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American Morning
Launch is Go!
Aired July 08, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: There is Ferguson right there. All fueled up, all suited up and it's a go. I'm Ali Velshi live at Kennedy Space Center for the final launch in the 30-year history of the space shuttle program.
In just a few minutes, the crew could be on board. In fact, we are seeing the commander suiting up right outside the room. We will bring it to you live.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The June jobs report. I'm Christine Romans. We are just 30 minutes away from the most closely watched economic indicator on Wall Street. We will break down it what means for you, your jobs and the American recovery.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Casey Anthony will have to wait a little longer for her first taste of freedom. I'm Kiran Chetry.
Corrections officials in Florida, what they ended up doing is adding more jail time to Anthony's sentence. Details on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROMANS: Good morning, everybody. It's Friday, July 8th. And, you know, I kind of wonder if the people who are suiting up right now, the astronauts suiting up if they can even dwell on how they are making history or if there is so much work to do and math.
CHETRY: Right. A lot of focus, moving forward every step of the way. It is exciting, though. Ali is there live. He is from Kennedy Space Center in Florida where, gosh, they are getting ready to go and getting ready to move on out today.
VELSHI: In fact, let's take the picture right now. This is the white room they call it. This is the Commander Ferguson. He is getting final preparations and he is going to get into the shuttle. That's the entry port into the space shuttle behind him.
So, you're seeing the first person, the first of four, the final four getting ready. We'll come back to that in a second. We're live right now at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, counting down the hours and the minutes until the last launch ever of the space shuttle Atlantis. Last launch ever of a space shuttle.
The final voyage and the 30-year-old shuttle program. We are right on schedule. That's the countdown clock. I'm going to tell you about that in a moment, too -- but I want to say with this for a second.
These are live pictures.
Moments ago, the shuttle launch director says they are sticking to the launch time of 11:26 a.m. Eastern Time. The launch crew went ahead with the three-hour process of fueling the shuttle overnight, despite weather concerns. And last hour, the astronauts left their crew quarters for the launch pad. They were already suited up and now the final preparations are ready.
Now, that's happening right on the launch pad. Let me show you what's happening on the -- in the firing room. That is the room where they will orchestrate this launch from. This is what you would think of as the control room, mission control.
This is where they are going to be doing that from. Now, the crew, four people, not seven, four people who will board the shuttle at 8:06 a.m. Eastern. Just minutes from now. In fact, the commander looks ready to board momentarily.
Then, at 9:21 the hatch will close. At 11:21, the shuttle will power up. And if everything goes on schedule, at 11:26 and 46 seconds, space shuttle Atlantis will lift of for the last time in history.
The one wild card all week has been the weather. There were close calls yesterday. There was lightning, severe and heavy rain and heavy cloud cover. A strike near the shuttle had NASA engineers scrambling to find out whether or not any damage to the shuttle.
Look at this -- look at this picket. You'll see the lightning strike in a second. They had to see whether damage to the electronic and electrical equipment.
But the countdown didn't stop.
Now, let me show you what the weather looks like here. There have been some blue skies. There's a little bit of sun behind me.
There were doubts that the weather would hold out. In fact, chances of a scrub were and are still at 70 percent but they get little five and ten-minute windows that could work.
Chad Myers is live at the Visitors Center where many thousands are gathering to watch this. He's also -- he's watching what's going around him. But Chad is looking up and getting a sense of whether this is going to happen -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I had to look down a little bit ago. Ali, I could see my shadow. And there must be a good joke somewhere. What happens when a weatherman sees his shadow?
And the shadow came from the sun there. But that window we had quickly closed up. So, yes, variable skies. If we can get a beautiful window, a nice clear area right around that 11:26 to 11:30 something, because they still have a couple of minutes leeway either way of that. Otherwise the shuttle can't catch up to the International Space Station. It's just going too fast. That's why there's that one window in the first place.
Love to launch a half an hour ago, it was beautiful, but if you launch did, the shuttle would be in the wrong spot. The International Space Station on the other side of the world and the shuttle would be trying to catch it. You're like giving Jimmie Johnson a five lap lead before you can start the race, would never catch up with the guy.
So, that's it. They would never be able to catch up with the ISS if they launch right now. We'll wait for it as the sun comes out. That will warm the atmosphere. It could burn some clouds off.
We're still hopeful here. We have been looking at radar. It doesn't look too bad right now. I'm still smiling about this for at least another half hour or so.
VELSHI: As you said that, I felt sun hitting me right from behind me. By the way, we are going to keep looking at pictures when we can get them of the crew suiting up and getting ready to get into the vessel.
Now, the entire shuttle fleet, this is Atlantis, but the entire shuttle fleet -- and these are live pictures, by the way, of the astronauts getting ready over that gentleman in the right over his shoulder something that says Atlantis? That's the entry port into the shuttle.
