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American Morning
Countdown to the Final Launch; End of the "World"; Countdown to Final Launch; Fan's Fatal Fall; Berlusconi: No Second Term; What's Next for NASA?: Post Shuttle Plans for Space Agency; The Future of Cancer Treatment?; Final Countdown Continues; Heading to Launch Pad; The World Cup of Science Fair
Aired July 08, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The final countdown, NASA and close to a million spectators on the ground, hoping the weather won't delay history. The final flight of the 30-year shuttle program, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. What an exciting Friday, July 8th. Welcome to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We are covering the final, final launch of the shuttle. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROMANS (on-camera): And I'm Christine Romans. Ali is in Florida this morning, and he's there for us covering the morning's shuttle launch. Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Christine and Kiran. I got to tell you, I'm a little emotional about it when you just showed that archival footage of some of the moments in the shuttle program. I mean, it's been 30 years. We're live here at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, counting down the hours and the minutes until the final launch ever of the space shuttle "Atlantis" and the shuttle program.
It is scheduled for 11:26 Eastern time today. Let me show you a few really great pictures of a -- live pictures, here's a view from the top. There's a few guys in orange suits close to the bottom. They're looking for ice. They are checking to make sure none of the condensation has turned into ice. They have got to check everything.
There's something called a firing room. That's the place where you think of it as a control room. They're going to determine -- they're going to launch it from there. That's the control room. Everybody is there. They're ready to go when it happens.
And we've got various other pictures we can show you about them getting ready. This is called the white room that you're looking at. It's where they get into the capsule, where they get into the shuttle. You don't see anybody there, but over the last little while we've seen people going back and forth. And finally, there is a shot of the profile, the side of the space shuttle Atlantis. This is mission 135 -- 135 for the space shuttle program. It will be the final mission.
Now, we are minutes away from a very, very important decision. This is the go or no go decision for today. There were a few violent storms here yesterday, and NASA says there's a 70 percent chance of a scrub.
Now we should know NASA's decision in about 15 minutes on whether or not they are going to scrub the launch for today or for -- put it on for later today or for tomorrow. They basically don't want these final four astronauts sitting on that launch pad or sitting in the shuttle. They'd rather let them go and get some sleep.
We're bringing you every step of the final four astronauts this morning. Right now they are being briefed on the weather situation before we get briefed. They will be suiting up in about five minutes from now. It's 7:06. Assuming that they're getting the go ahead, at 7:36 they will head to the launch pad. At 8:06 they'll step on to the launch pad and board the space shuttle Atlantis for its final flight. Lot of preparation time on the plane, on the actual shuttle.
The bird, as we call it, is being fueled up right now. It's ready to go. NASA will make that decision, as I said, on whether or not to scrub today's launch in the next few minutes.
There were close calls yesterday with some lightning. I don't know if you can see it, but a lightning strike near the shuttle. You can take a look at this. Watch carefully. There you go. We'll show it to you again. It had NASA engineers scrambling to find out whether there was any damage to the shuttle or the launch pad's electronic and electrical equipment. That's the issue. A lot of people say to me this thing is sturdy. This thing goes out into space. It travels millions of miles. Why would weather have an impact on it? Because it has got a lot of very serious electronics that can't be ruined by lightning.
The countdown did not stop, however. Chad Myers, who knows more about why these things can't fly in that kind of weather, is keeping an eye on the skies for us this morning from here. He's at the visitors' center. Chad, what are conditions looking like?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I know you think you had those beautiful shots. I have the best shot. I'm going to trump you right now, Ali. Take a look at the sky. I haven't seen blue in Florida for days. And all of a sudden it broke out.
People are coming to us, what's going on? Are they going to fly? Are they going to fly? This looks way better than we thought it would at this time. The sun comes out a little bit, burns more of the clouds off, and we fly today.
You can't fly through cirrus clouds from an old thunderstorm because you could get actually lightning to hit the shuttle. You can't fly through rain because they don't want the shuttle to get wet. All of a sudden you've got a wet shuttle and then you're 70 degrees below zero in one minute. You can't do that either. You don't want the tiles to crack.
Let me show you the radar right now, because we don't have any rain around our site. Now there's some rain over by Tampa, yes, OK. It's still to our southwest. It could get here. But we have a very nice window, a window that we shouldn't even have because of a tropical wave that's just west of Key West. And so, hey, we'll take the sunshine, we'll take the clear skies and launch this thing today, and we all have a good time. Ali?
VELSHI: All right. Chad, I know you're -- you are a fairly well balanced guy, but you're sounding very optimistic this morning. Let's hope you're right. Chad, I'll come back to you in a little bit.
For now let's send it back to New York with Kiran and Christine. I will keep an eye on everything going on down here and let you know if we get a decision.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, tough assignment. Thanks, Ali.
