"american morning" starts right now. the final countdown. i'm ali velshi live at kennedy space center for the very last launch of the space shuttle. the end of an era going back 30 years. the one wild card is the weather. we're following every step that the final crew makes this morning. >> i'm kiran chetry, tragedy at the ballpark. a fan falls to his death from the stands trying to catch a foul ball as his son looks on. it's the second accident just like it this year. freedom delayed for casey anthony. i'm christine romans. corrections officials in florida doing some late night recalculating, adding a little more jail time to anthony's sentence on this "american morning." welcome to "american morning." glad you're with us today. it is friday, july 8th. a big day for the shuttle program. >> for the shuttle program, the jobs report here in the u.s.,

but the shuttle program because that is the history-making event of the day, we hope. ali velshi at kennedy space center where they're fueled up, ready to go, but we'll see if it happens. >> they are ready to go. we know there's going to be a lot of news one way or the other. we are live at kennedy space center here in florida. the counting down, the hours. you can see it there the countdown clock hasn't started going. this is the countdown to the last launch ever of the space shuttle "atlantis," last launch ever of a space shuttle. it is truly the end of an amazing era. four astronauts will make history today. 1 million people from around the world are expected to gather in the greater area here to witness it. if the weather holds out. they're ready to go in case the shuttle takes off. of the people on the shuttle only 355 of the very elite have flown the shuttle in its 30-year history. we'll be bringing you every step of the final four astronauts, the steps that they take this

morning. at 6:56 eastern, less than an hour from now, the astronauts will get a briefing on the weather situation. that is always the wild card in the summer in florida. if all is well at 7:06, one hour from now, they suit up. hour after that at 8:06 they will step on to the launch pad, there it is, and board space shuttle "atlantis" for its final flight. at 11:26 eastern, all of this weather contingent the shuttle's main engines will fire and liftoff will occur. john zarrella has seen many of these. this one's different, john. >> it really is. welcome to my world. >> thank you, sir. good to be in your world. >> your first time? >> it is. >> you're right, it's the weather, it seems to be the weather most times here. >> right. >> no exception today. and, in fact, you know the astronauts themselves, they're up there having their breakfast, going through that right now, you can see we're looking at the souper structure around the

shuttle "atlantis." the weather was wild around here yesterday. we had some lightning strikes within just a quarter of a mile, third of a mile of the launch pad. late yesterday afternoon and into the evening, before they started the tanking, they actually had to have the teams out there walking the pad, walking the area, to make sure -- >> you can see it on the video the lightning strikes. >> absolutely. >> there were no issues or problems. unfortunately there were not. >> people have asked me this. this is a robust, hearty vehicle that has traveled millions of miles in space, why does a little lightning and rain and wind on earth affect the takeoff? >> lightning, the electronics, everything on board the shuttle, you get those super charged currents that can go through and you could have yourself a real problem. they've got to check and make sure there are no issues that have developed with any of the sensitive equipment on board. you know, george dilllar has been here since 1979, hired for the shuttle program. george is going to do the final

commentary on the liftoff this morning. >> good. >> and i asked george yesterday, i said hey, have you thought about what you're going to say on this historic moment? >> something that has to occur to me and it comes at very unlikely times when i'm not doing something related to the space center or to the launch, my best thinking on liftoff lines comes in the shower or thoughts while shaving, you know, and that's just about what happened on this one. >> yesterday? >> yesterday. so at any rate, now so far i haven't changed my mind. i might change one word, but so far i think i'm there. >> so it was actually wednesday when george came up with his lines for what he's going to say on liftoff and his very first one that he did he was commentator on was the shuttle "atlantis." >> it will be interesting to see -- in our business by the way we call that a deep tease. you're going to have to watch tv

to find out what he actually says. john and i will be together with fantastic people this morning. stay with us. but we'll be here all morning. fueling of this shuttle by the way began on time as john mentioned the launch team closely monitoring the weather the entire time speaking of the weather, chad myers, with us here at kennedy space center, keeping an eye on it for us this morning. he is live at the visitors center where we're going to have a whole lot of people who have worked very, very hard to get there and watch it from there. good morning, chad. >> good morning, ali. they started showing up and the doors opened at 2:00 a.m. the entire field over there full of people already waiting for it. something that we've seen this morning that we did not see at all yesterday, there are breaks in the cloud cover. we saw nothing of the sky yesterday, a gray rainy day. there are showers on the radar and the radar picture just shows most of the rain kind of out near tampa and to the west of us. that big red dot is where we are right now.

we get to keep that shower activity back off to the west, we get more clearing here. the shuttle goes off today even though it could be and they're still saying 70% chance of a no-go with weather. there's still a 30% chance. buy a lottery ticket whether there's almost no chance anyway. this could be the day with the sun breaking out, it rained all day yesterday, maybe the rain is done for a while, they only need a few minute window to see if they can launch this bad boy. >> everybody i talked to down here, in new york, 70% chance it's not going to go, everybody here that means a 30% chance it is going to go. to work for nasa and be around here you have to operate as an optimist. we'll be checking in with you through the course of the morning. to all of you out there, space might be the final frontier but none of the "star trek" films made the list of top five space movies on cnn.com. not sure why that is. "the right stuff" 1983, a nasa

oriented space movie "star wars" 1977, "aliens," flash gordon, some of you are showing your age, "2001, space odyssey." what's your favorite space movie and why. send us an e-mail, send us a tweet or tell us on facebook. >> don't tell us yours. i have mine. >> i have mine. i bet ours is the same. >> i don't know. if it is i will be very shocked. >> all right. we'll see. >> see you later, ali. >> we're going forward with new details on the casey anthony i guess deliberation is over, but how long she'll stay in jail, that changed. it's now nine more days than when we first heard about it yesterday after the sentencing. she was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive years behind bars for lying to police. with her time served her release date was set for july 13th. then it got pushed back a little later in the day to july 17th.

the orange county corrections department did some recalculating and determined without explanation that casey needed to remain in jail four days longer than first reported. also we're hearing from another juror about the not guilty verdict that was -- that set anthony free. juror number 2 talking about casey saying, quote, everybody agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions she was done, adding i wish we had more evidence to put her away, i truly do. we want to dig deeper into the late change to casey anthony's sentence and those comments from juror number 2. >> bring in sunny hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for trutv's "in session." this is interesting the first juror we heard from yesterday, said i do not believe -- i didn't say i thought she was innocent. >> right. >> this juror said i wish we had more evidence to put her away. clearly conflicted about the law versus whether or not they -- >> common sense. >> that she did it. >> that's the thing.

we've been talking about this all along since we've been covering this trial together, right? it's a high burden beyond a reasonable doubt on the protcusion's shoulders, while everyone agrees something criminal must have happened here, you don't find a girl's body thrown into a swamp without something criminal happening they didn't have the evidence to prove it. it's never what really happened as a prosecutor it's what you can prove. when i say that, people have that visceral reaction, makes you feel sick to your stomach, but is that the truth. you have to prove the case. all 12 jurors agreed, picked by these attorneys, by both sides, they didn't have enough. they felt something happened. >> it's interesting, people at home, a lot of people who are outraged by this verdict, especially interesting enough, people in florida who are outraged. >> yeah. >> which will be difficult for casey anthony and officials when they release her how they're going to do that, common sense says this woman had something to do with her child's death and feel as if -- feel empty by this

verdict. >> it has to be more than common sense. you have to apply the facts to the law. i think we've got the best system in the world, the best system out there. i would love for somebody to tell me if there was a better way to do it. i don't think there is. bottom line, when you have 12 people deciding someone's fate and all 12 unanimously decided there wasn't enough evidence, you have to be comfortable with that verdict. >> juror number 2 said in this interview, remaining anonymous, with the "st. petersburg times" he wanted to go with aggravated manslaughter, we didn't know how she died, we didn't know when she died, technically we didn't know where she died. you can't say who did it. to me that's why it was aggravated manslaughter of a child. >> that's right. i mean we've been saying that, right? the prosecution thought they had the who, i don't know that they showed anyone the where, the when, and i think even the motive, the why, which you don't have to prove but you have to give it to the jury i don't know that was that strong either. in the scheme of things, i think this was the right verdict. let me just say this,

everyone -- so many people in the media tried to tell people this was a slam dunk case. not me. i never said that. i think when you give people that expectation in your coverage, this is a slam dunk case, so much evidence here, and that's not true, i think that's one of the reasons why so many people are so outraged by the verdict because they thought it was a slam dunk but it never ever was. this was a circumstantial case from the very, very beginning. no witness was ever going to testify they saw casey anthony do this. >> so a child's murder goes unpunished. >> yeah. yeah. but again, i think that makes us all feel terrible, but when you look at this system, you've got to be confident that the system worked. >> if one good thing comes out of this, this on-line petition for caylee's law, going viral, this would make it a felony for parents or caregivers to not report the death of a child accidental or otherwise within an hour. >> federally that would be unconstitutional, but state by

state, they could implement something like this. we have child neglect lawses, aggravated manslaughter of a child, we have laws in place, but this is a wonderful movement. they want to make sure our children are safe which is paramount. if every state passes a law like this, that is a good thing. something good came out of this. >> it might be that one in many, many millions of a kind of a case that -- what kind of conclusion can you draw? >> yeah. >> sunny hostin, thank you. >> thanks. tragedy at the ballpark last night. this story is so disturbing. a fan at a texas rangers game was with his young son and he died after falling out of the stands head first in about 20 feet to the ground. you'll be seeing the video of it in a moment. he is trying to catch that ball and you see him just fall over the side. he was trying to catch that foul ball that was tossed his way by outfielder josh hamilton. another fan appears to have tried to grab him, grab his legs or shirt, but he couldn't save him from that fall.

this is the second fatal fall at a major league ballpark this season. the rangers clubhouse was closed after the game and team president nolan ryan said hamilton was distraught after hearing that news. >> of course. facing a sex scandal and allegations of corruption, italian prime minister silvio berlusconi has announced he will not run for re-election in 2013. he made his remarks to italy's largest daily newspaper. he's nominating his justice minister as his successor. berlusconi saying if he could give up the office now he would. up next on "american morning," we'll talk to astronaut lee roy chow about his final thoughts on the shuttle program, why it's going away and what it's like to log all of that time in space. 6 1/2 months he spent on the international space station. 14 minutes past the hour. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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you cannot but be moved by what it looks like down here. i'm ali velshi, welcome to "american morning." we're live from the kennedy space center where just in a few hours, fingers crossed, we will

watch history being made from the platform. that is a loiv shot from the platform where the space shuttle "atlantis" is standing by ready to take off. joining me now is my friend lee roy chiao, an astronaut who flew on three shuttle missions, spent 6 1/2 months on the international space station, 229 days in space, you've done six spacewalks. >> right. >> you are the astronaut every one of us always wanted to be. i have to tell you, you love it, i love it, we've talked about it so many times, but it's chocolate and vanilla. some people watching us saying why do we care so much about the space program, what's the big deal. tell me what the big deal is. take the astronaut out of you out of this. >> sure. >> what is the big deal? >> we can always talk about the technological spin-offs and drivers and all that the space program has done for the united states but it comes down to national prestige. that's why a country gets into the human space flight business. >> yeah. >> add to that the intangible of what you're doing to inspire the