Now, they have flown over 500,000 miles collectively in its 30- year history. The whole shuttle program. Right from the start of NASA, boy, what a ride it has been and somebody who's watching all that time is John Zarrella. He's witnessed many, many of these launches.
You know, the excitement is always on your face. But now, there are people who -- people watching the final game, you know? They haven't followed the sport all season but they want to be here for this one.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I can't wait to see the excitement on your face!
VELSHI: Look at me!
ZARRELLA: I know. That's actually Doug Hurley, the pilot. Of course, inside there you are seeing Chris Ferguson get in the commander's seat there, on the left-hand side.
VELSHI: Good Lord. They really have to squeeze him in.
ZARRELLA: I was in Discovery a couple of weeks ago for the documentary we did, and I got to sit in the commander's seat inside Discovery, and it is -- for a big guy like me, it is a tight squeeze.
But, you know, as you were saying, as we're looking at these pictures, it has been an incredible 30-year ride filled with highs and, of course, the lows during this 30-year history of this space shuttle program.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All systems are go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one -- liftoff!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: We must look at aggressively to the future by demonstrating the potential of the shuttle and establishing a more permanent presence in space.
UNDENTIFIED MALE: Mission seven carried crew of five into space, including America's first woman astronaut Sally Ride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guy Bluford who hopes to fly the shuttle on a mission by the mid 1980s.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Big smiles today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenger, go throttle up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) indicate that the vehicle apparently exploded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hubble is on the zone in terms of power and the game has begun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff of the rocket of the control module. The International Space Station is under way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are making the assumption that the start from the external tank was the root cause of the problem that lost Columbia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of space shuttle Discovery, beginning America's new discovery to the moon, mars, and beyond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Discovery rolling on to the course of the International Space Station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phoenix has landed. Welcome to the (INAUDIBLE) of mars!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The end of a historic journey and to the ship that has led the way time and time again, we say farewell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: That's Chris Ferguson, of course, still in the commander's seat. Ferguson is the drummer for Max Q, the astronaut band. And Hurley.
VELSHI: And he's from Philly, by the way. I spent a third of my time in Philly, so he's a local guy.
ZARRELLA: And you can see outside, Hurley is getting ready and Sandy Magnus there was just in the shot, the mission specialist. There she is again.
VELSHI: Yes.
ZARRELLA: And Hurley is a big NASCAR fan.
VELSHI: Right.
ZARRELLA: A really big NASCAR fan.
VELSHI: So, what's -- they got into the van suited up. Now they are getting more. This is the stuff that actually connects them to the shuttle.
ZARRELLA: Right. They have already had their flight suits on. Their pressurized flight suits when they get suited up and go out there.
Now, what they are doing is like a fit check. These guys are making sure everything is on right and there is nothing loose.
VELSHI: Pressurized suit needs to be right.
ZARRELLA: Yes, absolutely.
VELSHI: Now, Leroy Chiao was here earlier. And he was saying that, you know, he's flown on the Soyuz, and from now on after this, they're going to have to get to the space shuttle on the Soyuz and the private vehicles. And comparing the space shuttle to the Soyuz, it's a lot tighter on the Soyuz. This is relative luxury.
So, we were talking about how tight it looks in there. This is spacious and luxurious.
ZARRELLA: In the Soyuz, there's three of them and they're sitting side by side. My gosh, this is about all the room they have.
VELSHI: Like a bench seat in a 1970 sedan.
ZARRELLA: That's it in the Soyuz. At least here, they'd all be up on the deck, two on the front, two on the back. Nobody down on the mid deck.
VELSHI: Why are they leaving extra space and why not seven astronauts?
ZARRELLA: Because if there were an emergency and they had enough to get to the space station, it would take a year to get all of them back off because there is no backup shuttle any longer to go up and bring them back down, so they'd have to make four Soyuz trips and one on each Soyuz over the course of the year. So, there wouldn't be enough supplies on the International Space Station to sustain that many people in a year. That's why only four on this mission.
VELSHI: All right. We are going to continue to cover this. You and me.
And, by the way, in case, we're going to wait, this thing might take off as planned. But in case, we're not, I told you that we might be sitting around eating something. So, you brought something.
ZARRELLA: Yes, I did. I got you that Louisiana hot sauce. Lockheed Martin made this.
VELSHI: I love it! Louisiana hot sauce. You know what? We may not get a chance to use this today because we may see this thing go up.
ZARRELLA: We may! We may!
VELSHI: But I got this on standby in case we need to use it.
All right. Much more live coverage from Kennedy Space Center ahead this hour with the shuttle program about to be in the past. What is the future for NASA? Are we going to an asteroid? Are we going to Mars?
I'm going to speak to Garrett Reisman who flew on two shuttle missions. We're also going to talk to a man who literally helped launch this era in space travel, Bob Crippen, astronaut. Bob Crippen flew on the very first shuttle flight.
