stuart: "invested in you".com. at foxbusiness.com. send your video questions to us please. we got a lot of good ones already. we'll use those questions at 11:00 on this show. neil, it's yours. neil: thank you very much, my friend. we're following what you're following, corner of wall and broad, a lot of states opening up even though states having problems, spike in cases, 14 of them at last count, apparently within the margin of error here. so they're optimistic about that. also very optimistic about reopening plans. stuart might have already told you what they're planning to do at disney world and seaworld. it will be a on tentative basis. it will start in july. it will be about everyone keeping their distance. we're keeping an eye on that. as well as a look at

cape canaveral. first time in almost a decade americans are going to be sending americans into space. this is a big moment for elon musk and his spacex company. in fact will use tesla vehicle to bring the two astronauts out to the ganttry here. this is launchpad 39-a. that should ring a pell, where all apollo flights took off, including apollo xi, the one that landed on the moon. you will see see key players there. people on cocoa beach. they say better part of valor keeping your distance. try telling a people not seen a manned launch from cape canaveral in a decade. we we have phil keating at kennedy space center in cape canaveral. phil? reporter: at this moment all systems are go for the historic launch 4:30 p.m. eastern time,

roughly four hours from now. this is the fires time, a private space company, spacex will launch astronauts from their rocket and capsule, ever. this is big deal. lives are on the line. this is the only second time the space dragon capsule has gone from either and taken off into space. that is launchpad 39-a. that is the falcon 9 rocket with the five merlin engines very loud when it blasts off. appears only thing possible to chubb the 4:33 eastern time blastoff is weather it rained heavily here this morning with thunder and lightning. it just stopped raining 20 minutes ago, the second time it rained here today. the current forecast for the launch time success with the weather cooperating or not, is now a 50/50 shot according to the air force meteorologist. take a look what the weather was

like here on the cape this morning. very dark clouds moved through, packing severe rains. exactly what no one wants later this afternoon. the two astronauts. got to the cape a week ago. on saturday they did the final prelaunch dress rehearsal. nasa is calling it launch america, first time in nearly a decade since the space shuttle atlantis landed here we launched american astronauts from florida instead of relying on russia. >> just an amazing vehicle. it is definitely not the space shuttle in many ways. it is much smaller but it is a capsule. it is state of the art from a technology standpoint and we are so excited to be in a real spaceship and not the simulator. reporter: remember, this is a test flight. the second test flight for this space system. here is a live look on cocoa beach. crowding will be definitely out to look up.

a social distancing concern for nasa, three weeks ago it began urging all the usual people, space tourists to stay home and watch it on tv and not come here. two people that are planning on coming here are president trump and vice president pence. they're supposed to get on to marine one here just about 15 minutes from now. take off on air force one from joint base andrews at 12:35 to make the two hour flight down here. it is a 50/50 weather shot. director bridenstine, if they really knew there was no chance four hours a way from the launch window it was not going to happen they would probably not waste the president's time to bring air force one down. as far as we know all systems are go as well for the president and the vice president to make the trip down to florida. launch time right now, roughly four 1/2 minutes away. as far as coronavirus concerns

the astronauts have basically been in quarantine for the past 10 weeks. here they have been in total quarantine as well. and two weeks before that. so nobody wants to take bugs off to the space station. typically, when astronauts or cosmonauts go up to the space station they're always in quarantine two weeks before. that is why you never heard of people being sick on board the international space station, neil. neil: you know i always wondered about that, phil. you're right. we'll see if everything goes off without a hitch four 1/2 hours from now, thank you, my friend. phil keating. he knows the florida ins and outs and natural disasters that seem to hit that state. no one is looking at that today. a lot of people know where elon musk will be for this. he will not being joining the president and vice president. he will watch this from mission control a few miles away from the launch pad. imagine how excited he must be. he beat out likes of richard branson and jeff bezos who have

competing technologies. they were just not up to speed as he was. we'll be following that as well later on when the astronauts make their way to that rocket ship. guess what they're going to be driving it? surprise, a tesla. th this is a great marketing opportunity as well. president joining the vice president to watch all of this in four hours from now from cape canaveral, wrapping up a meeting with the governor of new york, andrew cuomo. blake burman with the latest on that. hey, blake. reporter: hi, there, neil and we should potentially here, get a readout, get an instant readout from president trump and new york governor andrew cuomo, we do expect as phil laid out the president to get on marine one in 15 minutes or so it is possible he talks to reporters on the south lawn of the white house and also afterwards in about an hour's time, cuomo is expected to talk to reporters in washington, d.c.