young people and those two things are the main reasons any country gets into this, and it's a space shuttle program is no exception to this and a bittersweet day to watch the last launch. >> is it for you? >> absolutely. >> there's a sechbs sense -- >> when that thing takes off, what's going through your mind? >> 17 years ago today when i first launched and it was lousy weather forecasted just like today and we counted down to five and everything went green and we launched. i came in right at the heart of the shuttle program in 1990 and my first flight was in '94 and, you know, so i grew up with shuttle and spent my career, bulk of my career flying shuttle, and it's going to be tough to see it go away. >> you were a member of what a lot of people won't know, the auguststein, committee, where a decision was advised to the administration and nasa not to continue with the shuttle program and something else. what's the thinking? >> we were charged with coming up for options with the new

administration. we created several options and described each one without making an option. one of those options, eserved the shuttle, i wanted to preserve the shuttle, keep it flying at low rate, two flights a year, that path was not chosen. we did preserve one and discussed -- a lot of discussion on how to continue having a human presence in space, launching our own astronauts into space, how to keep that going. there's a lot of discussion about that and a lot of concern about what we call the gap, the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the next capability. >> we don't know what next thing is. we think it might be mars, an astronaut, more deep space exploration. meanwhile this low orbit stuff, which is what the shuttle has been doing, largely have been research missions and missions to the space station and sending cargo and astronauts back into space, you're actually involved in one of the companies that's going to be doing commercial spacecraft. >> that's right. i have been doing some work on the commercial area, involved in a company called excaliber, and we're working to hopefully provide cargo and crew services

to the space station and other things. one of the suboptions that we include in several of the option paths in the report included incentivizing commercial space companies to come up with ways to make a commercial case for space and to provide these kinds of services to nasa and to other. and so i'm a big believer in that. it's an open question whether it's going to work. i'm hopeful that it will. and the other part of that is when. >> and the theory is that frees nasa up to get on to the next mission, even though we don't have the mission just now. what would you like that next one to be? where do you want to see nasa go? >> the idea is we've been sending people to low earth orbit for 50 years. the technology has matured and a matter of seeing if we can create the commercial atmosph e atmosphere. as for exploration, the space policy that was rolled out last year, included what we called the flexible path option. that means we're not focusing on one particular destination, not saying we should go to mars, although that's the eventual goal. >> right. >> but the thing is, we look at going right to mars and the cost

of such an ender ver was way too costly to make it credible. what we thought we want to do this sustainably, don't want to spend a much of money, go to mars, take a picture of the flag and footprints and never go back. we want to explore sustainably, developing different capabilities, how do you keep astronauts alive and healthy for six plus months in foreign space. how do you do all these things. we need to go -- we can go to interesting destinations in the middle, near earth objects like an asteroid, back to the moon. >> all right. they'll be using you to that are. good to have you here. >> been a pleasure. 30 years after the space shuttle program began today's launch to the internional space station will be nasa's 135th and final mission. special live coverage begins this morning at 10:00 eastern. you see it in the rocket ship. on cnn. we are on the ship and with nasa and its team as they brace

for life beyond "atlantis." the next frontier is a cnn special investigation, tonight at 10:00 eastern on cnn. >> can't wait, thanks. >> we want to remind people what's your favorite space movie of all time. when we read them, we will -- >> that's right. >> we will let people know what ours are. ali, ahead on "american morning," the most looked at sunday tabloid in england folding under the pressure of a huge hacking scandal. more on that surprise move and another major development overnight, a former aide to the prime minister meets with police. >> here's something you don't see every day, the duke and duchess of cambridge, william and kate, walking around in a ten gallon hat. we'll explain coming up. intelle that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities...

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debt ceiling go into overdrive now. an agreement on the debt ceiling needs to be reached by august 2nd for the treasury department to pay all its bills on time. the u.s. government also announcing a new program to help unemployed homeowners stay in their homes. it allows those eligible to postpone all or part of their mortgage payments for a year or more, giving unemployed people more time to find a job and breathing space. oil prices near $100 a barrel. light swede crute oil jumped on the economic price. they dipped after president obama announced the tapping of the nation's strategic oil reserves. "american morning" will be back right after this break.

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your top stories, shuttle "atlantis" fueled up and is now ready for the final launch in the history of the shuttle program. right now, nasa says there is a 30% chance that the weather will be favorable for a launch today. the astronauts will get a weather briefing in less than half an hour. a fan falling to his death at a baseball game in texas last night. he reached for a foul ball, tossed into the stands and flipped over the rail. he was there watching the game with his young son. it is the second fatal fall at a major league baseball park this season. it will be nine more days before casey anthony gets out of jail and is free. florida corrections officials recalculated her sentence last night adding four more days to it. her original sentence date was july 13th. but it's now been pushed back to july 17th. less than five hours, if planned, when shuttle "atlantis" embarks on the final shuttle mission of history. here is a beautiful, beautiful

live shot of the space shuttle "atlantis," hundreds and thousands of people have made their way to this area to witness the event. this is the firing room. this is the room from which they will control the launch of the space shuttle "atlantis" right now scheduled for 11:26 a.m. eastern time. you're looking at all sorts of shots from the space shuttle program right now. i want to talk to you about the people not where we are right now, not on the launch pad, but all of the people just regular americans who have come here up to a million of them, to watch this. carol costello is live nearby with some of those people. good morning, carol. >> yes, you're talking to another regular american, that would be me. i'm at port canaveral, about 15 miles from the kennedy space center. people have been gathering here for literally days. this is a beach right off of the highway and all of these people are hoping that they'll -- that the space shuttle finally lifts off this morning because they'll have a fantastic view from here.

take a look out over the water. you probably can't see it, but i can see the space shuttle between the trees over the ocean. when it finally lifts off it will be one beautiful sight. people have come to this little tiny slip of beach from all over the country and ricky, if you turn this way, these people down here are from st. louis, canada, you're from orlando, tampa, pittsburgh. i love that. >> where are you from? >> orlando. >> these people are from seattle. we're going to talk to them in just a second, brad and donna. over there, those people are from? st. louis. so brad, i'm going to talk to you. you've been here for a long time. you've been here since 2:00 this morning. >> yes. >> why? >> i wanted to make sure i could get a good spot and view of the final shuttle launch. >> why is the shuttle launch so important for you to see? >> because i've been doing this since i was a little kid. i have a scrapbook from when i was 15 or 16 years old. >> this is the last launch.

i mean what feeling does that leave you with? >>. >> sad, but it will be a new chapter. things will be coming. >> you're hopeful. a lot of people that live in this area, kind of think this is kind of a time, the end of the space program. >> i think it's a new beginning to a new chapter. it's sad but it's exciting too. >> i hope it takes off and doesn't stop raining. i did feel a few drops on my head. the coolest part about this, ali, see that truck over there, that truck is full of radio, amateur radio operators from across florida, they are tapped into nasa's control center and you can actually hear the countdown out here. these folks will not only be able to see the launch, they'll be able to hear it too. back to you, ali. >> i was wondering, when you were talking i was listening and thought did we have something piped in. why am i hearing the firing room. that's because of that, the stuff broadcast. >> i'm going to go talk to them. i can't hear you. >> it's fine. it was all good.

>> i can't hear. >> we'll check in with her a little later on. carol is having fun with the folks out there getting ready to watch this. back to you. >> i can't hear -- i'm sorry, i can't hear you. what did you say? >> it was cool how many people came from all over, all over the country, traveling from far away places because they want to witness this. pretty neat. >> thanks, ali. check in with you in a few minutes. the "news of the world" hacking scandal hitting a former member of the prime minister's circle. andy coulson, he arrived at a london police station for questioning overnight. he edited that tabloid, the tabloid now shutting down under intense pressure. sunday's issue will be its last after 168 years. i think this is the most read paper in the uk. reporters from the paper are accused of breaking into the voice mails of celebrities, politicians, breaking into voice mails of relatives of the london transit bombing victims. it's part of the media empire run by rupert murdoch.

murdoch's son james talked about the move to close up shop. >> i feel regret. clearly the practices of certain individuals did not live up to the standards and quality of journalism that we believe in and that i believe in. and that this company believes in. >> this all started with this huge scandal where the reporters were hacking into the voice mail of missing girl, actually giving -- >> false hope. >> altering. >> the investigation. you may know rupert murdoch as the man who owns fox, "new york post." analysts say losing "news of the world" would barely make a dent in his media company known as news corp. that stock was hit so investors and insiders are feeling the financial heat from this because it has -- >> it's a news organization and so the reputation is everything and that we'll have to see where the fallout goes. >> can you imagine being the

family of the young girl who's missing, and you -- a reporter is hacking into the voice males and deleting them so they can hear what's coming on and the family and police think she might be alive. the voice mails are being deleted but it was a reporter or newspaper. >> it is disturbing. the latest on a plane crash that hit a hospital office building. it was in central california. two people on board were killed. authorities say that this was a single engine plane that had just taken off from an airport in california when it crashed. no one was in the building at the time. no one on the ground was injured. it was a a new jersey man who was arrested and charged -- >> say it like that. he happens to be from new jersey. >> gets on a plane from jersey and according to police stole a picasso sketch from a san francisco art gallery. mark lugo, a 30-year-old restaurant beverage manager, lifted the artwork off the wall and walked out.

he was caught with the drawing, see it, tucked under his arm, before he got into a cab and left. police say an interview with the cab driver led them to the suspect. the picasso was recovered undamaged. apparently in napa. >> got the painting back. >> got the painting back. the duke and duchess of cambridge wrapping up their canadian stop in calgary, canadian cowboy country. prince william and catherine launching the city's annual stampede rodeo. complete with their own personal ten gallon hats. the white hats the trademark there. the newlywed royals head to los angeles later today, doing a weekend visit to america. >> all right. ahead on "american morning," counting down to history. the final launch of the space shuttle program, two of nasa's tweet up contest winners are there to witness it. we'll talk to them.

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good morning. i'm ali velshi. we are live at the kennedy space center here in florida. see the countdown clock over my shoulder, it has not started yet but we are expecting that space shuttle "atlantis" to take off, the planned takeoff is 11:26

eastern. we have weather issues but we're not sure how that's going to go. we are all here for it. maybe up to a million people in the area to watch this launch. two self-proclaimed space geeks, though, have a front seat for history. sarah and -- sarah and todd are two of the winners of nasa's tweet up contest. they're getting a chance to watch the final shuttle launch live and in person and they're with me now. welcome to both of you. congratulations. tell us what this tweet up contest was. >> sure. so we -- there are around i think 5,000 of us who submitted sort of brief application to nasa and 150 of us were chosen. it was -- you're all soorrt of enthusiasts but not connected to the space program. >> just general space nerds. >> we all follow nasa and like to get the updated information from them. >> you got here a couple nights

early. you're in a bit of a party, nice view of the operation, getting a little inside view of nasa, got to speak to some people here? >> got to see astronauts mike mass me no, the first guy who tweeted from space. >> a little controversy, but i'll explain that. a behind-the-scenes tour, the vehicle assembly building out to the launch pad, just a great day yesterday. >> sarah, you are from houston. bit of an adventurer, sled dogging guide. what do you do with the rest of your life? >> i work in communications now and was a journalist in a past life. so i'm -- yeah. >> you're curious, you want to be here, you love space? >> there is no place i would rather be right now. >> it's definitely a history-making day. todd, you teach science to middle school students. astronaut heroy chiao was with me and he was saying one of the great things about the space program and shuttle program is the number of kids it inspired to get into the space program or

at least become engineers or become pilots or get into something to do with science. >> yeah. or to become teachers. >> or become teachers, that's right. >> yeah. "apollo" was my parents' spacecraft, i can't wait to see what my kids are going to do with the next generation of spacecrafts. they're going to be the ones that design it and build it. >> all these astronauts will tell you at some point they were inspired by a teacher who made science accessible to them. that's a big deal. tell me about the controversy about the tweet. >> apparently, astronaut massmyno said he wasn't able to tweet live from space, he had to e-mail it back from the ground and they would send it out via the twitter. there was another astronaut that figured out the link. >> it's become an important part of things. what are you doing now? what's the activity? you're in that tent, i guess they've got some refreshments for you? >> yeah. we'll be there in all day today. a couple more astronauts i think, commander bob crippen is scheduled to talk to us later on

today. we're just watching the countdown clock like everybody else. >> bob is going to be with us here. we'll be chatting with him. great to see you guys. congratulations. >> thank you. >> and give a big shout out to all your folks back there who i know are going to be enthusiastic. i suspect when this thing launches we're going to hear that and great cheers from your tent over there. thanks so much. and we are just hearing now that a se de sigs on the launch, on whether or not to go ahead with this launch is planned is going to be made in about 30 minutes. just in from nasa. they're taking a look at the weather situation, the tanks are fueled. the shuttle is fueled, astronauts fed, suited up, about to go into a briefing. we've got shots of the firing room, the room where they launch this. that's what you're looking at momentarily. we'll give you a shot of this. they are all ready. there aren't big meetings going on. people ready to go when they get the word to go. right now, it is scheduled for