Space is on everybody's mind today. It's also yours at home. I bet you.
Check out CNN.com's list of the top space movies. Number one on the list is "The Right Stuff." That makes sense. I mean, that's what this is about.
Number two, "Star Wars." Number three, "Alien." Number four, "Flash Gordon." And number five, "2001: A Space Odyssey." There are a lot of movies missing from there including my favorites which are in the "Star Trek" series.
So, we want to find out what your favorite space movie is and why. It's our question of the day. E-mail us, give us a tweet or tell us why on Facebook and we're going to read through some of your answers later on in the show.
I'm sticking to "Star Trek," Christine and Kiran.
ROMANS: I got "The Right Stuff." And, Ali, I was just telling Kiran that when I was a little girl, I was teary with that reminiscence you just were having. When I was a little girl, I would write to NASA every time there was a new launch that was going to happen. They'd send you a picture of the shuttle crew and the background sheet what was going to happen on the shuttle and all of the specifics. I mean, it was really a big deal to get that NASA thing in the mail. It's bittersweet it's gone.
VELSHI: It is. Kiran, we're going to get a little teary today with the shuttle hot sauce.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Yes. I don't know if you went down there for the launch or for Buffalo wings. Maybe we'll find out later. Thanks, Ali.
ROMANS: All right. The job market -- it's the biggest thing driving this economy. In less than half an hour, the June jobs report comes out. Guys, this is the report the world watches to see how healthy the American economy is.
Economists surveyed by CNN Money predict 125,000 jobs were created last month. That's significantly more than last month's report in May which showed only 54,000 jobs created. The economists we spoke to also predict the unemployment rate might tick down slightly to 9 percent.
CHETRY: Well, with the deadline to raise the debt ceiling just weeks away, President Obama called yesterday's meeting with congressional leaders productive. He's already has scheduled another meeting for Sunday and while the president may be cautiously optimistic, Republicans and Democrats can strike a deal, he also stressed that the two sides are still far apart.
ROMANS: All right. Still ahead, shock and grief after a baseball fan dies after falling from the stands while trying to grab a ball. The shocking video and we'll hear from a devastated witness who was sitting nearby, next.
CHETRY: Also, British Prime Minister David Cameron promise to, quote, "get to the bottom" of the phone hacking scandal that's now rocking Rupert Murdoch's empire. This morning, an arrest has been made inside of the prime minister's own inner circle. More dramatic developments on this, coming up next.
ROMANS: And the excitement is building at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Up next, Garrett Reisman, rather, with inside look at NASA and what's next for the U.S. in space.
It is 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Sixteen minutes past the hour. We've been talking about this behind the scenes because it is just such a tragedy. It's actually very difficult to watch and to actually talk about. A fan at a Texas Rangers game with his son died in front of everybody after he fell out of the stands and fell head-first and here is the shot. I mean, this is very difficult to see. He was trying to catch a ball that was tossed his way by outfielder, Josh Hamilton. A fan sitting nearby talked about just how devastating it was.
(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. I think it was -- 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 disappeared so you couldn't see anything, but the way he fell, it looked like it was just straight on his head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The other difficult part to talk about is that he was conscious as he was carried out on the stretcher, and apparently, he asked someone to check on his son because his son was alone in the stands.
ROMANS: The "News of the World" hacking scandal in Great Britain now hitting a former member of the prime minister's inner circle. Reuters is reporting that police have now arrested Andy Coulson, the former media chief for David Cameron. He was at a London Police Station for questioning overnight. He edited the tabloid that is now shutting down under intense pressure.
CHETRY: And reporters from the paper were accused of breaking into voicemails of celebrities, of politicians, even relatives of the London transit bombing victims. Prime Minister David Cameron calling for two separate investigations into the alleged hacking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is a wake-up call. Over the decades on the watch of both labor leaders and conservative leaders, politicians and the press have spent time courting support, not confronting the problems. It's on my watch that the music has stopped, and I'm saying loud and clear that things have got to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The tabloid is part of the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, but again, Sunday will be its last edition.
ROMANS: Casey Anthony will have to spend nine more days in jail before she gets her his taste of freedom. Anthony was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive years behind bars for lying to police. But with time served, her release date was set for July 13th. Now, that's been pushed back to July 17th. The Orange County Corrections Department did some recalculating. They determined last night without explanation that Casey needed to remain in jail four days longer than first reported.
And also this morning, we're hearing from another juror about the 'not guilty' verdict that will set Anthony free. Juror number 2 talking about Casey in an interview with the "St. Petersburg Times." This juror wanted to remain anonymous but 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."
ROMANS: All right. Let's go over to Ali at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hi, Ali.