as well. cuomo going into this said he wanted to come down to washington to talk to president trump about potentially using infrastructure to reignite the economy. the white house leading into this said they were very pleased that the democratic governor from new york would be making yet another visit down to the oval office. >> yes. this is third time they met this year. they have talked obviously about the coronavirus response, reopening new york, a state that, state and city the president knows well and loves deeply and also talk about infrastructure and other projects as well but, sure, it does show that governor cuomo, like the other governors now has a reopening plan. reporter: if we do hear from president trump on the south lawn here momentarily, neil, we will likely hear questions about hong kong as the secretary of state mike pompeo has just sent off a letter giving a new warning essentially to china

from the trump administration. here is part of what that letter says from the secretary of state, quote, i certify to congress today that hong kong does not continue to warrant treatment under united states laws in the same manner as u.s. laws were applied to hong kong before july 1977. no reasonable person can assert today that hong kong maintain as high degree of autonomy from china given the facts on the ground. neil, i'm told, what this essentially does is it gives the administration access to tools to counter china's measure we're seeing this crackdown they are potentially moving forward with against hong kong. neil? neil: all right. blake burman, thank you very much, my friend. blake burman will have the latest of the meeting when the principals are out and maybe provide a statement on infrastructure and that kind of thing that people are looking at. you're looking at what is ultimate infrastructure here, the spacex falcon 9 rocket due to blast off from cape canaveral

in about four hours, 20 minutes or so i always think i'm looking at this, how much gene cernan would have loved to see this. the last man to walk on the moon. covered it for the better part of close to two decades. we developed quite the friendship, one of the things comes to this job was a real treat was that close friendship. he made me an honorary astronaut when i told him as a kid i realized i never could become one because i couldn't fit in the capsule. one of the things i do remember about gene, how much he regretted the he was the last man to walk on the moon, somehow we had given up our zest and zeal for space missions, manned space missions, found it doubling, insulting that we were hitching rides with the russians that was then, looking back at gene certain man, and some profound comments echoing today. take a listen. you must look what is going on in space today, and saying we

got to get that back? >> american exceptionalism, neil, it is out there in the hearts and minds of our young kids and grandkids. i can promise you, if we give them the opportunity, you know, if i can, if i can go to the moon people their moms and dads were born, what can't they do? american exceptionalism, we can do it. we have done it, and we can do it again and we need to do it in this country. neil: yeah. and he didn't really pick apart whether it was private enterprise doing it or conjunction with nasa on its own we had to do it. there is difference between unmanned spaceships going to the hither parts of universe, man has to be part of that. very crucial. i will talk to later on, tracy cernan, his daughter was kind enough to join me later today on this launch day. talk about competing with a dad like that who is walking on the moon, and he etches her name,

writes her initials on the lunar surface. that is a present no other kid can ever say their respective moms or dads did. we'll hear from mark armstrong, his first interview on all of this. of course he is the son of neil armstrong and how important it was to neil armstrong, last name i chatted with him, that we never lose our zeal for space. that other countries can and should participate, but we got to be there. today we are going to try to be there. we have colonel terry burke with us right now, might ring a bell. former nasa astronaut, former international space station commander. enormous reputation and background. i'm very honored to have him join us. colonel, us you must be excited here this is moment we thought we would not see and we haven't seen for the better of newspaper years. what do you think? >> been a long time. i wish i was down there, bringing back memories from

launching from the same launch bad from space shuttle endeavor about a decade ago. neil: when you look at it, colonel cunningham of the apollo vii flight. very excited about this. didn't mince words about it. he worries about the shift over to private enterprise handling all of this. bemoaning that the private entities are about money, saving money, cost issues. he recognizes that is important in this day and age but it is an issue with him. is it an issue for you? >> well, of course safety has got to be the top priority. if you look at the apollo and gemini and space shuttle all the spaceships we ever had they were all built by private companies. they had a much higher level of nasa involvement. this is the first time where there has been really not a lot of nasa involvement. there has been some oversight but not a lot but to be honest the companies that are doing this, are doing things much more

efficiently, much more, much faster than nasa can do things. private enterprise, what america does great is innovation. if you get the american economy and private enterprise going, there is nothing that they can't do. neil: colonel, for the astronauts involved here, now they're space veterans, they have each been on two shuttle flights. their spouses have been shuttle astronauts. it is well-steeped in their respective families but this is a whole different bird. i'm wondering if they're used to that. especially those who are pilots, background fighter pilots, used to work with this what have you this is a screen, big old very, very pricey tesla. i'm wondering obviously they prepared hundreds of hours for this but it has got to be an adjustment, right? >> it's a very, very different thing. it is funny.

