billion in this program with spacex to get us here today. spacex has planned to fly six of these crew dragon missions for nasa under the current contract and we're hoping that today demo 2 as they are calling this launch today is going to be a success and as you pointed out a little over 19 hours from now doug hurley and bob behnken should be rendezvousing with the international space station making history. john? >> six minutes and 25 seconds and counting to go, rachel. we saw pictures of president trump along with the vice hello everyone. i'm john berman this is cnn's president and they were standing special live coverage of what on top of the roof there to could be an historic moment in u.s. space exploration. watch the launch. for those keeping score at home t-minus 22 minutes we could you can clearly see not wearing masks. that has become a thing witness the return of human obviously in the last several space flight to the united weeks and they are standing very close to each other. states. leave that aside for a moment it live pictures of florida's kennedy space center where has been nine years. spacex will launch two nasa nine years since a crude space astronauts to the international space station. those astronauts doug hurley and flight. it's such a long time. bob behnken already strapped incredibly long time given the into the crew dragon capsule, history of the space program.

that is one reason why this is doing their final checks before historic. five minutes and 45 seconds launch. and if you're going to go to space and make history as the away. first launch from u.s. soil in what should we be watching for nine years you need some space as the launch plays out? jams. we're told they drove over to >> reporter: about 45 seconds to launch you'll hear the launch the launch pad listening to director say go for launch but five minutes before is when it ac/dc's "back in black." "the girl of ipanema" and "the will be in autonomous mode about a minute before falcon 9's star spangled banner." onboard computers will take that is a varied play list to control and it will be counting say the least. down to the t-minus zero straight to cnn's rachel crane lift-off. two seconds before launch is at the kennedy space center. when the nine merlin engines if this happens it will be the will ignite and have the thrust first time a commercial company has brought humans into orbit. of five 747s. nasa just said launch chances 1.7 million pounds of thrust at have risen to 70% as the weather lift-off. a few minutes after that we'll improves. talk to us about what is have the separation of the first happening now in the final stage of falcon 9 and they are hoping to land it on their drone minutes. >> reporter: well, john, i'm trip in the atlantic which has starting to get butterflies. here on the ground i don't see become pretty ordinary now for any clouds in sight over launch spacex. they've done it over 50 times, pad 39. we are crossing our fingers and you know, then shortly toes that this takes off. thereafter the crew dragon will it feels like it is going to. continue on to orbit with -- to let me tell you what is happening. they're loading over a million the international space station.

pounds of fuel right now. that is liquid oxygen and we just got the word it is officially switched to kerosene. the crew access arm has been autonomous countdown right now so the onboard computers have retracted. the launch escape system has taken control of the countdown. been armed as you said. john, i got to tell you i have crazy butterflies right now. bob and doug are strapped into the capsule. as you know i am a huge space now five minutes out is when nerd and have been following terminal countdown begins and this program the entirety of my when dragon's onboard computers career. to be here at this moment on take control of the vehicle and this day covering it and delivering the news to you, i got to tell you it is emotional. the back retracts. one minute before 9:00 falcon >> it really is. president trump for his part just said it is a go. line will be in start mode when the computers take control. we're watching that very closely 45 seconds before launch the as well. rachel crane, thank you very director will say go for launch. much for being with us. enjoy. i know this is very important to two seconds before countdown the nine engines will ignite and at you. joining me now a veteran of four space flights and the former t-minus zero hopefully today we will see the historic lunch of commander of the retired space crude dragon once again having station retired astronaut scott kelly also cnn contributor miles american astronauts launch from o'brien a very familiar face american soil on american during cnn's coverage of the space shuttle program over the rockets for the first time in nine years. years. gentlemen, thank you for being as you can tell i'm pretty with us. scott kelly, i don't see you on the screen, if you are with us, jazzed about this. this is obviously something we i'm sure you're a little excited, too. haven't seen in years. talk to me about your feelings, i know you have a little space

