glad to be back with you for another hour. i'm steven romo. if prosecutors get their way, donald trump will be spending much of the new year in the courtroom instead of on the campaign trail. the former president could be look at five separate trials in 2024. that's on top of verdicts in two civil cases that could cost him and his business millions, though almost all of his pending court dates are currently in limbo, mostly thanks to the former president's delay tactics. what does it all mean for 2024, especially if trump manages to push some dates past november?

and could a conviction in any of these cases be a tipping point for voters? scheduling nightmare aside in all of this, the former president might not even get on the republican ballot in some states. we've got a wave of new developments in the effort to disqualify trump ahead of the primaries. where it's working and where it's getting kind of messy. meanwhile, in d.c., another motion has been filed by jack smith in donald trump's election interference case. what the special counsel is now asking the judge to block the former president from doing during trial proceedings. let's dive right in. joining us now is "washington post" senior political reporter aaron blake, former congresswoman and msnbc political analyst donna edwards, and msnbc political analyst, democratic strategist, and pollster cornell belcher. thanks for being here. aaron, let's start with you. as we approach the new year, paint a picture of this, if you could, of just how chaotic this could get. only one of donald trump's trial

dats is set in stone, the e. jean carroll defamation case, the sequel, on january 16th, one day after the iowa caucuses, by the way. where are the others? >> i think the question for a lot of people early on was whether any of this would take place in time to matter for the presidential primary. that ship appears to be sailing, at least at this point. the federal election subversion case scheduled for march, that looks to be very much in jeopardy because of the appeals courts and potentially the supreme court ruling on trump's claim to presidential immunity. e manhattan case could be a littleit easier to stick to its march trial date. beyond that, we of course have the classified documents case in may. i think what we're maybe underestimating right now is that, if one of these cases does get delayed, it's going to have a little bit of a domino effect potentially, where other cases may have to move themselves to

prevent him from having to be on trial in two different places at one time. it's been clear that jack smith, the special counsel, wants to have these cases tried while the campaign is going on. he wants voters to have this information. he knows that after the election, if trump is elected, he could potentially pardon himself in these federal cases. so, a really big battle, and the impact could be significant if you believe the polls. it will be over whether these cases actually move forward in calendar year 2024. >> jack smith certainly trying to fast track it all. donna, just how effective have trump's delay, delay, delay tactics been? is there a different strategy he could have tried? >> i think the delay tactics have worked in some ways to donald trump's advantage, and one way is that he's been able to use each one of these trials to continue to raise money and to galvanize his base of support. what we've seen over a period of time is that he's been -- that

donald trump has been effective at using these trials and the existence of them in order to solidify his base, and, in fact, gain on some of his opponents. indeed, his opponents, because they haven't criticized any of this, can really leave him an open playing field. i think thus far it's worked to his advantage. we'll see how that calendar plays out. it was always going to be tricky whether these trials could proceed during the election year anyway. and, so we'll see what ends up going forward. >> certainly will. a lot of the polling shows trump with a slight lead over biden, so what, if anything, will actually change that? will a criminal conviction -- will that be enough to turn off some voters? the indictments certainly did not do that. more importantly, would a conviction turn away enough voters? >> i'm going to reject the premise a little bit here. if you look at the polling right now and you also look at what

happens on election day, donald trump is a 46%, 47% candidate. the vast majority of americans have never supported donald trump, and they won't regardless of what his conviction is. he's had plenty of disqualifying resumes before now, and that's why the majority of americans have never supported him. now, the question is, can he slip back into office with 46% and 47%. if the majority of americans are, in fact, not co-alesed around one candidate like we saw in 2016. i know what donald trump's ceiling is, right. it is actually sort of where most of these polls are. i don't think what a slight lead is. the campaign that biden must do is put together a campaign that pulls together the majority of americans and coalesce them around him and his vision and what he's done. i don't buy this trial impacts donald trump's support.