bob and doug are both my astronaut classmates. our you said we don't want to send any bugs into space. their nicknames was bug. on my first flight of endeavour bob flew with me. i know the guys very well. way as test pilot. you can fly it manually during launch. i flew it in space with a stick with, controllers. i flew it in the air like an airplane. these new capsules, the spacex and next one coming up, the boeing, are completely automated. so really there is nothing to do. they are going to have some test manuevers that they do just to make sure that the manuel systems work, the back-up systems but it is an independent pad. so you're touching a screen. you're not flying with a stick and rudder like you do on airplane. very, very different automated system. neil: one of the things, colonel

that was amazing class, that class of 2,000. i didn't know you were in that class. >> good-looking class. neil: good-looking class, absolutely. let me ask you a little bit what is unique to this rocket ship as well the fact there is an escape system in place that the astronauts can use, god forbid right up to orbit. i'm wondering, the technology there, the first for any space vehicle ever across the world. obviously it has been tested and they have done a number of unmanned tests, only way it could have been done prior obviously. who calls that, colonel? can the commander himself say, all right, we've got to jettison here? who makes that ultimate decision? >> yes. so the specifics how spacex does it is all proprietary. i was never one of the spacex guys when he went out to nasa but the bottom line it is automated. if the rocket blows up you have to escape, it happens so fast you don't have time. my understanding the whole thing

is automated. a couple of years ago on a russian soyuz there was a problem with the first stage booster and the soyuz had to use their escape system to bring the crew away from the rocket. so these systems aren't used very often but when you need them it's good to have them. the spacex one is very different. most capsules going back to apollo and soyuz and other ones they have a rocket on top of the capsule that pulls it away with a lot of thrust really quickly. you get smashed in your seat for a few tenths of a second like an ejection seat from a fighter jet but the spacex capsule has fuel inside of the capsule that pushes it away. so it is a different design philosophy. that is what spacex chose and they did -- issues over the years but they just had a very successful launch, they launched a rocket and tested it on a actual rocket in flight it worked. hopefully they don't need it. neil: so the difference here, i'm sorry, so the difference here this is unique in that

quite late, right on the verge of orbit you can jettison out unlike the soyuz which would be i imagine be at a lower altitude? >> that is true. the soyuz, apollo and others it was 2 1/2 minutes into flight our escape tower jettisoned. you don't need that. that is added weight. no need to bring that thing in orbit so you get rid of it. spacex was originally going to plan to land the capsule on land, they want to keep the engines and fuel so they can land on land. now it can't land on land t has to land on water. maybe down the road we will use that fuel, bring it back to orbit, bring it to earth and fuel for soft landing. today that is not how they're going to do it. hopefully they won't do it at all. neil: i know. i hear you. i'm only saying it because it does have the unique feature. but, colonel, there is an aggressive goal to get us back to the moon by 2024 i believe.

this is obviously integral to that, as back and forth missions to the international space station i believe. the unmanned vehicles have done that at least 20 times back and forth but how doable is that timeline to get back to the moon within really just a few years? >> well, 2024 is in four years so, you know, that was the beginning of the trump presidency. that is not that long of a time, especially in nasa time. it has taken us about a decade, you know, constellation program was canceled a decade ago, over a decade ago. we're just now launching our first person just to orbit which john glenn did in 1961. so it has taken as you long time to do something that's not nearly as complicated as getting to the moon. putting people on the moon in 2024 is going to be, i guess challenge something one word to describe it but unless you have the deadline you will never do it.