The other big story this morning, a freedom delayed for Casey Anthony. Anthony was handed four consecutive one-year sentences yesterday for lying to police. Counting time already served, her release date was for July 13. But after some late night recalculating by corrections officials -- excuse me -- in Florida, she will be forced to spend another four days behind bars. The new release date then is the 17th.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: So let's bring in Sunny Hostin, former federal prosecutor, legal contributor for TruTV's "In Session." You've been following this every step of the way. The judge gave her the maximum. I mean, he gave her -- I mean, this could have been time served. He could have reduced it to one count --
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": That's right.
CHETRY: -- for all of the lying. And instead he gave her the maximum.
HOSTIN: He did. And a lot of people are saying, she's getting out in 10 days now. This is a travesty of justice. Well, no. She was convicted of four misdemeanors. The penalty was up to one year in prison for each count and up to $1,000 fine for each count. He gave her four years altogether, one year and $1,000 for each count to run consecutively. He threw the book at her. He did as much as he could do.
And I think he sent a message because, let's face it, misdemeanors in this country, you don't serve four years in prison for misdemeanors. But he said the jury spoke loud and clear about your lying to law enforcement officers. And so I think, you know, in that sense justice was done.
ROMANS: Cynics will say she has got a few more days to sit there so that her people can figure out what kinds of things are going to happen when she leaves.
HOSTIN: Yes.
ROMANS: Will there be book deals? Will there be -- clearly everyone wants to interview her. You know, what's going to happen to Casey when she walks out?
HOSTIN: You know, that's the $1 million question. Everyone is saying she's the most hated woman in America. It may be a multimillion-dollar question. But she is the most infamous woman in America or maybe the world, because people have been covering this and following it all over the world.
I think the only way to sort of figure this out is think about what happened to O.J. Do you remember when he got out and he was acquitted?
(CROSSTALK)
HOSTIN: Choppers following him around. People wouldn't serve him in restaurants. So she has that to look forward to. I would say she's not going to be in prison, but she's in an informal prison.
CHETRY: And just quickly about where she might stay. It was a really interesting exchange with her parents. Apparently she had her hair up the whole time in the trial and pulled back very tight. And at the sentencing after she knew she was free or not convicted of the murder, she had it down.
And apparently Cindy Anthony, her mother made a comment overheard by reporters, something about doesn't she look beautiful, and she was smiling. What is that family dynamic, and is she going back to living with them?
HOSTIN: I don't think we'll ever really understand how dysfunctional this family is. Cheney Mason, Casey Anthony's attorney, said she will not be going back to live with the Anthonys.
But I think Cindy Anthony is really the tragic person in this if you think about it. She was so conflicted. And we're all mothers, right. What do you do? You lost your granddaughter, but now your daughter is free. I'm sure she wants some relationship with her daughter. Cheney Mason says that that will not happen, that they won't have a relationship. But he thinks Lee Anthony, Casey Anthony's has a chance of having a relationship. But I mean, does anybody want to be in Cindy Anthony's shoes? This is just --
ROMANS: I don't want to be in any of their shoes. I mean, the whole situation is just a total mess.
HOSTIN: It's a tragedy.
ROMANS: All right, Sunny Hostin, thank you so much, Sunny.
HOSTIN: Thanks. ROMANS: Tragedy at the ballpark last night. A fan of the Texas Rangers game with his young son died after falling out of the stands head first about 20 feet to the ground. He was trying to catch a foul ball tossed his way by star outfielder Josh Hamilton. A fan sitting nearby talked about what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just as the ball hit his hand, it kind of threw him off balance and he just went head first. And it was just -- it was not -- it looked awful, because you knew there was no way he was going to, you know, land on his feet. I mean he had to -- he disappeared. You couldn't see anything. But the way he fell it looked like it was just straight on his head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Players in the Oakland As bullpen said the man was conscious as he was carried out on a stretcher and even asked for someone to check on his son since he was now up alone in the stands. Something like this also happened last July at Rangers ballpark. Another fan fell 30 feet from the second deck while trying to catch a foul ball. That fan, Tyler Morris, survived but suffered a fractured skull and sprained ankle.
CHETRY: Just such a tragedy.
Also new this morning, police in Michigan may never know the motive for a deadly shooting rampage because the gunman took his own life. It happened yesterday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thirty-four- year-old Rodrick Dantzler is suspected of killing seven people including two children in separate homes. He then led police on a bullet-riddled car chase before taking hostages at another home. After an hour's long standoff Dantzler killed himself. The hostages, though, were unharmed.
ROMANS: A man wanted for murder in South Dakota, James McVay is his name. He says it was part of a plan to assassinate President Obama. Police tracked down McVay in Madison, Wisconsin, and arrested him yesterday. They say McVay confessed not only to stabbing a woman but to a crime he hoped to commit. He allegedly wanted to kill the president, quote, "at the golf range."
