in, you know, the high performance jet military aircraft. O'BRIEN: Now, this whole notion of an X-Prize, a $10 million prize, has obviously spurred a lot of what we're seeing here today. I have the sense that your brother, Burt would do this whether there was a prize or not.

RUTAN: Absolutely. I don't think the prize meant anything. He would still be doing it because it's really not the money. It's the achievement. It's opening up a new frontier. And really money has nothing to do with that, other than having to have the money to pay the people and pay the rent on the building.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Of course, this is a $25 million project funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is a space enthusiast. The payoff is $10 million for the prize. You might say well, wait a minute that doesn't sound like the kind of business, which would get you to become a billionaire. But the truth is they've already licensed this technology to Richard Branson, of Virgin Airways. He's talking about a spaceliner perhaps as soon as 2007. Which means -- and it's not a cheap ticket, but there will be tickets available out there for people who aren't necessarily billionaires fairly soon.

RUTAN: Well, that's true. It's reserved initially for the more affluent people. But it was just like when we first started to schedule airlines way back in the '20s. There wasn't a whole lot of people who could afford a ticket on those either.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's take a look at this tape from last week. We're sort of downplaying the risk here a little bit. This is Mike Melville last Wednesday. And of course, we all saw not from this view right away. But you and I were together and it really did take our breath away a little bit, because no one expected to see upwards of 29 rolls. Afterwards, Mike Melville said ah, it was no big deal. I just waited until it pivoted. As you see there. Which is called the feathering process and then got rid of that roll and down he went. Nevertheless, they'd probably prefer not to do that roll today, right?

RUTAN: Well, they probably would prefer it. But I look at it well, when Mike writes his book it will just be a, you know, little more interesting chapter in his book.

O'BRIEN: I should say so.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: And for all of us, it was a moment we will remember, having watched it, Daryn. All right, we still are only about 20 minutes into this flight. It's going to take them another 40 minutes or so to get to altitude and do this launch. We're going to be sitting here listening to the radios very carefully. If we hear anything you need to know about, Daryn, we'll bring it to you. Also I'm blogging on CNN.com. I've become a blogger today with my little Blackberry here. So, if you are interested in some of the minutia that we can't necessarily get into our live shots, feel free to visit us at CNN.com -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, cool. Miles, I'll have to do that while I'm multitasking up here. CNN.com, then what do I do?

O'BRIEN: Like you've got nothing else to do.

KAGAN: Yes. Exactly. No. But where do we find you on CNN.com? Science?

O'BRIEN: Oh -- I -- it's just right there on the main page, front and center.

KAGAN: OK. You are a main page kind of guy. All right we will check back with you later this morning, as well, you blogger you. Thank you, Miles.

Stay with us. If you don't have access to your computer with the latest on this hour's flight on SpaceShipOne. Later this hour, we're going to go back to Mojave and to Miles, and he'll bring us the latest on the flight.

Now to our update on Iraq, where another day of violence has left dozens dead and injured. In central Baghdad, a pair of car bombings erupted within an hour of each other, killing at least 16 people and wounding 85 others. The first blast was detonated near the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British Embassies, as well as many Iraqi Ministry buildings.

Also black smoke that could be seen from the second blast. A witness has says that the bomb -- the bomber's targeted a Western convoy and destroyed two armored SUVs. The vehicles are popular among Western contractors in Iraq.

In Fallujah, hospital officials say this morning's U.S. air strikes on suspected insurgent targets, killed at least eight people and wounded a dozen more. Coalition officials say there have been now 10 offensive strikes on the Zarqawi terrorist network in the last month.

Some new polls suggesting that presidential candidate, John Kerry, has pulled even with George W. Bush after last week's debate. That is according to a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll. Senator Kerry has erased the lead that President Bush enjoyed since the GOP convention. Both now have 49 percent among likely voters. Bush holds a two-percentage point lead among registered voters. That same poll shows the economy may be a decisive issue. When asked which candidate would do a better job with the economy, 51 percent chose Senator Kerry. The same percentage that had chosen the president the week before.

Today, the Bush campaign is focusing on campaign strategies and tightening the race, and the recurrent theme of tax cuts. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash taking a closer look at that.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the president at this hour is on his way to Iowa, and he's going to use one of the advantages of incumbency. He's going to sign a tax cut bill that is pretty popular among most Americans. It extends most of, or some of the tax cuts aimed at the middle-class, that were originally passed in 2001. These tax cuts that even John Kerry's campaign, he supports.

Now, back on the campaign trail, that's where the president is going. But a very different race from last week. Of course, as you mentioned, polls showing the race is now neck and neck. Now, Bush aides say they take solace in the fact that, at least at this point, John Kerry at least doesn't have a majority. Now what's the strategy to rebound, to regain the president's majority? Well, senior Bush aides say that their plan is to go on the attack, attack John Kerry's record every day for the next 30 days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): The president spent a rare day off the campaign trail on a bike trail, as his post-debate lead against John Kerry evaporated. Now a neck and neck race. And his campaign team is trying to regroup from what they only privately admit was a disappointing debate.

DAN BARTLETT, COMMS. DIR., WHITE HOUSE: Every good team goes back and looks at the tapes and looks at transcripts. And does that to see where opportunities could be, you know, found and things like that.

BASH: The president went over some potential opportunities at a Sunday debate prep session inside the White House. While still trying to manage expectations, aides hoping the format for Round 2, a town hall, will help.

BARTLETT: President Bush is very comfortable talking to real people, and talking to them about the big issues of the day.