i talk about innovation and i talk about apollo, kennedy gave them an insane mandate. he only gave the nation eight 1/2 years to get to the moon. we had never flown in space other than 15 minutes with alan shepherd. we did it in eight 1/2 years. so i think the key to doing something big and spectacular is to not have quite enough time to do it. and i think that is the real motivation between giving a deadline as that lights a fire under people. otherwise, going to work, 9:00 to 5:00, you don't have any pressure, unless you got, unless the yankees have the red sox they will not work so hard. so the timeline for nasa is having that competition out there. neil: i like that. that is a great analogy. colonel, thank you very much. i remember what john kennedy said after that, people were shocked at the deadline. i wanted to get excited today to think about how the hell they're going to do it tomorrow but they did it, they did it. colonel, you come from an elite class, a good-looking class.

i think doug hurley and bob might say they were better looking it is all judge mental. incredible service. exactly. very humble. thank you, sir, very much. we're about four hours away from the big launch a little note on senate doug hurley. he was -- senate doug he was last to pilot a manned milks off from cape canaveral in 2011. little did know back then that we would not launch men and women into space from u.s. soil until now and that he would be on that flight. more after this.

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neil: always watching the weather at cape canaveral. that slipped to be more of an issue than we thought from 60% chance of going today to 50%. not so much what is happening along cocoa beach and cape canaveral area but again all along the east coast. it could extend for thousands of miles here, a little better than 1100 i believe.

because there is this jettison option for the crew to leave, in the event of harm, the weather has to be hospitable after they launch throughout that trajectory going up north to the east coast. because it is not as friendly in points north as it is around the cape, they have lowered the expectations to a weather-related launch to 50% from 60%. we'll keep monitoring that. it changes very, have he quickly. if this is more of an issue for this spacex capsule then it is in prior launches, shuttles, what have you, but we are keeping an eye on it for you. we are also keeping an eye on terrestial concerns that go beyond what is happening on this launchpad or could to what is happening half a world away in hong kong where demonstrators are fighting with police using plastic bullets and the rest. it got very ugly. if claudia rosset is right,

expected to get uglier. independent women's forum policy fellow joins us right now. claudia, this is china's way of saying we're not backing down. i'm wondering if the true military power is coming to the fore here, not necessarily the rational economic one, what do you think? >> oh, i think that's right. i mean whether in the end the people's liberation army or more likely as i think already happening, the people's armed police, which are sort of the storm troops of china's government, hong kong, this is actually a terrible day, neil. secretary of state pompeo reported to congress his finding that hong kong is no longer autonomous. in other words, china 27 years early has violated, ahead of its promise to preserve hong kong's freedom, has violated the treaty with britain that gave hong kong special status as basically a free society. it is a terrible tragedy and a

huge warning to us. neil: you know, claudia, i talked to a demonstrator that was around the time of the tianamen square uprising and she was saying, times dictate china's policy. back with the hand over of the british in 1997, hong kong accounted for 23% of activity for china, when they got control of it. >> yeah. neil: now it is less than 5%. so, i think what she was getting at, i don't want to put words in her mouth is, the chinese feel more emboldened to deal with this now, whatever the global implications, because now, you know, hong kong is competing with shanghai. it is competing with beijing. competing with all these other centers that are thriving. you could look at that, say that is a short-lived sort of phenomenon but what do you make of that? they feel that this would not be as damaging as the way the world

is framing it? >> it will be damaging to them but there is a whole shift going on, there is a lot of dynamics here. let me quickly hone in on two. yes, hong kong is a much smaller fraction of china's gdp, but hong kong is essential as china's portal to the dollar world. china is a country which controls access of its people to u.s. dollars. one more form of government control and a very big one actually and hong kong is sort of the window where they manage all that, with foreign investment, outward use of china's money. that is how they access the dollar world. it would be a big hit if the u.s. takes away the ability of hong kong banking, for instance to function as it has been doing as part of the free world. at the same time china has been going through especially since xi xinping took power in 2012, general secretary of the communist party and in 2013 in

president and having lifted term limits, president for life is what he wants to be, china has become more and more aggressive. it has been arming that huge military parade. remember last october 1st, 70th anniversary of the communist party. you're seeing a more and more aggressive china which is willing to take hits and i think this pandemic has amplified all that. so xi xinping is basically doubling down in all sorts of ways n hong kong, he doesn't want a free society anymore. he is unwilling to tolerate that. whatever the cost, i think he is banking on the idea that the west will huff and puff but in the end really not do much. neil: that is in our past, hasn't it? claudia, thank you very much you were way ahead of it. when people were getting excited, saw and worried about a lot of things coming to fruition right now. on this day we're looking at all

the violence, what would be a very seminal movement in our space program history, what frank borman of a billion low 8 said looking back at the earth at christmastime there, are no divisions or markers between countries in space. we are one. it is a image of whole. try selling that to hong kong. a little more after this. (soothing music)

