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American Morning
Countdown to the Final Launch; New Debt Talks On Sunday
Aired July 08, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The final countdown.
I'm Ali Velshi live at Kennedy Space Center for the very last launch of the space shuttle.
It's the end of an era going back 30 years. The one wild card, though, is the weather. We're following every step that the final crew makes this morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
Tragedy at the ballpark, a fan falls to his death from the stands, trying to catch a foul ball as his son looks on. It's the second accident just like it this year.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Freedom delayed for Casey Anthony.
I'm Christine Romans.
Corrections officials in Florida doing some late night recalculating, adding a little more jail time to Anthony's sentence -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you're with us today. It is Friday, July 8th -- and, of course, a big day for the shuttle program.
ROMANS: For the shuttle program, for the jobs report here in the U.S. But the shuttle program because that is the history-making event of the day, we hope.
Ali Velshi is at Kennedy Space Center -- where they're fueled up, Ali. They're ready to go. But we'll se if it happens.
VELSHI: They are ready to go. In fact, we know there's going to be a lot of news one way or the other.
We are live at Kennedy Space Center here in Florida. This is a historic day -- the counting down, the hours.
You can see it there, the countdown clock hasn't started going. And I'll tell you about that through the course of the show.
But this is the countdown to the last launch ever of the space shuttle Atlantis, last launch ever of a space shuttle. It is truly the end of an amazing era. Four astronauts will make history today.
One million people from around the world are expected to gather in the greater area here to witness it -- if the weather holds out. They're here. They're ready to go in case the shuttle takes off.
Now, of the people on the shuttle, only 355 of the very elite have flown the shuttle in its 30-year history. We'll be bringing you every step of the final four astronauts, the steps that they take this morning.
Now, at 6:56 Eastern, less than an hour from now, the astronauts will get a briefing on the weather situation. That is always the wild card in the summer in Florida. If all is well, then at 7:06, one hour from now, they suit up. An hour after that, at 8:06, they will step on to the launch pad, there it is, and board space shuttle Atlantis for its final flight.
Then at 11:26 Eastern, again, all of this weather contingent, the shuttle's main engines will fire and liftoff will occur.
John Zarrella has seen many of these. This one's different, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, boy, it really is. And welcome to my world.
VELSHI: Thank you, sir. It's good to be in your world.
ZARRELLA: It's your first time?
VELSHI: Yes, it is.
ZARRELLA: It's going to be one exciting day today. Hopefully, (INAUDIBLE). But you're right, it's the weather, it seems to be the weather most times here.
VELSHI: Right.
ZARRELLA: No exception today. You know, and, in fact -- well, you know, the astronauts themselves, they're up there having their breakfast. They're going through that right now, you can see we're looking at the super structure around the shuttle Atlantis. But the weather was pretty wild around here yesterday.
VELSHI: That's right.
ZARRELLA: We actually had some lightning strikes within just a quarter of a mile, third of a mile of the launch pad. So, late yesterday afternoon and into the evening, before they started the tanking, they actually had to have the teams out there walking the pad, walking the area, to make sure --
VELSHI: And you can see it here on the video the lightning strikes.
ZARRELLA: Yes, absolutely.
VELSHI: Nothing was damaged.
ZARRELLA: To make sure that there were no issues or no problems. Unfortunately, there were --
VELSHI: Explain this to me. People have asked me this. This is a robust, hearty vehicle that has traveled millions of miles in space -- why does a little lightning and rain and wind on earth affect the takeoff?
ZARRELLA: Well, lightning -- the electronics, everything on board the shuttle, you get those super charged currents that can go through and you could have yourself a real problem. So, they've just got to check and make sure there are no issues that have developed with any of the sensitive equipment on board.
You know, George Diller has been here since 1979, hired for the shuttle program. George Diller is going to do the final commentary on the liftoff this morning.
VELSHI: Good.
ZARRELLA: And I asked George yesterday, I said, hey, have you thought about what you're going to say on this historic moment?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE DILLER, SHUTTLE LAUNCH COMMENTATOR: Something that has to occur to me and it comes at very unlikely times when I'm not doing something related to the space center or to the launch, my best thinking on liftoff lines comes in the shower or thoughts while shaving, you know, and that's just about what happened on this one.
ZARRELLA: Yesterday?
DILLER: Yesterday. So, at any rate, now so far, I haven't changed my mind. I think might change one word, but so far, I think I'm there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELA: So, it was actually Wednesday when George came up with his lines for what he's going to say on liftoff and his very first one that he did he was commentator on was the shuttle Atlantis.
VELSHI: Right. It will be interesting to see -- in our business, by the way, we call that a deep tease. You're going to have to watch TV to find out what he actually says.
All right. John and I are going to be together with some fantastic people this morning. Stay with us. But we'll be here all morning.
Fueling of this shuttle, by the way, began on time, as John mentioned, the launch team closely monitoring the weather the entire time.
