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CNN Sunday Morning
Possible Scrub on Shuttle Launch for Second Day; Mideast Tensions
Aired July 02, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: I tell you what, it feels a little bit like the movie "Groundhog Day." Yes, this morning, down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, we are still watching, still waiting. NASA is counting down for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery, but, well, the weather may get in the way just like it did yesterday. As you can see from this live picture looking awfully cloudy out there.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Cloudy, hazy.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: Good morning, everyone. It is Sunday, July 2nd, 9:00 a.m. at the launch site and here at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
I'm Tony Harris.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
We are standing by for this launch.
HARRIS: Yes. It's all we can do.
NGUYEN: And you know what? Miles O'Brien, he's not off the hook either. He's going to be there until this thing gets off the ground.
Hey there, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I am. Let's take the half-full way.
HARRIS: There you go. There you go.
NGUYEN: I like that.
O'BRIEN: There's a one in three chance there will be a launch today.
NGUYEN: That's half full, one in three chance?
O'BRIEN: We're going to check in with our...
NGUYEN: That's not half full.
O'BRIEN: Roughly 30 percent. It's a third full, all right? It's a third full. We're going to go with that. We'll check in with Eileen Collins, former commander, in just a moment, and see what the crew is going through now and what may lied ahead.
Back to you guys.
NGUYEN: Always on the bright side, that Miles O'Brien.
Thank you, Miles.
Well, Israel ratchets up the pressure this morning. "Now in the News," Israeli aircraft blasted the Palestinian prime minister's office in Gaza this morning. A bystander was injured. It was the latest in a series of tacks aimed at freeing an Israeli soldier captured last week. Israel holds the Hamas-led Palestinian government responsible.
Now to southern Afghanistan. Two British soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed when their base came under attack. Four coalition soldiers were also wounded. The killings come amid a massive anti-Taliban campaign by U.S.-led coalition forces.
HARRIS: New tape, new message. Yet another audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden has been posted on a militant Web site. The speaker calls on Sunnis to fight Shiites and the American occupation in Iraq. The Bush administration is trying to determine the tape's authenticity.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain terror leader in Iraq, has reportedly been buried in a secret location in Iraq. Wire service reports say that word comes today from Iraq's national security adviser. Iraqi officials would not give specific details. As you may recall, al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7th.
NGUYEN: It is election day in Mexico. Polls opened just minutes ago. Mexicans are voting for a new president, and there are three major candidates. President Vicente Fox is nearing the end of his six-year term, and by Mexican law he cannot run again.
As you just heard moments ago, NASA is trying once again to get that shuttle off the ground and into space. Here's a live look. Weather at the Kennedy Space Center forced the cancellation of yesterday's planned launch. The hope is that it won't do it again today, but...
HARRIS: Well, the conditions may not be much better today.
CNN's Miles O'Brien joins us live from the Kennedy Space Center with the latest.
Miles, good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Tony, good morning to you.
Good morning to you, Betty. Seventy percent the weather will step in the way of the planned space shuttle launch -- 3:26 p.m. Eastern Time is the intended launch time. That's the time when the International Space Station is right overhead and the space shuttle can tag up with it. That is, after all, their goal, to deliver about 5,000 pounds of supplies and equipment, as well as an additional crew member. It will be the first time three crew members would be on board that International Space Station since the loss of Columbia.
A lot of concern in advance of this launch about the shedding foam problem, that persistent problem of foam falling off the orange external fuel tank of the space shuttle, which, of course, was what ultimately led to the loss of the space shuttle Columbia three and a half years ago. After a Columbia a year ago, we saw on the Discovery mission where another big piece of foam fell off, harmlessly, fortunately.
There was another redesign of that tank. And yet, there are still some lingering concerns in the engineering community that the tank may not be totally fixed.
That said, the NASA administrator, Mike Griffin, has decided it is time to fly. Let's listen to what he had to say in an interview that will appear later on "LATE EDITION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GRIFFIN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We quite literally don't know how to -- taking the literal interpretation of the words -- eliminate debris shedding from the external tank. We don't know how to make the orbiter any more resilient than it is, and we've been spending money and time on tile repair techniques for use on orbit, but so far, they're just rudimentary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Rudimentary and not certified for flight. That's NASA administrator Mike Griffin. You can see that full interview, 11:00 a.m. Eastern, on "LATE EDITION" today with John Roberts.
Joining me now is Eileen Collins, who flew the mission a year ago, as you look at live picture of the ice team out there. The space shuttle is loaded up with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. They're out there looking for a buildup of ice and any other debris that might be a problem.
Eileen Collins with us now.
