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CNN Saturday Morning News

NASA Launches Rover Mission to Mars; Conservative Group Holds Meeting Aimed at Thwarting Mitt Romney's Presidential Bid; NBA Players and Owners Reach Tentative Deal Ending Lockout; Newt Gingrich Makes Controversial Comments on Illegal Immigration; CNN Hero Feeds Hungry Children

Aired November 26, 2011 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And we are T-minus one minute and 40 seconds from liftoff. Yes, that is a live picture you are seeing. This is from Florida. Kennedy Space Center today, they are awaiting to launch "Curiosity" is the name, the latest rover. Where is it going? It's headed to Mars. This is one of the latest and the most ambitious missions by NASA in quite some time. And this rover is going to take off and going to be looking for life on the red planet.

We're about a minute and 15 seconds away. Our John Zarrella will be joining me here in just a moment. We're only a minute away here, John. I want our viewers to be able to hear mission control here in a second. We're just a minute away and, actually, I'm going to go ahead. John, you stand by for me. When this takes off, we'll certainly going to be talking about this ambitious mission.

But again, folks, this thing, the rover is right at the top of this Atlas rocket. It will travel some 350 million plus miles, over eight months to get to the red planet. We are just about 40 seconds away. I'm going to go ahead and be quiet and I'll let mission control take over. You listen to them as we watch some NASA history about to take place on this mission to Mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: T-minus 30 seconds and counting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Status check.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go atlas. Go Centaur.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: T-minus 15 seconds. T-minus 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one -- main engine start - zero, and liftoff of the Atlas Five with Curiosity, seeking clues to the planetary puzzle about life on Mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cell is now breaking the sound barrier. Chamber features following the nominal curve. Signatures as expected. SRB profile continues to look nominal. Throttling back up to 100 percent thrust on the RD-180. Engine parameters looking good. Flight control disturbances as expected. SRB pressures running right as expected. Map and burnout, we have burnout of the SRBs. Everything is looking good. Ten seconds to SRB jet. And we have first pair and second pair, both SRBs have successfully jettisoned the vehicle. We are re-enabled guidance. Everything is looking good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Rob Ganon (ph), our United Launch Telemetry Manager we're hearing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vehicle is now 32 nautical miles in altitude, 54 miles down range, traveling at 4,900 miles per hour. And we've throttled down to hold a constant 2.5 g level for payload faring jettison. And we've fired the pyro valve pressurizing in the ISC bottle. Pressure increasing in the loop, as expected. Now we're hitting our 2.5 g limit coming up on payload faring.

HOLMES: Let me bring you in as we continue to keep an eye on this rover, the Curiosity, bring in our John Zarrella. And, John, you can't help it. I'm looking in our studio right now, and grown men standing around staring at the screen with their mouths open and smiling. My sister just sent me a text message, calm down, little brother, you seem excited. You can't help it, but this is cool stuff they're doing right now.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And you know what, they're not out of the woods yet. There's still a ways to go. It will be 40 plus minutes before the upper stage boosters, you know, finish their job. They've got to kick in, give it another boost to the -- you know, to the actual spacecraft itself that will go to Mars. And by the time they finish all of that, about 42, 43 minutes in, the spacecraft will be traveling at about 22,000 miles an hour. And then and only then will they be getting on their way to the red planet. And as, you know, we've discussed, T.J., that's going to take until about August 6.

So, you know, for the next 30 minutes, still, they're going to be watching very closely. There's still a lot of stuff that has to go on for this to be a successful liftoff. T.J.?

HOLMES: Help me on that a little bit there. You say we still have a danger window here of another 30 minutes --

ZARRELLA: Yes, absolutely.

HOLMES: Where, of course, anything can always go wrong. But why is this such a sensitive time over this next 30 minutes?

ZARRELLA: Well, because you're shutting down main engines. Then you're re-igniting a second stage Centaur rocket. Then you're shutting that off, coasting again, then you're re-igniting that again for another boost. So there are several shutdowns and starts of the boosters in order to get the rocket, to get the spacecraft, the Mars science lab in position so that then it's heading in the trajectory towards the red planet.