CHETRY: Well, a New Jersey man arrested and charged with stealing a $200,000 Picasso sketch from a San Francisco art gallery. Mark Lugo, there he is walking with it under his arm -- it was caught on a restaurant surveillance camera -- Mark Lugo, 30-year-old restaurant manager was captured after the driver of the cab he used to get away led police to his hotel. That Picasso was recovered undamaged.
ROMANS: All right, Yankees captain Derek Jeter closing in on a magic number. He hit a double last night and is now just two hits away from number 3,000. He should get it this weekend at home in the Bronx. No Yankee has ever reached that milestone -- not Babe Ruth, not Lou Gehrig, not Lou DiMaggio. Jeter would be just the 28th player in history to join the 3,000 hit club. Wow, 3,000 hits.
CHETRY: That's amazing. It's quite a milestone.
Speaking of milestones, today is it -- the shuttle program, the final launch. And our Ali Velshi is down there where I guess the astronauts are suiting up. They find out in just a couple of minutes whether they're going to let it go.
VELSHI: Let's take a look at that shot. It's moving around a little bit. The camera is at an angle, but that is where they are suiting up. You can see on the right side of the shot. There are some astronauts. Not sure why we moved that camera, whoever is on it -- but there we go. There's -- OK, bottom line is they are suiting up.
Moments from now we're going to get a decision about -- I'm not sure that guy knows his stomach is on TV. We're going to get a decision about whether this is a go, no go from NASA. And we will give you news on that. It is historic moment here at Kennedy Space Center. Kiran, back to you, and I'll take it away when we're ready to go.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: All right, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a tabloid hacking scandal in Great Britain now hitting a former member of the prime minister's inner circle and a shot to Rupert Murdoch's media empire. We're live in London with the very latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Look at that beautiful shot of the space shuttle Atlantis ready to go. In less than two weeks, this space shuttle program will be history. Many critics, including former astronauts, are blasting the space agency for not having a new program ready to replace it. That conversation is going to start soon.
Today everybody is focused on this, on watching this get into space. We're going to have a decision probably in about 15 or 20 minutes as to whether it goes. That's the firing room. That's the room where the launch is going to be controlled from.
I'm here now with NASA -- NASA's deputy administrator Lori Garver. Laurie, welcome. Thank you for being with us. Exciting day or sad day for you?
LORI GARVER, NASA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Well, it's an emotional day.
VELSHI: Yes.
GARVER: I have equated it to sending my son off to college a year ago.
VELSHI: Right. GARVER: You're a little sad.
VELSHI: Right, but you know that --
GARVER: But you're really proud and really hopeful that -- for the future and we cannot be prouder of this shuttle team. And across the country people have been working for more than 30 years on this program to bring the United States, these incredible benefits. Just the last of which have been launching the International Space Station which is our future of human space flight.
VELSHI: Now, you don't have any lead information. You think we'll get an update in 15 minutes as to whether it's a go or no go for today?
GARVER: At this point, we are planning to come out of the count at 7:31 for the launch.
VELSHI: All right. Good. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that.
What do you make of the conversation -- there are sort of two criticisms, one has existed about any dollars spent in space, why do we do this. But let's put that aside for a second. What's the criticism now? What do you make of the criticism we're ending this and we don't have something to go from the next launch pad.
GARVER: Well, this has been an issue really for us since the beginning of the space program. It's very hard to have enough funding to develop a new program while you're still in the middle of one.
VELSHI: Right.
GARVER: And what we have planned is a future that helps be able to have a launch program that you aren't spending all of your money just on the transportation. What we do in space is learn from that environment, looking back at earth, looking out into the universe. We are going to work with the private sector in ways so that NASA can buy seats and not pay the billions per launch, but pay for an astronaut seat to go to space.
VELSHI: There seems to be -- give me clarity, has NASA has decided whether it will buy seats on Soyuz or private commercial planes or lease other people's vehicles to go into space?
GARVER: Well, we inherited a program that was already buying Soyuz seats.
VELSHI: Right.
GARVER: We, with our partners in Russia, have been doing that. The shuttle only stays on orbit for two weeks.
VELSHI: Right.
GARVER: And we have astronauts full time on Space Station. We're going to continue that for the next couple of years until we have these commercial vehicles launching to and from again the space coast in Florida.
VELSHI: I want you to take a look at this. This was a letter sent out in May of this year. From Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan. And it says, "America's leadership in space is slipping. NASA's human space flight program is in substantial disarray with no clear-cut mission in the offing."
Is that true? And if it's true, is it a bad thing?
GARVER: Great American heroes, really appreciate their contribution, it's just not true. They just don't recognize what it is that we are doing for the future of this program.
VELSHI: For those of our viewers who are not space geeks and maybe not following what's going on, the simple question, what's the next big thing we're going to see from NASA?
GARVER: NASA is building, has built the space station, we are going to be seeing more and more research coming out of the space station, more and more astronauts go to and from space.
NASA is part of the commercial program, a NASA logo and American flag on the vehicles just as America flies airplanes. We have been launching satellites in this way on vehicles right here from the Cape and we buy the service to launch.
