two. the goal, to make commercial space tourism safe and available to the public. stephanie elam joins me now. every pilot knows that risk is a part of space flight. these brave pilots really pushing the bounds. what have you learned about the second pilot? >> reporter: that is so true. and we now know the name of the second pilot. he's 43-year-old peter s bechlt ibold, injuries ranging from minor for major. we do know that he did survive the crash at this point. it's a close community. a lot of people even in they're not here, if they're part of the space community, they also know each other. so the whole community seems to be mourning the loss and also the catastrophe that happened here yesterday. >> it's always when you have so much forward momentum, this kind of thing really sort of stops everyone in their tracks. branson is not speaking about the ntsb investigation, but he

did say engineers are going to look at everything to learn what went wrong. you were at the news conference. what really jumped out? >> that's true. he did really talk about that and he made it clear this investigation is a big part of figuring out of what happened. take a listen. >> most importantly our thoughts remain with the families of the brave pilots and all those who have been affected by this tragedy. the bravery of test pilots generally cannot be overstated. nobody underestimates the risks involved in space travel. as i say, we owe to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong. >> reporter: and he talked about basically these test pilots are pioneers just as we saw pilots for commercial aviation the way we know it in that same fashion. and that these set backs happened.

but he clearly would like to see the program continue. but what the status will be when we were expect to go hear virgin galactic was going to take people up next year, that completely changes now. there are so many questions that need to be answered and they all begin with this investigation that began today. >> no question you think about those pilots, the right stuff, just really the guts and glory and also sometimes the tragedy. stephanie elam, thank you. and my next guest personally knew both pilots. joining me on the phone, former "washington post" reporter joelle glenn brener. michael alsbury, what was he like. >> michael was an in-krcredible pilot. he worked for scaled composites for more than 14 years. he had a tremendous amount of flight experience. he had flown many of scales

unique airplanes, designs that are like no other. and he was exceptional. he was a tremendous proet yus pilot, one of the designs that goes up to 60,000 feet. it is not an easy airplane to fly. and michael flew that plane often. and he also was a test pilot on another scale program called airies oig in which he performed stunningly. he has always been a test pilot since he came on board and a tremendous tragedy here is that both he and pete seibold vr wer very good friends. they lived in the same community 30 miles north of mojave. and their children actually attend the same school together.

so this will be a very, very, very difficult situation for both families going forward. and mike, he really loved what he did. he was dedicated to what he did. he believed very strongly in what burt started when he built and designed the spaceship one spaceship back in the early 2000s. and it was really that design that sparked the beginnings of virgin galactic. and when mike was asked if he wanted to, you know, be a test pilot for the virgin galactic program known as spaceship two, he didn't hesitate. he absolutely wanted to be a part of that. durni during spaceship one program, mike was an integral part of mission control where he was one

of the engineers who had helped to design and build the spaceship one mother ship white knight one and also the spaceship also and was invaluable in terms of being eyes and ears on everything that was going on during flight operations and guiding those test pilots to successful flight. so he had a tremendous a experience. >> and so that's the next question. that is, clearly the way you describe him, he would have known what to do if something went wrong in that spacecraft as long as he was in position to bring it down is what i'm hearing you you say, correct, based on all his skill, all his knowledge. if it had been survivable, he key have probab could have probably landed that. >> two things i think you're confusing. whether the accident was

survivable and whether could you ha you could have landed the aircraft. there was no way to land this aircraft. if you look at the pictures, posted just where everywhere by an independent photographer who happened to be in the right place with the right time with his camera lens aimed directly at the spaceship as it flew apart, it is obvious that that spaceship blew up at 50,000 feet in the air. it was ripping into pieces. and there was no possibility to land that craft. when the rocket motor lit, okay, something went horribly wrong. and within six seconds of that ignition, that spacecraft began to tear apart. okay? we don't know and i don't pretend to know what went wrong at 50,000 feet that caused that to happen.