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neil: all right. there are states getting back to business here but you might want to check your travel plans because some states that are getting back to business, and you visit them, they want to quarantine you right now. in fact, they will be stricting enforcing it, depending on the state. grady trimble on top of this. grady. reporter: neil, there are different rules for the self-quarantine guideline depending on the state you're going to.

even some cities have guidelines in place, they have made their own rules. in florida right now, as an example, anyone coming from the new york tri-state area, new york, new jersey, connecticut, as well as louisiana is asked to self-quarantine for two weeks. in other states like maine, nevada, alaska, hawaii to name a few, all people coming in from out-of-state are asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days. so the question becomes, well can you really enforce this? a man from new york was arrested last week after visiting hawaii, violating the quarantine order and posting all about his travels on instagram. in other states those found violating the rules could face thousands of dollars in fines. but for everybody getting in trouble for this, there are likely thousands and thousands of other people refusing to quarantine and not facing any penalties. >> i am fully prepared to come back home, clean and stay inside and this is what i've been practicing the last two months. >> no idea they had a travel

restriction. asking people to quarantine for 14 days is absolutely ridiculous. reporter: these travel restrictions are state by state decisions. florida remains in effect even in the first stage of reopening. states could face pressure to do away with restrictions as tourism season ramps up. neil this, is something americans want to pay attention to as they plan their summer getaways if they want to follow the rules. neil? neil: that's interesting. thank you very much, grady trimble. when establishments open beyond just restaurants, i'm talking about malls, shopping centers, it is all new world for them. doesn't my next guest know it. rick caruso, the grove shopping center in los angeles, owner of rosewood miramar beach resort. that upscale grove shopping center, that is a destination in of itself. you know, you hear there might be restrictions there, it can be problematic. rick, good to have you. what are you hearing about about

all it is going to lay out and how are you dealing with that? >> well, thank you, neil. it is going to be different. i'm a firm believer that we're not going back to the world that we had before the close down. i think all of us the way we're going to engage with customers, whether it is in retail, whether it is in restaurants, whether it is in a resort we have will be very different. safety will be a number one concern. weave taken extreme measures as we should to make sure that we've got protocols in place that all of our locations are safe, they're welcoming, we're going to make sure that have is responsibility also on the part of our guests and we're going to keep our employees safe. i think also there is a fundamental shift in preferences of a consumer now. we did a survey of about 4500 people in los angeles, just asking about what is really important to them, how they want us to engage them, what their expectations are.

i don't think we're going back to the old world but i think there are some new opportunities we can be a part of. i'm actually very excited about it. i'm very positive about it. so i'm looking forward to when we get a full reopening. neil: how do you police the crowds in the time being, rick? how is that done? >> you know, we have signage up around the property. we can't be police. what we are doing on the properties as part of our protocols, we published our protocols, because i think there is a shared responsibility. without shared responsibility, we're not going to be able to succeed. with shared responsibility i don't think we can fail. but, so what we did, we published our safety protocols that we spent weeks and weeks on putting together. we hired the head of infectious disease from usc tech to help draft them. we have a full-time rn on our properties working with the cleaning crews, and we have

ambassadors that will be walking around our properties reminding people of physical distancing. now one of the great advantages, neil, that i have on all of our properties is we're outdoors. the best disinfectant for this virus is sunshine. so we're in a great advantage being an ought door center, outdoor properties, sprawling hotel on a beach where people feel much more comfortable. every survey we have taken a look at, the preference is for people to be in open-air centers, on streets, sunshine, and, you know, being in an environment where they feel safe. so we're going to remind people. we're going to ask people to wear a mask on all of our properties. we're going to enforce it as well as we can, but it is going to be difficult and what we're hoping for, and i believe will be true, that people will govern themselves because we have a single shot to get this right. if we don't get this right, if we don't work together, and if

we don't avoid a second wave, i think the impact to the economy is going to be dramatic. your comment that you were saying looking from space, there is no borders, this is shared responsibility now, and we all are in the same world together, needing to work together to, make sure that this virus does not come back in a massive wave. neil: yeah. let's hope that doesn't happen. your shoppers are loyal though. my wife visited there, she could deal with distancing and crowd control. that would not be an issue at all. rick, best of luck on this and so much more as you make your way back, and americans do the same. rick caruso on all of that. we'll have more. ancestry...gave us context.