Speaking of the weather, Chad Myers, with us here at Kennedy Space Center, keeping an eye on it for us this morning. He is live at the Visitors Center where we're going to have a whole lot of people who have worked very, very hard to get there and watch it from there.
Good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Ali.
They started showing up and the doors opened at 2:00 a.m., the entire field over there full of people already waiting for it. But something that we've seen this morning that we did not see at all yesterday, there are breaks in the cloud cover. We saw nothing of the sky yesterday. It was a gray rainy day.
Now, there are showers on the radar and the radar picture just shows most of the rain kind of out near Tampa and to the west of us. That big red dot is where we are right now. We get to keep that shower activity back off to the west, we get more clearing here. The shuttle goes off today even though it could be, and they're still saying 70 percent chance of a no-go with weather.
Hey, you know what? That means there's still a 30 percent chance. And buy a lottery ticket whether there's almost no chance anyway. So, this could be the day with the sun breaking out, it rained all day yesterday, maybe the rain is done for a while.
They only need a few minute window to see if they can launch this bad boy. We'll see if we do -- Ali.
VELSHI: And that's what they say, Chad. Everybody I talked to down here. So, when I was in New York, everybody was saying 70 percent chance, it's not going to go. And I come down here, and everybody says that means a 30 percent chance it is going to go.
People are optimist and I suppose to work for NASA and be around here, you have to operate as an optimist.
Chad, we'll be checking in with you through the course of the morning.
Hey, listen, to all of you out there, space might be the final frontier but none of the "Star Trek" films made the list of top five space movies on CNN.com. Not sure why that is.
But here's the list. "The Right Stuff" 1983, a NASA-oriented space movie. "Star Wars" 1977. "Aliens," 1986. "Flash Gordon," from 1980 -- some of you are showing your age. And, "2001: Space Odyssey," 1968.
Our question of the day, it's about you -- what you want to watch in space. What's your favorite space movie and why.
Send us an e-mail, a tweet or tell us on Facebook. We're going to read some of your comments a bit later on the show -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Don't tell us yours yet. I have mine.
ROMANS: I have mine, too. I bet ours is the same.
CHETRY: I don't know. If it is I will be very shocked.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: We'll see.
ROMANS: See you later, Ali.
CHETRY: All right. Ali, check you here in a second.
Right now, we're going forward with new details on the Casey Anthony I guess deliberation is over, but how long she'll stay in jail, that changed. It's now nine more days than when we first heard about it yesterday after the sentencing.
She was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive years behind bars for lying to police. With her time served, her release date was set for July 13th. Then it got pushed back a little later in the day to July 17th. The Orange County Corrections Department did some recalculating and determined without explanation that Casey needed to remain in jail four days longer than first reported.
ROMANS: Also this morning, we're hearing from another juror about the not guilty verdict that was -- that set Anthony free. Juror number two talking about Casey in an interview with "The St. Petersburg Times," saying, quote, "Everybody agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions, she was done." Adding, "I wish we had more evidence to put her away, I truly do."
We want to dig deeper into the late change to Casey Anthony's sentence and those comments from juror number two.
CHETRY: Yes, let's bring in Sunny Hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for truTV's "In Session."
So, this is interesting because the first juror that we heard from yesterday, said, I do not believe -- I didn't say I thought she was innocent.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, TRU TV: Right.
CHETRY: This juror said I wish we had more evidence to put her away.
Clearly conflicted about the law versus whether or not they --
ROMANS: Common sense.
VELSHI: -- that she did it.
HOSTIN: Well, I mean, that's the thing. And we've been talking about this all along since we've been covering this trial together, right? It's a high burden beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecution shoulders. And while everyone agrees something criminal happened here, it must have, because you don't find a little girl's body thrown into a swamp without something criminal happening. They just didn't have the evidence to prove it.
It's never what really happened as a prosecutor, it's what you can prove. And whenever I say that, I think people have that visceral reaction, makes you feel sick to your stomach, right? But that really is that the truth. You got to be able to prove the case.
And all 12 jurors agreed, picked by these attorneys, picked by both sides, that they just didn't have enough. But they felt that something happened.
ROMANS: You know, it's interesting, because people at home, a lot of people who are outraged by this verdict, especially interesting enough, people in Florida who are outraged.
HOSTIN: Oh, yes.
ROMANS: Which will be difficult for Casey Anthony and officials when they release her how they're going to do that. But so many people said common sense says this woman had something to do with her child's death and they just feel as if -- they feel empty by this verdict.
HOSTIN: They do. But it's -- you know, it has to be more than common sense. You have to apply the facts to the law. And I think we've got the best system in the world, the best system out there.
I mean, I'd love for somebody to tell me if there was a better do it. I don't think there is. And bottom line, when you got 12 people deciding someone's fate and all 12 unanimously decided there wasn't enough evidence, you have to be comfortable with that verdict.