but there was no chance for anybody to try to land this spacecraft. the question of whether it was survivable, in pete's case, you know, miracle of miracle, and i truly believe that, you know, the hand of god came down and pete was able to get himself untangled from the wreckage as it was being blown apart and deploy his parachute. okay? mike alsbury for whatever reason, whether he was knocked cold from the blast, whether he was directly affected by the blast itself, whatever reason, he was unable to do the same. now, these parachutes that they were both wearing were designed to automatically deploy at 10,000 feet. so even if either pilot had been completely incapacitated let's

say, their parachutes could have automatically deployed at 10,000 feet. and in the case of mike alsbury, his parachute unfortunately could not fully deploy because he was not even able to release himself from his seat. >> incredible insights. and thank you so much for bringing that. that's really the first that we're hearing about how this happened. we really appreciate your knowledge and your comments about your friends michael alsbury and pete seibold. thanks so much. and just three days until election day, a lo of candidates are sweating. we'll show you just how some of the races are and what could lap on tuesday. also ahead, we're going to look at a former u.s. marine released from a mexican prison.

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election. so better be thinking about your choice. a whole lot is at stake. tom foreman breaks it down for us. >> there are three key things we're watching in this midterm. and the first is right here in the u.s. senate. the democrats have been in charge. we're showing them here in blue along with the two independents who caucus with them in purple. the republicans are expected to gain some seats here. the democrats are expected to lose some. but control of this chamber will come down to nine or ten very close races and the democrats have to win six or more of them if they want to remain in power here. on the other side of the rotunda, the second thing we're looking at which is the u.s. house of representatives. the republicans have had the majority here. that is not expected to change. the question is will they lose some seats or more likely will they pick up some. and if so, how. if they do it with tea party help, that can set up divisions within the republican party that the democrats might be able to

exploit even from their minority position which brings us to the third thing we're looking at which is the white house reaction to all of this. if the president comes out swinging over a big loss and he completely alienates republicans, they have a perfect excuse then to say we'll make you the lamest of lame duck presidents with control of both chambers. if however he's too conciliatory toward republicans, key dispirit his own party and that could make it very tough for any other democrat who wants to win the white house in 2016. >> and joining me now, cnn's pl plit dre political director. david and mark, what is the thing to watch. >> the two states i'm watching most closely are colorado and iowa. they are both states that barack obama won twice in 2008 and 2012

and democrats are in very vulnerable positions. if the dwmdemocrats were to los both of those states, that is almost a block and i had to the democrats keeping their majority. i just don't see the equation by which if those two states fall to the republicans how the republicans don't get those six seats that they need that tom foreman because talking about. >> and mark, what races are you hot the on? >> once it gets to iowa, colorado and if democrats lose those seats, that could be devastating. but what could be even more devastating is at the beginning of the night, we will see the polls close in north carolina at 7:30. and then 8:00 in new hampshire, you have two democratic incumbents in danger of losing. kay hagan is doing a little bit better than thom tillis.

we think jeanne shaheen is doing a little bit better than scott brown. but it would hit iowa, roll into colorado, and up in on-to-into . they need six seats. but in some ways, too, it is three seats because we think mond montana, west virginia, south dakota, will go republicans. so a difficult night ahead. >> and don't forget all of you, tuesday cnn is your home for all things election. coverage of the fight to control the senate along with the house, that's tuesday night beginning at 5:00 eastern. and another factor in tuesday's elections, president obama. ahead, will his low approval

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a u.s. marine reservist is home with his family after seven months in prison in mexico. tahmooressi says he was physically abused after taken into custody. he said it was a wrong turn.

a few high profile people kept pressure on mexico to get him out. last night, tahmooressi was free to leave. here is nick valencia. >> reporter: u.s. marine reservist sergeant andrew tahmooressi is back in united states after accept monseven mo mexican prison. that's him hugging his mother and friends. in an exclusive interview with cnn, the tahmooressi family spokesman said a variety of factors led to his release. >> his mother, the congressman, the governor, montel, everybody, has been in san diego for the week, a lot of false starts and it took a fair amount of work to get it to the point where it was. >> reporter: former new mexico governor bill richardson pictured here along with ed royce and matt salmon were among

the group that helped get tahmooressi out of jail. montel williams who last month testified in front of congress about the case said tahmooressi has a long rebuilding process ahead. >> this experience for him in the last seven months is in a lot of ways retraumatized him and this is almost like call it prison ptsd. so they really will need a break for just a little bit of time. >> reporter: tahmooressi, an afghan war vet, faced more than 20 years in prison. on friday, he was set free by a mexican court order that officially withdrew the charges. the mexican prisons did not have the resewesources to treat him. >> on that basis with the knowledge that now he will get the treatment that he needs. >> reporter: tahmooressi was arrested on march 31 at a check point after mexican customs agents found three firearms in his truck, a pistol, pug shot the gun and semiautomatic virif,