nerd in you. three minutes and 50 seconds to >> i am super excited. just so people know the stages go. >> well, it is pretty exciting. we're going through for the next 20 minutes or so a bunch of an exciting time in many different checks and processes astronauts' life to be open into to begin the launch and then after 12 minutes the capsule space whether it is your fourth will be on its own flying into time or in this case bob and space and then 19 hours before doug's third flight so i think it docks with the international space station about 10:30 a.m. at this point the weather is eastern time tomorrow. always a factor and can always for these astronauts, what will change but it looks like everything is looking very positive. so they're pretty excited. the difference be between >> miles o'brien i know you are driving this crew dragon on top as excited as scott is and i am of the falcon 9 rocket compared as well. talk to me about what is to the shuttles both have flown different inside mission control before? >> reporter: as you point out both bob and doug have flown before. for this than launches we've they expect a smoother ride with crew dragon. seen before. you can see the difference >> john, it is a spacex launch. this countdown is presided over by the spacex team. between crew dragon and shuttle. shaped like a plane, designed to and they are providing a service to nasa. land on a runway. crew dragon is a capsule design like a gum drop. inside is where there is a lot nasa is intertwined with this of difference. process and looking very gone are the 2,000 switches and carefully at it and nasa knobs of the shuttle.

this is a very sleek design, a management ultimately has the right to say no let's not go lot of touch screens. today. generally speaking what we are i had the opportunity to speak to bob and doug a couple weeks seeing here are decisions made by spacex, by the spacex flight ago. they said if all goes as planned controllers and engineers and the crew dragon is made to fly management in providing that fully autonomously if needed. service to nasa. that is a fundamental shift. that potentially makes the job historically, when the shuttle easier. on the test flight they will be astronauts flew in all previous testing the manual override of nasa missions it was a nasa the autonomous capability so owned rocket, nasa built with help from contractors, and the piloting the capsule several times throughout the journey decisions were made by nasa themselves. staffers. on demo one which is a test it is a very different construct flight of the system a year ago and the idea is to make it a lot they recorded the sound inside of the capsule so bob and doug cheaper and easier to get to space. we'll see how it turns out here. could test that out and run >> so, scott kelly, what is through the simulator with the going through the minds of bob audio so they knew what to expect. apparently it is quite loud so behnken and doug hurley right they expect a smoother ride but now or should i say the stomachs? a bit of a louder ride. i don't know where butterflies >> the goal in all of the actually go physiologically. training is to make it be exactly like it is in real life so that nothing is new when it >> you know, they're thinking about their jobs. happens in about 18 minutes. at this point most of the

we're seeing this white smoke apprehension is left behind. drifting from the launch pad. you are committed to doing this. explain what that is. >> you know, as i said, the fuel their life work basically, 20 is being loaded right now on to the falcon 9 over a million plus goals at nasa for each of pounds of liquid oxygen and rp1 them. you know, they're thinking about what they have to do in a which is the kerosene. what you're seeing there is the nominal situation but also off liquid oxygen boiling away. nominally. i am not that familiar with the that is why they try to do that loading, load and go they call spacex. it right before launch to even though it is autonomous prevent as much of the fuel from there are functions they have to boiling off as possible. perform. that is what they're pleasing that is what you're seeing that being of the right now. smoke that is completely normal >> scott kelly, miles hoechlt and to be expected. you see that also with the cargo emissions so whenever falcon 9 brian if you will what we are launches you see that smoke. going to do when we look at the pictures of the astronauts on the right-hand side shall the >> all right. crew capsule on the left-hand side, we'll open up to the sound rachel crane at the space from launch control to listen in center. if people remember from to the communications one minute wednesday it was just under 17 minutes when the launch was away from history. scrubbed so we are close to being past where we were just a few days ago. fingers crossed. we'll be back in just a minute. the word from nasa just a short >> one minute to launch. time ago was there is now a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch up from a