VELSHI: Let do it this way, what's the thing that's going to get the kids watching this launch today to say I want to be an astronaut?
GARVER: Well, I think a lot of things. Of course, the International Space Station, but also the fact that they can potentially go to space. And NASA in the next few years, will be building those spacecraft to go beyond, again going beyond lower orbit to an asteroid and to Mars. That's been a goal since I grew up.
VELSHI: So, it's OK to keep saying that, we're going to get to an asteroid and mars?
GARVER: Oh, no question. We are trying to reduce the cost of the operational part of the space program so that NASA can spend its valuable tax dollars on going further, pushing the envelope, exploring species. NASA is so thrilled to be able to do this on behalf of the American public.
VELSHI: Well, congratulations. We are keeping our fingers crossed that in the next few minutes we get a go and not a no go. If you have any influence, you know, we got to keep it safe, there's a reason why you make those decisions.
GARVER: We're going to go, if not today, soon.
VELSHI: That's right. All right. Lori Garver, thanks for being with us.
And for now, let's send it back to you guys, Kiran and Christine.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll stay with us, though, because we're going to do question of the day. We want to hear your favorite space movie of all time.
ROMANS: That's right.
All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: major new fallout in the "News of the World" hacking scandal in Great Britain now hitting the political world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLI)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's not the paper. It's the practices.
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ROMANS: The prime minister now wanting to know if it went beyond Rupert Murdoch's tabloid.
CHETRY: And in honor of the final shuttle mission, our question of the day, to go with the launch, what is your favorite space movie and why? We got a lot of good ones, lot of "Empire Strikes Back" by the way.
ROMANS: Really?
CHETRY: Yes, a lot of "Star Trek."
Send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on Facebook. We'll be reading your responses.
All right, Ali, favorite space movie of all time?
VELSHI: Look, it's always been "Star Trek" for me. It's always going to be "Star Trek." I love space movies.
But for whatever reason the whole Gene Roddenberry, everybody gets along, everybody understands each other, and it happens in space, always appealed to me. I could watch space movies for weeks on end without coming out of the place, coming out of my place, coming out of my apartment.
CHETRY: He's a Trekkie.
ROMANS: Mine is "The Right Stuff."
CHETRY: Nice classic.
ROMANS: I love it.
VELSHI: Live long and prosper.
CHETRY: I love space movies but I liked -- I was fascinated by the entire plot of "Capricorn 1." I know that's random. ROMANS: Wow.
VELSHI: That is random.
CHETRY: All right.
ROMANS: Mysterious and multifaceted Kiran Chetry.
Business headlines after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 24 minutes after the hour. Here are this morning's business headlines.
The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all making gains yesterday. The NASDAQ now within shouting distance of, believe it or not, an 11-year high. Investors encouraged by stronger than expected economic data. Stock futures are down a little bit in premarket trading so far after a good day yesterday.
The big jobs report comes out today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. As many as 125,000 jobs might have been added to the economy in June. That's according to a survey by CNNMoney.com. Some estimates put the number lower, though.
The unemployment rate is expected to stay around 9.1 percent.
Oil prices back up near $100 a barrel, light sweet crude prices jumped a few dollars on the stronger data we were telling you about yesterday. Prices dipped two weeks ago after the president announced he was tapping the emergency oil reserves. Prices have since rebounded.
Hybrid and electric cars with quiet engines may be required to have noise makers to alert pediatricians. The nation's top highway safety agency says it's moving closer to a proposal for regulations. It could be several years before rules go into effect.
Retailers are offering back-to-school sales earlier and earlier starting right now. The National Retail Federation says shoppers spent more than $55 billion last year on school supplies so some stores are launching discounts mid-summer this year.
Don't forget. For the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNIGN will be back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The "News of the World" hacking scandal in Great Britain hitting a former member of the prime minister's inner circle. Andy Coulson, a former media chief for David Cameron, arrived at London police station for questioning overnight. He edited that tabloid, the tabloid shutting down under very intense and mounting pressure. ROMANS: Yes, Sunday's issue -- that's going to be the last after 168 years.
Reporters from the paper are accused of breaking into the voice mails of celebrities, politicians, even missing children and relatives of the London transit bombing victims. It's part of Rupert Murdoch's worldwide media empire which includes FOX as well as "The New York Post" here in the U.S.
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Dan Rivers is live in London for us this morning outside the "News of the World" building.
Dan, this story that I guess started with a missing girl has now spiraled into a major headache, maybe even from the -- for the prime minister.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's definitely gone right to the doorstep of the prime minister here in London. He is under considerable pressure now as you say that decision to hire Andy Coulson, a former editor of "News of the World" who presided over some of the phone hacking scandals, all the while, Andy Coulson has said he didn't know anything about it, but those claims (AUDIO BREAK) hollow if you like.
