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CNN Live Today

Shuttle Discovery Still on Target for Afternoon Liftoff; President Bush Pays July 4th Visit to Fort Bragg; Rape-Killing Charges

Aired July 04, 2006 - 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: Thanks for being with us on this Fourth of July morning.
We're just a few hours from the planned launch of the space shuttle Discovery. NASA says that the crack found in the foam insulation is not a problem. And just ahead on LIVE TODAY we'll talk to the NASA engineers who inspected the shuttle and gave it the A-OK for takeoff.

Ladies and Gentlemen, park your cars. We'll look at how the New Jersey budget crisis idles drivers and would-be drivers from the Garden State.

And new details emerging about this former soldier. He is charged with killing four members of an Iraqi family and raping one of the victims.

11: 00 a.m. on the East Coast.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Daryn Kagan on this Independence Day.

At Kennedy Space Center it is on. Discovery is on the launch pad and ready to blast off. NASA says its engineers have checked out that crack in the insulating foam. It's nothing to worry about, they say. But will the weather cooperate?

Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, counting down to liftoff.

Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: We've been going from red to green on the weather, as they like to call it here, all morning long, Daryn. Right now it looks OK, but one of our concerns is, among the concerns that there are, besides rain clouds and cumulus clouds and thunderstorms, is the possibility that the wind will pick up.

I don't know if you can see behind me on that -- the flag there. It's starting to stiffen up here a little bit. And as a result, that could potentially lay the groundwork for some concerns about crosswinds at the shuttle landing facility.

Right now it's well below those levels, but as the day goes on that sea breeze will kick up. It's a dead crosswind across the runway. They have to be ready for a safe abort and return to the Kennedy Space Center.

So, the weather predictions are not just for launch. They are also for a landing here as well. And one of the things they'll be looking at is that crosswind as the day progresses.

Take a look at some live pictures now as you see the convoy headed out to launch pad 39B, the astrovan. Inside it, the crew of seven for the space shuttle Discovery, making their way out there now.

They have gone through that ritual now. This is the third time.

Up until this point, the commander, Steve Lindsey, had gone every time the first time. So his string has been broken in spades this time, and the hope is that this time they will be on their way to the International Space Station to re-supply it with supplies and so forth, and add a crew member, a long-duration crew member, a German astronaut by the name of Thomas Ryder (ph), who will spend six months on the space station.

The foam issue that you referred to, Daryn, is an issue which NASA says it is perfectly comfortable with. I want to just walk you through quickly what we're talking about here as we look at a graphic here to show you where it is.

First of all, it's in a place that is of concern, right up here at the top of the fuel tank near an oxygen pipe which is exposed, a bracket supporting it. And in a place that if foam came off it could very well fall on to the soft underbelly of the spacecraft where those thermal protection tiles are.

As you can see by looking at this shot here, there was a crack which was evident as the engineers were looking at the -- doing a routine inspection in the wake of the scrubbed launch attempts over the weekend. They spotted the crack, looked up again and realized that that crack actually became a flake.

A piece about four or five inches long fell off, weighing about the weight of a penny, and about half the weight that they would be concerned about causing damage. And it created a little -- as you can see here, a discoloration as that piece fell off.

So they went through a series of concerns to see if it was possible that it could create a problem with ice. The ice team has been looking at it very closely, hasn't found a problem. Was there enough insulation left? The determination was, yes, there was plenty. And was there any more damage on the top side of that strut?

Well, the team here, the crew that works on the pad, came up with a novel way to put a camera at the end of a plastic pipe to see over the top of that strut in a way that was a lot easier than putting up some scaffolding and so forth. And they gave it a clean bill of health.

So, that should put foam to rest for today, at least. As the space shuttle Discovery gets ready for launch, we'll see what -- how much foam falls off. There will be foam that will. The question is, how big and will it cause any damage?

The launch scheduled, once again, for 2:38 p.m. Eastern Time. Our launch special here on CNN, 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, speaking of time, explain to me the difference between the two clocks. The one that seems to be by the launch pad and the one that we're looking at on our screen.