he said, i can stand in the middle of times square and shoot someone and not lose support, and it seems to be true. >> it's hard to believe people one way or the other don't have strong opinions about donald trump at this point in politics. donna, your thoughts on efforts to kick trump after the republican primary ballot in different states. we saw a win in this cause in colorado last week. now the republican party is asking the supreme court to intervene on this. what's your read on that tactic? >> look, there are literally dozens of these cases that are emanating in the states. and i think ultimately the supreme court is going to have to weigh in on this. you cannot have different interpretations of one constitution in different states. so, this is what the court was built for in these cases, and whether it's one or the other will find its way into the supreme court. i'm not sure. i think, again, donald trump has used these cases and these efforts to kick him off the ballot as a way to really, you

know, sort of drill down on his support. i don't see that changing politically. ultimately the supreme court will have to weigh in on this. >> hard to imagine a case where that doesn't actually happen. for trump opponents, are these efforts in blue states, are they kind of a waste of time in this already chaotic political climate? we've been talking about the conservative majority supreme court will likely rule on this eventually, so is this a good tactic, a good use of their time? >> that's a tough and a good question because really, we're talking about no one being above the law. i actually want to disconnect the two questions from each other, sort of the politics and the law. if we have this idea that no one in america is supposed to be above the law, well, then, yeah, the criminal cases should go forward and they should try to disqualify him. if, in fact, they think he shouldn't be allowed on the

ballot from the interpretation of the law. from a political standpoint, i don't think it matters one way or the other. politically, quite frankly, i'd rather have donald trump because i know on election day where he'll be, at 46% and 47%. the majority of americans won't support him. the question is can you coalesce the majority around one other candidate. >> interesting idea, that ceiling, the percentage you mention there. aaron, is this all just more fuel for trump? from his impeachment trials to the special counsel investigations, he's gotten a lot of support by saying he's the victim of this so-called witch-hunt that he likes to talk about. are these attempts to strike him from the ballot, is that going to be more fodder for his their they've he's being persecuted? >> there's no question this has allowed him to coalesce republican support, the legal issues specifically. whether that's actually helped him in a general election context, i think it's a lot less

clear. he has been gaining, according to the polls, in recent months, but a lot of that could be attributable to president biden's numbers declining a little bit. i think, when you look at the general election, it's a point well taken that trump appears to have a ceiling of around 46%, 47%, if you look at how people view what a conviction would do, if you look at how people view some of these legal issues, there is a suggestion that this could be a deal breaker for a number of people if there is some kind of a conviction. it may not be as much as the, you know, 4%, 5%, 6% some of these polls are showing, but even a slight shift in our very polarized country where every recent election has beenecided by four or less points in the popular vote, those things could matter greatly even if to a small number of voters. i think these things ultimately matter to a significant degree, and now we find out whether they get resolved or not. >> donna, trump is not the only one filing motion after motion

in court. jack smith is trying to speed things up, and he's also asked the judge in terms of his election interference case to block him from trying to inject politics or conspiracy theories into this. ultimately, is there a chance that will work? will donald trump actually abide by that? >> look, i think that jack smith is right on cue, really trying to force this issue, because otherwise, you are left in an environment where donald trump simply uses his voice outside of the courtroom to impact what's happening in the courtroom. and so, whatever jack smith chooses to do in terms of his strategy, i think is to try to pull this all into the courtroom instead of having donald trump litigate it in public. so, you know, good for jack smith. i think ultimately, again, so many of these things are going to rest on appeals from various motions that are filed, and that's going to impact the timing of these cases. >> timing is everything. the primaries getting close

here. aaron blake, donna edwards, and cornell belcher, thanks so much for that insight. israeli officials sounding the alarm and warning the war with hamas could soon spread. a former deputy u.s. national security adviser joins me. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ right now get a free footlong at subway. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. (dad) it's our phone bill... kinda like me. we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long

but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. welcome back. israel and hezbollah trading fire in lebanon today, raising fears that the war in gaza is spiraling into a regional conflict. a member of the israeli war cabinet says the time for a diplomatic solution to these ongoing border clashes is running out, warning if lebanon won't stop militants from attacking israel, the idf will. also new, israel says it regrets a christmas eve air strike on a gazan refugee camp that killed dozens of civilians. josh lederman is reporting from tel aviv. josh?