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neil: all right. earlier doug hurley and bob

behnken the astronauts making this first in space race, sending americans for the first time in better than nine years, this is live i should say. the spacesuits are very, very cool. the vehicle they're driving to the launchpad, 39a, the same all the astronauts used, apollo xi famously. skylabs launched from there, a host of very memorable, historic liftoffs, the latest and first as i said in close to a decade. the significance of this cannot be lost on fighting for space, thank you very much for taking the time. amy, thank you for taking the time. you have to pinch yourself these images that is happening now, thinking it is tape, it is old stuff, it is now, it is happening now. big day. >> it is definitely exciting to finally again see astronauts leaving from american soil. it has been a really long time.

it is something that the united states has been doing for decades. so to regain that capability is exciting to our future in space. neil: you know, if for no other reason we stop hitching rides with the russians, there is great value in that. there is the residual impact, that just private enterprise, working with nasa, to rediscover space. i know this sets the stage for lunar missions that will resume on ultimately, have us back on the moon in just a few years, i think by 2024. ambitious schedule. how do you think it all falls out, amy? >> i think it is a little bit ambitious. we project the lunar landing goal date pushed back and back. still working towards that goal obviously. this is incredible step. bringing in commercials

partners, focus on bigger lunar mission potentially. i don't know. one of those things there are so much. space is so hard, things could happen, next four years, keep us on schedule or delay it. that is one of the things we'll all have to wait and see. neil: what do you think after private public partnership. if you think of it, i always think nasa gets a bad rap. nasa itself was a public/private partnership, think of old days of mcdonnell douglas, boeing, raytheon, were all part, grumman, were all part of what would be an american undertaking to take us to the stars. slightly different in the strategy now, right? >> this is great way to show how space is much more accessible. that we have private companies able to do things in space but we're actually able to do significant things like launch

humans in the in orbit. this is the first time in a decade. i hope this is a great start, a new era of cooperation between the government and private sectors such that you know, one can focus in one place, the other can focus in another place. together we can have a larger program in space that allows us to go further and do more. neil: you know, amy on the left side of your screen you're watching the astronauts, doug hurley and bob behnken prepare, getting suited up for the big flight, now about roughly 3 1/2 hours away, if everyone sticks to schedule and mother nature cooperates but amy, thinking of having you on, very honored to have you on by the way, when john kennedy was president, he was talking about landing a man on the moon before the decade was out, we're doing that at a time our space program was almost a joke. it was stumbling badly. vanguard rockets were crashing on the launch pad.

but he had an ambitious goal. helping him to fighting the soviet union to beat them. there is no kind of bogeyman, i guess you can talk about china making inroads, russia we're already there, what will keep people galvanized on this? >> that is a big question. a good one. it is definitely true, that you know, competition breeds innovation and, to see, we can't take the apollo program outside of the cold war which really enable spaceflight to enable lunar landings to happen. we will see a lot of ambitious goals but the dates are slipping back, but it is really expensive. the a polo level funding, we vent seen that since. we have to see something like that again to see the continuatino of large, large-scale of space programs within that similar time frame.

so i think what is driving people now is this ability to divide and conquer with the private sector doing part, government sector doing part. also kind of, i think there is a feeling like almost loss, like, america did have this really burgeoning space program for a while, the shuttle era inspired entire generation. we don't have that now. i think a lot of people want to recover that. i think that will help people foster an interest in space, really promote, ideally bring more funding and more energy into seeing these big missions happen. neil: well-put, amy, well-put. two u.s. astronauts about to do something we've not seen in close to a decade. i keep thinking in my old friend, gene cernan who had said and noted with great success of the unmanned space program taking us to the outer reaches of the solar system, the universe, so the difference with a man or woman doing it, neil, is we can explain what it felt

like. i think he is feeling it right now. we'll have more after this. some companies still have hr stuck between employees and their data.