previous 50% chance of favorable weather. let's go straight to our meteorologist in atlanta for more on the weather. >> one of the key components is we're only giving it about a 10% chance of lightning. lightning was one of the major factors on wednesday's scrub. this is good news. keep in mind it is not juf the lightning at the surface but >> falcon 9 is in startup. they also have to keep an eye on dragon is in countdown. fts is armed for launch. something called the electric field mill, the electric charge in the atmosphere anywhere in >> under a minute now the fts, the vicinity of the region not necessarily just right at the flight termination system, has launch pad. we have a couple storms out been armed. >> dragon, spacex, go for there. most are starting to slide south of cape canaveral. there is still a little launch. >> spacex, dragon, go for lightning within some of those launch. let's light this candle. storms but they are heading in the right direction, away from cape canaveral. still something they have to keep a close eye on, these are >> t-minus 30 seconds. pop-up storms which means they can pop up at a moment's notice. it is often like many people say, when you have a pot of boiling water you know bubbles

will come but it is hard to figure out exactly where the bubbles are going to pop. here is a look at 3:22 the >> stage one expressing for official forecast is expected to flight. >> t-minus 15 seconds. be scattered showers and thunderstorms. winds out of the southeast. maybe 8 to 10 miles per hour. that temperature into the low 80s. again, as of now things are looking good. it is not a 100% guarantee. according to the 45th weather 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, suadron, the people that make those decisions at nasa, keeping 0. ignition. lift-off as the falcon 9 and crew dragon, go nasa, go spacex. god speed bob and doug! an eye on the thunderstorms in the general vicinity. it is not just the area, the >> america has launched. weather right around the launch so rises a new era of american pad. we talked about this before. they also have to monitor the space flight and the ambitions weather across over 50 locations of a new generation continuing stretching from the east coast the dream. to the united states. 20 seconds into flight stage one propulsion is nominal. canada all the way up to the portions of northern ireland. that does include areas of the atlantic ocean. one thing they're keeping an eye on is this particular region, >> t-plus 30 seconds and this this tropical disturbance has a historic mission, flying crew 60% chance of development. this is not necessarily a onboard dragon and falcon 9 and tropical storm that is going to look at them go! make big waves around land

masses but they have to keep an eye on it. >> falcon power nominal. some of these bands of the outer portion of the storm could still potentially have an impact as >> we're throttling down to get the ship or the shuttle is going ready for the period of maximum up. this is something they all have dynamic pressure. to keep a close eye on when we're in the throttle bucket. they're monitoring a lot of these things. rachel has talked about this. reports say all systems are go. it is also not an instantaneous window. the case was on wednesday if >> the vehicle is supersonic. they had just an extra 10 or 20 minutes for the weather to clear >> we've exceedd mach one on the it would have made a big falcon 9. difference. they simply don't have that for this instance today. it is one of those where the weather has to be perfect at >> m1d. >> we're throttling back up to 3:22 or they will scrub the full power as we're through max launch again. >> all right. thank you for that update. q. >> copy one bravo. >> we heard that one bravo call just so people know we are now past where they were on out. wednesday when they scrubbed the that's just the second abort launch, 14 minutes to go until zone they're in. the crew dragon capsule launches they'll continue to be on this on top of the falcon 9 rocket. until the first stage has done its job and they switch over to the second. thanks for being with us. at this point bob and doug we were told president trump is pulling about 2.3 gs, 2.3 times now at the kennedy space center

for the launch. boris sanchez is there. the earth's gravity, already boris? >> reporter: hey there, john. over 1500 miles per hour. yeah. president trump arriving at the >> we've heard the call out for kennedy space center a few moments ago. the president before arriving m-vac engine chill getting the here saying that he feels an engine ready to light. obligation to be on hand for it'll come about 2:44 into this launch. i spoke to a white house flight. right now everything continuing to look good. official who told me that the president is eager to put his next major event coming up is going to be the triple. stamp on this historic moment to show that america is ready for what he calls a transition to we'll have cut-off of the greatness and ready to move on beyond the coronavirus pandemic engines, stage separation, then that now claimed more than a ignition of the second stage engine to continue to carry the hundred thousand american lives. astronauts into orbit. the president also clearly eager to counter program as so much of the country is divided and we coming up in about 20 seconds. are seeing scenes of chaos in major cities across the nation. this is something all americans >> m1d throttle down. can root for and the president twoonts put his image out there in front of this. >> we heard we're throttling further, geography may also play down to merlin engines on the a role. this is the sunshine state that first stage. was critical to his victory in