This morning, Andy Coulson is at a police station in central London answering questions about this whole thing.
Meanwhile, David Cameron, the prime minister, has been coming out trying to sort of reassure the press and the public that he is taking this seriously, that he's sorry for hiring Andy Coulson, saying it was his decision and he takes full responsibility for that. He also announced a public inquiry looking into the whole issue of phone hacking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMERON: My starting presumption is it should be truly independent, independent of the press, so the public will know newspapers will never again be solely responsible for policing themselves but vitally independent of government -- so the public will know, that politicians are not trying to control or muzzle a press that must be free to hold politicians to account.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RIVERS: The other big question in this whole saga is, Andy Coulson's former boss, Rebekah Brooks, who is now the chief executive of the parent company News International. She remains in her post despite numerous calls for her to stand down.
We have to se whether she will be among those who will have to go down to the police station to answer questions about this phone hacking scandal, something she also says that she knew nothing about.
CHETRY: And, Dan, so, ultimately could there be jail time involved?
RIVERS: Yes, hopefully -- already one "News of the World" reporter Clive Goodman, who was their royal correspondent, he served prison time over this as did a private detective, Glen Mulcaire, who was in the pay of the "News of the World." But, yes, it's a criminal offense and they could go to prison for this.
ROMANS: All right. Dan Rivers in London -- thank you, Dan.
CHETRY: Keep following it with you.
Meanwhile, it's half past the hour right now. Checking out our top stories, we should know within minutes now if weather will permit history to be made in just a few hours.
NASA just tweeting the shuttle "Atlantis" will lift off as scheduled, 11:26 Eastern Time on the final mission of the shuttle program. So just seconds ago getting this tweet after 30 years in space, this will be the final liftoff.
Tragedy at a ballpark in Arlington. A fan of Texas Rangers game falling to his death after reaching for a ball, going head first over the railing 20 feet down. It is the second fatal fall at a major league ballpark this season. It's so hard to watch.
Embattled Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he will not be running for re-election in 2013. Berlusconi is fighting financial corruption charges. He's also on trial for alleged abuse of power and having sex with an underage prostitute.
ROMANS: Back to Ali at the Kennedy Space Center. He's at the action this morning. It's a go.
VELSHI: Keeping our fingers crossed, we are moments away, we think, from another -- from a decision, a go/no-go decision.
I am hearing from our people on the ground here, though, that they are now taking a closer look at the weather. You can see the clock behind me. Take a look at this. This is space shuttle "Atlantis," which is scheduled at the moment to launch at 11:26 Eastern Time.
I want you to take a look at what we call the firing room. First of all, take a look at -- there we go. That's the firing room, that's going to be the decision where -- this is where they're going to make the decision.
People talking about it, they're looking at weather. The astronauts are being briefed as we speak. Then they're going to come out of the building, if they're going to do that, they're going to come out of this door that I'm going to show you, and that is when we will know that they are headed to the launch pad and to get into the shuttle.
We'll keep you -- the clock has just -- the clock over my shoulder has restarted. We are now in countdown mode, two hours and 59 minutes and 6 seconds as it goes. The clock has started. We will let you know if they have made a decision to continue with the launch of the space shuttle "Atlantis."
Once it goes up there, it's going to be up for 12 days and then come back and then the shuttle program is over. So where does NASA go from here. We're taking an in-depth look at that with a former astronaut, Jim Hallsell has flown five space missions.
Two of them as a commander, three of them as a pilot and he's now a vice president with ATK Aerospace Systems, that's a company that's working on a commercial vehicle to take up astronauts, take them into space.
Jim joins me now. Jim, just pardon me for a second while I just pull this unit. This is a model of what you're working on.
JIM HALSELL, FORMER SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: That's right, Ali. It is one version of a commercial rocket that we would be excited to develop.
VELSHI: Right.
HALSELL: Because we already have the first space. The rocket booster is a derivative of the shuttle's boosters hopefully you will see launched today.
VELSHI: Part of this was going to be used for the Ari system that was scrubbed.
HALSELL: Absolutely and then we've teamed with the Europeans to bring on board a new upper stage -- then on top, of course, you have the cargo or the crew. The important thing is the crew is on top.
VELSHI: This is the cargo and the crew section, right?
HALSELL: Absolutely.
VELSHI: This is the payload, you put crew in here, you can ship stuff up. This would go into space and when it needed to return to earth it would --
HALSELL: Come down under parachute probably on water at first but be further refined like the Russians do it on land. If you're a crew member, what you excites you about this design is you're on top. If anything goes wrong down here you have the opportunity to have a launch abort system to get out of town and to safety. You're excited about the reliability, the proven nature of both the upper stage and first stage. We think it has a lot of valid commercial application.
VELSHI: Let me ask. That's my next question. What kind of -- who do you do business with this?
HALSELL: Well, right now you do business with the government. They need to be able to take passengers to and from the International Space Station.
VELSHI: Right.