CHETRY: Well, juror number two said in this interview, remaining anonymous, with the "St. Petersburg Times," that he wanted to go with aggravated manslaughter, but that -- this is what he said about it. "We didn't know how she died. We didn't know when she died. Technically, we didn't know where she died. You couldn't say who did it." And then he said, "To me, that's why it was aggravated manslaughter of a child."
HOSTIN: That's right. I mean, we've been saying that, right? The prosecution thought they had the "who," but I don't know that they showed anyone the where, the when. And I think even the motive, the why, which you don't have to prove but you got to give it to the jury I don't know that was that strong either.
So, in the scheme of things, I think this was the right verdict.
But let me just say this, everyone -- so many people in the media tried to tell people that this was a slam dunk case. Not me, right? I never said that. I think when you give people that expectation in your coverage, that this is a slam dunk case, there's so much evidence here, and that's not true, I think that's one of the reasons why so many people are so outraged by the verdict because they thought it was a slam dunk but it never ever was.
This was a circumstantial case from the very, very beginning. No witness was ever going to testify they saw Casey Anthony do this.
ROMANS: So a child's murder goes unpunished.
HOSTIN: Yes. Yes. But again, I think that makes us all feel terrible, but when you look at this system, you've got to be confident that the system worked.
CHETRY: And if one good thing comes out of this, this online petition for Caylee's law, going viral, this would make it a felony for parents or caregivers to not report the death of a child authorities, accidental or otherwise, within an hour.
HOSTIN: That would real change, right? But, federally, that would be unconstitutional. But state by state, certainly, they could implement something like this. We do have child neglect laws, though. We do have aggravated manslaughter of a child. We do have some laws in place.
But this is a wonderful movement because people are outraged by this. They want to make sure our children are safe which is paramount. And if every state passes a law like this, then I would say, that's a good thing. Something good came out of this.
ROMANS: And it's truly an unusual case. It might be that one in many, many millions of a kind of a case that -- what kind of conclusion can you draw?
HOSTIN: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Sunny Hostin, thank you.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Tragedy at the ballpark last night. This story is just so disturbing. A fan at a Texas Rangers game was with his young son and he died after falling out of the stands head first in about 20 feet to the ground.
You'll be seeing the video of it in a moment. There he is trying to catch that ball and there you see him just fall over the side.
He was trying to catch that foul ball that was tossed his way by outfielder Josh Hamilton. Another fan appears to have tried to grab him, grab his legs or shirt, but he couldn't save him from that fall.
This is the second fatal fall at a Major League ballpark this season. Now, the Rangers clubhouse was closed after the game and team president Nolan Ryan said Hamilton was distraught after hearing that news.
ROMANS: Of course.
All right. Facing a sex scandal and allegations of corruption, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced he will not run for re-election in 2013. Berlusconi made his remarks to Italy's largest daily newspaper. He's nominating his justice minister, Angelino Alfano, as his successor.
Berlusconi saying if he could give up the office now, he would.
CHETRY: Well, up next on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to talk to astronaut Leroy Chiao about his final thoughts on the shuttle program, why it's going away and what it's like to log all of that time in space, six-and-a-half months he spent on the International Space Station.
ROMANS: Wow.
CHETRY: It's 14 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: You cannot but be moved by what it looks like down here.
I'm Ali Velshi. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
We're live from the Kennedy Space Center this morning where in just a few hours, fingers crossed, we will watch history being made from the platform. That is a live shot of -- of the platform where the space shuttle "Atlantis" is standing by ready to take off.
Joining me now is my friend Leroy Chiao. He's an astronaut who flew on three -- three shuttle missions, plus one mission on Soyuz, spent six-and-a-half months on the International Space Station, 229 days in space. You've done six spacewalks.
LEROY CHIAO, EXEC. V.P., EXCALIBUR ALMAZ: Right.
VELSHI: Boy, you are the astronaut every one of us always wanted to be. But I have to tell you, Leroy. You love it. I love it. We've talked about it --
CHIAO: Right.
VELSHI: -- so many times, but it's chocolate and vanilla. There are some people watching us right now saying why do we care so much about the space program, what's the big deal? Tell me what the big deal is. Take the astronaut out of you out of this because you've -- you've started this.
CHIAO: Sure.
VELSHI: What is the big deal? CHIAO: Well, you know, we can always talk about the technological spin-offs and technical drivers and all that that the space program has done for the United States, but, really, it comes down to national prestige, you know? That's why a country gets into the space -- human space flight business.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHIAO: Add to that the intangible of, you know, what you're doing to inspire the young people and I think those two things are the main reasons any country gets into this, and it's a space shuttle program is no -- no exception to this and it's a bittersweet day here to watch the last launch.
VELSHI: Is it for you? I mean is --
CHIAO: Absolutely.
VELSHI: -- you are -- there's a real sense of --
CHIAO: Sure.
VELSHI: -- so what are you going to be feeling when that thing takes off, which it will, what's going to be going through your mind?