11:26 a.m. eastern time. a few hours from now. we'll get an update in about 30 minutes. christine, one way or the other, everybody around here is saying, they'll stay here, this thing is going to launch and be here to witness history. >> wow. >> the other thing so interesting, they say they're going to make this call, so that the astronauts can go back and get some sleep for tomorrow's possibility. how do you go from that amount of adrenaline, knowing you're going to launch, i guess we'll get some sleep. >> totally agree with you. i don't know i would be able to sleep. they must be very well trained. >> i think they're like machines. no question about that. >> i know. different type of person. >> we'll check in with you soon and 30 minutes we'll know if there will be a launch. we'll check the headlines when we come back. also potter mania, voted by fan dango as the most anticipated movie of 2011. this is the final harry potter. i had a chance to chat with larry king who interviewed the entire cast about the final chapter in the film franchise, doing a weekend special on it. we're going to talk to him

coming up. 47 minutes past the hour. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good. you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it gets done correctly. the works fuel saver package, just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. you're a doctor. you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor.

48 minutes past the hour. a look at your headlines now. space shuttle "atlantis" is fueled up and ready to make that final voyage of the 30-year shuttle program. 30-year-old shuttle program. in fact, we are going to be finding out in less than 30 minutes whether or not this mission will be a go. it's a weather call. 30% chance that it will be a go.

70% chance unfortunately that weather could get in the way. if that's the case they'll try again tomorrow and then sunday. july 17th, it's the new date for casey anthony's release from jail. florida corrections officials recalculated her sentence last night and added four more days. a baseball fan, falling to his death after he flipped over the stands at a texas rangers game. he was reaching for a ball that a player had tossed into the stands. very, very tragic end to that ball game yesterday. hundredsf egyptians are gathering in cairo's square this morning, upset over the slow pace of change since president hosni mubarak resigned back in february. president obama and congressional leaders will meet again sunday to discuss raising the debt ceiling. their talks yesterday were described as constructive and productive but the president emphasized the parties are still far apart. "american morning" is back after a quick break. .

51 minutes past the hour. it's been a magical ride after ten years and $6 billion in ticket sales, the eighth and final "harry potter" film hits theaters in the u.s. next week. this sunday larry king is hosting a one hour special with the cast of "harry potter and the deathly hallows" part 2. larry will be premiering never-before-seen footage and exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with the special effects team that brings the magic to life. i had a chance to talk to larry about his brush with potter mania. >> larry king, always a pleasure to talk to you. you've had a chance to interview

celebrities, stars, super stars, rock stars, you got a chance to interview the real harry potter. were you a fan of the series before you talked to daniel rat cliff and the crew? >> i did see the first film and the last film which i had a sneak preview of. this last one which opens on the 15th is incredible. it's incredible. >> it's interesting because there was a little bit of controversy about the fact that they split the last book, the final book, into two movies. people said it was just to make money. although reviews coming in say this is a phenomenal ending to this wildly popular series. >> that it is. i was so impressed, it's two hours and eight minutes and i would say there's one hour and 55 minutes of action. it's nonstop. our special is going to take you inside it. we're going to interview all the principals, you will see some scenes that will not be shown until you go see the movie, we're also going to show how they do the lord val da more and

make up, and it's well shown. >> the thing that's interesting, i've interviewed so many stars, when you talk to daniel ratcliff, does he seem to you like a kid who's been acting for half of his life and the lead in such a wildly popular series? he seems pretty grounded. >> he is very grounded. he's so within himself. he's a wonderful performer and an engaging guy. a lot of interesting facets. i would say, he grew up becoming harry potter and he is harry potter, but he's ready to put that aside and go on to other things. >> yeah. i had a chance to talk to him last year. you asked him about this as well, whether or not it's strange to be associated with such a wildly popular character and associated with something you'll always be remembered for and he seemed grounded about it and said i appreciate the opportunity. i want to play a clip of you asking daniel ratcliff about his

future plans and get your thoughts. >> do you want family some day. >> god yes, absolutely. i'm one of the, it's very strange, i'm one of the brewediest young men you will ever meet. i think also because i spent so much time around adults and saw them all have kids -- >> you want children? >> oh, god yeah, absolutely. not just now. i want kids and i want lots. >> i think you're going to be hearing from this young man for a long, long time, kiran. he will not fade away as harry potter. >> larry, we got this wonderful piece of news just in about you being presented with a lifetime achievement award from the national academy of television, arts and sciences. this is going to be at the 32nd annual news emmys. what an honor. congratulations first of all. how does that feel to be honored for your lifetime of work. >> makes me feel a little older, but i've been watching lifetime achievement awards all my life and it's -- what can you say, it is a great honor and i proudly appreciate it. i hope you come to the ceremony.

>> i will be there cheering you on. a pioneer in radio and, of course, television and, of course, this place, cnn. congratulations. >> you're not kidding. thanks, kiran. >> the larry king special, harry potter the final chapter, airs sunday night, 8:00 eastern here on cnn. >> we are hours away from history-making launch at the kennedy space center. the shuttle "atlantis" on its final mission. ali velshi is there. hey, ali. >> hey. it is -- winds just picked up here. what we have is news that very shortly we're going to get word on whether they want to go ahead with this launch so that they don't get the astronauts all the way there to the launch pad. they're not there ride rite now. they're dressed, ready, fed, but they're going to make a decision based on the weather out here. it is beautiful one way or the other. it does bring us to our question of the day. the important way in which space hits you, christine and kiran, is the movies. >> that's right. we wanted to ask people what is

your favorite space movie and why. we got a bunch of responses. interesting different responses. jay on twitter wrote -- "apollo 13" what nasa and american tenacity used to be able to accomplish. a trait sadly lost in my generation. >> joe king said -- >> and johnx13 on twitter says -- heroy, i can't remember whether it was lee rowe or zarrella that said "apollo 13" was their favorite. send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we will read your thoughts later in the show. >> we're going to take a quick break and we are coming back on the other side.

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the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. the final countdown, nasa and close to a million spectators on the ground, hoping the weather won't delay history. the final flight of the 30-year shuttle program, on this "american morning." good morning to you. what an exciting friday, july 8th. welcome to a special edition of "american morning," we are covering the final launch of the shuttle. i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm christine romans. ali is in florida and there for us covering the morning's shuttle launch. good morning, ali. >> good morning, christine and

kiran. i'm a little emotional about it when you showed that archival footage of some of the moments in the shuttle program. it's been 30 years. we're live here at kennedy space center in florida. counting down the hours and minutes until the final launch ever of the space shuttle "atlantis" and the shuttle program. it is scheduled for 11:26 eastern time today. let me show you a few really great pictures of a -- live pictures, a view from the top. few guys in orange suits looking for ice, checking to make sure none of the condensation has turned into ice. they have to check everything. something called a firing room, the place where you think of it as a control room, they're going to determine -- they're going to launch it from there. everybody is there, they're ready to go when it happens. and we've got various other pictures we can show you about them getting ready. this is called the white room you're looking at. it's where they get into the capsule, where they get into the shuttle. you don't see anybody there but over the last little while we've seen people going back and forth.

there is a shot of the profile, the side of the space shuttle "atlantis." this is mission 135. 135 for the space shuttle program. it will be the final mission. we are minutes away from a very, very important decision. this is the go or no go decision for today. there were a few violent storms here yesterday and nasa says there's a 70% chance of a scrub. now we should know nasa's decision in about 15 minutes on whether or not they are going to scrub the launch for today or for -- put it on for later today or tomorrow. they don't want these final four astronauts sitting on that launch pad or sitting in the shuttle. they'd rather let them get some sleep. we're bringing you every step of the final four astronauts this morning. they are being briefed on the weather situation before we get briefed. they will be sugts up in agts five minutes from now, assuming they're getting the go ahead, at 7:36 they will head to the launch pad, 8:06 they'll step on to the launch pad and board the

space shuttle "atlantis" for its final flight. the bird as we call it, is being fueled up right now. it's ready to go. nasa will make that decision, as i said, on whether or not to scrub today's launch in the next few minutes. there were close calls yesterday with some lightning. i don't know if you can see it. a lightning strike near the shuttle. you can take a look at this. watch carefully. we'll show it to you again. it had nasa engineers scrambling to find out if there was damage to the launch pad electroncle equipment. a lot of people say to me, this thing goes out into space, travels millions of miles, why would weather have an impact because it has a lot of very serious electronics that can't be ruined by lightning. the countdown did not stop, however. chad miers who knows more about why these things can't fly in that weather is keeping an eye on the skies for us from here. he's at the visitors center. chad, what are conditions looking like?