And we want to talk about some of these repair techniques, which on your mission a year ago were tested out. What are some of the options a crew has and how far along are we in these repairs -- in this notion of repairing a wounded shuttle in flight?
EILEEN COLLINS, ASTRONAUT: Well, there's two general types of repairs that we need to be able to do. One is to the wing leading edge, which is where Columbia had their problem, and that's hard material. It's calls reinforced carbon-carbon.
The other type would be to the tiles which are underneath the shuttle. And again, they repel the heat on entry.
NASA has methods in both areas, but only for small, I would say, cracks or holes. Anything as large as Columbia, we still don't know how to fix that. None of these techniques are really fully certified. They're all still in the testing phase, and it's turned out to be a very difficult thing to do.
O'BRIEN: Let's look at some of the tape from your mission. And there were some tests that were conducted in space of these ideas. And the question that comes up as they -- for example, in this case, there was -- I guess it's sort of like -- it's almost like a caulking gun, essentially, is what we're seeing here, which is part of an effort that would fix tiles.
Did they have much luck on this mission? Did it go well? And would you fly home with something that is caulked this way?
COLLINS: Actually, what we're seeing here is Steve Robinson (ph) using a nearly called noax (ph), which you would actually try to put this material into a crack or a small hole. The actual application was very successful.
Steve was able to do this without too much trouble, but the materials were brought back and tested, but yet we need many more samples, we need to test it in a real environment to know for sure if it's really going to work. So the testing is still in progress.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And certainly you would want to know an awful lot more about it before you strapped in a crew and decided to come home, relying on a repair like this.
COLLINS: That's right. And that would be a decision that the mission management team would have to make based on where the engineers are at that point in time in the development of and the testing of this material.
O'BRIEN: All right.
That's just one of the techniques that's being considered. And incidentally, on this mission, there is no repair technique space walk planned unless they're able to squeeze out an extra day on the amount of fuel they have. So that's an optional third space walk. Hopefully that will come up.
But the fact is, if there's a big crack in Discovery, unlikely they'll be able to repair it and feel confident to come home.
Back to you guys in Atlanta.
HARRIS: Beautiful. Thanks, Miles.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Miles.
HARRIS: Eileen, thank you.
Hey, we were wondering just a moment ago -- or maybe it was just me.
NGUYEN: I think it was more you, but that's OK.
HARRIS: Is it just me?
NGUYEN: It's a good question.
HARRIS: But you played along. And I appreciate it.
NGUYEN: Well, that's what I do, right?
HARRIS: Well, so let's -- let's pose it to Reynolds Wolf, and then maybe Miles can chime in a little later on it.
This is a big shuttle.
NGUYEN: Right. It's got a lot of fuel.
HARRIS: We fly commercially through clouds every day.
NGUYEN: All the time.
HARRIS: All the time.
Why are clouds a problem for that vessel?
Reynolds, can you help me?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's a variety of reasons. The biggest reason, of course, would be the thunderstorms that we have in the area. That's the biggest threat we have. I dare say that the thunderstorms, the anvil clouds we've been talking about...
HARRIS: Yes.
WOLF: ... pose more of a threat, say, than your cirrus clouds, pose more than just your basic cumulus clouds. It's the anvil ones that I think they're really concerned with.
And you were talking about how big this thing is. That shuttle stack we saw -- saw just a moment ago, the wide shot of the space shuttle, that is 4.5 million pounds, 4.5 million pounds. And you have to remember, I mean, this thing has got to go up -- it's got to reach a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
It takes half a million gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen to get this thing 80 miles up. So...
HARRIS: Well -- well -- and Miles is standing by.
And Miles, I asked this question because we fly all the time every day, we fly through these clouds. O'BRIEN: But, Tony -- Tony -- Tony...
HARRIS: Betty just flew back from Hawaii and here she is.
O'BRIEN: Tony, Tony, you don't fly -- you don't fly on a $2 billion glider, OK?
HARRIS: Well, that's true.
O'BRIEN: You've got to remember, a lot of this weather we're talking about is the notion of having to come back in the event of an emergency.
HARRIS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: There is no go-arounds. They have to fly a very specific route down to the runway, and if there are clouds in the way, if there's a thunderstorm in the way, it's not like they can jog around it like delta can, OK?
NGUYEN: All right. See, now that makes perfect sense right there.
HARRIS: Oh, you would side with -- see, this happens to me all the time. You're siding with Miles on this.
NGUYEN: Well, because Miles is the expert here, all right? I think I'm going to side with the guy who knows.
HARRIS: Oh, you...