CHIAO: Well, you know, 17 years ago today --
VELSHI: That's right.
CHIAO: -- when I first launched and it was lousy weather forecast just like today, but we counted down to five and suddenly everything went green and we went ahead and launched. You know, I came in right at the heart of the shuttle program in 1990 and my first flight was in '94 and, you know, so I grew up with shuttle and, you know, spent my career, bulk of my career flying shuttle, and so it's going to be tough to see it go away.
VELSHI: You were a member of -- well, a lot of people wouldn't know, but it's called the Augustine Committee, and it -- it was really where a decision was kind of made to advise the administration and NASA not to continue with the shuttle program, to do something else. What was the thinking? What's this something else?
CHIAO: Well, the Augustine Committee, we were charged with coming up with options for the new administration.
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: So we created several option paths and described each one without making a recommendation.
VELSHI: OK.
CHIAO: One of those option paths -- preserve the shuttle. I personally wanted to preserve the shuttle, thought we should keep it flying at low rate, maybe two flights a year. Unfortunately, that path was not chosen. But we did preserve one and discussed -- there's a lot of discussion on how to continue having a human presence in space, launching our own astronauts into space, how to keep that going. So there's a lot of discussion about that and a lot of concern about what we call the gap, the gap between the end of the shuttle program --
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: -- and the next capability.
VELSHI: But we don't know what the next thing is. We think it might be Mars. We think it might be an astronaut. We think it might be more deep space exploration.
Meanwhile this low orbit stuff, which is what the shuttle has been doing --
CHIAO: Right.
VELSHI: -- which largely have been research missions and missions to the space station and sending cargo and astronauts back into space, you're actually involved in -- in one of the companies that's going to be doing commercial spacecraft.
CHIAO: That's right. I have been doing some work on the commercial area. I'm involved in a company called Excalibur Almaz and we're working to hopefully provide cargo and crew services to the space station --
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: -- and other things. But, yes, I mean, one of the sub- options that we've included in several of the option paths in the Augustine Committee report included incentivizing commercial space companies to come up with ways to make a commercial case for space and to provide these kinds of services to NASA and to others.
And so I'm a big believer in that. And, you know, it's an open question whether it's going to work.
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: I'm hopeful that it will but, you know, and the other part of that is when.
VELSHI: And the theory is that it frees NASA up to get on to the next mission, even though we don't have the mission just now. What would you like that next one to be? Where do you want to see NASA go?
CHIAO: Right. The idea is that we've been sending people to low earth orbit for 50 years.
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: So the technology has matured and it's a matter of creating -- seeing if we can create the commercial atmosphere such as the commercial companies can succeed. As for exploration, the space policy that was rolled out last year, included what we called the Flexible Path Option.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHIAO: And that means we're not focusing on one particular destination. We're not saying, hey, we should go to Mars, although that's kind of the eventual goal.
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: But the thing is that we look at going right to Mars and the cost of such an endeavor was just way too costly to make it credible. And so what we thought was , OK, we want to do this sustainably, that is we don't want to spend a bunch of money, go to Mars, take a picture of the flag and footprints and never go back.
So we want to explore sustainably. What that means is developing different capabilities, how do you keep astronauts alive and healthy for six plus months --
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: - in deep space. How do you land in a foreign body? How do you -- how do you do, you know, do all these kinds of things.
VELSHI: Right.
CHIAO: So you need to go to -- you know, we can go to some interesting destinations in the middle. We can go to near earth objects like an asteroid --
VELSHI: And build -- build those technologies and expertise.
CHIAO: -- you know, go back to the moon. Right.
VELSHI: All right. They'll be using you for that. Six and a half months on the space station. Well, good to have you here, Leroy. Thanks very much.
CHIAO: Oh, been a pleasure.
VELSHI: We'll be happy to be watching this with you.
CHIAO: Yes.
VELSHI: Thirty years after the space shuttle program began today's launch to the International Space Station will be NASA's 135th and final mission. Special live coverage begins this morning at 10:00 Eastern -- and you see it in that rocket ship -- on CNN.
And we are on the ship and with NASA and its team as they brace for life "Beyond Atlantis, The Next Frontier" is a CNN Special Investigation, tonight at 10:00 Eastern on CNN.
ROMANS: Can't wait, Ali. Thanks. CHETRY: And we also want to remind people write in what's your favorite space movie of all time.
ROMANS: Yes, yes.
CHETRY: And then when we read them, we will --
VELSHI: Oh, that's right.
CHETRY: -- we will -- we will let people know what ours are.
ROMANS: All right.
Ali, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the most looked at Sunday tabloid in England folding under the pressure of a huge hacking scandal. More on that surprise move and another major development overnight, a former aide to the prime minister meets with police.