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neil: all right. tell me when the last time you saw u.s. astronauts being readied up for a big trip to the stars? in the past, in the past nine 1/2 years or so, they have been doing this in russia, kazakhstan more to the point where they would launch and from where they would launch to get up to the international space station. we've had no shortage of astronauts doing that, but again, we would have to hook a ride with the russians and pay around $85 million for the privilege. that was per seat. the difference with doing it ourselves is it is about half that cost and the money is going to us. so this is a significant development here as we watch doug hurley and bob behnken get ready for a big launch. the significance of mr. hurley that he was the last american astronaut to take off from u.s. soil, on the last space shuttle back in 2011. interesting little tidbit on both men.

they graduated in the same astronaut class of 2000. they met their spouses in and around that class. both their spouses are astronauts. it's amazing. it's a real comradery. these are the latest entrants, more after this. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief

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neil: investigations now officially closed. u.s. senator kelly loeffler's office confirming what we had been hearing, the u.s. department of justice has closed an investigation into some stock trades she made and that were made on her behalf. the "wall street journal" has said loeffler is among a number of senators who are no longer under this scrutiny. they include senators jim inhofe of oklahoma and dianne feinstein. no, sir so lucky, senator richard burr of north carolina, who remains under investigation. senator kelly loeffler joins us right now. senator, i'm sure this is a relief. what do you do now? you are still running for your seat. you've got a republican challenger. you think this issue still comes up? >> well, neil, thanks for having me on. it's great to be here. look, i said from day one i

would be completely exonerated and i have been completely and totally exonerated. look, i knew that this was a political witch hunt by the left wing media. this is exactly what they do to the president. it's what they have done to him on the russia investigation, the impeachment and now with michael flynn. look, what i do is i just keep moving forward. this is exactly what the president does. working for our country, never being distracted by this and getting back to work for georgians as i have done every minute since i have been sworn in in january. neil: how do you handle investments now, senator? i'm just curious. you had, you know, sold pretty much anything that was in question. do you use an outside firm, blind trust, how do you and your husband manage that? >> same as always. we don't manage our own investments. they are managed by third parties. we are not involved, haven't been. as you know, i spent over two decades in financial services, have totally separated myself

from our finances and have done that for a long time. i understand the spirit and the letter of the law and have followed that since day one. and really, my focus has always been on working for georgia and that's what i've been doing. i was in savannah yesterday with small business owners who received ppp, i was working alongside the national guard packing food boxes. that's what i do. i keep working for georgia. that's my answer. neil: so you're not going to talk about some of your colleagues in the senate. the burr investigation seems to be a little more involved in that his phone was seized, as you know. it all comes back to, you know, who knew what and when and in his case, you know, information that he was privy to, he traded on. you would argue that was not the case with you and this investigation seemed to confirm that, but does it mean that, you know, his job could be in jeopardy? >> well, neil, i can't speak for anyone other than myself. i have been completely and fully

exonerated and again, this is a political witch hunt for me and that's over. anyone who continues to carry this message forward about me is lying to you. i'm working hard for georgians and look, there's so much to do to get us back on track in this economy. that's why i've developed the usa rise plan to look forward to give americans the optimism that we can return to our schools, our work, our church safely and that's really my focus. neil: all right. senator loeffler, thank you. i know you have a pressing schedule. we do appreciate your taking the time. senator loeffler, the beautiful state of georgia. in the meantime, we are looking at another beautiful state. that is the state of florida, all eyes on our first manned mission leaving from the united states in the better part of close to a decade, en route to the international space station. only about 214 miles away from where they are right now. but it is an important and

seminal start, something the nasa administrator was telling me is crucial. take a listen. >> first time in almost a decade we have launched americans into space and not had to worry about hitching a ride with the russians. what's the biggest part of this mission to you? >> so we are launching american astronauts on american rockets from american soil for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles back in 2011. so we haven't done this now in nine years and the historical significance, we have only had four times in american history where we have put american astronauts at the top of a new launch system. mercury, gemini, apollo, the space shuttle program and now we will do it for commercial crew. i will tell you what's most special for me is the fact that we are doing it differently than we have ever done it before.