WOLF: You know what, though? I'd argue, though, that also your commercial jetliner is not going to carry the same amount of fuel that one of these things will. So, I mean...
NGUYEN: Fuel, exactly. That was my point. I mean, look at the fuel on this thing.
WOLF: Absolutely. I mean, it's going to have a lot of -- a lot of juice to get up high where it's got to go.
HARRIS: Betty, how many sides of this argument are you going to be on here?
NGUYEN: I'm with those guys.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: OK, those guys over there.
HARRIS: All right, Reynolds. Give us a sense of the weather forecast for this launch today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: That's how it looks. NGUYEN: We'll do the best we can.
WOLF: What other choice do you have?
NGUYEN: Although it didn't work yesterday. I mean, that's all we've got. Right?
OK. Thank you, Reynolds.
HARRIS: This is outrageous what's going on up here.
NGUYEN: I do side with you many other times.
HARRIS: You know what?
NGUYEN: Just, you know, not when you're wrong.
OK. Moving on, we know a lot of you have a lot of questions -- yes, Tony had a question there. I mean, he was wrong about it, but that's OK.
Send your questions in. We want to hear from you. Because you know what? Miles and Reynolds, they can answer those questions. Tony may not be able to, but Miles and Reynolds can.
So, send them to weekends@cnn.com and we'll get those questions answered.
Sorry, Tony.
HARRIS: These are questions that people have who watch.
NGUYEN: And they want to know.
HARRIS: And they want to know. I am the voice of the people.
NGUYEN: You're the facilitator.
HARRIS: Be sure to stay with CNN all morning long as we continue our coverage of the space shuttle Discovery launch. And at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, catch a special live show hosted by space correspondent and all around smart guy Miles O'Brien.
NGUYEN: Which he just proved, right?
HARRIS: Still ahead, what a world we live in.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Three little words, tag, you're it, can now get kids in trouble on playgrounds.
NGUYEN: Get them in trouble?
HARRIS: Yes, that's right. Tag is being banned, believe it or not, by some school systems. What's next, SpongeBob lunchboxes? NGUYEN: Huh? OK.
HARRIS: You know, SpongeBob SquarePants.
NGUYEN: Sure.
HARRIS: How about playing in the mud at recess?
NGUYEN: That can't get you into trouble.
HARRIS: Look, some schools have already cut recess out of the day entirely.
NGUYEN: That's outrageous.
HARRIS: We will take a closer look at why tag isn't it. That's a bit later.
NGUYEN: All right.
We're also keeping a close watch on the weather down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a number of reasons, and this is the main one right here...
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: ... waiting for Discovery to get off the ground. We're going to be talking with Miles O'Brien at the bottom of the hour, so you'll want to stay tuned for that.
CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: A real crisis looms over Gaza. Israeli aircraft sent missiles ripping through the office of the Palestinian prime minister today in Gaza. That is the latest in a series of attacks. The message to the ruling Hamas was very loud and clear, release the kidnapped Israeli soldier or else.
CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Gaza City with the latest on all of this -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Betty.
Well, the Palestinian prime minister and the Palestinian president have been in discussions this Sunday lunchtime. We saw President Mahmoud Abbas arrive at the offices here in Gaza City of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, offices which have been targeted overnight by Israeli air forces.
Now, they had struck (ph) two missiles at the particular offices, destroying some of the building. Just a few hours after that, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Haniyeh went to assess the damage and he said what the Israelis had done was senseless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL HANIYEH (through translator): This is a part of the targeting the Palestinian people who suffer such strikes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is obvious that logic has been lost.
This is a reflection of barbaric politics. The Palestinians are people who believe in god with a strong will and hold to their fundamental rights. And this government will remain faithful to achieving the interests of the Palestinian people and it will work to reflect the people's will and steadfastness. And we say enough to such unjust politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: In a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said that he had given the order to the Israeli defense forces to do whatever was necessary to make sure that the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped exactly a week ago today, was released safely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): These are not easy days for the state of Israel, but we have no intention of capitulating to blackmail. Everyone knows that capitulating to terrorism means inviting the next act of terrorism. We will not do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: There have been -- has been shelling from Israeli tanks, Israeli gunships, and also from the air on northern Gaza earlier on this Sunday. We continue to hear shelling, but (INAUDIBLE) from the Palestinians.
You can probably hear in the background there's also a wedding going on at the same time. Palestinians have been here before.
But there have been worries about the humanitarian situation, the fact that over the past few days fuel has been running out, much of the electricity has been cut off after an Israeli airstrike hit a power plant. And also, (INAUDIBLE) water was becoming in short supply.