VELSHI: Hey, folks. Let me tell you the latest we have. Everything is moving along on schedule, certainly, the weather. Hard to tell what's going on. You see the sun and then it goes away. Certainly, good and hot. We've got live pictures of the four members of the crew. They are now in the shuttle. They're getting all checked out and connected and, you know, hooked up.
So, that's what's happening right now. It's the end of the space shuttle program. It doesn't mean the end of NASA or the end of sending humans into space. Joining me now is Garrett Reisman. He flew on two shuttle missions. He just left NASA. He's now working on commercial space flight with SpaceX.
Now, Space X sort of rolls up the town. We say it a lot. We talk about Space X. Space flight isn't finished. There's commercial space flight like SpaceX. For anybody out there who's watching but has no idea what I'm talking about, what is SpaceX?
GARRETT REISMAN, DIRECTOR, SPACEX DRAGON RIDER: SpaceX is a company that was founded back in 2002 by Elon Musk, and he's the fellow that one of the guys have founded PayPal. And so, after coming off that success, his real ambitions and desires was to advance the cost (ph) of human space. So, he created the company SpaceX those, you know, nine years ago. And since then, we've developed a series of rockets and culminating in the Falcon 9 rocket --
VELSHI: Yes.
REISMAN: Which is the one that we've launched now two times and went very well. Both flights were very successful, and on top of the second one was a dragon spacecraft. So, this is a capsule spacecraft, and it orbited the earth two times last December, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, and we became the first company to orbit a spacecraft and bring it back from space.
VELSHI: So, when we talk about NASA -- we're looking at pictures of it. First of all, we should specify, when you say rocket, around here when you say the word rocket, it's not a rocket ship, it's the propulsion device. A think that takes something into space.
REISMAN: Right.
VELSHI: And the spacecraft is a thing that either attached to it or on top of it or whatever the case is that is what you put cargo and people into.
REISMAN: You got it.
VELSHI: Now, SpaceX has a viable spacecraft that can take people and cargo into space?
REISMAN: That's right. We have both. We got it all. It's one- stop shopping.
VELSHI: Right.
REISMAN: We got the rocket and the spacecraft and that's something that it gives us great confidence as we go forward.
VELSHI: Is anybody booking on to do anything with you guys?
REISMAN: NASA is our partner. And they are providing funding and expertise to help us get to the next step. And what my job is, I was a NASA astronaut. I left NASA four months ago, and I came over to SpaceX. So, I was very excited about what was happening in the commercial sector, seeing all this innovation being unleashed in the private industry and opportunities for a happy rosy future for human space flight.
VELSHI: Right.
REISMAN: And so, my job is convert this capsule, this dragon spacecraft which carries cargo to the space station to convert it to carry people.
VELSHI: Is that the viable move over? And by the way, how does it work? Does NASA by seats or is it like a rental car?
REISMAN: That's a question of how we're going to operate, and that's something that we have to work out with NASA.
VELSHI: Right.
REISMAN: From our point of view, either way is fine. We're just providing the rocket and the spacecraft, and who actually sits behind the controls, whether it's a SpaceX astronaut or a NASA astronaut, that's something that we will talk --
VELSHI: So, are you going back in the space with SpaceX?
REISMAN: That's not why I came to SpaceX.
VELSHI: Right.
REISMAN: I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility, but I had a job offer at NASA to fly again.
VELSHI: Yes.
REISMAN: On the Russian (INAUDIBLE), but I've flown to space two times, and I felt it was time to move on and give some others a chance.
VELSHI: All right. So, what are your hopes for what NASA ends up doing beyond this? REISMAN: Well, my hopes are that, one, that NASA and commercial industry learn how to work together and that relationship goes well. And that we continue and that we continue to be supported not only by NASA but also by Congress in way of budgets and by the administration which has been very supportive. So, as long as all that continues, we think that within three years, we're going to have people flying on the dragon.
VELSHI: Hey, I want to, Garrett, ask our control room just go back to these pictures outside of the space shuttle which everyone they want to go to first. Here's inside the space shuttle. This is the pilot.
REISMAN: Yes.
VELSHI: He's not commander. He sits next to the commander. He's the one who steers the ship and lands it?
REISMAN: That's right. That's Doug Hurley. And now, what you're looking at on the right of your screen is the commander, Chris Ferguson. On the left is Doug Hurley. The commander and the pilot, really, between you and me, it's really the pilot and the co-pilot, but these guys are so experienced and good at what they do, that nobody wants to be called the co-pilot.
VELSHI: Right.
REISMAN: So it's the commander and the pilot.
VELSHI: OK. So, that's what they're doing. Take one picture outside. There's still one astronaut outside the spacecraft who is about to get in. I don't know if we're going to able to watch her getting in. How do you get in? She is going to get on that little platform behind her and lie down and get in or is she going to --
REISMAN: That's right. Well, first you have to show your boarding pass.
(LAUGHTER)
REISMAN: But no. There is Sandy Magnus, and she's all suited up. So, first, you have to put your parachute harness on.