So there's still a lot of things that have to go right as far as rocketry goes before they're in that 22,000 miles an hour cruise stage for the next eight months. HOLMES: And once it starts on that cruise stage, and you said that trajectory, is it essentially just cruising on its own? Is there much navigating that's done back here on earth? How does that work?

ZARRELLA: Yes. They'll adjust the course through course corrections if necessary. But primarily, you know, once you leave the earth's atmosphere, whatever speed you're traveling at is the speed you're going to continue traveling at until you get to where you want to go, which is then, of course, Mars in this case. And then they will do some braking and aero braking as they get into the atmosphere. They'll be cruising 354 million miles to catch up and rendezvous with the red planet on August 6th.

HOLMES: OK, what's next? People love these launches. We have to wait until eight months before we get some news about this rover. So in the meantime, in the coming years, when do we look forward to another type of ambitious launch like this? I mean, we in the public, kids, they're inspired when they see these liftoffs.

ZARRELLA: Yes, we do. We certainly do. But the reality is money, $2.5 billion for this mission. You know, there are no other rovers that are actually on the books now. NASA is talking with the Europeans about, you know, a combo mission with the Europeans where they send another rover, perhaps.

But the cost of these things are so prohibitive that I think what you're going to have to see is major success from this mission. In other words, when they get there, if they do find organic materials, the building blocks of life, they may not and probably won't find life itself, but if they can find those building blocks, that may reinvigorate and hasten efforts to get more vehicles to Mars more quickly before we ultimately send humans around the 2030 timeframe.

But right now, the problem is, T.J., money. And this is really one of the last really big planetary missions on NASA's books right now. They are hoping this goes well, this proves some valuable information that can prove a jump start for planetary exploration.

HOLMES: I have one more question for you, and it essentially comes from our viewers here. I want to remind our viewers what you're seeing here. You're seeing a replay. This just happened minutes ago. But the Mars rover Curiosity is on its way to Mars, just launched aboard that Atlas rocket a short time ago.

But my one last question, and I'm asking this because of our viewers. I am getting a lot of response, messages coming in via twitter which is right here in front of me now. People are wondering during these economic times, and I know NASA gets this question all the time, at what cost? Is $2.5 billion for this, is this what we need to be spending money on right now? What does NASA, who gets that question all the time, what is their response when people are critical of is this the best use of our money at this time?

ZARRELLA: You know, the reality is that NASA's budget like, you know, pennies on the dollar is how much NASA gets out of the federal budget. It's not as much as a lot of people think it is. It's literally like five cents on the dollar if that goes to NASA's budget.

But the fact of the matter is, the way NASA will tell you is it is exploration. Do we want to answer the questions is there other life in the universe? It's a basic question that people have been asking since the dawn of time.

Those are the kinds of things that, you know, it doesn't put bread on your table, it doesn't put milk on the table, but for a lot of people out there, those questions -- you know, the answers to those questions will change forever how we think of ourselves and our place in the universe. Are we alone? Are there other species out there? And these are the first steps, going to a place like Mars that may well have had life at one point before answering those questions.

And in fact, before you go, T.J., there's an interesting theory that says back when Mars was a wet possibly habitual planet that an asteroid hit Mars, threw off debris from Mars, that debris landed on earth and actually planted the seeds of life here. So that in essence we are descendants of the first Martians. That's a theory. But, you know, we may have come from Mars.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Just a theory though, right, folks? And one other thing --

ZARRELLA: Just a theory.

HOLMES: My EP, my executive producer just reminded me of this, because it was pretty cool, just the size of this rover. It's a huge sucker. This isn't the size of most of the smaller rovers. Do you still have that wheel next to you?

ZARRELLA: No, I don't. I wish I would have kept it. I had to give it back. But it's about yay big. They made me give it back.

HOLMES: But you're right. That sucker is a huge wheel, as you were describing to us. But this is -- it's about the size of a mini cooper is about the size of this rover?

ZARRELLA: Yes, yep, 2,000 pounds, about the size of a mini cooper, a Volkswagen bug. And compared to those early rovers that were about this big, you know, literally Sojourner, this one is the size of a small car.

HOLMES: John Zarrella, we're going to check back in with you, but always good to have you and your expertise covering all things space. But again, the Mars Curiosity rover is on its way. We're at about 13 minutes past the hour right now.