CHETRY: And here's something you don't see every day, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, walking around in a ten gallon hat. We'll explain coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
At 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time, we find out how many jobs were created in June. Forecasts range from 80,000 to CNNMoney.com's exclusive survey saying 125,000 jobs were added. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at or close to 9.1 percent.
The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all making gains yesterday. The NASDAQ now is within shouting distance of an 11-year high. Investors encouraged by some stronger than expected economic data yesterday. Stock futures are down, though, this morning ahead of the opening bell. Investors simply holding their breath for that jobs report.
President Obama announces Congressional leaders will meet again Sunday as negotiations on the nation's budget deficit and debt ceiling go into overdrive now. An agreement on the debt ceiling needs to be reached by August 2nd in order for the Treasury Department to pay all of its bills on time.
The U.S. government also announcing a new program to help unemployed homeowners stay in their homes. It allows those eligible to postpone all of or part of their mortgage payments for a year or more, giving unemployed people more time to find a job and some breathing space.
Oil prices back up near $100 a barrel. Light sweet crude prices jumped about $2 yesterday on that stronger than expected economic growth we told you about. Oil price has dipped two weeks ago after President Obama announced the tapping of the nation's strategic oil reserves, but prices have quickly rebounded.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back right after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour.
Your top stories now:
Shuttle Atlantis fueled up and is now ready for the final launch in the history of the shuttle program. Right now, NASA says there is a 30 percent chance that the weather will be favorable for a launch today. The astronauts will get a weather briefing actually in less than half an hour.
ROMANS: A fan falling to his death at a baseball game in Texas last night. He reached for a foul ball, tossed into the stands and flipped over the rail. He was there watching the game with his young son. It is the second fatal fall at a Major League Baseball park this season.
CHETRY: Well, it will be nine more days before Casey Anthony gets out of jail and is free. Florida corrections officials recalculated her sentence last night adding four more days to it. Her original sentence date was July 13th. But it's now been pushed back to July 17th.
VELSHI: Here in less than five hours, as planned, when shuttle Atlantis embarks on the final shuttle mission of history. Here is a beautiful, beautiful live shot of the space shuttle Atlantis. Hundreds and thousands of people have made their way to this area to witness the event.
This is the firing room. This is the room from which they will control the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, right now scheduled for 11:26 a.m. Eastern Time.
You're looking at all sorts of shots from the space shuttle program right now. But I want to talk to you about the people, not where we are right now, not on the launch pad, but all of the people, just regular Americans who have come here up to a million of them, to watch this.
Carol Costello is live nearby with some of those people.
Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're talking to another regular American. That would be me. I'm at Port Canaveral, about 15 miles from the Kennedy Space Center.
People have been gathering here for literally days. This is a beach right off of the highway and all of these people are hoping that they'll -- that the space shuttle finally lifts off this morning because they'll have a fantastic view from here.
Take a look out over the water. You probably can't see it, but I can see the space shuttle between the trees over the ocean. So, when it finally lifts off it will be one beautiful sight.
People have come to this little tiny slip of beach from all over the country -- and, Ricky, if you turn this way, these people down here are from St. Louis, Canada, you're from Orlando, Tampa, Pittsburgh. I love that.
Where are you from? Orlando.
These people are from Seattle. We're going to talk to them in just a second, Brad and Donna.
And down over there, those people are from? St. Louis.
So, Brad, I'm going to talk to you. You've been here for a long time. You've been here since 2:00 this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to make sure I could get a good spot and view of the final shuttle launch.
COSTELLO: Why is the shuttle launch so important for you to see?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I've been doing this since I was a little kid. I have a scrapbook from when I was 15 or 16 years old.
COSTELLO: This is the last launch. I mean, what feeling does that leave you with?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sad, but it will be a new chapter. Things will be coming.
COSTELLO: So, you're hopeful. Because a lot of people that live in this area, kind of think this is kind of a funereal time, that this is the end of the space program. But you don't think that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a new beginning to a new chapter. I think -- it's sad but it's exciting, too.
ROMANS: Cool. Well, I hope it takes off and doesn't stop raining. But I did feel a few drops on my head.
The coolest part about this, Ali, you see that truck over there? That truck is full of radio, amateur radio operators from across Florida, they are tapped into NASA's control center and you can actually hear the countdown out here.
So, these folks will not only be able to see the launch, they'll be able to hear it, too.
Back to you, Ali.
VELSHI: I was wondering, when you were talking -- I was listening and thought did we have something piped in. Why am I hearing the firing center? The firing room -- but that's because of that, the stuff broadcast.
COSTELLO: Oh, it's probably from them. I'm going to go talk to them. I can't hear you.
VELSHI: No, it's fine. It was all good.
All right, Carol, we'll come back and check in with her a little later on. Carol is having fun with the folks out there getting ready to watch this.
Christine, back to you.
ROMANS: I can't hear -- I'm sorry, Ali, I can't hear you. What did you say? I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
CHETRY: But it was cool how many people came from all over. I mean, just all over the country, traveling from far away places because they want to witness this. Pretty neat.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Ali. Let's check in with you in a few minutes.