HALSELL: They said they want to get out of that business. They want commercial operators to provide that service. So we're excited about being one of the players.
VELSHI: You know, you were an astronaut and back in the day when this was first put to Congress back 30 years ago, the idea was that these things would each do 100 missions. They didn't do anywhere close to that.
And they've come down to, I don't know, if this figure makes sense, but I had heard that they were told that eventually $7 million launch. We're well beyond that. How is it viable for you to do this? If NASA can't bring those costs down?
HALSELL: Well, first of all, you start with a much simpler, much more reliable vehicle. The shuttle is marvelous. I got to fly it five times. It is just capable in so many ways, but that capability comes with complexity and that brings you low reliability. So let's focus only on carrying crews --
VELSHI: I'm going to interrupt you, Jim. We've got live pictures right now, the astronauts are heading to the space shuttle. They're heading somewhere. I don't know that they're heading to the space shuttle.
They're heading somewhere. I don't know if you recognize this, Jim. But, take a look at the door they're going to come out from. Tell me in a moment, they're getting to an elevator, take a look at the door. Tell me the door they're coming out from is about.
HALSELL: They have just left the suit up room where they fully suited up, had the pressure checks, the communication checks, and decision has now been made by management apparently that the crew should go out to the vehicle, which is a good sign for a count.
We'll see. The joke in the astronaut office is you start the world's fastest ride on the world's slowest elevator. They're just coming down a couple floors, but it takes forever.
VELSHI: We're going to be watching this a little while, but they're going to come out of this door. They're going to get on a bus and then they're going to go to the shuttle.
The point is if it's not likely the shuttle is going to take off today -- there they come. There they come. The final four, walking out heading to the launch pad. Now, Jim, does this mean to you that there's a good chance they're launching?
HALSELL: Management would not make the decision for them to walk out, get in the van and go out to the vehicle unless they were going to make a further decision to continue the count.
VELSHI: Which means, somebody at the moment, has made a decision it's not scrubbed. Doesn't mean it's not going to be scrubbed.
HALSELL: Absolutely.
VELSHI: I did hear a few minutes ago that the weather conditions a few minutes ago were perfect, but until you're in and ready to go that doesn't matter. Maybe they're thinking if they get these guys in, suited up ready to go and another window opens -- these windows can be very small.
HALSELL: And I'm guessing they have a five to ten minute launch window. You almost always do with the space shuttle and rendezvous missions with the space station because you have to launch into the plane of the orbit of the station.
This is a moment for the crew to say, goodbye to all the well wishers who are behind ropes to the right-hand side. Many of whom they recognize because they worked with them, they've trained with them. They're a big part of the success of the mission.
You now get into the vehicle. You take your assigned seat. The seats face inboard to the center aisles and you hook up to the air conditioning system so that you don't get overheated in that suit as you take the 10 to 15 minute right ride out to the launch pad.
VELSHI: What were you feeling when that happened to you?
HALSELL: It was the most spectacular ones were when it was night time, unlike today. But when you drive up that road to your launch vehicle, your spaceship, and the -- the service structure has been rolled back, the lamps are on it, it borders on a religious moment, you get to drive up to that rocket ship.
VELSHI: Are they talking, I guess, at this point?
HALSELL: Yes. Easy banter between the crew, peeking out behind the windows to get a few more waves goodbye to the people who have helped them train for this mission. There's a lot of up swelling of emotion at this point in time.
You still as an astronaut, you kind of protect yourself against disappointment because until you come out of the T minus 9 minute hole, which several hours from now, a lot of us just approach it as this is another training opportunity.
I'm going to go out, strap in and see what happens. When you come out of the T minus 9 minute hold that's when you know it's real.
VELSHI: Jim Halsell, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Looks like for now, we do not have the official word that it is go/no go, but they are heading out to the launch pad. That's a good sign, Kiran and Christine.
CHETRY: It's also interesting that NASA tweeted that it will lift off as scheduled. I guess that still is, as you said, subject to change, even though things are looking much more promising weather wise. Ali, thanks so much.
VELSHI: As Jim says, it's subject to change until T minus 9 minutes I suppose.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Ali.
So from rocket science to rocket science. Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Steve Balmer, the CEO of Microsoft will join us live with how the company is challenging students from across the globe to solve some of the world's greatest problems.
CHETRY: They're the next generation innovators.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: It's so amazing. Also it could be a glimpse into the future of cancer treatment. We're going to tell you about a patient who is checking out of the hospital today, after being told by doctors he would be dead by now.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A patient was recently given less than a month to live and is now getting discharged from the hospital in Sweden.
He was dying from trachea cancer, but doctors were able to replace his wind pipe with an artificial one, but it was grown from the man's own cells.
ROMANS: Amazing. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain what this means. Elizabeth, exactly what did doctors do for this man?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, this man was 36 years old, and he had this huge growth on his trachea. The growth was so big that they really couldn't operate on it successfully and they said to him we've done everything we can for you, you need a trachea from a cadaver.