O'BRIEN: Yes. We have created an unofficial chronological clock. Well, it's official for us, I guess. Three hours and 33 minutes, that's what the real amount of time for a normal human being would be to launch.

In NASA speak, it is now 2 hours 37 minutes and counting to launch. That is because there's a series of holds built into the countdown in order for the people in the control room, the engineers, to know just where they are in the countdown. And in those holds they have some flexibility and expand them if they need to, to work on a specific problem. Then the count picks up again.

So, it gives them a way to put somewhat flexible mileposts in the countdown to the launch. And that's why the time only matches the time you see that we have put up in the last nine minutes of the countdown -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Got it.

Now, talk about pressure. We've been talking for the last day about that crack that they found in the foam. Somebody or a couple of somebodies had to make that final call to say, nope, we're good to go.

You're going to talk to those engineers.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, we have -- we have a crew of people that came up with a rather ingenious method of looking at the top of that strut. In just a little while we'll introduce you to them. I guess you could call them the heroes that are making it possible for us to even contemplate a July 4th launch of the space shuttle Discovery.

We'll see them in a little bit.

KAGAN: It's riding on their shoulders, though.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: Yes. Thank you, Miles.

So, are you feeling it yet? Patriotic music, fireworks lighting up the sky. Across the country we're celebrating the Fourth of July. And this was the eye-popping scene last night at Chicago's Grant Park. A great show there.

President Bush spending part of Independence Day in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the Army's 82nd Airborne. Mr. Bush met with soldiers and Special Ops troops. He thanked them for their service and their sacrifice, and then later he said the U.S. continues to rack up successes in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the weeks since Zarqawi's death, coalition and Iraqi forces have launched more than 190 raids on targets across the country. We've captured more than 700 enemy operatives and killed some 60 more.

In these raids we've uncovered caches of weapons and suicide vests and Iraqi army uniforms to be used as disguises in brutal terrorist attacks. We've seized new intelligence information that is helping us keep the pressure on the terrorists and the insurgents.

At this moment of vulnerability for the enemy we will continue to strike their network, we will disrupt their operations, and we will bring their leaders to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The president is having lunch with the troops before heading back to Washington for tonight's fireworks in the nation's capital.

By the way, president and Mrs. Bush will be with our "LARRY KING LIVE" on Thursday. You'll see that only here on CNN, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Pacific.

Honorably discharged, now facing some very serious charges. Former private Steven Green is accused of killing four members of an Iraqi family and raping one victim before shooting her point blank.

CNN's Barbara Starr is following the developing story for us from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twenty- one-year-old Steven Green appeared in federal court in North Carolina on charges he raped and murdered a young girl and murdered her family in March while he served on active duty with the 101st Airborne Division in Mahmoudiya, Iraq. According to an FBI affidavit, he recently was discharged due to a personality disorder.

Federal prosecutors detailed the case that came to light only after soldiers from the unit had a stress counseling session following the recent murder of privates Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker. One soldiers told investigators four soldiers went to a house to rape an Iraqi woman on March 12th, but first they drank alcohol and some of them changed into dark clothing, according to the affidavit.

Court documents also allege that when they got to the house, three of the family members were taken by Green into a bedroom and shot. One was a girl estimated to be 5 years old, and her parents.

According to the criminal complaint, witnesses told investigators that Green said, "I just killed them. All are dead." Witnesses told investigators that then Green and another soldier raped the family's older daughter. The same witnesses told investigators they saw Green shoot her in the head at least two times.

STARR (on camera): So far, Green has not entered a plea, and his attorney did not return a phone call from CNN seeking a comment. This is the fifth case in recent weeks in which U.S. troops are said to be involved in the killing of Iraqi civilians.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Life in Iraq. A government official with 19 bodyguards and he still gets kidnapped, and so do they. It happened today in broad daylight on a busy Baghdad street. Police believe the bad guys got away with it because they were wearing military uniforms.

Kidnapping entire groups of people has become bolder in Baghdad in recent days.