VELSHI: Yes.
REISMAN: And then, give your helmet. Crawl in -- you have to crawl in --
VELSHI: She's checking to see that everything is working and moving?
REISMAN: The fit is right. The harness is not too tight or to loose. And once they tell her it's time, she is basically waiting for the other two guys to get situated. Once they are set, then she'll come on in and get into her seat which is right behind them. If you see in your camera view right now, there's two guys in white suits -- VELSHI: Yes.
REISMAN: They're standing on her seat. So, she has to wait for them to get out of the way.
VELSHI: They got to get out, then she is ready to go, and we're going to see that. They're going to sit there for a couple of hours at least?
REISMAN: Yes. Yes. About three hours on your back.
VELSHI: Are you constantly working while you're in there waiting?
REISMAN: No. It gets a little uncomfortable. Sitting in that suit and on your back for three hours is not the most comfortable thing, but you got a lot to look forward to.
VELSHI: That's absolutely true. All right. Garrett, good to see you. Thank you so much for being with us. We, obviously, are going to talk to you a lot over the course of the next five and ten years as we move into this era of commercial space flight.
All right. Thirty years after the space shuttle program began, today's launch of the International Space Station will be NASA's 135th and final mission. Special live coverage begins on CNN this morning at 10 o'clock eastern. I love that rocket! I just love that launching rocket!
And then at 10:00 p.m. eastern, we take a look at the next big thing. Don't miss the CNN special investigation, "Beyond Atlantis: The next frontier."
All right. Still ahead, you ever get online and share pirated movies or music? Be prepared for some serious repercussions if you do. We'll tell you about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: About 29 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Stock futures trading flat really mixed ahead of the opening bell. S&P 500 is down slightly. The Dow and the NASDAQ are up a few points and pre-market trading. Look, everyone is waiting to see what the big jobs report says. That's coming out in just about a little over a minute.
Look at this. Cable and phone providers threatening to slow down web connections for internet pirates stealing movies and music online. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting a new copyright alert system between internet providers, record labels, and film studios being set up later this year.
A who is who of Hogwarts on hand for the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." In London, the eighth and final "Harry Potter" film, 8,000 fans, many holding their favorite "Harry Potter" books lining the red carpet. The stars, Danielle Radcliffe and a lots and the woman who started all, JK Rowling were all there.
Up next, is the jobs market bouncing back? We're going to know in 30 seconds. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Just in to CNN. Christine has just been on the conference call listening for the June jobs report. A disappointing number. We're watching your money and breaking it down. They thought it was going to be up.
ROMANS: Just 18,000 jobs were created in the month of June, and that's well below expectations. These are the numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistic. And the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. That's up slightly. That's the worst unemployment rate since December of 2010.
So 18,000 jobs created. Remember, we have been telling you that CNN Money survey thought that 125,000 jobs were going to be created. So 18,000 is disappointing. This is the worst jobs growth since May, 2010. You'll remember that is when we were hiring for the census.
Now, private sector workers, 57,000 jobs created there. We want to see how the private sector is working so --
CHETRY: Is that higher or lower than expected, or they didn't parse it out?
ROMANS: I think I think it's a little bit lower than expected. But the issue here is that the government is still shedding jobs, state and local jobs. So where you're seeing private businesses and creating jobs in some cases, you're seeing governments because of budget cuts slashing those jobs.
Manufacturing, construction, temporary services all flat. And here is something I want to ask Ali Velshi about that's pretty interesting, Ali. The short-term unemployed rose sharply in June.
CHETRY: Short-term unemployed.
ROMANS: Right, about 500,000 or more people have been out of work for five weeks or longer. And that tells you there was some kind of firing activity happening in June.
CHETRY: But wasn't there some talk about some concerns about whether big banks were going to start shedding?
ROMANS: And I haven't seen that too much yet to be quite honest. This looks to me like this is -- a lot of this is an issue with government jobs being cut because of the budget crisis. You're seeing a lot of teachers lose their jobs.
CHETRY: Right. ROMANS: You're seeing firefighters. You're seeing public servants losing their jobs. And so that has been reflected in these numbers.
CHETRY: Why is it -- the forecast were much more optimistic. What were some of the indicators? Stocks were flat ahead of this week. They were --
ROMANS: Yesterday was a good day in the stocks.
CHETRY: The futures were flat this morning.
ROMANS: Right. And yesterday was a good day in stocks because there a private sector report, ADP, the payroll company, said by our count 157,000 jobs were created. But when you look at the overall number of public jobs, private jobs, the government says that only 18,000 jobs were created.
CHETRY: And this has political ramifications as well. This is going to be interesting how this plays into the debate that's going on right now about the debt ceiling, about who blinks. Still far apart, even though meetings are taking place between members -- House Republicans and the president. But also a 9.2 percent unemployment rate -- that is an ad, I'm sorry, this close to the election.