>> reporter: israel is admitting serious mistakes in its war against hamas, saying a christmas eve air strike in alma ghazi likely harmed civilians. at least 70 people died in that incident. israel says while they were target hag mas sites that i recollect struck nearby buildings, likely harming civilians who were uninvolved. israel says it regrets those deaths and it is working to learn from this incident to prevent it from happening again. also, israel has released the results of an investigation into that friendly fire incident from just a few weeks ago when israeli troops mistakenly killed three hostages. that investigation concluding that the shooting should not have happened and that the deaths could have been prevented. now, it is very rare for israel's military during this war to admit mistakes of this magnitude, but it comes as we are learning an american citizen believed to be held hostage in

the gaza strip is actually dead. 70-year-old judy weinstein was believed to have been captured from her kibbutz on october 7th and brought to gaza, but now the kibbutz says she actually was killed on october 7th in israel and her body brought to gaza. it was the same situation with her 73-year-old husband, who the kibbutz said recently had been killed in israel and the body brought to gaza. with that news, the number of americans believed to be held hostage in the gaza strip has now fallen to six. it also comes as israel's warning that it may not be able to prevent a war on its northern border with lebanon where there have been additional hezbollah strikes into israel today, some 30 rockets fired yesterday. israel says the time for diplomacy to avert an all-out war with lebanon's hezbollah is running out. >> josh lederman, thanks. joining us now, ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser and msnbc political

contributor, and an independent journalist with more on this. ben, let's start with you. israel's defense minister says his country is facing a war on seven fronts, not just gaza and the west bank but also lebanon, iraq, syria, yemen, and iran. so, what needs to happen to stop this from escalating further? >> well, the u.s. has been trying for weeks to prevent escalation through deterrence, deploying assets to the region, hitting iranian-backed militias, and engaged in some intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy, issuing warnings to iran and its proxies through various third parties. that hasn't stopped the back-and-forth, particularly along the northern border. i think what you have to be concerned about here is an escalation with no apparent end game in sight. if that war on israel's northern border escalates into, say, israeli strikes on beirut, southern beirut, where hezbollah

has a large presence, then we're looking at more urban warfare, more bombing of heavily populated areas without really an end state that is clearly defined. i think that's what's most concerning about this war right now to the u.s. administration and to people watching this around the world, is that there's not a clear end game in gaza, where you've already had over 20,000 people killed. there wouldn't necessarily be a clear end game if this escalates in lebanon. and we also see this ongoing tension in the red sea and in iraq and syria. this could become a much bigger regional conflagration if the current trends continue. >> incredibly volatile. secretary blinken is set to travel again to the middle east, his fourth trip to the region since the war started. what do we know about the u.s. priorities there right now? >> well, i think the u.s. priorities in recent weeks have been to try to restrain the scale of the israeli military operation in gaza, where obviously the horrific human

death toll has caused suffering among the palestinian people but also a huge international backlash. the u.s. is trying to get israel to pursue a more targeted type of military operation against hamas and its military wing, and has not had much success. i think the bigger question that will feature in this trip is what is the long-term future that israel foresees for gaza. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ruled out any palestinian administration of gaza, indicaing there will be some kind of de facto israel power and displacing people in egypt, saying it does not want to take gazans. at the same time, the u.s. position has been the palestinian authority authority, the governing authority in the west bank, should assume control over gaza. that's a cavernous gulf, and i'm sure that will be a key part of talks not just with the israeli government but with arab countries that are concerned about obviously the marin toll

in gaza but also what is the long-term plan here. they'll be asked probably to contribute to any reconstruction of gaza. but i'm sure they don't want to be doing that under the guise of some de facto israeli occupation. so, part of what secretary blinken will be trying to do once again is align these different points of view, israel's point of view, the u.s. point of view, and the arab states point of view, and of course something that can bring some much-needed aid to the suffering palestinian population in gaza. >> a herculean task to take on that, narrowing that distance between the positions. the king of jordan and egypt's president met today in cairo to talk about the war and the future of the palestinian people. what role do you think they'll end up playing? >> well, they've have very important roles. egypt is trying very hard with some success to play the role of kind of the regional powerhouse.