>> you know, i know you think you had those beautiful shots, i have the best shot. i'm going to trump you right now, ali. take a look at the sky. i haven't seen blue in florida for days. and all of a sudden it broke out. people are coming to us, are they going to fly? this looks way better than we thought it would at this time. the sun comes out, burns more of the clouds off and we fly today. you can't fly through serious clouds from an old thunderstorm because you could get lightning to hit the shuttle, you can't fly through rain. they don't want the shuttle to get wet, you're 70 degrees below zero in one minute. you don't want the tiles to crack. let me show you the radar right now. because we don't have any rain around our site. now there's some rain over by tampa, okay, it's still to our southwest. it could get here. but we have a very nice window. a window that we shouldn't even have because of a tropical wave that's just west of key west and so hey, we'll take the sunshine, we'll take the clear skies and

launch this thing today and we all have a good time. ali? >> all right. chad, i know you're -- you are a fairly well balanced guy but sounding very optimistic this morning. let's hope you're right. back to you in a little bit. for now let's send it back to new york with kiran and christine. i will keep an eye on everything going on down here and let you know if we get a decision. >> tough assignment. the other big story this morning, a freedom delayed for casey anthony. anthony was handed four consecutive one-year sentences yesterday for lying to police. counting it time already served her release date was for july 13th, but after some late night recalculating by corrections officials in florida, she will be forced to spend another four days behind bars. the new release date then is the 17th. >> let's bring in sunny hostin, former federal prosecutor, legal contributor for trutv's "in session" following this every step of the way. the judge gave her the maximum. this could have been time served, could have reduced it to one count. >> that's right. >> of all of the lying.

he gave her the maximum. >> he did. a lot of people are saying, she's getting out in ten days now. this is a travesty of justice. she was convicted of four misdemeanors. the penalty was up to one year in prison for each count and $1,000 fine for each count. he gave her full years altogether, one year and $1,000 for each count to run consecutively. he threw the book at her. he did as much as he could do. he sent a message. misdemeanors in this country you don't serve four years in prison. he said the jury spoke loud and clear about your lying to law enforcement officers and i think, you know, and that's justice was done. >> sin knicks will say she has a few more days to sit there so her people can figure out. will there be book deals, clearly everyone wants to interview her. what's going to happen to casey when she walks out. >> everyone is saying she's the most hated woman in america. >> maybe multimillion-dollar question. most infamous woman in america

or maybe the world, people have been following it all over the world. the the only way to figure it out. remember oj when he was acquitted. >> accosted on the street. >> choppers following him around. people wouldn't serve him in restaurants. i would say she's not going to be in prison but in an informal prison. >> where she might stay, it was an interesting exchange with her parents. apparently she had her hair up the whole time in the trial and pulled back very tight and at the sentencing after she knew she was free or not convicted of the murder, she had it down and apparently cindy anthony, her mother made a comment overheard by reporters, something about doesn't she look beautiful and smiling. what is that family dynamic and is she going back to living with them is this. >> i don't think we'll ever understand how dysfunctional this family is. cheney mason said she will not be going back to live with the anthonys but i think cindy anthony is really the tragic person in this. if you think about it. she was so conflicted. we're all mothers, right.

what do you do? you lost your granddaughter but no now your daughter is free. i'm sure she wants some relationship with her daughter. cheney mason says that won't happen, they won't have a relationship, he thinks lee anthony has a chance of having a relationship but i mean, does anybody want to be in cindy anthony's shoes? this is just -- >> i don't want to be -- >> the whole situation is just a total mess. >> tragedy. >> sunny hostin, thank you so much. tragedy at the ballpark last night. a fan of the texas rangers game with his young son, died after falling out of the stands head first about 20 feet to the ground. he was trying to catch a foul ball, tossed his way by star outfielder josh hamilton. a fan sitting nearby talked about what he saw. >> just as the ball hit his hand, it kind of threw him off balance and he went head first and it was just -- it was not -- it looked awful because you knew there was no way he was going to, you know, land on his aight.

>> players in the oakland a car asked for someone to check on his son since he was now up alone in the stands. something like this happened last july at rangers the second deck while trying to catch a foul ball. that fan tyler morris suffered a fractured skull and sprained ankle. >> such a tragedy. also new this morning, police in michigan may never know the motive for a deadly shooting rampage because the gunman took his own life. it happened yesterday in grand rapids, michigan. 34-year-old rodrick dantzler is expected of killing seven people, including two children in separate homes. he then led police on a bullet riddled car chase before taking hostages at another home. after an hour's long standoff dantzler killed himself. the hostages, though, were unharmed. a man wanted for murder in

south dakota, james mcvay his name, part of a plan to assassinate president obama. police tracked down mcvay in madison, wisconsin, and arrested him yesterday. they say mcvay confessed not only to stabbing a woman but to a crime he hoped to commit. he allegedly wanted to kill the president, quote, at the golf range. >> well, a new jersey man arrested and charged with stealing a $200,000 picasso sketch from a san francisco art gallery. mark lugo, there he is walking with it under his arm, caught on a restaurant surveillance camera, mark lugo, 30-year-old restaurant manager, captured after the driver of the cab he used to get away, led police to his hotel. the picasso was recovered undamaged. derek jeter closing in on a magic number, hit a double and now two hits away from number 3,000. he should get it this weekend at home in the bronx. no yankee has ever reached that milestone, not babe ruth, not lou gehrig, not lou dimaggio.

he would be the 28th player in history to join the 3,000 hit club. >> that's amazing. quite a milestone. speaking of milestones, today is it, the shuttle program, the final launch, ali velly have is down there where the astronauts a s ars are suit >> let's take a look at that shot, it's moving around a little bit. camera is at an angle. that is where they are suiting up. see on the right side of the shot. there are some astronauts not sure why we moved that camera, whoever is on it, but there we go. there's -- bottom line is they are suiting up. moments from now we're going to get a decision about -- i'm not sure that guy knows his stomach is on tv. a decision about whether this is a go, no go from nasa and we will give you news on that. it is historic moment here at kennedy space center. kiran, back to you and i'll take it away when we're ready to go. >> all right. ahead on "american morning," a tabloid hacking scandal in

great britain hitting a former member of the prime minister's inner circle and a shot to rupert murdoch's media empire. live in london with the very latest. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good. you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it gets done correctly. the works fuel saver package, just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. you're a doctor. you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor.

welcome back to "american morning." look at that beautiful shot of the space shuttle "atlantis" ready to go in less than two weeks, this space shuttle program will be history. many critics, including former astronauts, are blasting the space agency for not having a new program ready to replace it. that conversation is going to start soon. today everybody is focused on this. on watching this get into space. we're going to have a decision probably in about 15 or 20 minutes as to whether it goes. that's the firing room. that's the room where the launch is going to be controlled from. i'm here now with nasa's deputy administrator laurie gaver. welcome. thank you for being with us. exciting day or sad day for you? >> well, it's an emotional day. >> yeah. >> i have equated it to sending my son off to college a year ago. >> right. >> you're a little sad. >> but you know that --

>> you're really proud and really hopeful that -- for the future and we cannot be prouder of this shuttle team and across the country people have been working for more than 30 years on this program to bring the united states, these incredible benefits. just the last of which have been launching the international space station which is our future of human space flight. >> you don't have any lead information. you think we'll get an update in 15 minutes whether it's a go or no go. >> we're planning to come out of the count at 7:31 for the launch. >> we'll keep our fingers crossed for that. two criticisms, one has existed about any dollars spent in space, why do we do that. put that aside for a minute. what do you make of the criticism we're ending this and we don't have something to go from the next launch pad. >> this has been an issue really for us since the beginning of the space program. it's very hard to have enough funding to develop a new program while you're still in the middle of one.

what we have planned is a future that helps be able to have a launch program that you aren't spending all of your money just on the transportation. what we do in space is learn from that environment, looking back at earth, into the universe. we are going to work with the private sector in ways so that nasa can buy seats and not pay the billions per launch, but pay for an astronaut seat to go to space. >> there seems to be -- give me clarity, has nasa has decided whether it will buy seats on soyuz or private planes or lease other people's vehicles to go into space? >> we inherited a program that was already buying soyuz seats. with our partners in russia has been doing that. the shuttle only stays on orbit two weeks. we're going to continue that for the next couple of years until we have these commercial vehicles launching to and from again the space coast in florida. >> i want you to take a look at this. this was a letter sent out in may of this year. from kneel armstrong, jim lavel

and jim certainen. nasa's human space flight program is in substantial disarray with no clear-cut mission in the offing. is that true and if it's true is it a bad thing? >> great american heros, appreciate their contribution, it's just not true. they don't recognize what it is that we are doing for the future of this program. >> for those of our viewers who are not space geeks and maybe not following what's going on, the simple question, what's the next big thing we're going to see from nasa? >> nasa is building, has built the space station, we are going to be seeing more and more research coming out of the space station, more and more astronauts go to aed and from space. nasa is part of the commercial program, a nasa logo and american flag on the vehicles just as america flies airplanes. we have been launching satellites in this way on vehicles right here from the cape and we buy the service to launch. >> do it this way, what's the

thing that's going to get the kids watching this launch today to say i want to be an astronaut. >> a lot of things. the international space station, but also the fact that they can potentially go to space and nasa in the next few years, will be building those spacecraft to go beyond. again going beyond lower orbit to an asteroid and to mars. that's been a goal since i grew up. >> it's okay to keep saying that, we're going to get to an asteroid and mars. >> no question. we are trying to reduce the cost of the operational part of the space program so nasa can spend its valuable tax dollars on going further, pushing the envelope, exploring species. nasa is thrilled to be able to do this on behalf of the american public. >> we are keeping our fingers crossed that in the next few minutes we get a go and not a no go. if you have any influence, web have to keep it safe, a reason you make those decisions. >> we're going to go, if not today soon. >> lori garr ver, thanks for being with us. for now back to you guys, kiran and christine. >> stay with us. we will do question of the day

and hear your favorite space movie of all time. >> that's right. ahead on "american morning," major new fallout in the "news of the world" hacking scandal in great britain now hitting the political world. >> this is not the paper. it's the practices. >> the prime minister now wanting to know if it went beyond rupert murdoch's tabloid. in honor of the final shuttle mission, our question of the day, to go with the launch, what is your favorite space movie and why? we got a lot of good ones, lot of "empire strikes back" by the way. >> really? >> a lot of "star trek" send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. all right ali, favorite space movie of all time? >> look, it's always been "star trek" for me, always going to be "star trek." i love space movies. for whatever reason the gene, everybody gets along, everybody understands each other, and it happens in space, always appealed to me. i could watch space movies for weeks on end without coming out of the place, coming out of my

apartment. >> mine is "the right stuff". >> nice classic. >> i love it. >> live long and prosper. >> i love space movies but i liked -- i was fascinated by the entire plot of "capricorn 1." i know that's random. >> wow. >> that is random. >> all right. >> mysterious and multifaceted kiran chetry. >> biz headlines after the break. we inspect your air filter, cabin filter. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good.

you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it gets done correctly. the works fuel saver package, just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. you're a doctor. you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor.

it's 24 minutes after the hour. this morning's business headlines. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 making gains yesterday. the nasdaq now within shouting distance of an 11-year high. investors encouraged by stronger than expected economic data. stock futures are down a little bit in premarket trading so far

after a good day yesterday. the big jobs report comes out today at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. as many as 125,000 jobs might have been added to the economy in june, according to a survey by cnnmoney.com. some estimates put the number lower, though. the unemployment rate is expected to stay around 9.1%. oil prices back up near $100 a barrel, light sweet crude prices jumped a few dollars on the stronger data we were telling you about yesterday. prices dipped two weeks ago after the president announced he was tapping the emergency oil reserves. prices have since rebounded. hybrid and electric cars with quiet engines may be required to have noise makers to alert pediatricians. the nation's top highway safety saeg says it's moving closer to a proposal for regulations. it could be several years before rules go into effect. >> retailers are offering back-to-school sales earlier and earlier starting right now. the national retail federation says shoppers spent more than $55 billion last year on school

supplies so some stores are launching discounts mid-summer this year. for the latest news about your money, check out the all new cnnmoney.com. "american morning" will be back after this quick break.