along with 400 round of ammunition. tahmooressi said he took a wrong turn and crossed by accident. tahmooressi's mom said the marine parked in this lot, me a left out of here, completely missing that sign that says mexico only. how are you doing? in may, i spoke to him on the phone from the mexican prison where he was being held. what have things been like for you there in mexico, andrew? >> not very good in the beginning for like the first month, things were not that good at all. >> reporter: and now with the ordeal behind him, after 214 days in prison, tahmooressi is expected to resume his ptsd treatment in florida. >> and that was nick valencia reporting for us. next, back to politics. why iowa matters so much in

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one of the tight races in tuesday's midterm elections is it in iowa where democratic senator tom harkin is retiring. republican joni ernst has small lead in the latest poll, 49% to 47%. gop heavy weights like john mccain are hoping to push her over the top. not to be outdone, democrats sent in hillary clinton to campaign for bruce brail campaign bruce braley. pam, early voting, what is it expecting and what does that mean for voting day itself? >> reporter: looking at the numbers, it suggests that a lot more people here in iowa are voting early this midterm election compared to past midterm elections. in in fact for both democrats and republicans, there are record numbers we've seen. i think that shows just how high the stakes are this midterm

election and how much both camps have been focused on early voting because they know how crucial it is. in fact, for the democrats, a victory things on early voting. at this point, they are ahead in the state but talking to people. at this point, they are ahead in the state but talking to people, republicans are narrowing the gap. they are focused on their graoud game. we've been talking to vote evrsd they understand how high the stakes are. for the first time in decades, a senate seat up for grabs. whoever wins this midterm election could determine who controls the senate. so it's really down to the wire. in fact we were just speaking to an auditor in the election office, he says he has teams ready to go for a recount because he believes it will be that tight come tuesday. >> so interesting, the democrats brought out the clintons. they were in iowa just a couple of weeks ago at the annual harkin state fry. is that a sign of confidence or

are they concerned that democrats who continuously elected tom harkin either may not show or may be less motivated to come this time? >> reporter: i think it shows the democrats are worried here because i think initially early on they thought that this was a race they weren't going to have to worry about. and then joni ernst came from behind as has a razor thin lead in just a few days leading up to election day. so i think that democrats wanted on bring out the big guns. speaking to one operative, he said if you're a democrat, the best surrogate you want is bill clinton. he knows how to get the crowd going. so i think the hope today was that by bill clinton making an appearance, that more people will want to vote early and there will be more volunteers to help out. but no doubt about it, both sides at this point still think they can win this race. and i think that is what is sort of contributing to the amount of enthusiasm. >> hope springs eternal always.

pamela brown, thank you so much. iowa is just one of the close races republicans are hoping to win tuesday. let's bring in two political experts, tar are a here in new york, contributing to the real news on blaze tv. also colonel belcher, a political commentator. tara, early voting has been huge. tens of millions have already turned out to the polls. are these new voters, swing voters, people just who aren't going to be around on tuesday? >> i think that the idea of early voting is something that has kind of come forth now as they realize the get out of vote efforts are so important. and i think republicans are behind the curve a little bit on that in 2008, 20 stwe12. but they have learned their lesson and early voting is crucial. for example in colorado, you have over 104,000 more republicans who have voted early

than democrat in colorado which is a crucial state that republicans really need to win. and that would mean that the democratic opponent in coal. >> caller: would have to win 63% of independents to make up that gap. so the early voting is being looking promising for republicans there. now, in georgia, places like that, where you need -- where voter turnout is important, that's a tough race for republicans right now. democrats have reached their 30% target margin for black voters early voting. which is not good for republicans somewhere like georgia. so early voting is crucial. >> so have democrats capitalized on early voting more than republicans or is it too soon to say? are we still missing huge groups basically? >> i agree with tara that it is something democrats have done slightly better than republicans. but as you know, with both parties, one party starts doing something we also, the other party catches up. but overall, early voting is such a crucial thing for our