they're trying to play a most important role of mediator between israel and the qataris, who basically speak for hamas in these situations. they're trying to replace the qataris who managed to leverage their financial support for hamas into international legitimacy as a mediator. so, egyptian president assisi sees an opportunity. the jordanian king is in a very difficult position. he has a population i think that's almost half palestinian in jordan. his wife is a palestinian. he's faced a lot of pressure to condemn israel, even more than he has already. he has done everything but sever diplomatic ties. and he is a crucial, crucial ally to the united states, especially when it comes to another regional conflict, which is the one in syria, where both israel and jordan have faced i

would say a small escalation of violence in recent week so, each in his own way has a really important place here. >> certainly. noga, you have a new piece about how israel has changed in the last year, which began with netanyahu's return to power. so much has changed. what are your main takeaways from that? >> well, it was an interesting piece to think about because the israeli government, this israeli government took over on december 29th, so exactly a year ago right now. i think for israelis, their country after one year is unrecognizable. i want to mention a poll that came out minutes ago showing netanyahu's support, which was pretty weak to start off. he had a kind of barely-there

win last year of 64 out of 120 parliamentary seats. his support crashes to about two-thirds of that. 45 out of 120 seats. so, he's very, very weak politically. he's being really rejected by the israeli public that voted him in a year ago. and i just want to add following on what ben said that netanyahu's political weakness is not necessarily good news for antony blinken because netanyahu, who was supposed to hold a pre-blinken cabinet meeting tonight on what will happen in gaza postwar, canceled it when facing threats from his extreme right wing. and he may really just be trying to stone wall blinken when he comes here. >> speaking of volatility. all right. ben rhodes, noga tarnopolsky, thank you so much. well, it wouldn't be winter

without a holiday season travel headache and some brutal weather conditions to go along with it. what you need to know if you're planning to hit the roads soon. that's next.

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welcome back. the holiday travel rush is creating hectic conditions on roads and in airports across the country. aaa says today is set to be one of the worst days for traffic

and congestion, and for lots of travelers, rain on the east coast is slowing down traffic and delaying even more flights. for the latest, nbc news correspondent melissa parra joins us from south florida. what are people saying about their travel experiences? >> reporter: they're not talking about how beautiful the weather is today. if you're travel big the roads, whether you're taking to the skies, if you were looking for some nice holiday beach weather, you weren't going to find it today. in fact, all you'll find is traffic jams and bad delays, which, if you look at flightaware's misery map, the so-called misery map, because what it shows are the airports around the country that are leading when it comes to delays, and miami international is winning a contest no one wants to win, which is that contest of the most delays in the country at the moment. they have almost 400 just today alone. and this is after a record-setting weekend alone. we saw this weekend the most

passengers passing through in a single day. that was set this past weekend. when it comes to record setting, we know that air travel is up since even before the pandemic. we're seeing numbers we haven't seen. we also know the majority of travelers over the holidays take to the roads. we're talking about 104 million holiday travelers, so this is really a double whammy here because you not only have those passing through on their way between their christmas and new year's plans, but it's also a thursday. you have people that are in the middle of their commute to and from work, those of us who are still working on a day like today. and you also have some records being set in some states like the state of florida. aaa projects states like florida will see a record number of drivers through the holiday season. that's not a national record being set, but in some states like this one. to leave you on a good note, the gas prices are about the same right now as they were this time last year, and we're not seeing any meltdowns like what we saw

this time last year with southwest. there are some things to be thankful for. >> i appreciate that. ending all that negativity on a positive note. melissa parra, thank you. we are tracking new fronts in the fight over immigration policy. hundreds of miles from the southern border, the mayors of three democratic cities asking for more federal help to handle large numbers of migrants that keep arriving in their cities. texas alone has transported tens of thousands of migrants to democratic-led cities this year, mostly by bus. now, new york city mayor eric adams is placing limits on charter bus companies themselves, limiting the times they can arrive and requiring them to give advance notice before they arrive. nbc's morgan chesky joins us from texas with more on this. also with us, political congressional reporter olivia beavers.