Another breaking story from overnight, we could have NBA basketball in about a month. Apparently there is a handshake deal in place, nothing on paper just yet between the players and the owners. Let's bring in Joe Carter, our friends from HLN Sports. So the first question for everybody, when might we see NBA basketball?

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: It looks like Christmas Day is going to be the big day. The season is going to tip off. Both sides, the owners and players absolutely clearly feeling the pressure. A lot of ill feelings out there. They spent 17 hours between Friday and early Saturday morning hammering out this tentative deal. It's not official yet. The season has been reduced to 66 games. That's 14 less than we're typically used to seeing.

The plan, though, to start training camp December 9th, the season December 25th. So between now and then, a lot has to happen. But Commissioner David Stern says he's optimistic that a final deal will get done and it will get finalized soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID STERN, NBA COMMISSIONER: We've reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations. But we're optimistic that that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin on December 25th, Christmas Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: All right, so the start to that season is about 30 days away and a lot has to happen between now and then. Obviously, the players' union has to recertify. The deal actually has to be writing. The lawyers have to get together and draft it on paper.

Then both sides have to agree on this deal. You have to have 15 of the 29 owners that have to agree to it and a majority of the 430 plus players have to then agree to it. Let's say they both agree to it. Then you have free agent and training camps will kick in at the same time. Then you're going to have, obviously, the season starting on December 25th with some marquee mega matchups because you have that national television audience all watching on Christmas Day for the NBA at that stage.

HOLMES: They're not crazy.

CARTER: No. I like the 66-game season. I think it's nice. A lot of people are saying that, too. The 82 games, too much.

HOLMES: Maybe it should start every year on Christmas Day.

CARTER: That's a great idea.

HOLMES: Joe Carter, we appreciate this morning. Thanks so much.

We're a quarter past the hour now. We're going to turn to politics here in a moment. Don't you just hate it when people are talking about you behind your backs? That's what's going on with Mitt Romney right now, a secret meeting all about him. We'll tell you what's going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're 18 minutes past the hour. We'll turn to politics and a secret meeting in Iowa, a gathering of social conservatives unhappy with Mitt Romney. They don't want him to be the guy, the possible Republican nominee for president.

Let me bring in Shannon Travis. He's in Chicago for us this morning. Shannon, this can't feel good. It's almost like a conspiracy going on to make sure he is not the candidate.

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It sounds a little bit like a conspiracy, T.J. It's no secret that social conservatives don't like Mitt Romney for a lot of different reasons. But what was a secret was that they were holding a meeting, at least social conservatives in Iowa, to try and stop him there and to try and find another candidate, an anti-Romney candidate, essentially, to stop him in Iowa and to take him on in other states.

There are a lot of reasons why these social conservatives don't like him. They feel like he has no core. Some people tell me that he's a flip-flopper. Some people don't like the fact that he instituted the Massachusetts health care plan which has that individual mandate like the one in the nation's health care law as well as Romney used to be for abortion rights in the past. Now he's staunchly against it. So these social conservatives are trying to band together and see if they can rally around a candidate.

Let me say as a point of note, I talked to the Romney campaign and they say, you know what? Governor Romney is run ago 50-state campaign. He's going to be looking towards all the voters, and they obviously beat back all of these criticisms that he's a flip-flopper, T.J.

HOLMES: OK, but Shannon, can they have a real impact? Let's say they stop him in Iowa. He wasn't necessarily putting all of his eggs in the Iowa basket, necessarily. And he's been way out in front of the polls in New Hampshire. Even if they manage to get around another candidate there, is it going to make a difference?

TRAVIS: It may not. It may make a difference in the sense that if someone other than Romney wins the Iowa caucuses, it could potentially launch them into some of these early nominating caucuses. It's probably a safe bet that Romney does well in New Hampshire. But let's say in South Carolina, Florida, and beyond, let's say an anti-Romney candidate does well.

On the other hand, Governor Romney has a lot of money. He has a lot of support if you look at these polls in Iowa and nationwide. So money and support equals an uphill struggle for those who might try and take him on, T.J. So it's hard to say whether it will have an impact or not. I can tell you that the social conservatives, they're looking at Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich as potential anti-Romney candidates.