twifrnts a 2016 and will be crucial in >> falcon stage separation confirmed. 2020. he wants to divert eyes away [cheers and applause] >> falcon to alpha. from the chaos that engulfed the nation. >> thank you very much, boris sanchez from the kennedy space center. we are now 12 minutes and change away from the historic spacex ignition. launch. we are told the astronauts listened to "back in black" from all right. we have stage separation ac/dc on the way to the rocket. for those about to launch, we confirmed. the first stage beginning its salute you. flight back. the second stage being powered by the single merlin 1d vacuum i am totally blind. engine has ignited and is now and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, carrying bob and doug into orbit. so they're going to continue keeping me from the things i love to do. under the power of the second talk to your doctor, stage. >> stage two propulsion is and call 844-214-2424. nominal. >> which will cut off at second engine cut-off about 8:44 into today's flight. a little over five minutes to go still on this second stage. you heard the call out 2 alpha. they are now in the longest abort zone that carries them all the way from about north carolina up the eastern seaboard almost to canada. things are looking good, though. getting good call outs.

nominal propulsion on the second stage. bob and doug continuing to make their way into orbit. >> dragon spacex nominal trajectory. acquisition of signal bermuda. >> spacex dragon nominal trajectory. >> all right. dragon pointed in the right direction continuing to make their flight uphill. bermuda is one of the other ground stations they're using to get information back from this spacecraft. >> stage two propulsion is still nominal.

>> a little over 4 minutes, 40 seconds into the flight bob and doug flying -- >> nominal trajectory. >> -- already almost 200 miles down range from the kennedy space center. nominal trajectory continuing. and while they continue uphill it looks like we are getting a view of the first stage as well. >> on your right screen you can see that first stage with the grid fins deployed making its way back to attempt to land on our drone ship. of course i still love you today. we're just about a minute, a couple minutes away from the entry burn. that's where three of the nine

merlin engines do ignite to help slow the vehicle down as it re-enters into the earth's atmosphere. then after the entry burn will be the landing burn, which is just a single engine burn. >> spacex nominal trajectory. >> there's the call out. they are still on a nominal trajectory on dragon. still on second stage. that is that m-vac engine on second stage on your left screen. again, on your right screen is the first stage booster coming back toward our drone ship. of course i still love you. we're about a minute away from entry burn. >> meanwhile that second stage continuing to power dragon into orbit. keeping an eye on that timer. that is going to continue to burn until eight minutes and 44 seconds into flight so a little

over two minutes from now we'll hear the call out and it'll be a little under or over, a little over 3:00 until dragon physically separates from the second stage of the falcon 9. >> dragon on trajectory. >> continuing to check in with bob and doug as they are on a nominal trajectory. just about ten seconds away from the first stage starting that entry burn on the right screen we are getting ever closer. we should be able to see that 8:00 now until launch time for view live. >> stage one entry burn start today's spacex flight scrubbed on wednesday. we are well past the moment it was scrubbed then. eight minutes to go. this will mark the first time in history that a commercial up. there is the entry burn aerospace company has carried humans into earth's orbit. if all goes as planned two beginning. this burn lasts about 36 seconds veteran astronauts bob behnken long. >> stage two fts is saved. and douglas hurley will ride about 19 hours before arriving at the international space

station tomorrow. cnn's rachel crane is at the kennedy space center in florida. we are now exactly eight minutes. >> while the entry burn what is the latest? continues we are about a minute >> reporter: well, john, as you away and we'll have a number of point out we are just eight events happen in rapid minutes from the scheduled lift-off at 3:22 local time here succession. the engine cut-off looking for at kennedy space center. typically we'd be seeing tons the stage one landing burn shortly after. and tons of people flooding out >> actually just within a few of buildings all around us coming out to watch what we are seconds of each other. all thinking is going to be the such a cool view on your left historic launch of crew dragon here today but those crowds screen seeing bob and doug on aren't here because of course this launch is happening during dragon. right now you can see the displays they are seeing. the corona pandemic. i got to tell you despite not >> you're looking at it right now as the crew dragon capsule having those crowds and a is being carried to space on the handful of media here to cover this as opposed to over 1500 second stage of the falcon 9 people that normally would be covering this you feel energy in rocket. the air because it actually right now the first stage is feels like this rocket is about actually on its way back down to to take off, that history is earth in one notable factor, about to be made today. that once again america will have a home grown way of ferrying our astronauts back and forth to the international space these rockets are reusable and station. as you know we've been reliant will land if all goes well on on the russians since the drone vessels in the sea. retirement of the shuttle i would like to as we watch this