secretaries blinken and mayorkas have met with mexico's president to address this surge. what's being done about when these migrants can arrive in the u.s.? >> reporter: very good yes. both leaders came away from that mexico city meeting saying that it was productive and they looked forward to working together and meeting again come january 2024 in washington this time. as for what's being done for the migrants that continue to cross over or for those who are already here and in need of housing, we're seeing this change day to day. you mentioned that announcement from mayor adams in new york city. keep in mind that they already have so many migrants there in the city, they just recently opened a new tent encampment, and in some cases here, they're asking migrants to leave certain shelters after 30 days and reapply. we know that in neighboring -- the northern city of chicago, that the state is now sponsoring hotel rooms for migrant families, all that to say that

every inch of housing is in incredibly high demand right now, whether the migrants are coming from texas being bussed or flown by governor abbott. we're coming off record-breaking week. we are hearing from the white house here, in , we have a statement i'd like to share with you, where we're basically hearing president biden addressing his commitment to the problem, adding th's why he submitted plement tam funding request to congress whh includes additional resources to secure the border with even more law enforcement, more grant funding for jurisdictions hosting migrant, and funding to accelerate the processing of work permits for eligible noncitizens. that last thing, steven, is crucial because we've heard from migrants that once they're in the united states, they would like to have the ability to work, but they are unable to do so because they don't have the proper documentation. that is in addition to these asylum claims which, since 2017,

the government accountability office says they have now tripled and that the wait times for them to get their day in court could in some cases last years. >> wow. years. olivia, i want to turn to yr reporting on speaker johnson pushing biden to bring back many of the trump-era border policies. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre said biden has done as much as he can on his own. are those more extreme policies, are they likely to return under biden? there was so much criticism of them. >> reporter: i think it's more of pushing up the salvo of the blame game. we're entering a presidential year, and republicans are trying to say we passed a border bill which has already become a nonstarter with senate democrats and the white house, but now they're trying to pressure biden saying you need to take executive action. if he doesn't, they're going to say the president failed to act, and they have laid out, you

know, reasons and ways they could take. but that's not to say that the biden administration isn't entertaining ways to address the border. you know, we just had it laid out that there was a meeting with mexican officials, but the biden administration's also discussing ways of sort of returning it to a title xlii method which would not be under a public health directive. and they know they're being faulted by voters at the polls, and that's big issue behind the economy they want to address, especially if president biden goes head to head with donald trump. but at the moment, there is a big kind of clash in congress as well. we know they're trying to tie border policies to ukraine and israel aid, and there are discussions going on in the senate right now, but as to whether those are really making progress or they would ever pass the slightly republican controlled house is a whole other question.

>> yeah. speaking of that, olivia, there's so much tension, its seems like, in the democratic party on this. how could that internal pressure affect a potential deal on immigration? >> reporter: it is interesting. you have democrat senators, republican senators working on a bipartisan way of addressing the border, but they've kept their talks largely secret. meanwhile, you've seen progressives in the house and the senate and the congressional hispanic caucus coming out and saying that they're scared by sort of the direction they're hearing and they don't like that they don't have a seat at the table, especially the congressional hispanic caucus saying none of us are engaged in these negotiations. so, it's a tricky process. once it's public, then you start seeing a lot of different interests and political opinions starting to, you know, tear it up with red pen, and we're going

to see if that is, you know, digestible with democrats, let alone republicans, because it is a very thorny issue here in the u.s. >> hard to keep anything secret for long in d.c. all right. olivia beavers, morgan chesky, thank you both. 2024 presidential contender nikki haley trying to clean up some controversial comments she made on the trail about the civil war. her response and whether it could hurt or maybe potentially help her campaign. that's coming up next. oming up .