the "news of the world" hacking scandal in great britain hitting a former member of the prime minister's inner circle. andy coulson, a former media chief for david cameron, arrived at london police station for questioning overnight. he edited that tabloid, the tabloid shutting down under very intense and mounting pressure. >> sunday's issue is going to be the last after 168 years. reporters from the paper are accused of breaking into the voice mails of celebrities,

politicians, even missing children and relatives of the london transit bombing victims. it's part of rupert murdoch's worldwide media empire which includes fox and "the new york post" in the u.s. murdoch's son james talked about the move to close up shop. >> i feel regret. clearly practices of certain individuals did not live up to the standards and quality of journalism that we believe in and that i believe in. >> all right. dan rivers is live in london for us this morning outside the "news of the world" building. dan, this story that i guess started with a missing girl has now spiraled into a major headache, maybe even from the -- for the prime minister. >> oh, it's definitely gone right to the doorstep of the prime minister here in london. he is under considerable

pressure now as you say that decision to hire andy coulson, a former editor of "news of the world" who presided over some of the phone hacking scandals, all the while andy coulson has said he didn't know anything about it, but those claims are getting more and more hollow if you like. this morning andy coulson is at a police station in central london answering questions about this whole thing. meanwhile, david cameron, the prime minister, has been coming out trying to sort of reassure the press and the public that he is taking this seriously, that he's sorry for hiring andy coulson, saying it was his decision and he takes full responsibility for that. he also announced a public inquiry looking into the whole issue of phone hacking. >> my starting presumption is it should be truly independent, independent of the press, so the public will know newspapers will never again be solely

responsible for policing themselves but vitally independent of government, so the public will know, that politicians are not trying to control or muzzle a press that must be free to hold politicians to account. >> the other big question in this whole saga is, andy coulson's former boss, rebekah brooks, now the chief executive of the parent company "news international" she remains in her post, despite numerous calls for her to stand down. we have to see whether she will be among those who will have to go down to the police station to answer questions about this phone hacking scandal, something she also says that she knew nothing about. >> and dan, ultimately could there be jail time involved? >> yes, hopefully, already one "news of the world" reporter clive goodman, who was their royal correspondent, he served prison time over this as did a

private detective, glen mulca e mulcaire, who was in the pay of the "news of the world." but yes, it's a criminal offense and they could go to prison for this. >> dan rivers in london, thank you. >> keep following it with you. half past the hour. checking out our top stories we should know within minutes now if weather will permit history to be made in just a few hours. nasa just tweeting the shuttle "atlantis" will lift off as scheduled, 11:26 eastern time on the final mission of the shuttle program. just seconds ago getting this tweet after 30 years in space, this will be the final liftoff. tragedy at a ballpark in arlington. a fan of texas rangers game falling to his death after reaching for a ball, going head first over the railing 20 feet down. it is the second fatal fall at a major league ballpark this season. >> so hard to watch. embattled italian prime minister silvio berlusconi says he will not be running for re-election in 2013.

he's fighting financial corruption charges and on trial for alleged abuse of power. >> back to ali at the kennedy space center. he's at the action this morning. it's a go. >> keeping our fingers crossed, we are moments away, we think, from another -- from a decision, a go/no go decision. i am hearing from our people on the ground here, though, that they are now taking a closer look at the weather. you can see the clock behind me. take a look at this. the space shuttle "atlantis" scheduled to launch at 11:26 eastern time. i want you to take a look at what we call the firing room. take a look at -- there we go. that's the firing room, that's going to be the decision where -- this is where they're going to make the decision. people talking about it, looking at whether the astronauts are being briefed as we speak. then they're going to come out of the building, if they're going to do that, come out of this door, i'm going to show you, and that is when we will know that they are headed to the launch pad and to get into the shuttle. we'll keep you -- the clock has

just -- the clock over my shoulder has restarted. we are now in countdown mode, two hours and 59 minutes and 6 seconds as it goes. the clock has started. we will let you know if they have made a decision to continue with the launch of the space shuttle "atlantis." once it goes up there, it's going to be up for 12 days and then come back and then the shuttle program is over. so where does nasa go from here. we're taking an in-depth look at that with a former astronaut, jim hallsell has flown five space missions two as a comma commander three as a pilot, now a vice president with atk aerospace systems. that's a company that's working on a commercial vehicle to take up astronauts, take them into space. jim joins me now. jim, pardon me for a second while i pull this unit. this is a model of what you're working on. >> that's right, ali. it is one version of a commercial rocket that we would be excited to develop. >> right. >> because we already have the first space. the rocket booster is a

derivative of the shuttle's boosters hopefully you will see launched today. >> part of this was going to be used for the ari system that was scrubbed. >> on top, of course, you have the cargo or the crew. the important thing is the crew is on top. >> this is the cargo and the crew section? >> absolutely. >> the payload, you put crew in here, ship stuff up. this would go into space and when it needed to return to earth it would -- >> come down under parachute probably on water at first but be further refined like the russians do it on land. if you're a crew member, you're on top. if anything goes wrong down here your have the opportunity to have a launch abort system to get out of town and to safety. you're excited about the reliability, the proven nay tour of both the upper stage and first stage. we think it has a lot of valid commercial application. >> that's my next question. what kind of -- who do you do business with wit this? >> right now you do business with the government. they need to take passengers to and from the international space

station. they said they want to get out of that business. they want commercial operators to provide that service. we're excited about being one of the players. >> you were an astronaut and back in the day when this was first put to congress back 30 years ago, the idea was that these things would each do 100 missions, they didn't do anywhere close to that, and come down to, i don't know if this figure makes sense, eventually $7 a launch. we're well beyond that. how is it viable for you to do this? if nasa can't bring those costs down? >> you start with a simpler, much more reliable vehicle. the shuttle is marvelous. i got to fly it five times. it is capable in so many ways, but that capability comes with complexity and that brings you low reliability. so let's focus only on carrying crews -- >> i'm going to interrupt you. live pictures, the astronauts are heading to the space shuttle, heading somewhere, don't know that they're heading to the space shuttle. i don't know if you recognize this, jim. but, take a look at the door they're going to come out from.

tell me in a moment, they're getting to an elevator, take a look at the door, tell me the door they're coming out from. >> they have just left the suit up room where they fully suited up, had the pressure checks, the communication checks, and decision has now been made by management apparently that the crew should go out to the vehicle, which is a good sign for a count. we'll see. the joke in the astronaut office is you start the world's fastest ride on the world's slowest elevator. they're just coming down a couple floors but it takes forever. >> we're going to be watching this a little while, going to come out, get on a bus and then they're going to go to the shuttle. the point is f it's not likely the shuttle is going to take off today -- there they come. there they come. the final four, walking out, heading to the launch pad. now, jim, does this mean to you that there's a good chance they're launching? >> management would not make the decision for them to walk out, get in the van and go out to the vehicle unless they were going to make a further decision to

continue the count. >> which means, somebody at the moment, has made a decision it's not scrubbed. doesn't mean it's not going to be scrubbed. >> absolutely. >> i did hear a few minutes ago that the weather conditions a few minutes ago were perfect, but until you're in and ready to go that doesn't matter. maybe they're thinking if they get these guys in, suited up ready to go and another window opens -- these windows can be very small. >> and i'm guessing they have a five to ten minute launch window. you almost always do with the space shuttle and rendezvous missions with the space station because you have to launch into the plane of the orbit of the station. this is a moment for the crew to say, good-bye to all the well wishers who are behind ropes to the right-hand side. many of whom they recognize because they worked with them, they've trained with them, a big part of the success of the mission. you get into the vehicle, you take your assigned seat. the seats face inboard to the center aisles and you hook up to the air conditioning system so that you don't get overheated in that suit as you take the 10 to 15 minute right ride out to the launch pad. >> what were you feeling when

that happened to you? >> it was the most spectacular ones is when it was nighttime, unlike today. when you drive up that road to your launch vehicle, your spaceship, and the -- the service structure has been rolled back, the lamps are on it, it borders on a religious moment, you get to drive up to that rocket ship. >> are they talking at this point? >> oh, yeah. >> easy banter between the crew, peeking out behind the windows to get a few more waves good-bye to the people who have helped them train for this mission. there's a lot of upswelling of emotion at this point in time. you still as an astronaut, you kind of protect yourself against disappointment because until you come out of the t minus 9 minute hole, several hours from now, a lot of us just approach it as this is another training opportunity, i'm going to go out, strap in and see what happens. when you come out of the t minus nine minute hold that's when you know it's real. >> thanks for joining us. looks like for now, we do not have the official word it is go/no go but they are heading

out to the launch pad. that's a good sign, kiran and christine. >> it's interesting nasa tweeted that it will lift off as scheduled. i guess that still is, as you said, subject to change, even though things are looking promising weather wise. >> as tim says, it's subject to change until t minus nine minutes i suppose. >> all right. thanks ali. from rocket science to rocket science. still ahead on "american morning," steve balmer, the ceo of microsoft will joining us live with how the company is challenging students across the globe to solve some of the world's greatest problems. >> it could be a glimpse into the future of cancer treatment. we're going to tell you about a patient who is checking out of the hospital today, after being told by doctors he would be dead by now.

welcome back to "american morning." a patient was recently given less than a month to live and is now getting discharged from the hospital in sweden. he was dieing from trachea cancer but doctors were able to replace his wind pipe with an artificial one but it was grown from the man's own cells. >> amazing. medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here to explain what

this means. exactly what did doctors do for this man? >> all right. this man was 36 years old, and he had this huge growth on his trachea. the growth was so big they couldn't operate on it successfully and they said we've done everything we can for you, you need a trachea from a cadaver. but we know the waiting list for those organs is so long and they said you will die before you get one from a cadaver. the team from harvard and from london and from sweden, they got together and they made him a trachea out of plastic. it's a plastic trachea. what they did is they coated it with his own stem cells. if they just put it in as plastic it wouldn't have worked. his body wouldn't have recognized it as being a real piece of himself. his body thought the trachea was his and his arteries and veins started growing in and out of it, it vascularized. this man has been discharged from the hospital and as we said before, they thought he would be dead by now. >> can he -- can this be used

for everyone who has that type of late stage trachea cancer and is waiting for a cadaver -- >> i talked to one of the doctors involved in this project and he said that is exactly our hope. we really want that to happen. and by the way, that's the tumor. see the green on there. that was the tumor on his trachea. you can see how big it is compared to everything else. that was a big tumor. the hope is that people with these tumors, will be able to get these plastic tracheas. they're going to watch this man, see how he does and just now they're starting a study with another 20 or so trachea patients and they're hoping it works well. they have to study it more first. >> i think it's important to point out here that long list for waiting for organs from cadavers, it is still a long list and everyone should talk to their family about becoming an organ donor, but does this mean scientists can create these organs in the lab or the hope is that they can augment those very, very long lists? >> right. exactly. people are dying every day

waiting for a kidney or for a liver or for a heart and as you said, sign your organ donor card because no, they can't create these in the lab. they did create this trachea, they made the plastic trachea and coated it with him stem cells but a trachea is a simple thing. it's basically, you know, a tube really. a heart is something that is much more complex and so creating a heart out of plastic and coating it with stem cells won't quite work. they're hoping this work is a baby step towards, you know, doing it for other parts of the body but really that will take a much, much longer time. >> still is quite remarkable though. >> it is. >> for more on the story and other important medical news, check out our website, cnn.com/health. in honor of this morning's final space shuttle flight our question of the day is, what is your favorite space movie and why? we're already on the record with ours. mine is "the right stuff," mine is "capricorn 1."

by the way, ali is a trek ki. >> that's true. >> he likes "star trek." >> and wayne on facebook says -- keep your comments coming. send us an e-mail, tweet. "american morning" is coming right back. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

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we're live at the kennedy space center in florida to bring you the final launch of the space shuttle program. here's what's ahead, by the way. behind me you will hear a chopper that is tracking the van carrying the astronauts to the shuttle. it is fueled up and ready to make the final voyage of the 30-year-old shuttle program. these are live pictures. that is the van that is carrying the final four as we call them, the four astronauts who will get on to that -- and the group that's helping them launch, they are now headed to the launch pad which is over my shoulder, shuttle launch director mike lineback has just told the team, quote, we do have a shot at this today, end quote. we do have a shot at this today. they are moving forward with an attempt to launch the rocket and the shuttle at 11:26 a.m.