But we all know that the waiting list for those organs is so long and so they said you will die before you get one from a cadaver. So this team from Harvard and from London and from Sweden, they got together and they made him a trachea out of plastic.
It's a plastic trachea and then what they did is they coated it with his own stem cells. If they just put it in as plastic, it wouldn't have worked. His body wouldn't have recognized it as being a real piece of himself.
His body thought the trachea was his and his arteries and veins started growing in and out of it, it completely as doctors say vascularized.
So now this man has been discharged from the hospital and as we said before, they thought he would be dead by now.
CHETRY: Can he -- can this be used for everyone who has that type of late stage trachea cancer and is waiting for a cadaver?
COHEN: You know, I talked to one of the doctors who was involved in this project and he said that is exactly our hope. We really want that to happen and by the way, that's the tumor. See the green on there.
That was the tumor on his trachea. So you can see how big it is compared to everything else. That was a big tumor. So the hope is that people with these tumors, will be able to get these plastic tracheas.
So they're going to watch this man, see how he does and just now they're starting a study with another 20 or so trachea cancer patients and they're really hoping that it works well. But they have to study it some more first.
CHETRY: I think it's important to point out here that long list for waiting for organs from cadavers. It is still a long list and everyone should talk to their family about becoming an organ donor.
But does this mean scientists can now just create these organs in the lab or the hope is that they can augment those very, very long lists?
COHEN: Right, exactly because people are dying every day waiting for a kidney or for a liver or for a heart and as you said, sign your organ donor card because no, they can't create these in the lab.
They did create this trachea. You know, they made the plastic trachea and then coated it with him stem cells, but a trachea is a very simple thing. I mean, it's basically, you know, a tube really.
A heart is something that is much more complex and so creating a heart out of plastic and coating it with stem cells that won't quite work.
They're hoping this work is a baby step towards, you know, doing it for other parts of the body, but really that will take a much, much longer time.
CHETRY: Still is quite remarkable though.
COHEN: It is. CHETRY: Elizabeth, thanks so much. For more on the story and other important medical news, you can check out our Web site, cnn.com/health.
ROMANS: All right, in honor of this morning's final space shuttle flight our question of the day is, what is your favorite space movie and why? We're already on the record with ours. Mine is "The Right Stuff."
CHETRY: Mine is "Capricorn One." El Simpson on Facebook, "Alien" because it was great and even though it is so old the effects are still the coolest. Great cast, too. By the way, Ali is Trek-y.
ROMANS: That's true.
CHETRY: He likes "Star Trek."
ROMANS: Charles Brazil on Facebook says, "Armageddon," great story and great soundtrack! Definitely my favorite space movie. Ali.
VELSHI: And Wayne on Facebook says, "Space Coweboys" Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones. It does not get better than that. Hilarious with some heart. Keep your comments coming.
Send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We're going to read more of your thoughts a bit later on AMERICAN MORNING. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
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VELSHI: We're live at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring you the final launch of the space shuttle program. Here's what's ahead, by the way. Behind me you will hear a chopper that is tracking the van carrying the astronauts to the shuttle.
It is fueled up and ready to make the final voyage of the 30-year-old shuttle program. These are live pictures. That is the van that is carrying the final four as we call them, the four astronauts who will get on to that -- and the group that's helping them launch.
They are now headed to the launch pad, which is over my shoulder. Shuttle launch director Mike Lineback has just told the team, quote, "We do have a shot at this today," end quote. We do have a shot at this today.
They are moving forward with an attempt to launch the rocket and the shuttle at 11:26 a.m. You could see the countdown clock over my shoulder. Two hours, T minus two hours and 44 minutes. Here's how it goes from here.
About 20 minutes from now, the crew will be boarding "Atlantis" for that final history-making launch. Let me show you video of commander Chris Ferguson, he's the pilot, Doug Hurley, mission specialist Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, they suited up less than an hour ago. Then in the last 10 minutes, we saw the "Atlantis" crew, the final four as we call them begin to make their way over launch pad 39, which is over my left shoulder. You're right when you see me at the Kennedy Space Center.
Now they are getting real close. In fact, that helicopter is just about over me right now. Coming up a little after 8:00 Eastern, there it goes. There's the helicopter. Means the guys are just about here.
The final four will walk up the launch pad, aboard the space shuttle "Atlantis" for its final flight. Here's the convoy coming in right now. Take a look. The convoy passing behind the media center, you're about to see it. There it goes, there's the convoy.
This is all the media center, these are all of us, we're in the mix of satellite trucks and tents. They're driving by us right now. That's the chopper you heard that's tracking them. They are headed -- that's the chopper tracking them to launch pad 39 where they are going to get on that shuttle.
And they're going to get ready. They're going to hope, and as an astronaut who was with me said, they're managing their expectations right now. They're getting excited. They're suited up. They know this is happening, but they don't want to be disappointed if it gets scrubbed because of the weather.