The hunt for Osama bin Laden on the backburner. The CIA has closed its unit dedicated to capturing the al Qaeda leader. Intelligence officials say the move reflects reality. More groups inspired by al Qaeda are carrying out attacks on their own without bin Laden's oversight.

The CIA says finding the terror leader does remain a priority, but they're now focusing more on regional trends and less on specific people. Today's "New York Times" has details on those changes. The story was first reported by NPR.

Fueled up and counting down, space shuttle Discovery and the questions hovering over today's scheduled launch. You're going to meet the guys who inspected the shuttle and gave the liftoff a thumbs up. That's coming up next.

And no pay, no play. Jersey's budget crisis threatens to close the state's casinos. Developments coming up.

And then in the next hour...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We went inside, and they told us to take it up with the government and take it up with the governor. I think I would have been like a little boy on Christmas if I got my license.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: How the state's playing Grinch to some childhood dreams.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Live pictures from Cape Canaveral as we watch the shuttle astronauts suit up and get ready. You know, so much more to do than just shoving your bag in that overhead bin above your seat to get ready for this.

We're just under -- well, under three-and-a-half hours from when the launch is scheduled now, 2:38 p.m. Eastern. You'll see it live here on CNN.

This is the third try. And, of course, you heard about the crack in the foam insulation. Coming up, Miles, in Florida, will talk to the officials who had to make that final call that the shuttle is good to go and that they are not concerned about the crack in the foam insulation.

Ooh, look at that leg room. OK. We'll talk more about that in just a bit.

First of all, though, to New Jersey. They are caught in an Independence Day nightmare. Lawmakers battling over a proposed sales tax hike. Much of the state government is shutting down due to the budget crisis.

Eric Landskroner of our affiliate News 12 New Jersey takes a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC LANDSKRONER, REPORTER, NEWS 12 (voice over): Meet 17-year- old Daniel Motus and his first car. Sure, it has 180,000 miles on it, but he was revving to go had it not been for that big road block courtesy of the budget crisis.

DANIEL MOTUS, SUPPOSED TO GET LICENSE: I woke up today about 6:45, went down to, you know, DMV, the motor vehicles, and tried to get my license.

LANDSKRONER: But this is what he saw. The MVC just one of the state agencies shut down until further notice.

MOTUS: We went inside and they told us to take it up with the government and take it up with the governor.

LANDSKRONER: Leaving Motus both steaming mad and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I would have been like a little boy on Christmas if I got my license.

LANDSKRONER: Denise Alcano (ph) is Dan's mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just felt so sorry for him. He had worked so hard.

LANDSKRONER: Dan saved for two years working at Burger King to afford the gas and insurance, but he wasn't the only one angry today. It turns out a lot of people didn't know the MBC had been shut down, like Abigail Arden (ph), who was trying to renew her registration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I'm caught driving my car now, I might get it impounded. LANDSKRONER: It could be worse, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My car actually got impounded.

LANDSKRONER: Which means he can't get it back until the MVC reopens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anybody know (INAUDIBLE)?

LANDSKRONER: Dan Motus doesn't. And as long as he's without a license, he has a question for the governor

MOTUS: The government brings way more money than I do. And why can't they save? If a 17-year-old student, you know, can save, then why can't the government?

LANDSKRONER (on camera): Now, if you are like Dan, just turned 17, supposed to get your license today, there is some good news. You can continue to drive as long as you have someone like me who's had their license for three years or more in the car with you. But until that state MVC office reopens, well, you just have to wait for that rite of passage to come a little later on.

In Dover Township, Eric Landskroner, News 12, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That would be frustrating. You turn 16 and you have to wait to get the license.

The shuttle astronauts know about a little bit of frustration. They're trying for the third time in the last few days to get the shuttle Discovery off the ground. Weather interrupted the last two times, and now they are trying again, in less than three -- well, just about three hours and 20 minutes.

Our Miles O'Brien is in Florida. We'll be checking in with him in just a minute and continue to look at these incredible live pictures from the shuttle Discovery.