program in 2011 to transport our and i want to tell people at 12 astronauts back and forth to the minutes so about three minutes from now will be the final stage ndred billion dollar where it separates from the investment we have in the second part of the rocket i want international space station. to show people the launch one we paid the rus more time here. and that inches twas the launch moments ago of the first launch of a crewed spacecraft from u.s. soil in nine years and the first time ever a launch from a private company. i'm joined by miles o'brien, cnn space analyst, and scott kelly, nasa astronaut. scott, your feelings right now? >> lately not a lot of great news or good news in this country. this is just great. i'm very excited not only for bob and doug but all the time that put so many years of labor

into this. the first flight of anything is significant but more so the first flight of doing something like this is a real achievement so i am absolutely thrilled. >> on the left-hand side of your screen there is the landing drone basically of the first stage of that rocket. miles o'brien it is always remarkable to see this. this is a launch we haven't seen before. yes spacex has launched unmanned capsules and rockets before but this is the first time astronauts are onboard so we are watching something happen for the very first time. >> yes, john. we should point out they are officially on orbit now. that is a big deal as you turn offer the engines and begin hurtling around the planet at 17,500 miles an hour the critical 8 1/2 to 9 minutes we worry about the most. it is similar and yet it is very different to what we've been used to over the years. you have to give credit to the

spacex approach. for years they were flying cargo to the international space station. they began with a design and built the cargo craft with human beings always in mind. and so they got a lot of experience with the falcon 9 dragon combination sending cargo up to the international space station. while this is a first launch with humans strapped inside and that ups the ante on safety, human rating is a big deal. they learned an awful lot over the past ten years in those repeated trips to the international space station. so, you know, when you harken back to the first space shuttle launch back in 1981, that vehicle had never flown before. that was an extraordinary test flight accomplished in that day. in this case, this is in some respects, in many respects a tried and true system that behnken and hurley are riding on. >> at 12 minutes, t-plus 12 minutes about 20 seconds from that the capsule will separate

completely from the rocket. i want to listen in for a second to see if we can hear some of that communication. >> the separation event should be coming up shortly and then they'll begin a series of checks on the thrusters that will be used to maneuver and then power dragon on its flight to the international space station. standing by for separation. >> expected loss of signal. >> this sounds like we had an expected lol loss of signal with one of the ground stations. >> dragon separation confirmed. >> there is a great view right in front of you of dragon separating. [cheers and applause] >> there is that call out. dragon is now officially making its way to the international space station today. >> dragon spacex with that separation call. >> the second stage of the

falcon 9 rocket drifting back down to earth. the capsule is on its own. scott kelly, an incredible moment to witness. i have to imagine for you as someone who has hitched a ride on a soyuz, russian rocket before, this looks to be traveling a little bit more style and comfort here. >> definitely a bigger coolness factor when you look at the blue lights and the space suits. different than the soyuz although any rocket you fly into space is definitely cool. this is a little bit extra especially think. >> it was what, $86 million. a pop there on the soyuz. this coming from u.s. soil, putting americans up into the air. they have a 19-hour ride at this point to the international space station. it is interesting. they don't know how long they'll stay. at this point it is anywhere from a month to three months. nasa has yet to decide how long they'll stay up there.