But we know over the past few hours Israel has opened one of the main crossings from Gaza into Israel to allow some humanitarian food and water and medical equipment to be allowed in, and also opened one of the fuel pumps to (INAUDIBLE) fuels for generators. For example, the hospitals and those that desperately need it will be available -- Betty.
NGUYEN: So the aid is moving.
Paula Hancocks joining us live from Gaza City via broadband this morning.
Thank you, Paula.
You can hear more about what the Israelis and Palestinians have to say about this latest standoff. Israel's vice premier and the chief Palestinian negotiator will be guests today on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER." Tune in for that beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
Well, the scene from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning looks a little bit like this. As you can see, it's a bit gray and overcast, but they're still working, still planning on a launch today. We'll see if it happens.
Coming up in 15 minutes, Miles talks to a shuttle veteran about the chances of today's liftoff and about the next projects on the horizon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this. We're doing this so you can see a little idea of what the weather is like out there.
To the left, you're seeing Cape Canaveral, then you're seeing the launch pad on your right. But to the left, that's where the thunderstorms are. That's where you're seeing a little bit of rain on the lens. We saw a lot of it a little bit earlier.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: So that's the big question today, is the shuttling going to get off the ground? Will Discovery make it into space today?
Reynolds Wolf will have a complete forecast in just a moment.
HARRIS: Look, no time like the present, right?
NGUYEN: Why not? Let's go to him now.
HARRIS: Well, that's why he's here.
So, Reynolds, good morning.
WOLF: Good morning to you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: That's the latest in the forecast. Let's bring it right back to you downstairs.
NGUYEN: Forget the barbecue grill. Just throw that stuff out on the sidewalk around the nation -- 106 in Vegas? Yikes!
WOLF: No doubt.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you.
WOLF: No problem. NGUYEN: Hey, Tony, remember playing tag? By the way, you're it.
HARRIS: Well, thank you for the question, Betty. I do, as a matter of fact.
Who would have ever thought that a playground staple for generations would be banned by some schools?
NGUYEN: Really.
HARRIS: What's wrong with tag, Red Rover, dodgeball? We'll find out in 30 minutes.
NGUYEN: Also, there is a super buzz about the latest "Superman" movie. But can this latest flick break the so-called curse, that "Superman" curse that's been linked to these past productions? We're going to ask that question and see what kind of answers we get from Tom O'Neil.
CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone.
"Now in the News," it's on the launch pad and ready to go. Now, will the weather cooperate for today's scheduled liftoff of shuttle Discovery?
We're watching it for you. The launch is set for 3:26 p.m. Eastern Time. And, of course, we'll bring it to you live. And in just over a minute, we will check in with our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien.
Israel sends a message to Hamas by firing missiles into the Palestinian prime minister's Palestinian office in Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh wasn't in the building at the time. Israel says security force will do whatever it takes to get Palestinian militants to release an Israeli soldier they abducted last weekend.
NGUYEN: U.S. officials are analyzing a new audio message believed to be from terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Now, the speaker issues new threats against Shiites in Iraq and anyone who aids or supports the U.S. and its allies. The White House says bin Laden wants to create chaos in the Muslim world.
Reports out of Iraq this morning that the remains of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been buried there in a secret grave. CNN is working to confirm this story. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike last month, if you recall. He had been al Qaeda's leader in Iraq.
For complete coverage of breaking news and today's top stories, you'll want to stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.
HARRIS: Let's get this thing off the ground today.
NGUYEN: Yes, let's do it.
HARRIS: Wouldn't that be nice?
NGUYEN: It would be nice.
HARRIS: Let's just do this thing.
The space shuttle "Discovery" is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in, oh, about what, a little less than six hours now. But right now, NASA isn't feeling the love from the weather.
NGUYEN: Yeah, you can tell by all those clouds. CNN's Miles O'Brien is tracking the countdown, minute by minute, and with him is former shuttle commander, Scott Horowitz.
Hi there, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Good to see you guys. And just as you are reading that intro to me, we saw some lightning and thunder, so hey maybe they'll -- Mother Nature will get it out of her system early, maybe that'll dry out the skies and next six hours we'll have beautiful, sunny weather. That, hey, you never know. The sun could come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar.
In any case, we're talking about the space shuttle, which currently 70 percent no-go. Although right now, if they were trying to launch now, which they're not going to because it could never get to the space station if they did that, the weather would not allow it, not by a long shot. So we'll be watching the weather all throughout the day. We're watching to see if the weather is good enough for even the astronauts to get on board the space shuttle, that could be an issue. But that'll be part of what we're looking at.