ROMANS: Yes. Earlier this morning I was talking to Sam Feist, our political guru. And he said you can be sure at 8:31:30 there will be all the emails going out from the Republican presidential candidates saying what this number means and how the White House isn't doing a good enough job of lowering the unemployment rate.
So now this has become definitely in the realm of politics, and 9.2 percent still shows you that we have an uncomfortable situation in jobs in this country.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
All right, we are following another huge story today, and that is the launch of the final space shuttle mission at Atlantis. Ali is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hey, Ali.
VELSHI: Hopefully, I can bring you good news, and that is the mission hasn't been scrubbed as of yet. You can see the clock over my shoulder, t-minus one hour and 55 minutes. By the way, that doesn't mean that it's launching in one hour and 55 minutes. That countdown clock stops and starts for various very specific and valid reasons. But the countdown clock is running at the moment.
Still ahead, emotions running high today after 30 years of the space shuttle program is coming to a close with the very last mission. That's the space shuttle Atlantis. The last astronaut getting on board now.
But remember Neil Armstrong? He was the first moonwalker. John Glenn was the first American in orbit. And coming up next, we're speaking with Bob Crippen. He was on the first shuttle flight. He reflects on the final mission and talks about what's next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: There it is, the space shuttle Atlantis. The astronauts are almost all on board, three of the four are on board right now. There's still one other guy there. You can see he is checking things out, and until he gets out of the way, the fourth one isn't going on. Although I don't see the fourth astronaut waiting to get on, so maybe he is somewhere I can't see him.
After 30 years and 135 -- well, 134 missions because this will be the 135th, the shuttle program will be mothballed in two weeks. It's got to be an emotional time for my next guest. Bob Crippen was on board the very first shuttle flight. Just think about this -- April 12th, 1981. Think about where you were technologically. Not just on the day it took off but technologically. There were no blackberries and iPhones or digital music or e-mail, none of that.
Bob is with me now. There he is back then. He is with me at the Kennedy Space Center. You're looking back on this, Bob, and I think you're a little sad?
ROBERT CRIPPEN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: I am sad. I think it's been a great program. I can look back on it with pride at what the shuttle has accomplished. We did have two major accidents, unfortunately. But NASA recovered from those. I think it's a great vehicle, probably will not see anything like it any time in my lifetime.
VELSHI: We can't not talk about the accident. The thing that stands out to me, particularly with the Challenger accident on January 28th, 1986, is you got a phone call from your daughter. Tell me about that.
CRIPPEN: Actually, I got the phone call from the daughter when we lost Columbia.
VELSHI: I'm sorry. I didn't know that. But she was working on the space program as well.
CRIPPEN: She -- my daughter still teaches astronauts how to fly the space shuttle in Houston. She's works for the United States alliance. And I keep up with it on TV. Generally these days I don't come out as a spectator. But she was monitoring entry and gave me a call and told me that they had lost contact with it, which you know something serious is happening.
VELSHI: Yes. We talked -- you and I talked a little bit about what those shuttles look like. They are not the same shuttles.
CRIPPEN: They are not.
VELSHI: They have been rebuilt and changed. So much has changed in them, the electronics. But I ask you something. Are the astronauts the same kind of people?
CRIPPEN: Basically, the same kind of people. John and I were test pilots. We moved away from that because the shuttle has allowed us to do it. We have carried up a lot of scientists, engineers, medical doctors. So the nature of the people flying are somewhat different. But personality wise, they are still very similar --
VELSHI: Tell me that.
(LAUGHTER)
I know a lot of them are hard to bottle. But they are brave, adventurous.
CRIPPEN: Yes. Some would say basically type-A personalities, somewhat driven, wanting to achieve something, and they stay focused. So, in general, but it's hard to classify everybody under one particular criteria.
VELSHI: I was talking to Garrett Reisman, who had also gone up. And he was saying -- at this point now they're in. They're in the shuttle. We are looking at them now. He said they will sit there two or three hours and be a little bit boring. They are not doing stuff in that two or three hours. It's going to get very exciting.
But when you and John Young went up on the first trip on Columbia on April 12th, 1981 -- that was Columbia, right?
CRIPPEN: It was Columbia.
VELSHI: Your heart rate started to increase rapidly.
CRIPPEN: Actually in the phase they are in now, I dozed off and went to sleep a few times.
VELSHI: Is that right?
CRIPPEN: My heart rate went up when the count got within one minute and I looked at John, and I said "I think we might do it." And that's when it started accelerating. John's only went up to 90, mine went up to about 130. I'm surprised it didn't go past that.
VELSHI: And they monitor this. That's how --
CRIPPEN: Oh, yes. They monitored it. And we didn't have any medical privacy. Of course that was immediately out to the members of the media.