>> yeah. it is a test flight. that's the important thing we've been trying to get across here. but hey. you've got two guys who are up at the space station. the space station currently has one u.s. astronaut and the u.s. side of the house could use a little bit of help. so why not stay there for a reasonable period of time? the limiting factor i'm told is the solar rays themselves. they will degrade in orbit and their functionality will degrade so much. so we'll be watching very closely to see how long they can stay maybe upwards of 120 days. the other thing that is important is the crew dragon, the next flight, the official crew flight is slated for august 30th. they want to get this craft back in time to look at it very carefully, pick it apart like a thanksgiving turkey, make sure there aren't any problems that need to be addressed before they give a green light for that next mission on august 30th. those are the things they'll be thinking about. in the meantime behnken and

hurley have a bill to-do list on the international space station. >> you've only been down on earth since the middle of april. welcome back. nice to have you here. i did get a chance to speak with you when you were on the international space station. you're watching the way you might get there the next time. so i wonder what your feelings are at this moment. >> yeah, that's right. thank you very much. i am still re-adjusting to life back here on earth and i got to say a little bit jealous of bob and chunky right now because i'd much rather be floating. this is incredibly exciting for all of us especially those of us in the astronaut office. we now have yet another vehicle of getting humans to space. that is really a great thing for everybody on the planet particularly exciting from a national pride standpoint to be launching from the u.s. again. we'll still be continuing the international partnerships and i wouldn't have traded that time in russia for anything in the world. that will be an important part of our space journey still going

forward but it is a great news that we will now have several vehicles, hopefully another one coming online soon with boeing to get humans to space. >> jessica and scott i want to ask you both a question right now that has to do with the moment that we're in. this is a shared experience we're enjoying right now as americans watching a first in space and that is wonderful. it fills us all with pride and joy but it is not a joyful moment overall in the country right now. there's immense difficulty on the ground. so, scott, i want to put it first to you. what's it like to be in space? what is it like to have that physical separation from the people and the planet when things are going on that are painful like this? >> i had a very painful moment in my space flight career on my first long duration flight, my

sister-in-law gabrielle giffords was shot in tucson, arizona and six people killed and other people injured. it is tough. it is a tough place to be when you feel like you need to support your family, your friends, people at home, and you can't be there. but both bob and doug are professionals. i've known them for 20 years. they'll be able to separate what's going on on the planet from their professional responsibilities. that's what i had to do when gabby was shot. it's not easy. but, you know, they'll handle it like the professionals they are. >> jessica, can you reflect on that for a moment given the fact that you were up in space for a period of time after the pandemic here started. >> yes, that is right. it was actually quite a surreal feeling for us onboard the space station to watch this situation

unfolding beneath us. particularly given that we were still going about our normal work day. we were very busy. nothing changed with our operations on board. of course that is not to say that everything hadn't changed for the nasa ground control team. really a testament to them how they handled things. they were setting up a separate control room to keep each other safe and still maintain our continuous operations. it was really seamless to us. if we hadn't been watching the news or talking to family and friends, we wouldn't even have known what was happening. but it really was this stark contrast. i'm looking out the window and the earth looks equally as stunning as it did the day before as everything is happening here and we know that we are the only three humans of the 7.5 billion humans on the earth that aren't currently affected by it. it was a very strange situation and a difficult one to process particularly for my crewmate drew morgan, actually a physician as well. for both of us to see and him to see all of the medical care

personnel and all of the front line workers really risking everything to keep people safe and keep people healthy it was a little bit difficult for us to not be able to contribute anything to that and to be watching it all from above. >> as you can see on our screen right now historian douglas brinkley joins us now. doug, the apollo, entire apollo program took place during one of the most tumultuous periods in u.s. history. you're talking about the late '60s and a early '70s, talking about vietnam, riots on the streets. so the space program has a long history of being something that is happening at the same time as the country is going through a difficult period. here we are again in 2020 in such a moment. >> yes, we are. i think we just witnessed the new golden age in space exploration. when john f. kennedy was president alan shepherd became

the first american in space and the crew right before take-off right now said let's light this candle. that was a kudo to the mercury program. that was alan shepherd said that when we put our first human in space in '61. but he was only up in space for 14.8 minutes meaning up and down so you can declare a success by the time we retrieved him in the atlantic. now it is a lot of wait. it goes on for weeks and months so you don't want to pop the champagne too quickly. but space became a great diversion from the tumultuous '60s. 4.4% of our national budget went to nasa in the '60s. today is 1%. we would see hawks and doves and vietnam protests, and somehow the mercury program moved forward. one astronaut in mercury. gemini 2 and then apollo 3 and we had the grand moment when