see the countdown clock over my shoulder. two hours, t minus two hours and 44 minutes. here's how it goes from here. about 20 minutes from now, the crew will be boarding "atlantis" for that final history-making launch. let me show you video of commander chris ferguson, he's the pilot, doug hurley, mission specialist sandra magnus and rex walheim, they suited up less than an hour ago, in the past ten minutes we saw the "atlantis" crew, make their way over launch pad 39. now they are getting real close. that helicopter is just about over me right now. coming up a little after 8:00 eastern. there it goes. there's the helicopter. means the guys are just about here. the final four will walk up the launch pad, board the space shuttle "atlantis" for its final flight. here's the convoy coming in. take a look. the convoy passing behind the media center. you're about to see it. there it goes, there's the

convoy. this is all the media center, this is all of us, we're in the mix of satellite trucks and tents. driving by us right now. that's the chopper you heard tracking them. they are headed -- that's the chopper tracking them to launch pad 39 where they are going to get on that shuttle and they're going to get ready and hope, as an astronaut who was with me said, they're managing their expectations right now, getting excited, suited up, they know this is happening but they don't want to be disappointed if it gets scrubbed because of the weather. the weather has been a little more cooperative. you look over there, it's still full of clouds but there are little spots you can see the sun. they need to be able to see that rocket go up. they need to be able to see that shuttle get into space. look at the map right now, it's showing as chad said some clear spots. there is a chance that this thing is going to happen. we're here to bring you all the exciteme exkrichlts as history is made. chad meyers is with me, john zarrella, carol costello, brook baldwin, anderson cooper is going to take over at 10:00 for

a special. we're talking to the million people who are probably assembled around here and we're speaking to the elite few who have flown on the shuttle itself over the course of the last 30 years. this is the special edition of "american morning" and we're coming back right after the break.

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the amazing inventions you guys spearheaded here. steve, why is it important for microsoft to challenge young people to innovate? >> the key to technology not only being successful but actually making a difference in the world is the applications that people build using them and whether it's for us, windows or windows phone or windows in the cloud so to speak, or even bing, it's getting applications built that solvent the world's problems and showcase how technology can improve the planet. we sponsor a competition. 300,000 kids around the world in universities formed into teams, about a hundred thousand teams, and we have the hundred finalists here in new york city, including representatives from five of the hot teams competing in the finals here in new york. >> it's fair to say they could settle a lot of our problems around here. the issue for young people is, obviously, this is creating a new generation of workers and customers for you down the road, that's is so important about it. i want to introduce, first, cy.

let's talk about what you guys have. you have some amazing -- tell us what your technology is and what it hopes to solve. >> sure. we found a way to create a windows phone 7 and able to diagnose malaria. >> the phone does? >> the phone does. this is a lens attachment. i don't have blood here because i was advised you wouldn't like that so much. >> ined. >> but just with the touch of a button, anyone can use their phone to analyze a blood sample and the phone will automatically highlight any infections present in the sample. >> i understand this is 94% accuracy, right? >> absolutely. >> we are talking about actual real life applications, real life saving measures. >> absolutely. absolutely. if you look at the applications that people have written, most of them are technology for technology. but a lot of them focus in on natural disasters, which we've had a lot of in the world,

environment, science, health. take a look at the group today, a preponderance of teams thatat focus on a variety of aspects of health. >> it looks like the current field test for malaria that a 60% false/positive so if you could come out with a way to save money and time and to diagnose people that kill a million children a year. >> swan is one of the finalists. yours is also health related. tels us what your device does. >> improve people's pulmonary function. most people showed a lot to learn how to -- so we want to make it easy. you just have fun. >> this is a way to recover from pneumonia but make it interesting for people. show us how it works. >> okay. >> it's called harmonic care.

he is blowing into this device and this is helping improve his lung functioning if you're recovering from pneumonia. you can see on that screen it's testing it but it's also putting together a little melody. >> it's a little game there. i've played this before! as a person who has had a parrot who had respiratory problems, getting the older folks to use these things, and to really -- it's pretty important. it's kind of a fun way to do it. >> it is interesting. now what you do is you basically have to blow into that tube three, four times an hour, right? no one wants to do it. it's considered tedious and you guys made it fun. >> pulmonary function. >> awesome. steve balmer from microsoft thank you. the world needs you, i promise! yes, we do. >> so many other great stuff. voice recognition for the deaf and great things there.

doctors certification and identification in egypt, fantastic. another malaria application from new zealand. great work by these young kids. >> excellent. congratulations to all of you. you're going to be our bosses someday so we appreciate. >> from rocket sentence to rocket sentence. the crew walking up to the launch pad. this is a live picture boarding "atlantis" for the last launch of the 30-year-old space shuttle program. an amazing day for all of us out there who have watched this shuttle program grow up and all of the brainiaca who have been working behind the scenes. we will have it live for you next. i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. [ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel.

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there is ferg susoferguson. in a few minutes, the crew could be on board. in fact, we are seeing the comarped suiting up right outside the room. we will bring it to you live.

>> the june jobs report. i'm christine romans. we are just 30 minutes away from the most closely watched economic indicator on wall street. we will break down it what means for you, your job and the american recovery. >> casey anthony will have to wait longer for her first taste of freedom. i'm kiran chetry. corrections officials in florida, what they ended up doing is adding more jail time to thoip's sentence. details on this "american morning." good morning, everybody. it's friday, july 8th. you know, i kind of wonder if the people who are suiting up right now, the astronauts suiting up if they can even dwell on how they are making history or if there is so much work to do and math. >> a lot of focus, moving forward every step of the way. it is exciting, though. ali is there live. he is from kennedy space center in florida where, gosh, they are getting ready to go and getting ready to move on out today. >> in fact, let's take the

picture right now. this is the white room they call it. this is the commander ferguson. he is getting final preparations and he is going to get into the shuttle. that is the entry port into the space shuttle behind him. the final four getting ready. we will come back to that in a second. we are live right now at kennedy space center in florida counting down the hours and the minutes until the last launch ever of the space shuttle "atlantis." last launch ever of a space schultz. the final voyage and the 30-year-old shuttle program. we are right on schedule. there is the countdown clock and it will you about that in a moment. these are live pictures. moments ago, the shuttle launch director says they are sticking to the launch time of 11:26 a.m. eastern time. the launch crew went ahead with the three-hour process of fueling the shuttle overnight, despite weather concerns and last hour, the astronauts left their crew quarters for the launch pad. they were already suited up and

now the final preparations are ready. that is happening on the law firm pad. let me show you what is happening on the -- in the firing room. that is the room where they will orchestrate this launch from. this is what you would think of as the control room, mission control. this is where they are going to be doing that from. the crew, four people, not seven, four people who will board the shuttle at 8:06 a.m. eastern. minutes from now. the commander looks ready to board momentarily. at 9:21 the hatch will close. at 11:21, the shuttle will power up. and if everything goes on schedule at 11:26 and 46 seconds, space shuttle "atlantis" will lift off for the last time in history. one wild card all week has been the weather. there were close calls yesterday. there was severe lightning and heavy rain and cloud cover. a strike near the shuttle had nasa engineers scrambling to find out whether or not any damage to the shuttle. look at this picket. you'll see the lightning strike

in a second. they had to see whether damage to the electronic and electrical equipment. but the countdown didn't stop. there have been some blue skies. a little bit of sun behind me. there were doubts that the weather would hold out. in fact, chances of a scrub were and are still at 70% but they get little five and ten-minute windows that could work. chad myers is live at the visitors center where many thousandsgathering to watch this. chad is looking up and getting a sense of whether this is going to happen. chad? >> reporter: i had to look down a little bit ago. i could see my shadow. what happens when a weatherman sees his shadow? there must be a joke somewhere. that window we had quickly closed up. variable skies. if we can get a beautiful window, a nice clear area right around that 11:26 to 11:30 something. they still have a couple of minutes leeway either way of that. otherwise the shuttle can't catch up to the international space station.

it's going too fast. why that one window in the first place. love to launch a half an hour ago, it was beautiful but if you did, the shuttle would be in the wrong spot. the internet space station on the other side of the world and the shuttle would be trying to catch it. like giving jimmie johnson a five lap lead and they would never catch up with the guy. we will wait for it as the sun comes out. that will warm the atmosphere. it could burn some clouds off. we are still hopeful here. we have been looking at radar. doesn't look too bad right now. i'm still smiling about this for at least another half hour or so. >> as you said that, i felt sun hitting me right from behind me. we are going to keep looking at pictures when we can get them of the crew suiting up and getting ready to get into the vessel. now, the entire shuttle fleet, this is "atlantis," but the entire shuttle fleet and these are live pictures by the way, of the astronauts getting ready over that gentleman in the right over his shoulder something that says lnts will not? that is the entry port into the

schultz. they have flown over 500,000 miles collectively. from the start of nasa, boy, what a ride it has been and somebody watching all that time is john zarrella. he has witnessed many of these launches. the excitement is always on your face. but now there are people who -- people watching the final game. they haven't followed the sport all season but they want to be here for this one. >> i can't wait to see the excitement on your face! >> look at me! >> i know. that is done hurley, the pilot. of course, inside there you are seeing chris ferguson get in the commander's seat there. on the left-hand side. >> good lord. they really have to squeeze him in. >> i was in "discovery" a couple of weeks ago for the documentary we did and i got to sit in the commander's seat inside "discovery." for a big guy like me, it is a tight squeeze. as you were saying, looking at the pictures, it has been an incredible 30-year ride filled with highs and, of course, the

lows during this 30-year history of this space shuttle program. >> all systems are go! >> 3-2-1. liftoff! >> one small step to man but giant leap for mankind. >> we must look at aggressively to the future by demonstrating the potential of the shuttle and establishing a more permanent presence in space. >> mission center. crew of five into space. including america's first woman astronaut sally ride. >> guy who hopes to fly the shuttle on a mission by the mid 1980s. >> big smiles today. >> "challenger" go throttle up.

>> indicate that the vehicle apparently exploded. >> hubble is on power and the game has began. >> the control module. the international space station is under way. >> we are making the assumption that the start from the external tank was the root cause of the problem. that lost "columbia." >> liftoff of space shuttle "discovery" beginning america's new discovery to the moon, mars, and beyond. >> rolling on to the course of the international space station. >> welcome! >> the end of a historic journey and to the ship that has led the way time and time again, we say farewell.