"The News of the World" hacking scandal meanwhile in Britain now hitting a former member of the prime minister's circle. Andy Coulson, the former media chief for David Cameron, he arrived at a London police station for questioning overnight. He edited that tabloid, the tabloid that's now shutting down under intense pressure. Sunday's issue will be its last after 168 years.
I think this is the most read paper in the U.K.
Reporters from the paper are accused of breaking into the voice mails of celebrities, politicians, breaking into voice mails of relatives of the London transit bombing victims. It's part of the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's son James talked about the move to close up shop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MURDOCH, CHAIRMAN, NEWS INTERNATIONAL: I feel regret. Clearly, the practices of certain individuals did not live up to the standards and quality of journalism that we believe in and that I believe in, and that this company believes in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This all started with this huge scandal where the reporters were hacking into the voice mail of missing girl, actually giving --
CHETRY: False hope.
ROMANS: Altering.
CHETRY: Right, the investigation.
ROMANS: Now, you may know Rupert Murdoch better. He's the man who owns FOX, "The New York Post." Analysts say that losing "News of the World" would barely make a dent in his enormous media company known as News Corp.
But I will tell you, that stock was hit. So, investors and insiders are feeling the financial heat from this because it has --
CHETRY: It's a news organization and so the reputation is everything. And so, that we'll have to see where the fallout goes so far.
ROMANS: Can you imagine being the family of the young girl who's missing, and you -- a reporter is hacking into the voice males and deleting them so they can hear what's coming on and the family and police think she might be alive, because these emails, or these voice mails are being deleted but it was a reporter or newspaper. I mean, it's horrific.
CHETRY: It is disturbing.
We're following the latest on this plane crash that hit a hospital office building. It was in central California. Two people on board were killed. And authorities say that this was a single engine plane that had just taken off from an airport in Watsonville, California, when it crashed.
No one was in the building at the time. And no one on the ground was injured. But they are still trying to figure out what happened.
ROMANS: So, it was a New Jersey man who was arrested and charged --
CHETRY: Why do say it like that? He happens to be from New Jersey.
ROMANS: He gets on a plane from Jersey and goes and then, according to police stole a Picasso sketch from a San Francisco art gallery. Mark Lugo, a 30-year-old restaurant beverage manager, allegedly walked in to the gallery on Tuesday, lifted the artwork right off the wall and walked out. He was caught on surveillance video with the drawing, where you can see it, tucked under his arm, before he got into a cab and left.
Police say an interview with the cab driver led them to the suspect. The Picasso was recovered undamaged. Apparently he was a Napa.
CHETRY: It was good news, though, they got the painting back.
ROMANS: They got the painting back.
CHETRY: Well, the duke and duchess of Cambridge wrapping up their Canadian tour with a stop in Calgary, a Canadian cow country, right?
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: Cowboy country. Well, Prince William and Catherine launching the city's annual stampede rodeo. It's complete with their own personal 10 gallon hats. The white hats the trademark there.
The newlywed royals now head to Los Angeles. Later today, they're going to be doing a weekend visit to America.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: counting down to history. The final launch of the space shuttle program, two of NASA's tweet up contest winners are there to witness it. We'll talk to them.
Thirty-eight minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Good morning. I'm Ali Velshi. We are live at the Kennedy Space Center here in Florida.
You can see that countdown clock over my shoulder, it's not started yet but we are expecting that space shuttle Atlantis to take off. The planned takeoff is 11:26 Eastern. We have weather issues down there, but we're not sure how that's going to go.
We are all here for it. Lots of people in fact, maybe up to a million people in the area to watch this launch. Two self-proclaimed space geeks, though, have a front seat for history.
Sara and -- Sara Blask and Todd Syphe (ph) are two of the winners of NASA's tweet up contest. They're getting a chance to watch the final shuttle launch live and in person and they're with me now.
Welcome to both of you. Congratulations.
Tell us what this tweet up contest was.
SARA BLASK, NASA TWEETUP CONTEST WINNER: Sure. So we -- there are around I think 5,000 of us who submitted sort of brief application to NASA and 150 of us were chosen. It was --
VELSHI: And so, 150, and you're all sort of enthusiasts in some way or other, but not connected to the space program.
BLASK: No, just general space nerds.
TODD SYPHE (ph), NASA TWEETUP CONTEST WINNER: We all follow NASA and like to get the updated information from them. Twitter allows us to do that.
VELSHI: So, you got here a couple nights early. You're sort of having in a bit of a party. You're in that last tent. You got the nice view of the operation. You're getting a little inside view of NASA.
You got to speak to some people here?
SYPHE: We got to see astronauts Mike Massimino.
VELSHI: Yes, who's the first guy, by the way, who tweeted from space.
SYPHE: That's true. A little controversy, but I'll explain that. We also got a behind-the-scenes tour, the vehicle assembly building out to the launch pad, just a great day yesterday.