HOLMES: All right, Shannon, thanks so much.

We're at 21 minutes past the hour. And an important story this morning still developing, NATO is being blamed for two attacks on checkpoints in Pakistan. This apparently happened all near the Afghan border. According to Pakistan, at least 24 soldiers were killed. NATO now looking into it. They have acknowledge that an incident took place, but not necessarily acknowledging the circumstances surrounding it. The Pakistan government holding an emergency meeting as we speak, a developing story. We do have our reporters in the region. We'll be checking in with them in just a bit.

And back here in the U.S. now, what's killing Christmas trees? Thousands of Christmas trees dying in the American west. Those details, just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's 25 minutes past the hour on this CNN Saturday morning.

And there has been a devastating drought in the southwest, and as a consequence now, among a number of consequences, it's now hitting Christmas tree lots across the region. This drought has killed thousands of Christmas trees in Texas and Oklahoma. They're literally dying of thirst. Hundreds of other trees, they were burned in the wildfires. So some farms will be selling trees grown in North Carolina now. But this, again, as I bring in Bonnie Schneider, we were talking about these drought conditions in Texas. They were going through the season, really a record drought there, and we're seeing the consequences.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's impacting so many industries, so I'm not surprised Christmas trees are one of them.

We are seeing, though, a lot of rain moving through other parts of the country right now. So for those of you on the road and maybe you're heading somewhere to do some shopping or perhaps continue your holiday travel, let me show you with some of the trouble spots are right now, some strong thunderstorms rolling into Arkansas at this hour. Little Rock, it's just start to go rain there. Expect more of that throughout much of the morning.

And to Shreveport, Louisiana and then northward, everything is changing. In Chicago, for example, light rain is moving in. But by tomorrow night, you're looking at a chance of light snow showers in the Chicago area. It's snowing in northern Minnesota, and that's where we have winter weather advisories because we are looking at wintry conditions in this region, snow and ice a possible two to four inches. That's going to be a problem for those of you driving later tonight and through Sunday. And that's really a shame because tomorrow is, rather, the busiest travel day.

No delays right now for air travel. But this is what we're anticipating throughout the afternoon. Chicago, winds, low clouds, rains could all cause delays. As well as Dallas, Houston. Memphis, St. Louis, Minneapolis and even Miami all facing delays this afternoon. So if you can get on that earlier flight or hit the road earlier, you'll probably be best off on this busy holiday travel weekend. T.J.?

HOLMES: Thank you very much. We're about 26 minutes past the hour now. And we're also just about three weeks away from picking a CNN hero of the year. I want to give you a chance to get to know some of the top 10. This morning, chef Bruno Serato, who has more on his mind than serving dinners at his popular restaurant, is somebody we want to introduce you to now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATE BERKUS, TV HOST: Hi. I'm Nate Berkus. And as a member of the American Red Cross celebrity cabinet I am committed to emergency preparedness, disaster response, and lending a helping hand to those in need. Now I am thrilled to help introduce one of this year's top 10 CNN heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNO SERATO, CNN HERO: I came to this country I love to cook. But to be in the restaurant business you must love the people.

There's your lunch, ladies.

In 2005, my mom was on vacation from Italy. I said, mom, let's go to the Boys & Girls Club. This little boy, five-years-old, eating potato chips for his dinner. He was a motel kid. I find a poor family who has nothing else, you live in a model. When they go back after school, there's no dinner. There's no money. Mom said, Bruno, you must feed them the pasta.

My name is Bruno Serato. My mission is pasta and feeding hungry children. I don't give the kids leftovers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruno brings the trays and all the kids expect to eat spaghetti.

SERATO: Are you hungry? Are you hungry?

Right now, we are between 150 to 200 kids.

Who likes the pasta?

CROWD: Me!

SERATO: My mom, she made me start. Now I could never stop. They're our customers, my favorite customers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And you can actually still vote for the winner. Log on to CNNheros.com and take part in our special all-star tribute, December 11th, 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.