VELSHI: But nobody was worried about it? You were just excited?
CRIPPEN: Yes, 130 something.
VELSHI: And what of this criticism that NASA doesn't have anything else lined up? There's another launch pad was supposed to be for the Constellation Program. It's sitting there, it's idle.
CRIPPEN: I'm proud of the program, but to stand down the shuttle without any way of putting our crews up, an ill-defined program in front of us, to me, is very disappointing. VELSHI: Now, we have alternatives for getting our crews up there, either on Soyuz or on commercial aircraft, which aren't ready yet. Soyuz is, commercial aircraft -- do you think that's viable?
CRIPPEN: The Soyuz certainly is. They have a good vehicle. They've launched their crews a number of times. I have every confidence that they will be successful. However, truthfully, maybe as a member of the United States military and --
VELSHI: You're not so into the idea of another country --
CRIPPEN: The fact that we have to depend on them to get our crews up is disappointing to me.
On the commercial side, I'm all for pushing commercial companies to be able to take people in space. Initially they are going to carry cargo up to the space station. I would like to see that mature before we talk about putting crews up on it.
And I think it's going to take longer than what some people are estimating at this particular juncture. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying.
VELSHI: Right.
CRIPPEN: But to be totally dependent on that, not very good.
VELSHI: Bob, great to see, sir. Congratulations. You really are a big hero of American history and a space hero. Great to have you here.
CRIPPEN: Thank you, pleasure.
VELSHI: Bob Crippen.
All right, morning headlines are coming up right after this. We are going to take a quick break here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Forty-six minutes past of the hour. Here are your headlines this morning.
Tragedy at a ballpark in Texas: a baseball fan flipped over the stands at a Texas Rangers game and fell to his death. He was reaching for a ball that a player had tossed into the stands when he tragically fell.
Casey Anthony won't be freed from jail until July 17th, that's four days later than announced yesterday. Corrections officials didn't give an explanation for why they recalculated her sentence late last night.
A former aide to British Prime Minister, David Cameron arrested in the phone hacking scandal that hit the "News of the World". He was an editor for the tabloid. The paper is accused of hacking into voice mails of celebrities, politicians, even the voice mail of a missing girl giving her family false hope that she was still alive.
The big jobs report is out; just 18,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month and that is well below expectations. Even though 18,000 added, the estimates were somewhere between 80,000 and 125,000 so, obviously, well below those expectations. The unemployment rate also increased to 9.2 percent in June, that's up 0.1 percent from the previous month.
Stock futures are dropping drastically on this news. All three major market indicators are set to open much lower. Right now, futures for the DOW trading down 115 points.
Well, the launch is a go, NASA on schedule to send "Atlantis" into orbit, 11:26 Eastern Time this morning. Weather was a worry but not right now. The crew is on board and the capsule will be closed in minutes. It is the final launch in the 30-year-old shuttle program.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be in Los Angeles tonight. They are wrapping up their tour of Canada with a stop at a rodeo in Calgary. And then they'll be back here in the states, they'll be in Beverly Hills for a new media summit and in Santa Barbara for a polo challenge and they'll also visit with kids in an inner city arts program in L.A. They'll also be rubbing elbows with some of Hollywood's elite.
Well, we're going to take a quick break. You're caught up on today's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in a moment.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUZANNE JANSON, CNN HERO OF THE WEEK: My father called me and told me that something bad had happened in Thailand. My daughters, Eleanor and Josephine went to Thailand for a vacation with my ex- husband. It was hard to get good information in Sweden. We decided to go to Thailand ourselves and look for them.
When I realized I wouldn't bring them back home alive, I wanted to die. But the Thai people that had suffered so much more, I felt a connection to them and I wanted to give something back.
My name is Suzanne Janson. I moved to Thailand because I wanted to help poor Thai children to make the most out of their lives.
We are not an orphanage. It's a home for children and families in need. We want to provide these children with a chance to make some changes in their lives. Love is the first thing they need, second, food. But then it's school and education.
We want to be as close to the normal family as possible. Of course, we are a very big family. When something is good, we are happy together. If something bad happens, we cry together. That's the most important, if you work with children, not so much head, but a lot of heart. My daughters loved their life. And I wanted to show them that I would survive this and if I could help my new children to love their life, at least one good thing came out of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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VELSHI: All right, we're here at the Kennedy Space Center.
In less than three hours history is going to be made. Now, what you're looking at is a countdown clock and it says there T minus 138. That countdown clock unusual, it's not a normal countdown. Until we get really close to the countdown it's not going to reflect what you and I really know to be the case.
Because this thing is not launching in an hour-and-a-half, it's launching in -- closer to three hours or two-and-a-half hours if it does go ahead.
Now beyond that countdown clock you can see the launch pad it's in the distance. It's the only thing that isn't a bunch of trees. That is it right there; that is the launch pad. We can get some closer looks at that right now as the space shuttle "Atlantis" gets ready to be the last thing that goes into space.