VELSHI: Sara, you are from Houston. Bit of an adventurer, sled-dogging guide. What do you do with the rest of your life?
BLASK: I work in communications now and was a journalist in a past life. So I'm -- yes.
VELSHI: You're curious, you want to be here, you love space?
BLASK: There is no place I would rather be right now.
VELSHI: It's definitely a history-making day.
Todd, you teach science to middle school students. Astronaut Leroy Chiao was with me and he was saying one of the great things about the space program and shuttle program is the number of kids it inspired to get into the space program or at least become engineers or become pilots or get into something to do with science.
SYPHE: Yes. Or to become teachers.
VELSHI: Or become teachers, that's right.
SYPHE: Yes. Apollo was my parents' spacecraft, I can't wait to see what my kids are going to do with the next generation of spacecrafts, because they're going to be the ones that design it and build it.
VELSHI: And, by the way, all of these astronauts will tell you at some point they were inspired by a teacher somewhere who made science accessible to them. So, that's a big deal. Tell me about the controversy about the tweet.
SYPHE: Well, apparently, Astronaut Massimino said he wasn't able to tweet live from space, he had to e-mail it back from the ground and then they would send it out via the Twitter. There was another astronaut that figured out the link.
VELSHI: Interesting. All right. But it's become an important part of things.
And what are you doing now? What's the activity? You'll be in that tent. I guess they've got some refreshments for you?
BLASK: Yes.
SYPHE: We'll be there in al day today. There'd be a couple more astronauts I think, Commander Bob Crippen is scheduled to talk to us later on today. But, then, we're just watching the countdown clock like everybody else.
VELSHI: That's right. Just like everybody else. Bob Crippen is going to be with us as well here. We'll be chatting with him. Great to see you guys. Congratulations.
I suspect when this thing launches, we're going to hear that and we're going to hear some great cheers from your tent over there. Todd (ph) and Sara, thanks so much.
And we are just hearing now that a decision on the launch on whether or not to go ahead with this launch is planned is going to be made in about 30 minutes. This is just in from NASA. They're taking a look at the weather situation. The tanks are fueled. The shuttle is fueled. The astronauts are fed. They are suited up. They are about to go into a briefing. They are going to make a decision. We've got shots of the firing room, the room where they launch this.
That's what you're looking at momentarily. We'll just give you a shot of this, but they are all ready. As you can see, there aren't big meetings going on. These are people ready to go when they get the word to go. Right now, it is scheduled for 11:26 a.m. eastern time, a few hours from now. We'll get an update for you in about 30 minutes.
Christine, one way or the other, everybody around here is saying, they'll stay here. This thing is going to launch, and they're going to be here to witness history.
ROMANS: Wow.
CHETRY: The other thing so interesting that is they say that they're going to make this call so that the astronauts can go back and get some sleep for tomorrow's possibility. How do you go from that amount of adrenaline knowing that you're going to launch -- I guess, we'll get some sleep.
VELSHI: Totally agree with you. Yes. I don't know that I'd be able to sleep. These guys must be very well trained at that.
ROMANS: I think they're actually like machines. No question about that.
CHETRY: I know. Just different type of person.
ROMANS: All right, Ali. So, we'll check in with you again soon. In 30 minutes, we'll know for sure whether there'll be a launch. It's 46 minutes after the hour. We're going to check this morning's headlines when we come back.
CHETRY: Also potter mania. This is voted by Fandango website. It's the most anticipated movie of 2011. This is it. This is the final "Harry Potter." I had a chance to chat with Larry King who interviewed the entire cast about the final chapter in this film franchise. He's doing a big weekend special on it. So, we're going to talk to him coming up. It's 47 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes past the hour. A look at your headlines now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Space shuttle "Atlantis" is all fueled up and ready to make that final voyage of the 30-year shuttle program, 30-year-old shuttle program. And in fact, we are going to be finding out in less than 30 minutes whether or not this mission will be a go. It's a weather call. Thirty percent chance that it will be a go. Seventy percent chance, unfortunately, that weather could get in the way, but if that's the case, they'll try again tomorrow and then Sunday.
July 17th, it's the new date for Casey Anthony's release from jail. Florida corrections officials recalculated her sentence last night and added four more days.
A baseball fan, falling to his death after he flipped over the stands at a Texas Rangers game. He was reaching for a ball that a player had tossed into the stands. Very, very tragic end to that ball game yesterday.
Hundreds of Egyptians are gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square this morning. They're upset over the slow pace of change since President Hosni Mubarak resigned back in February.
President Obama and congressional leaders will meet again Sunday to discuss raising the debt ceiling. Their talks yesterday were described as constructive and productive, but the president emphasized the parties are still far apart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifty-one minutes past the hour. You know, it's been a magical ride after ten years and $6 billion in ticket sales, the eighth and final "Harry Potter" film hits theaters in the U.S. next week. And this Sunday, Larry King is hosting a one hour special with the cast of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2."