richard nixon was president when neil armstrong and buzz aldrin walked on the moon and the word moonshot now means american can doism. i find this as a big morale boost that america is back in a very premier way in space and it is going to be a robust world now on rocketry and satellites going up. this is going to spur even more rocket activity if this is fully successful. >> we should note the first stage of the falcon 9 rocket has touched down safely on that sea drone, that craft, that barge at sea. so it's there. that is the notable feature of the falcon 9 system, the whole spacex program. miles o'brien what are you going to be watching for in the next 19 hours as the capsule heads to the international space station and then beyond for the spacex program? >> yeah. i mean, the next 19 hours in the grand scheme of risk we've passed a big one right now. re-entry is the next big moment.

we really have to worry about the risk to the crew. they're kind of coasting toward the international space station. that rendevous pretty much all but assured. i won't go too far there but this is when things get a little less tense in space. once they reach orbit. now, looking toward the big picture, this is an exciting moment because what we're going to see now is repeated u.s. launches from u.s. soil, traffic back and forth to the international space station. not requiring astronauts going to live in moscow for some period of time and go to kazakhstan. on top of that what is important to remember here is that spacex has its own private business that it is booking for rides on the dragon to the station as well. we've heard a lot of talk about tom cruise and his desire to shoot a movie on the international space station. that is just one example of the kinds of interesting things that might lie ahead here as space becomes a little more

democratized, a little more accessible, a little more of a business enterprise and not just a domain of governments. so it is an exciting, pivotal moment to see this finally happen after all these years. >> our reporter rachel crane is on the ground there at the kennedy space center. rachel, i know this is something you were waiting to see. so describe the moment as you were watching it lift off and the scene there at kennedy. >> reporter: well, john, i wasn't the only one waiting for this moment but all i can speak to is myself here. i was blown away. i got to tell you watching this rocket take off just over there, only three miles from launch pad 39a the location that the apollo 11 astronauts blasted off from to the moon back in 1969. so to see this capability restored here on american soil, u.s. astronauts heading to the international space station, i mean, as i said, i was emotional

before and i was certainly emotional at that moment of lift-off. i'd be lying if i said i didn't have tears in my eyes. you could hear the rumble. you could feel it. just watching it lift off. i mean, everybody all around us as you know there are not as many crowds as typically there would be here at kennedy space center watching this launch today but the people that were here, all of their heads were pointed up. all of them just taking in this moment and just, you know, knowing we're all here witnessing history. >> that neck crane up as everyone gazes to the sky is a welcomed sight on u.s. soil. after nine years scott kelly it's a long time that we've waited for this. i've covered the hopes of private space flight for sometime over the last 15 years. it was always next year. next year we're going to put a man or a person, man or woman into space on top of a private vessel. always next year. and next year always got to be longer and longer.

well, finally, next year came. >> that is true. it shows just how complicated this is. it's a bunch of little small miracles happening in sequence to get people into space. i do think this is a really giant leap for more common access to space because you have a company that is able to produce these rockets and, really, do with them what they want and, you know, it will ultimately bring down the cost and will allow people to have this incredible experience and perspective of visiting space, seeing the earth from space, you know, being part of a program that is just such an important part of our country and our history. so i am very excited about it. >> jessica, to you on that subject. >> it is extraordinarily exciting for all of us just like scott said and we said before

having more capacity to send humans to space is really a benefit for everybody. it is increasing the market capacity. it is making space more accessible for everybody and it is just really an incredibly exciting time for us. it is almost like we're in test flight season. we have this last test flight for spacex. we'll have another one hopefully soon for boeing. pretty soon we'll be having test flights for the orion vehicle, nasa's vehicle built to fly us even deeper beyond lower earth orbit. it is a very exciting time to be an astronaut and to be a private citizen right now with all of these capabilities heading toward space tourism as well. >> if you're a private citizen with a couple hundred million dollars at your disposal it may be something you can enjoy in the next few years. douglas brinkley, the president was there and he watched this launch. he went there on wednesday twice to go see this launch. obviously it was very important to him. there was a feeling on wednesday that this was something