Stay with CNN. You're watching the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, check this out. Live pictures from inside space shuttle Discovery as we get a chance to watch the astronauts strap in. So much more to consider than just a tray table in front of you in its upright position.

They need some help there. They plan to launch this time in about three hours and 17 minutes. We have our own clock working there in the bottom right of your screen.

Of course, the story over the last day has been the crack in the foam insulation. And somebody or a team of somebodies had to make the decision, do you go anyway? And is it safe? Miles O'Brien now at Kennedy Space Center with the team that had to make that call -- Miles

O'BRIEN: Yes, this is the team. I guess you call these guys the A team, because they have made it possible for us to be standing here today with the countdown underway for the space shuttle Discovery.

This is Charles Wassen, Jeff Rowe (ph), and Brad Smith, all of them safety quality assurance people for United Space Alliance, which is the prime contractor for the space shuttle program.

First of all, I want to tell you, before we tell you about this borescope device, which is a very cool camera -- I would like to get one of these. Maybe we can get one to fall off the truck, I can take one home. But that's for later.

Let's -- Brad, I want you to tell everybody where you all were, what platform you were on when you were using this device.

BRAD SMITH, MICRO-INSPECTION TEAM MEMBER: We were on the 207 level down at the pad. There's a rotating service structure that comes around the orbiter here.

O'BRIEN: Kind of like a cocoon for the shuttle. And you're actually above the cockpit, because the cockpit is at 195, right?

SMITH: That's correct. And we were probably right in this area. This right here is the feed line, and the very top bracket up there was what -- was the area of concern. And we were able to get to it from there.

O'BRIEN: Well, you make it sound simple. The problem was, you couldn't see the top of the bracket, which was of concern. They knew there was a problem with the bottom of the bracket.

So, Charles, why don't you pick it up from there? The idea kind of wasn't any one individual, it just kind of coalesced from you all, that to use this device would be helpful.

First of all, tell us what this is.

CHARLES WASSEN, MICRO-INSPECTION TEAM MEMBER: Correct. This is an Olympic Borescope Iplex (ph). USA and NASA was gracious enough to give us the equipment that we needed to perform the job.

What this is is an insertion tube. The light you see here on the end is fed by a bunch of fiber optics which gives the light, you know, so we can see in darker areas and gives us access to areas that we cannot normally see with the naked eye. The remote control here gives us the capability of manipulating this to where you could move this in 180 degrees out in any direction so you can see behind stuff of that nature.

O'BRIEN: Now, let's see, maybe if I point it right at the camera you can see exactly what it's like to see the business end of that lens. WASSEN: Right.

O'BRIEN: And you can sort of see it has its own light source. There we go.

OK. So this tiny little camera at the end there which you normally use when you go into places like the engine area, where you're looking for something...

WASSEN: Correct, feed lines.

O'BRIEN: ... feed lines, that kind of thing.

WASSEN: Correct.

One great advantage of this tool is it gives us the option of real-time capture video and still photos that we can download and send immediately to, say, like, for instance, we had to the engineers so they could instantly tell whether or not, you know, this was good or not.

O'BRIEN: So they are looking over your shoulder electronically while you're doing this.

WASSEN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty neat.

All right. So, tell us. Pick it up from here. That is one thing. You have this device which has -- how long does that cord go out?

WASSEN: It's approximately 12 feet. We have different varying models that rich all the way up to 29 feet as well.

O'BRIEN: All right. Twelve feet. But that still doesn't get you around that corner.

Show us, Jeff, what the other piece was that made this work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a piece of Dacron (ph) tubing. It's got -- it's an aluminum insert, surrounded by plastic, with Teflon running through the center of it. Now, we run this insertion tube through the inside of it, so we have some rigidity.

O'BRIEN: So the borescope went right up inside the middle of that thing, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. So we can manipulate this any -- any way we want it to, to direct it towards where we're looking at.