>> that is chris ferguson, of course, still in the commander's seat. ferguson is the drummer for max cue, the astronaut band. and hurley. >> he is from philly, by the way. i spent a third of my time in philly so he's a local guy. >> you can see outside, hurley is getting ready and sandy magnus was in the shot, the mission specialist. there she is again. hurley is a big nascar fan. >> they got into the van suited up. now they are getting more. this is the stuff that actually connects them to the shuttle. >> right. they have already had their flight suits on, their pressurized flight suits when they get suited up and go out there. now what they are doing is like a fit check. these guys are making sure everything is on right and there is nothing loose. >> pressurized suit needs to be right. >> absolutely. >> lee 'roid chiroy child was h. he says from now on they have to get to the space station on the

soyuz. comparing the space shuttle to the soyuz this is tighter. we were talking about how tight is in there. this is spacious and luxurious. >> this is about all the room they have in a soyuz. >> like a bench seat in a 1970 sedan. >> nobody down on the mid deck. >> why are they leaving extra space and why not seven astronauts? >> because if there were an emergency and they had enough to get to the space station, it would take a year to get all of them back off because there is no backup shuttle any longer to go up and bring them back down so they would have to make four soyuz trips and one on each soyuz over the course of the year. not enough supplies on the international space station to sustain that many people in a year. that's why only four on this mission. >> we will begin to cover this. this thing might take off as planned. in case, it's not, i told you we would be sitting around eating something. >> i got you that louisiana hot

sauce. lockheed martin made this. >> i love it! louisiana hot sauce. we may not get a chance to use this today because we may see this thing go up. >> we may! we may! >> as scheduled. this is on standby in case we need to use it. much more liver coverage from kennedy space shuttle ahead this hour. what is the future for nasa? are we going to an asteroid, going to mars? i will speak to garrett reeseman who flu on two shuttle missions. we will also talk to a man who literally helped launch this era in space travel. bob crippen. he flew on the first shuttle flight. it's on your mind today. check out cnn.com list of the top space movies. number one on the list is "the right stuff." that makes sense. number two, "star wars." there are a lot of movies missing from there including my favorites which are in the "star

trek" series. we want to find out what your favorite space movie is and why. our question of the day. e-mail us, give us a tweet or tell us why on facebook and we will read through some of your answers later on in the show. i'm sticking to "star trek," christine and kiran. >> i was telling kiran when i was a little girl, i was teary with that reminiscence you were having. they would send you a picture of the shuttle crew and background sheet what was going to happen on the shuttle and all of the specifics. it was really a big deal to get that nasa thing in the mail. it's bittersweet it's gone. >> we will get teary today with the shuttle hot sauce. >> yeah. i don't know if you went down there for the launch offr of buffalo wings. find out later. in less than half an hour, the june jobs report comes out. the report the world watches to see how healthy the economy is. predicting 125,000 jobs were created last month.

that is significantly more than last month's report in may which showed only 54,000 jobs created. the economists we spoke to also predict the unemployment rate might tick down slightly to 9%. with the deadline to raise the debt ceiling just weeks away, president obama called yesterday's meeting with congressional leaders productive. he already has scheduled another meeting for sunday and while the president may be cautiously optimistic, republicans and democrats can strike a deal, he also stressed that the two sides are still far apart. still ahead, shock and grief after a baseball fan dies after falling from the stands while trying to grab a ball. the shocking video and we will hear from a devastated witness who was sitting nearby next. david cameron promise to get to the bottom of the phone hacking schedule that is rocking rupert murdoch's. more dramatic developments on this coming up next. the excitement is building at cape canaveral, florida.

garrett reeseman with inside look at nasa and what is next for the u.s. in space. 13 minutes after the hour. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? we inspect your air filter, cabin filter. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good.

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we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at...

16 minutes past the hour. we have been talking about this behind the scenes because it is such a tragedy. actually very difficult to watch and to actually talk about. a fan at a texas rangers game with his son died in front of everybody after he fell out of the stands and fell head-first and here is the shot. i mean, this is very difficult to see. he was trying to catch a ball that was tossed his way by outfielder josh hamilton. a fan sitting nearby talked about just how devastating it was. >> just as the ball hit his hand, it kind of threw him off balance and he just went head-first. i think it was -- it was not -- it looked awful because you knew there was no way he was going to, you know, land on his feet.

i mean, he disappeared so you couldn't see anything, but the way he fell, it looked like it was just straight on his head. >> the other difficult part to talk about is that he was conscious as he was carried out on the stretcher and apparently he asked someone to check on his son because his son was alone in the stands. >> the news of the world hacking scandal in great britain now hitting a former member of the prime minister inner circle. reuters reporting that police have arrested andy coleson, the former media chief for david cameron. he edited the tabloid is shutting down under intense pressure. >> they are accused of breaking into voice mails of celebrities, of politicians. even relatives of the london transit bombing victims. prime minister david cameron calling for two separate investigations into the alleged hacking. >> this is a wake-up call. over the decades on the watch of both labor leaders and conservative leaders,

politicians and the press have spent time support not confronting the problem. it's on my watch, the music has stopped, and i'm saying loud and clear that things have got to change. >> the tabloid is part of the media empire run by rupert murdoch but sunday will be its last edition. casey anthony will have to spend nine more days in jail before she gets her his taste of freedom. she was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive years behind bars for lying to police. but with time served, her release date was set for july 13th. now, that's been pushed back to july 17th. the orange county corrections department did some recalculating. they determined last night without explanation that casey needed to remain in jail four days longer than first reported. also we are hearing from another juror about the not guilty verdict that will set anthony free. juror number 2 talking about casey in an interview with the st. petersburg times. the juror wanted to remain

anonymous but saying, quote, everybody agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions, she was done. adding i wish we had more evidence to put her away. i truly do. >> let's go over to ali at the kennedy space center in florida. hi, ali. >> the latest we have. everything is moving along on schedule. certainly the weather. hard to tell what is going on. you see the sun and then it goes away. certainly good and hot. live pictures of the four members of the crew. they are now in the shuttle. they are getting all checked out and connected and hooked up. so that is what is happening right now. the end of the space shuttle program. it doesn't mean the end of nasa or the end of sending humans into space. joining me now is garrett reeseman who flew on two shuttle missions. he just left nasa and now working on commercial space flight with space ex. we say it a lot and talk about it. space flight isn't finished.

commercial flight like space ex. who is watching and has no idea what i'm talking about, what is space ex? >> it's a company founded in 2002 by ilan musk. he founded paypal. so after coming off that success, his real ambitions and desires was to advance the space. he created that nine years ago. we developed a series of rockets since then and culminating in the falcon 9 rocket we have launched now two times and went very well. both flights were very successful and top of the second one was a dragon spacecraft. it orbited the earth two times last december and splashed down in the pacific ocean and we came the first company to orbit a spacecraft and bring it back from space. >> we are looking at pictures of it. first of all, we should specify when you say rocket, around here when you say the word rocket sh, it's not a rocket ship it's the

propulsion device and takes something into space and spacecraft is either attached to it or on top of it whatever the case is you put cargo and people into. >> you got it. >> now space x can take people and cargo into space? >> we have it all. one-stop shopping. we have the rocket and the spacecraft and something that it gives us great confidence as we go forward. >> anybody booking anything to do something with you guys? >> nasa is our partner. they are providing funding and expertise to help us get to the next step. i was a nasa astronaut and i left nasa four months ago and came over to space x. i was happy seeing what is happening and seeing it being unleashed in the private industry and opportunities for happy rosy future for human space flight. my job is convert this capsule, dragon spacecraft which carries cargo to the space station and convert it to carry people. >> by the way, how does it work? does nasa by seats or is it like a rents carental car?

>> we have to work it out with nasa. from our view, either way is fine. we are providing the rocket and spacecraft and who sits behind the controls, that is something that we will talk -- >> are you going back in space with space x? >> it's not why i came to space x. i wouldn't rule it out as a possibility. i felt it was time to move on and give others a chance. >> what are your hopes for what nasa ends up doing beyond this? >> my hopes are, one, that nasa and commercial industry learn how to work together and that relationship goes well. and that we continue and that we continue to be support not only by nasa but also by gong in way of budgets and by the administration which has been very supportive. as long as that continues we think three years people will be flying on the dragon. >> garrett, i want to ask the control room to go back to the

pictures. here is inside the space shuttle. this is the pilot. >> yes. >> he sits next to the commander and steers the ship and lands it? >> that's right. that is doug hurley. what you're looking at on the right of your screen is the commander chris ferguson. they are the commander and the pilot. really between you and me, it's really the pilot and the co-pilot but these guys are so experienced and good at what they do, that nobody wants to be called the co-pilot so it's the commander and the pilot. >> that is what they are doing. take one picture outside. still one astronaut outside the spacecraft who is about to get in. i don't know if we are able to watch her getting in. she is going to get on that platform behind her and lie down and get? >> first you have to show your boarding pass! but no. there is sandy magnus. you have to put your parachute harness on. >> she is checking to see that

everything is working and moving? >> the fit is right and harness is not too tight or too loose. she is basically waiting for the other two guys to get situated. once they are set, then she will come on in and get into her seat which is behind them. if you see in your camera view now the two guys in the white suits are standing on her seat so she has to wait for them to get out of the way. >> they get out and she is ready to go. they will sit there a couple of hours at least? >> about three hours on your back. >> are you constantly working while waiting? >> no. it gets a little uncomfortable. sitting in that suit and on your back for three hours is not the most comfortable thing but a lot to look forward to. >> absolutely true. all right. garrett, good to see you. thank you so much for being with us. we, obviously, are going to talk to you a lot the next five and ten years as we move into this era of commercial space flight. 30 years after the space shuttle began today's launch of the international space station will be nasa's 135th and final mission. special live coverage begins on cnn this morning at 10:00

eastern. i love that rocket! i just love that launching rocket! and then at 10:00 p.m. eastern, we take a look at the next big thing. don't miss the cnn special investigation, "beyond lnts will not, the next frontier." still ahead you ever get online and share pirated movies and music? be prepared for serious repercussions. tell you about that when we come back.

about 29 minutes after the hour. "minding your business." the dow and the nasdaq up a few points. everybody is waiting to see what the big jobs report coming out in a little over a minute.

look at this. cable and phone providers threatening to slow down web connections for internet pirates stealing movies and music online. "the wall street journal" reporting a new copyright alert system between internet providers and record labels and film studios set up later this year. who is who of premiere of the "harry potter." the eighth and final "harry potter" film, 8,000 fans and many holding their favorite books lining the red carpet. the stars danielle radcliffe was there. up next is the jobs market bouncing back? we will know coming up. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good. you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it gets done correctly.

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just in to cnn. christine has been on the conference call listening for the june jobs report. a disappointing number. we're watching your money and breaking it down. they thought it was going to be up. >> just 18,000 jobs were created in the month of june and well below expectations. these are the numbers supplied by the bureau of labor

statistic. the worst unemployment rate since december of 2010. so 18,000 jobs created. remember, we have been telling you that cnn money survey thought that 125,000 jobs would be created and 18,000 is disappointing. this is the worst jobs growth since may 2010. you'll remember that is when we were hiring for the census. private sector workers, 57,000 jobs created there. we want to see how the private sector is working so -- >> is that higher or lower than expected? >> i think it's a little bit lower than expected. the issue is the government is still shedding jobs. state and local jobs. where you're seeing private businesses and creating jobs in some cases you're seeing governments because of budget cuts slashing those jobs. manufacturing, construction, temporary services all flat. here is something to ask ali velshi about. the short-term unemployed rose sharply in june. 500,000 more people have been

out of work five weeks or longer. that tells you there was some kind of firing activity happening in june. >> talk about some concerns about whether big banks were going to start shedding? >> haven't seen that too much yet to be honest. it looks like an issue with government jobs being cut because of the budget crisis you're seeing a lot of teachers lose their jobs. >> right. >> firefighters. you're seeing public servants losing their jobs and that is reflected in the numbers. >> why is it? the forecast we are much more optimistic? what were some of the indicators? stocks were flat. >> yesterday was a good day in the stocks. >> futures were flat this morning. >> yesterday was a good day in stocks because a private sector report, adp, the payroll company, said by our count 157,000 jobs were created but when you look at the overall number of public jobs, private jobs, the government says that only 18,000 jobs were created. >> this is going to be interesting how this plays into the debate going on right now

about the debt ceiling, about who blinks. still far apart, even though meetings are taking place between members of house republicans and the president but also a 9.2% unemployment rate. that is an ad. i'm sorry, this close to the election. >> earlier this morning i was talking to sam feist. you can be sure at 8:31:30 e-mails going out how the white house is not doing a good enough job of lowering the unemployment rate. now this is in the realm of politics and 9.2% says show you we have an uncomfortable situation this jobs in this country. we are following another huge story. that is the launch of the final space shuttle mission at "atlantis." ali is at the kennedy space center in florida. >> hopefully, i can bring you good news and that is the mission hasn't been scrubbed. you can see the clock over my shoulder. that doesn't mean it's launching in 1:55.

that countdown clock starts for specific and valid reasons. emotions running high today after 30 years of the space shuttle program that is coming to a close with the very last mission. there is the "atlantis." the last astronaut getting on board now. but remember neil armstrong? he was the first moorn walker. john glenn was the first american in orbit. coming up next, we are speaking with bob crippen who was on the first shuttle flight. he reflects on the final mission and talks about what is next. we will be right back. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ]

[ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck.

we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at...