The weather has been a little more cooperative. You look over there, it's still full of clouds, but there are little spots you can see the sun. They need to be able to see that rocket go up. They need to be able to see that shuttle get into space. Look at the map right now, it's showing as Chad said some clear spots.
There is a chance that this thing is going to happen. We're here to bring you all the excitement as history is made. Chad Myers is with me. John Zarrella is down here. Carol Costello, Brooke Baldwin is here. Anderson Cooper is going to take over at 10:00 for a special.
We're talking to the million people who are probably assembled around here and we're speaking to the elite few who have flown on the shuttle itself over the course of the last 30 years. This is the special edition of AMERICAN MORNING and we're coming back right after the break.
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CHETRY: It's really the world cup of science fair.
ROMANS: It really is. It's called the Microsoft Imagine Cup. It's taking place right here in New York City. It challenges students to use technology to try to solve some of the world's greatest problems.
CHETRY: It's being sponsored by Microsoft. Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer as well some of the students from the competing teams are joining us this morning.
We've been having a great conversation off camera about what technologies we love and thanks for being with us by the way all of you. Congratulations.
We are going to showcase one of the very amazing inventions you guys spearheaded here. Steve, first of all, why is it important for Microsoft to try to challenge young people to innovate?
STEVEN A. BALLMER, CEO, MICROSOFT CORPORATION: Well, the key to technology not only being successful, but actually making a difference in the world is the applications that people build using them.
And whether it's for us, Windows or Windows phone or Windows in the Cloud so to speak, or even Bing, it's getting applications built that solve the world's problems and showcase how technology can improve the planet.
So we sponsor a competition, 300,000 kids around the world in universities formed into teams, about a hundred thousand teams, and we have the hundred finalists here in New York City, including representatives from five of the hot teams competing in the finals here in New York.
ROMANS: It's fair to say they could settle a lot of our problems around here. The issue for young people is, obviously, this is creating a new generation of workers and customers for you down the road. That's so important about it. I want to introduce, first, Cy. Let's talk about what you guys have. You guys have some amazing -- tell us what your technology is and what it hopes to solve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. So we found a way to create a Windows phone 7 that's able to diagnose malaria.
ROMANS: The phone diagnoses malaria?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone diagnoses malaria. We put a little lens attachment. I don't have blood here because I was advised you wouldn't like that so much.
CHETRY: I understand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But just with the touch of a button, anyone can use their phone to analyze a blood sample and the phone will automatically highlight any infections present in the sample.
CHETRY: As I understand this is 94 percent accuracy, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
CHETRY: We are talking about actual real life applications, real life saving measures.
BALLMER: Absolutely, absolutely. If you look at the applications that people have written, most of them are technology for technology. But a lot of them focus in on natural disasters, which we've had a lot of in the world, environment, science, health. Take a look at the group today, a preponderance of teams that focus on a variety of aspects of health.
ROMANS: It looks like the current field test for malaria that a 60 percent false/positive. So if you could come out with a way to save money and time and to diagnose people that kill a million children a year.
CHETRY: It is and also Suan (ph) one of the finalists as well. Thanks so much for joining us Suan Jong (ph) and yours is also health related. Tells us a little bit about what your device does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Improve people's pulmonary function. Most people showed a lot to learn how to -- so we want to make it easy. You just have fun.
CHETRY: This is a way to recover from pneumonia, but also make it interesting for people. So show us how it works.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
CHETRY: It's called harmonic care, by the way. So he is blowing into this device and this is helping improve his lung functioning if you're recovering from pneumonia. You can actually see on that screen it's testing it but it's also putting together a little melody.
BALLMER: It's a little game there. I've played this before! As a person who has had a parrot who had respiratory problems, getting the older folks to use these things, and to really -- it's pretty important. It's kind of a fun way to do it.
ROMANS: It is interesting. Now what you do is you basically have to blow into that tube three, four times an hour, right? No one wants to do it. It's considered tedious and you guys made it fun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes - game, but it can see your pulmonary function.
ROMANS: Awesome. Steve Ballmer from Microsoft, thank you. All of you, thank you so much for all of your -- you know, the world needs you, I promise! Yes, we do.
BALLMER: So many other great stuff. Voice recognition for the deaf, we have some great things there. Doctors certification and identification in Egypt, fantastic. Another malaria application from New Zealand. Just great work by all these young kids.
CHETRY: Excellent. Congratulations to all of you. You're going to be our bosses someday so we appreciate.
ROMANS: From rocket scientist to rocket scientist. We're just a few minutes away from the historic moment. The crew walking up to the launch pad. This is a live picture boarding "Atlantis" for the last launch of the 30-year-old space shuttle program. An amazing day for all of us out there who have watched this shuttle program grow up and all of the brainiacs who have been working behind the scenes for so many years. We will have it live for you next. It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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