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welcome back. this afternoon, a former u.n. ambassador and presidential contender nikki haley is trying to clean up comments she made last night in new hampshire when asked what caused the civil war. she did not mention slavery, of course the central issue behind the confederacy's secession. she attempted to clarify this morning. let's watch. >> of course the civil war was about slavery. we know that. that's unquestioned, always the case. we know the civil war was about slavery. but it was also more than that. it was about the freedoms of every individual. >> it's unclear why she didn't use the word slavery when answering that. joining us now, vaughn hillyard with more on this.

she was trying to clarify her response there. what do you think this is going to end up costing her? >> this is not the conversation that nikki haley wanted to be having two weeks before the iowa caucus, three weeks before the new hampshire primary at a time she's making the case she is surging. she needs every bit of surge she can get. the big concern out of these comments are those independent voters, especially in the state of new hampshire, where back in 2012, the last time there was just a republican primary, not a democratic primary, nearly half of that republican electorate were independent voters that came into play in the new hampshire republican primary. for nikki haley, a big part of her bid is to appeal to those voters and making the case, take part in our primary process, let's try to get donald trump out of the picture. the other part for nikki haley, looking at polling, there's still about 10% of the electorate that is into chris christie, so, because of the opposition to donald trump. so, nikki haley, she needs that foundation for her in order to

come close to being able to pull off an upset against donald trump. >> no one sort of jumped in on this. we didn't hear ramaswamy, desantis say anything. they kept their hands off of this. did that surprise you? >> it is notable there's a bit of a pause, but i believe that ron desantis in just the last couple hours just actually commented. i think we have that tape. >> this is not a candidate that's ready for primetime. she's gotten a pretty free ride from a lot of the corporate press. the minute she faces any type of scrutiny, she tends to cave. i think she's showed time and time again, when it's time, when the lights get hot, she wilts under pressure. that was a good example last night. >> of course ron desantis is trying to lay claim to being the trump alternative here. he needs a strong second-place finish over nikki haley, because right now she is dominating him in new hampshire polling. this is going to be a chaotic three weeks ahead here between iowa and new hampshire.

>> this is not something nikki haley wanted, but in this dead zone between christmas and new year's, that is something she's thankful for. thank you. turning now to the other 2024 presidential news, colorado republican congresswoman lauren boebert is switching congressional districts. she says she'll run for the seat currently held by ken buck. he is retire being. that district is considered solidly republican, while boebert's current district is labeled a toss-up. she's facing a re-election staying there winning her last race by fewer than 600 votes. she'll go up against six other candidates in help v her republican primary. controversy and anger in one idaho home as the home where four college students were murdered last year is set to be demolished. ♪

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ahead with the demolition? >> reporter: several reasons. they talked to the defense and the prosecution. neither fought to keep the house up, and they say that even if the jury wanted to take a look at this house, the prosecution wouldn't be able to authorize it, so they felt it was time to start the healing for this community. they also noted several people have tried to trespass on this property and it was costing the university $700 a day just to keep security there. also, kids are home from school right now, so they felt it was a good way to do it where there weren't a bunch of students on campus. some students, including one that happened to bearound, said a lot of them are glad it's gone because it was a painful reminder of what happened inside that house. like you mentioned, the family was upset about it. they figured if the jury has any other questions or needed more perspective, they would lose that during the upcoming trial because they would not be able to go inside that home or stand outside of it and see maybe how the suspect could have possibly peered inside the home.

right now, a trial date has not been set. the state has requested a six-week summer trial. we are waiting for that to be determined. and legal experts say bryan kohberger's defense team is likely to motion for a change of venue to try to get it to a larger city where there's a larger jury pool that may move it out of the small town that is still healing from these brutal murders. >> heartbroken for the town, especially those families who are having to see this when something they don't want. dana griffin, thanks for your reporting. still to come, a saw in 202 and why the space race could reach new heights in 2024. that's next.

