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American Morning

Space Shuttle Columbia Lifts Off in Spectacular Fashion

Aired March 01, 2002 - 07:40   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Rise and shine. While many of us were all wiping away the sleep from our eyes, the space shuttle Columbia lifted off in a brilliant and pretty spectacular fashion, just beating the sun about an hour ago this morning.

CNN space Correspondent Miles O'Brien was there, wide awake, as usual, at the Kennedy Space Center. He joins us now with more on the shuttle's mission -- and good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it was such an early call, Anderson, we bought a new coffee maker here at the trailer at CNN. We've been up since about one in the morning local time, but there was a payoff. An hour and 23 minutes ago we saw the Space Shuttle Columbia begin her 27th voyage. Just shy of its 21st anniversary as the first space shuttle to fly back in April of 1981.

I think we saw some pictures just a moment ago of the launch. It was -- well it's trite to say, but picture perfect does come to mind. It was a beautiful morning. Let's listen for one second as it begins its flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... our view of the universe through the Hubble space telescope.

O'BRIEN: The commander of this mission is Scott Scooter Altman. He's a naval officer who, prior to coming NASA, his claim to fame was he did the stunt flying in the movie "Top Gun." This will test his stick and runner capability as he rendezvous with the Hubble space telescope.

This was the walkout a little earlier. Scott Altman, to your right. His pilot, Digger Carey (ph), on your left. Don't ask why they call him Digger, he wouldn't tell me. And then right behind him, Mike Macenino (ph), right at the back there. There you see him back right. He's a rookie, a rookie astronaut, never has flown. And he will be conducting two space walks around the Hubble space telescope, which in all, is a $6 billion operation.

So it remains to be seen. They obviously have a lot of confidence in him. During the course of this mission, they'll be doing some critical things. Replacing the solar arrays (ph), adding a camera that's ten times more powerful than anything that's ever been on the Hubble space telescope. And most critically, on space walk number three, they're going to perform open heart surgery on the Hubble, removing its heart without a heart lung machine. The power control unit will come out. It's a maneuver that was never designed to be done by space-walking astronauts. The Hubble will be shut down for this procedure the first time in 12 years, that will happen. And they're hoping against hope that when all is plugged back in, they flip the switch and Hubble turns back on. But nobody, Anderson, is offering any guarantees on that.

COOPER: Miles, we've just got about 30 seconds left. Some people are saying this is one of the most challenging space shuttle missions. Why is that?

O'BRIEN: Well, you've got five very full space walks. You go back to the first Hubble repair mission December of '93, that was critical, of course, because the Hubble was launched with blurry vision. They needed to do that work. They had about four and a half space walks there. These are five very full space walks, including that one where the power goes out, and that is a situation where you're taking something that's working -- you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it -- and pulling something out of it to put something better in. And that's why they're saying this is very risky, very challenging and very difficult for the astronauts.

COOPER: All right. Miles O'Brien, thanks very much. We wish Scooter and Digger a lot of luck. Thanks a lot, Miles -- Paula.

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