important to him not just for what it means to the u.s. space. that was wednesday. you add to that the racial pain and anger and frustration we're seeing around the country following the death of george floyd while he was in police custody. just reflect on that juxtaposition. >> well, look, jim bridenstein, the nasa administrator, has done an amazing job of being bipartisan. he hooked up to the idea that we will bring women to the moon soon. he got somebody like nancy pelosi on board and this is, today, i think a triumph of the california people, elon musk and spacex, jet propulsion laboratory, i meanhave believed in musk.

of course, jeff bezos is an enemy of donald trump, who has blue origin, who wants to put a moon craft up, so musk and trump have had a kind of on and off relationship, but to me, this, for donald trump, shows that american exceptionalism is alive and kicking. we've been -- china has beat us to the dark side of the moon in exploration. we've been using russian rockets, and now suddenly, american astronauts on american soil working with the private sector company like spacex is the contractor, the premier contractor here. i think it bodes well for trump's message that he's trying to do that, you know, we're going to start doing things in america and not just be outsourcing to other countries, so he wanted to be a face of this. john f. kennedy wasn't there when i mentioned to you about alan shepherd. he waited in the white house and watched it because these flights get delayed. launches get delayed constantly,

but trump seemed determined to be there with the vice president to bask, if you like, in the glory of this as part of his economic rejuvenation message. >> miles o'brian, the coolness factor here. i'm struck by the fact that we're 20 minutes after liftoff and one of the stages of the rockets has landed back on earth. obviously they're up in this newfangled capsule with space suits and touch screens. there's a lot we haven't seen before. >> it's interesting, john. elon musk gets style points. when you get civil servants to design a spacecraft and a space suit, you get what we saw through all those years. the russians, their craft looked like jules verne. elon musk looks a little bit more like 2001 a space odyssey.

this is inspiring young people to think this is cool and to give us all a moment to be reminded that despite all the horrible things happening in this country, we can gather together and do things that are great, risky, but fundamentally, intrinsically beautiful and i think that's this particular event puts that package together and it really speaks to the american spirit, because this is, after all, private enterprise in action with the government as a partner. it's a public/private -- excuse me, public/private partner. peter piper kind of thing. it's that kind of thing which makes america great. >> we've got about a minute left, scott kelly. does this put us closer to mars? if that's what your dream is, and i know for a lot of people when they think of the space program, that's their dream, isn't necessarily the most important thing to a lot of people involved in the space program, but does this put us closer there? >> absolutely it puts us closer

every time we send people to space no matter how we get there. and everything we learn by having people live and work on the space station gets us closer. but i'll quote my brother. i don't do it often. he says, getting to mars is not rocket science. it's more political science. and so it's more about having the support and the money that is required to do it. >> as a father of identical twins, i know how painful it was for you just to quote your brother on national tv there. and jessica, to you, i want to give you the last word here. as the most recent person to be on the international space station now in u.s. soil, what's next for bob and doug in that capsule as they drift toward the international space station? >> well, since this is a test flight, they do have some test objectives. they will have a phasing burn which will get them in a better position to be able to rendezvous with the space station and they'll have some manual piloting activities and tests which will be p exciting for them to be able to

demonstrate those manual capabilities of the spacecraft and when they dock on sunday morning, i know that chris and yvonne and anatoli will be excited to greet them. it's always a joy justious occa when we welcome new crews. there haven't been any new astronauts or cosmonauts since we lift in april. i know chris is excited to welcome bob and doug. he has flown with dog before so that will be a nice reunion in space for them and we take good care of each other up there so i know he'll have their favorite snacks ready and their crew quar quarters set up and then they'll get to work with their test mission and the international spa space stations. >> bob and doug are taking care of all of our hopes and dreams as we watch them fly on a capsule launched from u.s. soil and the first time ever on a private spacecraft. friends, thank you for being with us for this moment in

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. i'm john berman, you're live in the "cnn newsroom." we all just witnessed one kind of history, but now down here on the ground, anotherd