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welcome back. as we close out 2023, the buzz is growing around what's going to happen in space in 2024, including the first humans to fly to the moon since the days of apollo more than 50 years ago. i love that we're seeing a new space race. nbc news correspondent tom costello covers aviation for us. and tom's got a lot of reasons why next year could be even more interesting and possibly centered around elon musk. >> reporter: that's right. elon musk, of course, owns spacex, and spacex right now provides the only way american astronauts can right now get to space on an american rocket. and america's future hopes and dreams for space depend on spacex.

>> we have liftoff. >> reporter: that rocket roar and cheering coming from south texas in november -- >> separation. >> reporter: -- was for a much-improved second test of elon musk's starship, after the first starship exploded shortly after liftoff. this time, all 33 engines fired in perfect unison. while the booster was lost in the spectacular explosion three minutes after launch -- >> and as you can see, the super heavy booster has just experienced a rapid, unscheduled disassembly. >> reporter: the uncrewed second stage climbed 92 miles high, well into the space, before self-destructing. >> we got so much data, that will all help us to improve our next flight. >> reporter: nasa and america have strapped their dreams to that spacex rocket. that next flight will be early next year. then, late in the year, nasa's artemis astronauts will loop around the moon.

in 2022, an artemis test flight orbited the moon with no crew. that is the spaceship that will take the artemis ii crew to an orbit around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. this is a nine-day mission, a quarter of a million miles just to get there. and this ship is nothing like apollo that carried neil armstrong and buzz aldrin. it is much more advanced, much more automated. already, they're training at nasa's johnson space center. mission specialist christina cook and canadian fighter pilot, jeremy hanson. >> i'm most looking forward to paving the way for the future back to the moon, onto mars. the fact we get to contribute to that, absolutely an honor, the honor of my life. >> and we are proud to be a part of the artemis generation. we are the artemis generation, and we are going back to the moon. >> reporter: later this decade,

nasa hopes the starship will rendezvous in orbit, then land on the moon's south pole and begin building a lunar base. china wants to land its own astronauts there by 2030. but america's return to the moon will not be an apollo repeat. >> we're going back to the moon. it's actually a different moon. we're going to the south pole. >> reporter: the south pole, which may hold frozen ice water, critical for a future moon base and a potential source of rocket fuel for missions on to mars. it's why india landed a probe there in 2023. and it's the same region that china is targeting for a human landing. the new space race seems likely to pick up speed in 2024. >> tom, i think the space race is really between us and china. and we need to protect the interests of the international community. >> reporter: also in 2024, boeing is hoping to finally

launch its starliner spaceship with astronauts to the space station. many years delayed and well behind arch rival spacex. and billionaire entrepreneur jared isaacman will command polaris dawn, another private mission with three others in a spacex rocket, set to reach the highest earth orbit ever flown. i caught up with them training in colorado. why do this? why do we need to go into space? >> i mean, there are questions that we've been asking ourselves since, like, the dawn of civilization, right, that we don't know the answers to. and the universe is so big. >> reporter: tom costello, nbc news. >> that polaris dawn mission will also feature the first ever space walk involving a private astronaut. and they will continue raising money for st. jude children's hospital. the first mission back in 2021 raised a quarter of a billion dollars for st. jude. back to you. >> that's an optimistic way to

round out this hour. thanks so much for joining us. i'll be right back here tomorrow from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. eastern. simone takes up our coverage for "deadline: white house" right now. ♪♪ greetings, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. i'm in for nicole wallace. as we come on the air, a case that seems all but destined to land before the supreme court. the open question of whether the 14th amendment disqualifies donald trump from being on the ballot, specifically being on the republican primary ballot in the state of colorado, and how this question is decided could have ripple effects that go well beyond just the republican state primary and well beyond colorado. viewers of this show know the bombshell ruling by the colorado supreme court found that quote, donald trump engages in insurrection through his