In any case, one of the other issues that we'll be talking about and we have been talking about is this issue of foam falling off that orange external fuel tank, potentially onto the space shuttle orbiter. The NASA administrator Mike Griffin was conducting an interview with John Roberts, who was hosting the "Late Edition" program just a little while ago, you'll see the full interview later, lets give you a little excerpt from what he had to say when asked a question about the risks of that foam hurting the orbiter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GRIFFIN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I judge the odds to be very low of -- that we're risking a vehicle. I've kind of steeped myself in this problem over the last month and I'm quite confident that we've got a very good chance of flying and flying safely.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Which brings us to our guest, Scott "Doc" Horowitz, commander of one shuttle mission, a pilot on three others, and joining us now's he's a senior management person in charge of the exploration program, the what's next for NASA in Washington. Doc, good to have you with us. First of all, let's just talk briefly about the foam risk. It led to a rather heated debate inside the agency which really in some ways is still going on. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT "DOC" HOROWITZ, FORMER SHUTTLE COMMANDER: Right.
O'BRIEN: As to the relative risks of flying with the foam problem kind of still unresolved. It's never going to be completely resolved, is it?
HOROWITZ: No. Miles, you bring up a good point. The vehicle is what the vehicle is. The engineers have worked really hard to minimize the problem with the foam. In fact, one of the motivators for the new designs that we'll talk about was to not have to deal with that problem anymore. You know, were you have the space shuttle, which is in close proximity to the fuel tank and you have all of the interactions to deal with. But, what's nice is we're able to have the debate and we're able to bring all the data to the table and then we're able to weigh all of the factors in order for management to make a decision whether or not to launch the space shuttle.
O'BRIEN: All right, with that, let's look at what's in store. This is the crew exploration vehicle, "Aires" it is now called, and it looks an all of lot like what we saw during the "Apollo" days, it's got a capsule at the top, it's got a crew escape system which is good.
HOROWITZ: Right.
O'BRIEN: And you'll notice there's nothing above where the crew is and the re-entry vehicle is. Nothing that could fall upon it, that's an important thing.
HOROWITZ: And it's heat shield is protected, it's on the bottom capsule above the service module, here, and if you have any insulating foam on a tank, like you have here, it's on the outside below the crew and you don't really care if it comes off.
O'BRIEN: And the issue here is -- the idea is to separate the crew from the cargo, and in -- there would be another vehicle that would launch, and this is called "Aires 5" in homage to the "Saturn 5."
HOROWITZ: Correct.
O'BRIEN: Which would carry inside of it the motor, and extra fuel to get you to the moon, as well as the lender. So, this one launches, these two things launch separately, they rendezvous in space, off they go to the moon.
HOROWITZ: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Is this design, as we see it, is this pretty much finalized at this point?
HOROWITZ: Yes, Miles. This is -- we had a large study called ESAS, it was an architecture study last year and they concluded that deriving these launch vehicles from the equipment we have on the space shuttle and using those components was the most effective way to carry out a lunar mission and eventually be able to do a Mars mission, by having the ability to put very large amount of mass in lower orbit and safely put the crew up on a dedicated crew launch vehicle, which is now the "Aires 1," we could most effectively be able to carry out the missions.
O'BRIEN: All right, here's the big question though, why do we need to go to the moon?
HOROWITZ: There's a great question. There's a lot of unfinished work at the moon and there's a lot we don't know about the moon. When we went to the moon in "Apollo" we went mostly around the equator, the belly band of the moon, and we know very little about the poles of the moon which turn out to be quite interesting. There's lots of reasons to go, exploration is one of those things that mankind does, all great nations explore and it's -- we are a great nation and we should explore. There's amazing science to be done and there's tremendous opportunities to advance our technologies, and everything else that comes along with a great nation doing space exploration.
O'BRIEN: Doc Horowitz, who's the administrator in charge of exploration at NASA, the shape of things to come. Potentially we'll see an unmanned launch of this April '09.
HOROWITZ: Yeah, tentatively we're looking for April '09 to be able to launch a full scale test version of this rocket.
O'BRIEN: All right, good to have you with us, Doc.
HOROWITZ: Thanks, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Once again, the weather not so good here today. No technical issues in the countdown right now. We'll be watching the skies to see how dark they get and we'll get back to you in Atlanta, Tony and Betty.
HARRIS: Wonderful. Wonderful.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Miles.
HARRIS: Thank you.
Hey, we're going to do a little Q&A session with Miles a little later in this hour. Do you have a question about the shuttle program or about this particular mission? If you do, now is your chance to ask the expert. Well, he's right there, in Florida, waiting. Miles will be back in about 20 minutes to answer your e-mail questions so go ahead, send them in. Here's the address, weekends@cnn.com.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, be sure to stay with CNN all morning long as we continue our coverage of the space shuttle "Discovery" launch. And at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, catch a special life show hosted by space correspondent, Miles O'Brien.