The space shuttle "Atlantis" -- it'll be its last mission and it will be the last mission of the space shuttle program.
The astronauts are in the capsule right now. They are -- they are right there. They are getting ready for it. That is the pilot. And he is -- he is the first person. He is going to be steering that thing. The commander is sitting on his left.
Now there are a lot of people around here. There are possibly a million people around here. Carol Costello is along a major road that is where people gather to watch this.
Look at that. Telescopes and binoculars and they've got a radio system there so they can hear what -- what mission control is doing.
Carol, what's it like out there, you look like you're having a good time?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm having a great time.
When people told me there were going to be a million people flooding into this area to watch this last historic launch, I didn't believe them. But I do now, Ali.
Take a look at this. This is just a little strip of land right off Highway 528 and people are waiting for the launch to go off. They can see it across the water. They have a grand spot.
And as you said, Ali, right over there is a big old truck, amateur radio -- ham radio operators are inside and they are patched into the NASA control center so that everybody out here can hear the actual countdown.
People are here from all over America. Come back over here, Rick. I want to show Matthew. He came from Cleveland. He's been here a long time. He is taking a little nap, as a lot of people are right now. I can't wake him. He is out cold.
You can see some people have pitched tents and we actually know the people who pitched this tent. This is Nate and John. They came from New York. And you guys flew in, what, last night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday morning.
COSTELLO: And you found there were no hotel rooms available so what did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we got to the airport, we started calling around. No hotels were available so we went to Wal-Mart and picked up a tent, some air mattresses and some Tostitos.
COSTELLO: The male-bonding thing is going fast and furious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That it is. That it is.
COSTELLO: Why did you decide to come down and see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really the last opportunity to see something that is really a feat of mankind and we didn't want to miss it for the world.
COSTELLO: Is this your first one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes it is.
COSTELLO: So why was this one important?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we've always wanted -- we have like a bucket list going and the shuttle launch is one of them and this is the last one. So, I mean it's like now or never. We've procrastinated this far and like a wake-up call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is getting married soon. Your wife is having a shower. She wanted -- or your wife-to-be is having a shower. She wanted to you to be there but you're not. That's crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, she knows that this is something that is pretty awesome and she wanted me to experience it so. she is very understanding with that. I mean I really wanted to be there. But, no, no.
She is being really cool about it.
COSTELLO: Which is why you're marrying her. Well, have great time. We hope the launch gets off.
Ali, it appears the launch will take off as scheduled but we are all keeping our fingers crossed here. VELSHI: I love that they just flew in, went to Wal-Mart and got a tent and Tostitos to watch the launch. Carol, we will be checking in with you a little later on.
Carol Costello there.
That's it for me down at Kennedy Space Center. I'm not leaving but it's all I've got to tell you for right now. I'll be on TV a little later on. Back to you -- Kiran and Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks Ali.
You know, we have been talking a lot this morning about the top five space movies on cnn.com. Check it out "The Right Stuff", that's actually my favorite too. Check is out.
CHETRY: That's my favorite too.
ROMANS: "Star Wars", "Aliens", "Flash Gordon" and "2001: Space Odyssey". That's --
CHETRY: Ali's favorite, "Star Trek". He is a Trekkie, which many e-mailed us about, did not make it; and neither did "Capricorn One", which was my favorite space movie.
ROMANS: Our question of the day, by the way then. What's your favorite space movie and why.
Here are some of your responses. Oh, my gosh, this is so good. My favorite space movie would be "October Sky" starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It was the first movie that opened my eyes to just how much really goes into rockets and going into space.
CHETRY: Also BeWeld80 on Twitter "Star Trek" it became -- oh, because it showed the wonderful mix of space, science and humanity. I'm sure that what Ali thinks as well. "Star Trek even inspired me to go into medicine."
ROMANS: Well, (INAUDIBLE) special coverage of the final launch of this shuttle program. It begins at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
We're going to take you right up to the scheduled launch for 11:26.
And, of course, I want to just add the jobs report. We just got this number about 30 minutes ago. The jobs report was disappointing, folks, and futures are much lower this morning, about 125 lower in the Dow. Not very much job creation at all.
CHETRY: 18,000 jobs created and the estimates you said were between 80,000 and 125,000.
ROMANS: That's right. You got government jobs lost, slashing government jobs. That is something you need to know this morning. That is going to be a big hot topic of political conversation as well. Already Eric Cantor, John Boehner on the Republican side of the aisle; people are issuing press releases saying that the President needs to do more. This shows a failure of leadership from the White House. So we'll hear what the President or the White have to say later about it.
CHETRY: We can see that unemployment rate tick up slightly 9.2 percent.
Well, that's going to do it for us. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you back here bright and early on Monday morning.
ROMANS: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now.