O'BRIEN: All right. Why don't you hold that still so we can get a look at it. And that is, that tube, what's it made of?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an aluminum insert in a Dacron (ph) coating. O'BRIEN: OK. And that was just enough distance so you kind of bent it in just the way you needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. We had to manipulate it several times to get the different areas that we needed to look at.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And so what -- did it take long to find the spot you needed? I mean, did you have to do a lot of hunting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really. No. When we -- I've worked ET before. We kind of knew what we were looking for. And we had engineers directing us where we needed to go. So we pretty much had an idea where we needed to go.

O'BRIEN: So this is a tool that's never been used in this way before, but what it saved you, just to be clear here, is a day's worth of work setting up scaffolding and all of the stuff that goes along with that to actually get your human eyeballs right on the place. You were able to extend it using this technology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. I mean, this is -- like I said, this is a really unique piece of tool. We use this every day for a variety of different mediums. We were fortunate enough -- we were gracious enough to be able to go out there and actually do what they needed us to do and save the time and the ability and keep the launch on schedule.

O'BRIEN: You know, this -- you guys down here, you're always looking for ways to impress the boss around here, but you tend to do it time and again.

Did you sort of take it as a challenge to try to come up with a way that was easier to get comfortable with this crack in the foam?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think this was one of the easier jobs we do. It really wasn't that hard to do.

O'BRIEN: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was hard -- it was a lot easier once we got up there to see what we had to do. We kind of had a picture of, this is going to be a tough thing. But once we got up there, it was fairly easy to do.

O'BRIEN: And Brad, tell us, when you saw it, did you know right away that it looked like it wasn't going to be a problem?

SMITH: No. It was -- it was fairly simple. It was only like eight feet out, and we do this all the time. And we were able to get exactly where they wanted us to go. It was simple.

O'BRIEN: All right. We can take a look at the photo album now. It's kind of hard for us to see it right here, but you can share some of these pictures.

Were the engineers actually directing you, hey, go a little right, go a little left, show us this, show us that, that kind of thing?

SMITH: Yes, they were standing back. What we can do -- you can feed a coaxial cable here off to a separate monitor, a VCR-type thing, so they can stand off station and see exactly everything that we're seeing. And then either through a headset or through direct communication, they can direct us left, hey, you need to go here, a little bit to the left, right. You know, they can direct us in every direction we need to go.

So they can fully visualize everything that they really need to see so they can make an accurate assessment of what needs to be done or what needs to be fixed.

O'BRIEN: Now, the engineer makes the call, but you guys know this vehicle. Did it look like it was good to go from your perspective?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we were looking for was displaced foam, crushed foam, cracked foam. And we saw none of that. And we took the pictures and let them assess what they saw.

You know, they're the engineers. They're the ones that had to have the say so in whether it's good or bad. We just provided them some pictures to look at.

O'BRIEN: Anybody afraid of heights here? Staring down 200 feet plus, was that a problem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. Not at all.

O'BRIEN: Everybody's tethered, right? That's an important thing.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Everything has a safety tether when you're up at the launch pad. That's an important thing.

You guys, I assume you get a little "atta boy," at least a certificate. Maybe -- I think you're good for a mission patch, don't you think? That is flown in space?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's a lot of people that worked on this with NASA and U.S. -- United Space Alliance. I mean, there's 30 or 40 people. It wasn't just us three. There was a bunch of people working on this project.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's hope we see a launch today to make all this work really, really pay off.

Gentlemen, good work.

We're talking to Charles Wassen, Jeff Rowe (ph), Brad Smith, United Space Alliance, quality guys who came up with a rather ingenious setup here.

Next time -- next time I want to carry this live on CNN. Just plug right in. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

O'BRIEN: All right. Yes. I'm sure they'll let us do that -- Daryn

KAGAN: Kind of like geek superheroes, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Geek superheroes, yes, that's them. They rip open their shirt and there is a big "G".

KAGAN: And a plastic pocket protector.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: Thank you. Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. You're welcome.

KAGAN: Of course, they can do all of that work and if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, no go. So let's check in with Chad Myers to see what the weather is look like coming up this afternoon along the Florida coast -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Daryn.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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