HARRIS: He is he being remembered as a hero and a patriot, a U.S. soldier kidnapped and killed in Iraq, laid to rest yesterday in Oregon. Thousands, including the state's governor, gathered to honor Private First Class Thomas Tucker. CNN's Kareen Wynter was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hero's homecoming for a native son and soldier on his final journey. Twenty- five-year-old Private First Class Thomas Tucker was laid to rest as thousands from around the state of Oregon and beyond paid tribute.
CARRIE BARRIER, TUCKER'S COUSIN: He wanted to fight for freedom for everybody, not just himself, and takes a lot of courage and a lot of heart.
WYNTER: That American pride was on display inside this touching memorial service, honoring a young life.
TEYVA TUCKER, TUCKER'S SISTER: In my son's eyes, Tanner and Tyson, their uncle will live forever as a hero. To them, Tommy could walk into a battle with his gun drawn, bullets a-blazin', and live through the storm.
WYNTER: Tucker, along with fellow soldier, Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, Texas was kidnapped and killed in Iraq last month. Their mutilated bodies found days later dumped along a bomb ridden road. Tucker's family says they'll remember him as a prankster, a pianist, and most importantly a patriot who wanted to make them proud.
GOV. TED KULONGOSKI, OREGON: We will never forget the name Thomas Lowell Tucker, nor will we ever forget who he was, what he did, or the love of the country that led him from Madrass to Iraq and from Iraq to immortality.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Redland, Oregon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
A.J. HAMMER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Saul Griffith is not what you'd call a target consumer.
DR. SAUL GRIFFITH, CO-FOUNDER SQUID LABS: The legend is my family is that not Christmas present lasted lunchtime before I'd take it apart and built something new with it.
HAMMER: Now Griffith invents things for a living. Everything from ropes with electronic sensors that can tell when they might break to low-cost eyeglass lenses. His latest venture is a Web site that uses cartoon characters to turn kids into inventors. On the site kids how learn how to make marshmallow shooters, air cannons, turkey baster flutes, even tools to blow out birthday candles from 30 feet away. All made from simple household products.
GRIFFITH: If children are reading these fun comics as eight and 9-year-olds, you know, when they get to high school and they're taking science classes they'll have a physical intuition for a lot of the concepts they're being taught. (END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We're keeping an eye on this developing story we told you about yesterday, a search resumes this morning, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, for a missing person. The witnesses say a woman disappeared after a boat went over the Highland Park dam on the Allegheny River last night. New video in to CNN from our affiliate WPXI, that's in Pittsburgh. Seven people were pulled from the water, one of them later died. The other six are recovering from injuries.
Now according to eyewitness accounts the boat went over the dam, but it didn't immediately turn over. These witnesses say the boat became trapped upright against the side of the dam, and water just sort of pounded that boat and everyone on board. About 10, 15 minutes of this and the witnesses say the boat capsized, sending everyone into the water. Unclear at this point, the exact number, well we do know this, seven people pulled from the water, one of them as we told you a moment, later died and the other six are recovering from injuries. We'll continue to follow the developments on this story and bring you the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUPERMAN: There are some people asking a lot of questions now that I'm back. I think it's only fair that I answer those people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well you're back and everyone seems to be pretty happy about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well they do, because the new Superman is doing super at the box office, beating the competition to come in at No. 1. But can the actor playing the man of steel beat the Superman curse? What curse you ask? Well, we brought in an expert, Tom O'Neil of Theenvelope.com, to join from us Los Angeles to talk about the curse.
Good morning to you, Tom.
TOM O'NEIL, THEENVELOPE.COM: Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, set it to us straight, is there really a Superman curse and if there is I want some examples.
O'NEIL: Well, you can go back to the people who created Superman, the team of Siegel and Schuster, they got screwed out of the royalties of that and never made much money, when this became a popular serial and the movie houses in the 1940s, the actor who played Superman, Kirk Allen, had trouble finding work after he did all that. Then you get into the 1950s, where George Reeves, of course, played him on television and he ended up not being able to find work after the show was canceled in 1957. He died at a mysterious circumstances in 1959, some people believe murder. There's a film coming out later this year called Hollywoodland which stars that cursed actor Ben Affleck.
NGUYEN: Oh yeah, he's so cursed actor, isn't he?
O'NEIL: Yeah.
NGUYEN: "Gigli," can you say that?