And Newt Gingrich, what is he doing? Was it a bold step, a big idea, or was it a mistake? His take on immigration raising some eyebrows and some concerns. But look at those two. They don't look concerned this morning. Our dear friends and our political players Lenny and Maria, we're talking all new when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're just past the bottom of the hour now. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us. I'm T.J. Holmes. And Newt Gingrich, he has been in the news a lot lately. He came to the top of the polls, had a surge there, and now many analysts give him credit for a strong performance in this week's debate but are questioning an apparent gamble, some would call it, he took on the issue of immigration. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane and enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their family.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Governor --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Let me bring in Lenny and Maria. That's the short version there, but CNN contributor Maria Cordona is with us from Orlando this morning, and also Lenny McAllister, Republican strategist, as well. We're going to get to Newt, of course. But as we always do here, I need to ask you guys what your political highlight of the week was. What was it for you, Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: As you said, talking about Newt, it's Newt Gingrich's rise, but to me, it was also Mitt Romney's lies.

HOLMES: All right, what do you have? Are you rhyming this morning, as well, Lenny?

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No. I'm going a little math with an equation today. ABR plus Iowa equals N-e-w-t plus GOP 2012.

HOLMES: You know what? I actually got that. "Anybody but Romney," we'll get into that in just a second. Maria, really, is this going to be the fall for Newt Gingrich? Or did he stir something up and start a serious debate and a conversation that needs to be had?

CARDONA: I completely agree that he did start a debate and conversation that actually, you know, has been going on for quite some time among the general electorate. I think it was very bold of him. I give him kudos for having conviction and the courage to say that during a Republican debate, especially when we know that the voters in Iowa and the rest of the GOP field in terms of the conservative voters are not going to like what he had to say.

So I do have to give him kudos. We'll see if those voter res going to punish him for that. We've seen some pushback and criticism from the voter necessary Iowa, from the most conservative in the GOP field in terms of what he's doing. Michele Bachmann has been attacking him as well as others. I think that he had the courage of conviction. We will see if this is going to come back to haunt him.

HOLMES: Lenny, you're probably in trouble if a Democrat like Maria Cardona is telling a Republican that he did a good job and she's proud of him for what he did. So is this going to mean trouble though on the Republican side for him with those conservative voters?

MCALLISTER: No. It sounds like apparently Newt has won Maria's vote. Congratulations, Newt. And apparently you're able to sway some Democrats over to your side.

And this is why she's swayed over there, because it was a genius move. Listen, who is going to catch the "anybody but Romney" wave right now? Is it going to be Paul? No. Cain? No. Bachmann? No. Perry? No. Basically, everybody that was going to catch that wave has caught it. Now it's Gingrich's to lose. He's not going to lose it.

So what do you have to do? You have to maintain a lead in Iowa, which he has, but also start speaking in the general election terms. So what does he do? He speaks in this term right now in order to have an opportunity to speak to moderates and independents and say, listen, I can work with you starting to move forward in 2013. I think it was a brilliant move.

HOLMES: Lenny, you sound sure. You said he is not going to lose that wave like Perry and Bachmann and Cain, like they did. What makes you so sure?

MCALLISTER: Number one, he's up by seven points in Iowa. Number two, he's always been the best on stage at these debates. He's always been the best on stage. Now he has the success of the 90s working with divided government, working at the last time of economic prosperity. He got a balanced budgets passed. He got welfare reform passed. He has all those things going on. If people will overlook his personal flaws in order to beat a flawed administration in President Obama's administration, they're going to continue with him and he's going to continue to move forward.

HOLMES: Go ahead, Maria.

CARDONA: I'm not so sure about that, Lenny. While I do give him kudos for showing courage of conviction on an important issue like immigration, I'm not a voter in Iowa. And the problem with Gingrich right now is that you have all the opposition research folks focusing on his record and what he has said before.

So you have immigration, which they're going to attack him on. You have cap and trade, which he has come out in support of. You have what he said about the bible for Republicans and Congress in terms of the economic plan that Paul Ryan had put out, in his words, "right wing social engineering." Those are all things that I think are going to come back and haunt him. Plus, he is undisciplined. And I'm not so sure that the most conservative Christian evangelical --

MCALLISTER: Years ago.

CARDONA: That was like six months ago, Lenny, not so long ago. And in terms of the conservative voters, I don't know that they're going to forgive his personal flaws. Three marriages, leaving his first wife when she had cancer, those are not things that are, that Republicans and the most conservative voters are going to forgive him for. HOLMES: We're not going to get into the personal stuff. He had his response to that and said he's had these personal failings. So we know that will come up again.