(CHEERING)

BASH: One-issue Bush officials would rather not talk about, but camp Kerry is pouncing on, whether the White House brushed aside known doubts about Iraq's nuclear capability in the run-up to war. In September 2002, on CNN's "LATE EDITION," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned of aluminum tube shipments to Iraq.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: High-quality aluminum tubes that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.

BASH: An exhaustive "New York Times" report says Rice and staff knew then the Energy Department had already concluded what was later widely accepted. The tubes were not for nuclear use. Rice now says she was aware of some debate, but relied on a multi-agency intelligence assessment and has no regrets.

RICE: If you underestimate the nuclear threat of a tyrant, you make a really big mistake. And I stand by that decision of the administration to this very day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now since last week's debate, the president has been trying to shift the Iraq discussion from his defensive war, what you just heard from Condoleezza Rice, back to what Senator Kerry would do as commander in chief. Bush aides feel that is a critical part of making sure that this neck and neck race doesn't turn into a John Kerry lead.

Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you for that.

Speaking of John Kerry. He is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today. He is conducting a town hall meeting talking about stem cell research. Let's listen in for a bit.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Bush just doesn't get it. Faced with the facts, he turns away. Time and again he's proven that he's stubborn, he's out of touch, he's unwilling to change, he's unwilling to change course.

(APPLAUSE)

And it's not, obviously, a stubbornness limited to this field, because we see it in the conduct of our foreign affairs, we see it in the decisions and choices made about Iraq, we see it in the unwillingness to be realistic about bringing countries to our side.

(APPLAUSE)

And we can talk about that when we open it up and have, sort of, the open part of this.

But, you know, this isn't about politics. This is really about fundamental American values. It's about how we save lives. It's about how we actually respect life itself.

And the fact is that leaders from both political parties -- Michael mentioned John McCain; Orrin Hatch, the leader on the Health and Human Services Committee, and others -- we got about 58 senators who are cosponsors of this. But you can't get the president to look, stop and change his mind.

Forty-eight Nobel prize-winning scientists are supporting my campaign for the presidency of the United States, citing stem cell research as one of the primary reasons.

(APPLAUSE)

The fact is that the majority of the American people support stem cell research and it's high time we had a president of the United States who does, too.

(APPLAUSE)

But instead of listening to the American people, you know what they say?

We're going to get there. Did you want to ask a question? Can I...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) and I know that there won't be any cure in time for me. I'm voting for you and everything you stand for.

(APPLAUSE)

KERRY: Thank you so much. Thank you. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) wonderful speech.

KERRY: Oh, no, I love you. My gosh, come on.

(APPLAUSE)

Do you need some assistance? Do you need any help? Are you OK? Are you all right? OK.

(APPLAUSE)

All right. God bless. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

I've got to tell you, folks, when you hear somebody stand up and say to you, "I support you, but it's too late for me," that's pretty tough.

KERRY: And it really tells you something about what this means to people who do lie awake at night, who are in tears, who worry about the possibilities, and who know that there's a way to do this with ethical guidelines, with standards; that we could be leading the world in the effort, as we ought to.

What disturbs me so much about it is that, you know what this administration says? It says that, instead of listening to the facts, that supporting stem cell research is giving people false hope.

Now, I want you to think about that for a minute. Imagine if we'd told researchers researching polio, "You're giving people false hope." Imagine if we'd told those who were working to eradicate smallpox, "Oh, false hope." It's unthinkable.

But that is exactly what the administration is saying to scientists, to people whose lives are dedicated to trying to make these judgments about facts, and who want to study Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, osteoporosis -- so many different possibilities. And that's just an honest difference between President Bush and me. I believe that when it comes to promising research, there's no such thing as false hope.

(APPLAUSE)

I believe that it's part of the American spirit that when we put our minds to things, when we go out and pull and push and get the best minds at our colleges and laboratories and universities and venture capitalists and scientists all working toward a goal -- who knows whether you'll reach that goal, but guess what has always happened in America: We find something new and different and promising and helpful that raises the quality of life.

KERRY: Just today two Americans, Richard Axel and Linda Buck, won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their pioneering research. It's an example of what we can do when we start...

(APPLAUSE)

But when you have a president who refuses to listen to the facts, who wants to play to the cheap seats, who wants to go down to the politics of division and the politics of ideology, dismisses scientists and turns his back on science, then we wind up saying no to discovery and no to innovation and no to the people who desperately need cures.

You know, it's not any accident, I think, that Nancy Reagan -- a woman of great courage, compassion and grace -- put it best when she said, quote, "I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this. We've lost so much time already. I really can't bear to lose any more." Well, neither can I.

(APPLAUSE)

KAGAN: Listening to Senator John Kerry speak in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today. He is talking in favor of government-funded stem cell research. Actor Michael J. Fox is there with him, as well. The Bush administration's anticipating today's statement released its own statement saying that they wanted to point out that President Bush is the first president to be the first to support federally funded stem cell research, the difference between the two candidates, where they draw the line on how far science should go.

Want to invite you to join us tomorrow night for the debate between the vice presidential candidates. Dick Cheney and John Edwards will scare off in Cleveland. The presidential candidates, Bush and Kerry, go at it again on Friday night. Again in a town hall kind of format. For both events our coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

Ten million bucks on the line. Today the team behind SpaceShipOne could claim that prize for flying a privately built rocket into space. Stay with us as we track the historic space flight.

And residents can only wait and see what Mount St. Helens has in store to do next. A live report from Washington State coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, whether the market is bull or bear, it is probably a good time to check your 401k plan. Our Gerri Willis is along with tips on that.

Gerri, good morning to you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning to you, Daryn. The third quarter is over. It wasn't pretty. We'll tell you what to do with your 401k coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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