O'NEIL: "Gigli," yes.
NGUYEN: Well, let me just ask you, though, I mean, these could just be some odd circumstances, ironic twist to it. I mean, where did the idea of an actual curse come up? When did it come up?
O'NEIL: That's a good question. I think that we're always looking for this kind of thing, in a setup where you're dealing with the ideal human being here, the ideal superhero, Superman, something's got to be wrong so that little dark side in all of us that looks for the ironic is looking for the tragedy here and of course, the biggest tragedy of all occurred with Christopher Reeve in his horse accident, and look at his co-star, Margot Kidder who ended up losing her mind, faking her death, becoming homeless, and she's had a lot of tragedies since then.
NGUYEN: Gosh, that being the case, I mean, who wants to be in a movie about Superman anymore?
O'NEIL: I don't know.
NGUYEN: Hey, speaking of that movie it is just killin' 'em at the box office. So we want to show you a clip, just you know, a classic clip from "Superman" and then we'll look at the new one. So take a look at this.
O'NEIL: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up in the sky. It's a bird.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a plane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Superman.
ANNOUNCER: Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond....
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yeah, those blue tights. Are they looking better these days? I mean, how's this new movie, how does it compare to these old ones?
O'NEIL: Well, I think this reinvention of it for "Returns" is better than the other ones because what director Brian Singer brought to the franchises is heart. This is a great romance in addition to just being a good action movie, and that's why I think it's the perfect date film, the perfect family movie. Now, that was also the magic behind the Christopher Reeve version in 1978, is you know, Superman's romance with Lois Lane, that was the heart and soul of that film.
NGUYEN: Yeah, that's true. Brandon Routh, not too bad to look at, he plays the new Superman but he's fairly unknown actor. Does he really cut it, though, as the "Caped Crusader," is he believable?
O'NEIL: He is. I was the biggest skeptic of all by the way. I didn't think he could pull this off. He comes from the soap operas, he's very unknown. He was chosen because he looks strangely like Christopher Reeve.
NGUYEN: He does, doesn't he?
O'NEIL: Yeah.
NGUYEN: All right, well, you know, fans are speaking and they're speaking with their dollars at the box office. It's a hit so far. Tom O'Neil, hopefully the folks in this one won't be cursed like the other ones.
O'NEIL: Yeah, I hope not.
NGUYEN: Thank you.
O'NEIL: Thanks.
HARRIS: Well, if we're following the timetable, even remotely, that we saw play out for us yesterday the astronauts should, Betty, about this time be sitting down to breakfast.
NGUYEN: You would think. We got some video a little bit around this time yesterday, so we're waiting on that. I mean, they got to go through the same motions because they're preparing to go into space just as is it is supposed to happen. But, will it happen? That's the question.
HARRIS: We'll talk to Miles O'Brien in a little bit and we will get him some of your e-mail questions. But first a break. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well Betty, look, here's the situation as you take a look at pictures on your screen. There's a launch pad on the right, Cape Canaveral on the left. Let me tell you something, this weather that we've been talking about all morning, and the fact that we've been anywhere from 70 percent no-go, it looks like that number may be ticking up a bit.
NGUYEN: A lot higher. In fact, we can't even with speak with Miles O'Brien right now.
HARRIS: Why's that?
NGUYEN: The weather has gotten so bad he had to move inside. So, that's a telltale sign, it seems, Reynolds Wolf.
HARRIS: Did we lose him? No.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is looking like it is kind of bad to say the very least. In fact on radar right now, we're seeing some cells popping right over Cape Canaveral, one right over the Banana River, which is this body of water you have right here and you have, let's see, Mosquito Bay right over to the north, Mosquito Lagoon, pardon me, Titusville and of course, here is the cape itself. It does not look good.
And as we pull away a little bit, you'll notice we've got a few more cells that are forming out in parts of the Atlantic. We're going to continue to see these just sweeping their way onshore, which means we could be seeing more of this as we make our way into the midday hours, into the afternoon. And you know, they've been launching shuttles at the Cape since April 12 of 1981, just over 25 years. They've got this down to a science, they're going to take all precautions.
But there's the shot that you have, there, you see the building clouds right behind it. Again it is amazing, over 4.5 million pounds, that's how much that entire thing weighs, the entire shuttle stack, and again, they -- it's just an incredible thing to behold to see this thing lift off and the time, again, they're expecting is at 3:29. It has not been scrubbed. Right now, again, we're looking at a 30 percent chance for the weather to cooperate later on today for the launch, and again, it's just kind of a wait and see kind of thing. Very frustrating, I'm sure, for the astronauts up there for the families, for everyone at NASA but, again, it's all about safety, it's all about being very careful.