Larry will be premiering never-before-seen footage from the film as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with the special effects team who brings all that magic to life. I had a chance to talk to Larry yesterday about his brush with potter mania.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Larry King, always a pleasure to talk to you. You've had a chance to interview celebrities, stars, super stars, rock stars, you got a chance to interview the real Harry Potter. Now, were you a fan of the series before you talked to Daniel Radcliffe and the crew?
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING SPECIAL": I did see the first film and the last film which I had a sneak preview of. This last one which opens on the 15th is incredible. It's incredible.
CHETRY: Yes, and it's interesting because there was a little bit of controversy about the fact that they split the last book, the final book, into two movies. People said it was just to make money. Although, the early reviews coming in say that this is actually a really phenomenal ending to this wildly popular series.
KING: That it is. I was so impressed. It's two hours and eight minutes, and I would say there's one hour and 55 minutes of action. It's nonstop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abracadabra (ph).
KING: And our special is going to take you inside it. We're going to interview all the principals. You're also going to see some scenes that will not be shown until you go see the movie. We're also going to show how they do the Lord Voldemort, how they make up Rafe Fiennes, how that happens, how he goes of being Rafe Fiennes to Lord Voldemort. It's really very well shown.
CHETRY: The thing that I also think is interesting, thoug, when you've talked to so many people, you've interviewed so many stars, when you talk to Daniel Radcliffe, I mean, does he seem, to you, like a kid who's been acting for half of his life and the lead in such a wildly popular series? I mean, he seems pretty grounded.
KING: He is very grounded. He's so within himself. He's a wonderful performer and an engaging guy. A lot of interesting facets. But I would say, he grew up becoming Harry Potter and he is Harry Potter, but he's ready to put that aside and go on to other things.
CHETRY: Yes. I had a chance to talk to him last year. I know you asked him this as well about whether or not it's strange to be associated with such a wildly popular character and be associated with something that you'll always be remembered for. He seemed very grounded about it. He said, you know, I appreciate the opportunity. I do want to play a little clip of you asking Daniel Radcliffe about his future plans and get your thoughts on that on the other side. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Do you want family some day.
DANIEL RADCLIFFE, ACTOR: Oh, God yes, absolutely. I'm one of the, it's very strange, I'm one of the brewediest young men you will ever meet. I think also because I spent so much time around adults and I saw them all have kids --
KING: You want children?
RADCLIFFE: Oh, God yes, absolutely. Not just now, but I want kids and I want lots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I think you're going to be hearing from this young man for a long, long time, Kiran. He will not fade away as Harry Potter.
CHETRY: Larry, we also just got this wonderful piece of news just in about you being presented with a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences. This is going to be at the 32nd Annual News Emmys. What an honor. Congratulations, first of all. How does that feel to be honored for your lifetime of work?
KING: One, it makes me feel a little older, but I've been watching lifetime achievement awards all my life, and it's -- what can you say, it is a great honor and I proudly appreciate it. I hope you come to the ceremony.
CHETRY: I will be there cheering you on, a pioneer in radio and, of course, television and, of course, this place, CNN. So, congratulations.
KING: Oh, you're not kidding. Thanks, Kiran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: The "Larry King Special: Harry Potter The Final Chapter" airs Sunday night, eight o'clock eastern right here on CNN.
ROMANS: Now, we are just hours away from history-making launch at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle "Atlantis" on its final mission. Ali Velshi is there. Hey, Ali.
VELSHI: Hey. It is -- winds just picked up here, but what we do have is news that very shortly, we're going to get word on whether they want to go ahead with this launch so that they don't get those astronauts all the way there to the launch pad. They're not there right now. They're dressed. They're ready to fed, but they're going to make a decision based on the weather out here.
Boy, it is beautiful one way or the other, but we're waiting for that. It does bring us to our question of the day. The important way in which space hits you, Christine and Kiran, is the movies.
CHETRY: That's right. We wanted to ask people what is your favorite space movie and why. We got a bunch of responses. Interesting different responses.
Jtreyl on Twitter wrote, "Apollo 13. What NASA and American tenacity used to be able to accomplish. A trait sadly lost in my generation."
ROMANS: Hey, guys. Joe King on Facebook said, "The first Star Trek movie. Growing up watching the crew of the Enterprise on TV and then seeing them on the big screen with all the cool effects and the detail they put into that ship was just amazing." VELSHI: And Johnx13 on Twitter says, "2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes -- I thought (ph) about that one -- because I was really young when I saw them, and they both made a lasting impression on me."
Leroy -- gosh, I can't remember whether it was Leroy or was Zarrella sitting next to me who said "Apollo 13" was their favorite.
Keep the comments coming, send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We'll continue to read some more of your thoughts a little bit later in the show. We're going to take a quick break right now, and then, we are coming back on the other side.
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