But I have to give both of you 20 seconds on this last one. Lenny, you start here. Again, please, about 20 seconds each. Can Romney, is it going to hurt him if he -- you know, people are having secret meetings there saying we don't want Romney, anybody but Romney. He's not really putting all of his eggs in the Iowa basket. Can it make a difference other than hurt his feelings that they're having secret meetings?

MCALLISTER: It's going to hurt him because he's not going to win in Iowa. He's not going on to be as strong in New Hampshire. He's probably going to lose South Carolina. And if he doesn't have a lot of momentum going into Florida, he's not going to win this nomination. I think it's Gingrich's to lose at this point in time, especially with a win in Iowa.

HOLMES: Wrap it for me, Maria.

CARDONA: So I don't think it will hurt Romney if he doesn't come in first. But if he comes in fourth, I do think that it will hurt his momentum going into New Hampshire and going into all of the other places. So I do think he's got to do what he's doing, but he doesn't need to come in first.

HOLMES: And a note to our viewers here -- Lenny and Maria, Atlanta, watch out, they will be here in studio with me next weekend is the plan as of right now. So good to have you the whole family together for a change. The guys are really looking forward to that. Thanks, as always.

CARDONA: Looking forward to it.

MCALLISTER: Fantastic.

CARDONA: Thanks so much.

MCALLISTER: God bless.

HOLMES: We're at 38 minutes past the hour now. You saw it a short time ago, NASA launching a mission to Mars. Yes, it has brought together astronauts and pop stars. We'll explain this duo in just a second and what they're up to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It was just a few moments ago, NASA launched a new mission to Mars. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- three, two, one, main engine start, zero, and liftoff of the Atlas five with Curiosity seeking clues to the planetary puzzle about life on Mars. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I love that. They're so poetic during these launches, "seeking clues to the planetary puzzle." That's Atlas five. The rocket blasted off in Cape Canaveral air force base in Florida, expected to deploy the Curiosity rover attached to it at the top. The rover will explore Mars for evidence of water and life.

Before the launch, though, I talked to Will.i.am, yes, from the Black Eyed Peas. He was there on hand for launch. Also alongside him was NASA astronaut Leland Melvin. I asked them if launching a rover to Mars was a good way to get kids interested in science and math.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LELAND MELVIN, ASTRONAUT: We're all trying to inspire the next generation of explorers through whatever means, music, math, whatever that means is, we'll take that and use that to get these kids motivated to do STEM education.

HOLMES: And Will, we've been familiar and you've talked to CNN before about your interest in getting kids interested in science. But would you classify yourself as a space geek?

WILL.I.AM, MUSICIAN: A tech geek, a space geek, just curious like this rover here. So yep, I'm a space geek.

MELVIN: So you say just curious. And I just mentioned this to Leland. What have you seen as you've been involved in trying to get kids more involved? Have you been disappointed? Have you been surprised at how much it takes some time to get kids into those fields?

MELVIN: I'm blown away and inspired by these kids, especially the kids that work within the U.S. robotics program. And there's like 200,000 plus kids who are building robots, doing amazing things with their skill set. And it's not like kids aren't. It's just that we haven't shined the light on the kids that are to inspire other kids to get involved, as well. So I'm, like, really, really inspired by these kids.

HOLMES: Leland, you pick up that point for me there. I guess translate this for us. How do we get from launch today, and how does that translate from getting some kid in a classroom somewhere in this country involved in a field of math and science and maybe even a career?

MELVIN: Well, when I think about a kid seeing Curiosity this rover going around the surface of Mars, taking examples, doing things, I was a chemistry major and I mixed these two chemicals together and blew up this creative explosion in my mom's living room. That got me fueled and energized.

But so maybe there will be a kid watching Curiosity going around the surface of Mars and they may think, how do I become a science and engineer? How do I become a musician? If you know music, you know math.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Will.i.am has an ongoing mission to inspire America's youth. He has developed a concept that called the system, stands for stimulating youth around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He's trying to encourage children, especially in the inner cities, to become involved in these types of careers.