♪ ♪ 4, 3, 2, 1 earth below us drifting, falling ♪ >> there it is. the space shuttle "atlantis." the astronauts are almost all on board. 3 of the 4 are on board right now. still one other guy there. you can see he is checking things out and until he gets out of the way, the fourth one isn't going on. although i don't see the fourth astronaut waiting to get on so maybe he is somewhere i can't see him.

after 134 missions, this is the 135th, the shuttle program will be mothballed in two weeks. bob crippen was on board the very first shuttle flight. my next guest. think about this april 12th, 1981. think about where you were. not on the day it took off but technological technologically. no iphones or digital music or e-mail or none of that. there is bob back then. he is with me at the kennedy space center. looking back on this, bob. i think you're a little sad? >> i am sad. i think it's been a great program. i can look back on it with pride at what the shuttle has accomplished. we did have two major accidents, unfortunately. but nasa recovered from those. i think it's a great vehicle. probably will not see anything like it any time in my lifetime. >> we cannot talk about the accident. the thing that stands out, particularly with the "challenger" accident on january 28th, 1986, you got a phone call from your daughter. tell me about that.

>> actually, i got the phone call from the daughter when we lost "columbia..." >> i'm sorry. i didn't know that. my daughter is still working for the united states space center. i keep up with it on tvs. generally, i don't come out as a spectator. she was monitoring entry and gave me a call and told me that they had lost contact with it, which you know something serious is happening. >> yeah. we talked, you and i talked a little bit about what those shuttles look like. they are not the same shuttles. >> they are not. >> they have been rebuilt and changed so much has changed in them. the electronics. but i ask you something. are the astronauts the same kind of people? >> basically, the same kind of people. john and i were test pilots and moved away from that because the shuttle has allowed us to do it. we have carried unfortunate a lot of scientists, engineers, medical doctors. so the nature of the people flying are somewhat different, but personality wise, they are still very similar. >> tell me that.

i met a lot of them and hard to bottle but they are brave, adventurous. >> some say type a personalities. somewhat driven, wanting to achieve something and they stay focused. so, in general, but it's hard to classify everybody under one particular criteria. >> i was talking to garrett reisman who has gone up. we are looking at them now. he said they will sit there two or three hours and be a little bit boring. they are not doing stuff in that time and it's going to get exciting. when you and john young went up on the first trip on "columbia" on april 12th, 1981, it was "columbia," right? >> it was "columbia." >> your heart rate started to increase rapidly. >> actually in the phase they are in now, i dozed off and went to sleep a few times. >> is that right? >> my heart rate went up when the count got within one minute and i looked at john, i think we might do it. john up to 90 and mine up to

130. >> they monitor that. >> they do and they didn't have any medical privacy. that was immediately out to the members of the media. >> but nobody was worried about it? you were just excited? yeah, 130 something. >> and what is the criticism that nasa doesn't have anything else lined up? another launch pad was supposed to be for the consta laellation program. it's sitting idle. >> i'm proud of the program but to stand down the shuttle without any way of putting our crews up, an ill-defined program in front of us, to me, is very disappointing. >> we have alternatives to get our crews up there which aren't ready yet. do you think that is viable? >> the soyuz certainly is. they have a good vehicle. launched our crews a number of times. i have every confidence they will be successful. truth li, however, maybe as a member of the united states military and -- >> you're not so into the idea of another country?

>> the fact that we have to depend on them to get our crews up is disappointing to me. on the commercial side, i'm all for pushing commercial companies to be able to take people in space. initially, they are going to carry cargo up to the space station. i would like to see that mature before we talk about putting crews up on it and i think it's going to take longer than what some people are estimating at this particular juncture. doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying but to be totally dependent on that, not very good. >> bob, great to see. put congratulations. you really are a big hero of american history and a space hero. great to have you here. >> thank you. >> bob crippen. morning headlines coming up after this. we will take a break.

46 minutes past of the hour. here are your headlines this morning. tragedy at a ballpark in texas. a baseball fan flipped over the stands at a texas rangers game and fell to his death. he was reaching for a ball that a player had tossed into the stands when he tragically fell. casey anthony won't be freed from jail until july 17th, that is four days later than announced yesterday. correctionses official did not give an explanation why they recalculated her sentence late last night. a fermer aide to david cameron arrested in the phone hacking scandal that hit the news of the world. he was an editor for the

tabloid. the paper is accused of hacking into voice mails of celebrities, politicians, even the voice mail of a missing girl giving her family false hope that she was still alive. big jobs report is out just 18,000 jobs were added to the u.s. economy last month and that is well below expectations. even though 18,000 added, the estimates were somewhere between 80,000 and 15,000 so, obviously, well below those expectations. the unemployment rate also increased to 9.2% in june, that is up 0.1% from the previous month. stock futures are dropping drastically on this news. all three major market indicators are set to open much lower. right now, futures for the do you dow trading down 115 points. the launch is a go. nasa on schedule to send "atlantis" into orbit. the crew is on board and the

capsule will be closed in minutes. it is the final launch in the 30-year-old schultz program. duke and duchess is wrapping up their trip with a stampede in calgary. in santa barbara with a polo challenge and visit with kids in an inner city arts program in l.a. and rubbing elbows with some of hollywood's elite. you're caught up on today's headlines. "american morning" is back in a moment.

my father called me and told me that something bad had happened in china. my daughters went to thailand

for vacation with my ex-husband. it was hard to get good information in sweden, we decided to go to thailand ourselves and look for them. when i realized i wouldn't bring them back home alive, i wanted to die. but the thai people had suffered so much more, i felt a connection to them and i wanted to give something back. my name is suzanne janson. i moved to thailand because i wanted to help poor thai children to make the most out of their lives. we are not an orphanage. it is a home for children and families in need. we want to provide these children with chance to make some changes in their lives. love is the first thing they need. second, food. but then it's school and education. we want to be as close to the normal family as possible. of course, we are a very big family. when something is good, we are happy together.

if something bad happens, we cry together. that's the most important, if you work with children, not so much heads, but a lot of heart. my daughters loved their life. and i want them to show them that i would survive this and if i could help my new children to love their life, at least one good thing came out of this. -having her is amazing. -we made a miracle. and we got onesies! sometimes miracles get messy. so we use tide free. no perfumes or dyes for her delicate skin. brad. not it. not it. just kidding. that's our tide. what's yours? i grew up wearing lots of hand-me-downs. bell bottoms in the '80s? not pretty. then she found them. she loved them, so i washed them in tide with downy and they're still soft and fresh. right?

i'm blogging. really. i'm talking. that's my tide. what's yours? i'm talking. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.

welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at...

♪ we're here at the kennedy space center. less than three hours history is going to be made. what you're looking at is a countdown clock and it says there t-minus 138.

that countdown clock is not a normal countdown. until we get close to the countdown it will not reflect what you and now to be the case. the this thing is not launching in an how are you and a half. closer to three hours if it goes ahead. the launch pad in the distance. that is it, the launch pad. we can get closer looks at that right now as space shuttle "atlantis" gets ready to be the last thing that goes into space. the space shuttle "atlantis" its last mission and last mission of the space shuttle program. the astronauts are in the capsule right now. they are right there. they are getting ready for it. that is the pilot. he is the first person. he is going to be steering that thing. the commander is sitting on his left. a lot of people around here. possibly a million people around here. carol costello is along a major road that is where people gather to watch this. look at that. telescopes and binoculars and

they have a radio system there so they can hear what mission control is doing. carol, you look like you're having a good time. what is it like out there? >> reporter: i'm having a great time! when people told me there were going to be a million people flooding into this area to watch this last historic launch, i didn't believe them! but i do now, ali. take a look at this. this is just a little strip of land right off highway 528 and people are waiting for the launch to go off. they can see it across the water. they have a grand spot. as you said, ali, right over there is a big old truck, amateur radio ham radio operators are inside and they are patched into the nasa control center so that everybody out here can hear the actual countdown. people are here from all over america. come back over here, rick. i want to show matthew. he came from cleveland! he has been here a long time. he is taking a little nap. as a lot of people are right now. i can't wake him! he is out cold! you can see some people have pitched tents and we actually know the people who pitched this tent.

this is nate and john. they came from new york. you guys flew in, what, last night? >> yesterday morning. >> and you found there were no hotel rooms available so what you'd? >> once we got to the airport, we started calling around and no hotels were available so we went to walmart and picked up a tent' air mattresses and tostitos. >> the mail bonding thing is going fast and furious? >> that it is, that it is. >> why does you decide to come down and see this? >> it's really the last opportunity to see something that is really a feat of mankind and we didn't want to miss it for the world. >> reporter: is this your first one? >> yes it is. >> reporter: why is this one important? >> we have a bucket list going and the shuttle launch is one of them and this is the last one. so, i mean, it's like now or never. we procrastinated this far and like a wake-up call. >> reporter: he is getting married soon. your wife is having a shower. she wanted -- or your wife to be is having a shower. she wanted to you to be there but you're not. that's crazy! >> she knows thg something that

is pretty awesome and she want me to experience it so she is very understanding with that. i really wanted to be there. but, no, no. she is being really cool about it j why is why you're marrying her. have great time. we hope the launch get off. it appears the launch will take off as scheduled but we are all keeping our fingers crossed here. >> i love that they just flew in, went to walmart and got a tent and toss tite tostitos to the launch! i'm not leaving but it's all live got to tell you right now. i'll be on tv later on. back to you. >> we have been talking about the top five space movies on cnn.com. check out "the right stuff." my favorite too. check is out. >> ali's favorite is "star trek." he is a trekky which many e-mailed us about and did not make it and neither is

"capricorn 1" which is my favorite space movie. >> here are some of your responses. my favorite space movie would be "october sky." >> "star trek" it -- oh, because it showed the wonderful mix of space, science and humanity. i'm sure what ali thinks as well. "star trek" even inspired me to go into medicine. we take you right up to the scheduled launch for 11:26 and i wanted to add the jobs report, we just got this number about 30 minutes ago. the jobs report was disappointing folks and futures are much lower this morning, about 15 lower in the dow. not very much job creation at all. >> 18,000 jobs created and the estimates between 80,000 and 15,000. >> that's right. you got government jobs lost, slashing government jobs. that is something you need to know this morning. that is going to be a big hot topic of political conversatio