NGUYEN: Well yeah, I mean, safety first but this leads to my question, though, because Miles was talking earlier and he was saying that he's been there when it's been a 90 percent chance of a no-go and yet they still launch.
WOLF: Sure.
NGUYEN: So when you talk about this weather coming through, I there a chance that by 3:26 this afternoon, all of that rain will have moved through?
WOLF: Oh absolutely. Sure, there's a great possibility of that. I mean, this is not like a frontal boundary that's moving through the area and you've got a line 300 miles long of intense storms popping up. These are just splash and dash variety of stuff. I mean, I've said, you know, if you happen to go to Orlando and you go to Gatorland or maybe, I don't know, Universal Studios, maybe even Disney World, you'll notice, it seems, every afternoon during the summer, you have this kind of thing.
NGUYEN: Oh yeah, you can count your watch by it, almost.
WOLF: Absolutely. Absolutely. This is nothing out of the ordinary for them. NGUYEN: Gotcha.
HARRIS: I'm still have to root for it.
NGUYEN: Yeah, you got to hope that it takes place.
HARRIS: Let's see if it happens.
NGUYEN: Five hours, 32 minutes and counting. We'll be here every step of the way.
HARRIS: NASA's counting on this in a big way.
NGUYEN: Yeah, right?
HARRIS: Bit way.
NGUYEN: They need it to launch.
HARRIS: Hello.
WOLF: Maybe you we could stand at the coast and just kind of wave our arms and wave all the showers away. Maybe that'll be better for us.
HARRIS: There's a thought. Reynolds, thanks, man.
WOLF: There you go!
HARRIS: I got to tell you, it grabbed our attention this week and sparked outrage, I'm telling you, outrage within our own news team. No more tag? What? Huh?
NGUYEN: Yeah.
HARRIS: You know, the fun frisky hyperactivity game we all played while running and screaming, "not it!"
NGUYEN: It's just a game!
HARRIS: It's a game, people. Well, it's a game that is being banned in schools across the country. Say it ain't so.
NGUYEN: Oh.
HARRIS: Well, Donna Thompson says it is so. She is the national program director for Playground Safety and she joined us, oh, just the other day from Des Moines, Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMPSON: Donna, when you were growing up, didn't you play a lot of these games now that are getting the heave-ho, Red Rover, Dodge Ball, Tag, didn't you play a lot of these games?
DONNA THOMPSON, NATL. PROGRAM PLAYGROUND SAFETY: Oh, sure, we did.
HARRIS: And now, Donna, you are a part of the thinking here that says a lot of these games need to be looked at again and in many cases, they need to be banned. You, Donna, are one of the people acting as the grinch to steal away the fun on playgrounds for our kids. How do you respond to this? How do you respond?
THOMPSON: Well, at the University Northern Iowa and National Program for Playground Safety, we're very careful to be sure that children are taught how to play. We want to have them be able to move safely, to learn to run, to walk, to touch, to learn to stop, to fall, but to fall and then to roll. So we want to have them do that in a very safe manner, and then they can play all kinds of games.
HARRIS: Well, what is wrong with these games? I mean, we grew up with them and we're OK for the most part.
THOMPSON: The thing that's wrong right now is that kids have just gotten way with pushing and shoving so hard that they knock kids down, they get broken arms, and that is a result of that we're in a litigious society that the parents sue people and so instead of helping children be able to have enough recess and to have physical education and to learn how to control their bodies, they're not doing that enough right now. The emphasis has been put on taking tests at an intellectual level and cutting out recess so kids can't move well.
HARRIS: What is this balance that we're trying to strike and how are you and your group helping us strike that balance?
THOMPSON: Well, we're encouraging people to continue to have recess, they need to have supervisors so that they play safely. That doesn't mean they interfere with the play, but they play safely. We also encourage physical education so that they learn how to play games properly, they learn how to touch, and they learn how to move, as I suggested earlier, learn how to fall and learn how to play games in a safe manner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And I just got an e-mail from my wife saying I agree, I agree and stop giving the woman a hard time.
NGUYEN: She agrees? It's a game!
HARRIS: We played these games.
NGUYEN: I didn't get hurt. Did you get hurt?
HARRIS: Red Rover, Red Rover, have Betty come on over.
NGUYEN: Come over. One of my favorite games.
OK, "Reliable Sources" is next, tag, they're next. Followed with "Late Edition" with "Iraq: The Week at War," is what they're talking about, so don't go away.
HARRIS: And Fredricka Whitfield will be here with you throughout the afternoon. Have a great Sunday.
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