It's about a quarter of the top of the hour now, and Christmas may not come soon enough for NBA fans. After months of deadlock, the league's owners and players finally agree on a tentative deal. This thing could still fall apart, though. Stick around for the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's about 11 minutes of the top of the hour now. The NBA and its players finally have reached an agreement, at least a handshake deal right now to end the lockout. This could mean you could see NBA basketball by December 25th, yes, Christmas Day. A tentative deal was hammered out overnight to end this 149-day lockout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK FISHER, NBA PLAYER: The most important key thing here is that, you know, our fans and the support from the people and the patience, you know, through a large part of this process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The league is reportedly going for a 66-game season now. Players and owners still have to sign off on this handshake deal. Joe Carter from HLN Sports has been keeping an eye on this and some other things we're going to tell but here. You and I were just discussing, it's a shame that a lot of people were turned off by the NBA after that season they had last year which everybody was excited about.

CARTER: Yes, there was a lot of interest. TV ratings were at its highest since the Jordan era. So there were definitely a lot of people that were into the NBA, and I think they turned a lot of people off.

But the plan is simple, T.J. They want to get the season kicked off on Christmas Day. People are going to get excited about it and forget about what's happening in the last five months. I'm thinking into the negotiation room yesterday and into tomorrow morning, they might be feeling that pressure from the fans and anybody that does business with the NBA because the two sides hammered it out for 17 hours. They worked until 3:00 this morning eastern time. They announced they had the deal around 4:00 a.m. eastern.

And now the league from this point forward will need all 30 days to get it up and running. They're going to have to write the deal, put it on paper, then both sides are going to have to vote on the deal. They're going to have to pass the deal. They say if all of that happened in a timely fashion, then they'll start training camp and free agency December 9th. The season, as we said, will tip off on Christmas day with three marquee matchups on national television.

HOLMES: Like you mentioned, some of the highest ratings last years since the Jordan era. There's a new Jordan era, apparently now.

CARTER: That's called a segue and a very good one. Central Florida, Marcus Jordan, son of hall of fame, greatest basketball player ever Michael Jordan, plays for Central Florida. There he is, kind of looks like dad, kind of. His team pulled off a huge upset last night. They beat fourth ranked UConn, 68-63. It's the school's biggest win ever.

Marcus Jordan, a big part of that game, basically the star. He averages 17 points a game. He is a junior. So perhaps he gets better this season, stays around next year and perhaps makes the jump to the NBA. Who knows? But UConn coming in as the defending national champ. They had won 16 games straight coming into yesterday. So I'm sure they got upset. But I'm sure they'll get back on course.

HOLMES: Another Jordan in the NBA. It's coming soon, folks. And I was talking about this. I love David Beckham, but a story like this just kind of makes you sick in the stomach sometimes.

CARTER: You know, I think a lot of folks might get angry at the amount of money these athletes can make. David Beckham, 36-years-old, by most sports franchises standards he would be in the twilight of his career. But no, a French club wants to offer him an 18-month contract worth $17.9 million. That's about $1 million a month to go across the pond and play. He does have a contract with the L.A. Galaxy currently. It ends out in December. But according to "The Daily Mail," which is a tabloid, says he is close to signing the deal, but he will keep his home in L.A. because that's where Posh like it. She likes Beverly Hills.

HOLMES: OK, how much of this is him going because they really think he has something left in the tank, or is this the same kind of a deal of him coming to the U.S. to promote the sport and get attention?

CARTER: It's 100 percent to promote. He's going to put butts in the seat. That's where they're going to make money, the merchandise.

HOLMES: It's a good gig if you can get it.

CARTER: I wouldn't make a million a month.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Good luck with that contract negotiations. Joe, thanks, as always

CARTER: It's about eight minutes to the top of the hour. A lot of people are starting to head home after this long holiday weekend. You've got to get home but you're going to have some issues. Sorry, some travel delays possibly. Our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is next with the news you need to hear about your weather.

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HOLMES: We're getting close to the top of the hour. We will have an update and a reset for you, give you the latest on all the stories you may have missed overnight, including still a developing story, NATO checkpoints opened fire on two Pakistani military checkpoints near the border with Afghanistan, and 24 soldiers are dead. We are live there after the break. Stay with us.

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