we are creating a commercial marketplace in space. so we did not purchase, own and operate this rocket. we are buying a service to take astronauts to the international space station. and we want to be one customer of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace, and we want to have numerous providers that are competing on cost and innovation, driving down costs and increasing access. so this is really, i would put it in a nutshell, this is a new dawn, a new era in human space flight. neil: i don't know whether he sounds like a nasa administrator or nasa ceo. very pragmatic business view of things, whatever is the most cost effective and can yield the best results. it's a concept and it's something that nasa is doing now in conjunction with spacex. we will watch it very very closely. jackie deangelis with us now. jackie, this is a first. it's a public/private partnership.

if it does well, it could be a sign of future undertakings and not just in space. jackie: oh, absolutely. it really is historic for that reason, from a business perspective, because it's the first time you've got a private company funding nasa astronauts into space versus the national government doing that, and you know, you look at this, spacex, nasa paid spacex $3.14 billion to develop and fly the crew dragon capsule. that is a lot of money. this is the future of space f r exploration as a business. at the end of last year, investment in the sector had reached a total of $5.8 billion, up 73% year over year. the lion's share of the money coming from the private sector. the ceo of the space foundation explains. >> about 80% of the space economy comes from the commercial sector. if you look at it, the economy

right now is about a $417 billion enterprise, and about $85 billion comes from the government. i see that as good, because it provides great competition and real opportunity for people. jackie: you mentioned it before, there was a point in our lifetime where we didn't think this would be possible. you would roll your eyes. but since 2009, 535 space companies have received a total of $25.7 billion to work on these projects. some even call it the billionaires' space race, if you will, because you've got elon musk behind spacex, then richard branson, he's behind virgin galactic, and even amazon's jeff bezos backing blue origin. then you've got the traditional military contractors investing as well, boeing is working on stuff, orbital sciences, northrop grummond in the game. u.s. companies are outpacing the

rest of the world when it comes to investment but chinese companies accounted for about 34% of investment in the final quarter of last year. you look at some of the funding. $140 million for 3d printed rocket system, $120 million for virgin galactic, $140 million for a chinese-based company as well. it's a lot of money globally that is being focused on space travel. what's interesting here, too, especially at a time like this when so many people are out of work, they are growing and expanding so rapidly that they can't even fill all the positions for folks to consider private space travel, for example, as a career in the future is even just something we couldn't have thought about ten years ago. neil: yeah. you think about it, spacex had like half a dozen workers work in a warehouse, so obviously it's a different world. today over 7,000. thank you very very much.

it's a world my friend gene tiernan wouldn't recognize but it would impress him. we have yet to return. other countries are looking at returning, india, china, maybe russia. not us. how do you feel about that? >> pretty disappointed. i think i feel empty inside. we cracked the door open half a century ago, you know. we were challenged to do something no one thought we could do by kennedy. we were challenged to do the impossible. half a century later, the leadership we took, we have turned around and given back to the same people although we call them russians today. full circle, given it back. neil: clinton anderson joins us now. that should be a very familiar name to you. the former nasa astronaut, author of "it's a question of space." i'm honored to have you. thank you very much for allowing us to share this moment with you and you with us.

i'm thinking of gene cernan, what he had to say about the importance of our being there, even going back to jfk and what he would think of private initiatives really funding this. i think both men would be okay with that. what do you think? >> it's great to be back with you, neil. thanks for having me. yeah, i think they would be with us on all this because in the end, to me, and i believe to them, keeping america as the preeminent space faring nation is the golal, what we all want o see. neil: so looking at this today, i'm sure you relate to the astronauts, the pressure they're under. they have done this between the two of them at least four times before. they are married to, you know, spouses who have also gone into space. so they are well-schooled at it. but this is a pressure cooker today, right? >> yeah, it's a little bit different. yes, they have flown before but

this is a test flight. we can't forget that it's called demo2 for a reason. there's a lot to be ironed out, tested out from launch to rendezvous and docking. they will be extremely busy looking at everything as they go uphill or go on to space, as we say, and they will be monitoring all the systems, they will be checking and testing the system. they've got a lot of work ahead of them but i believe they will be very successful. neil: when you look at when you were applying, it would be one thing they would look at weather around the cape. here, they have to look at weather all along the east coast. can you explain that? >> well, we do that for the shuttle as well. the shuttle had the capability to land at emergency sites up and down the east coast and then across the atlantic in africa and spain and other places. with the crew dragon, they

parachute into the ocean and so what they are going to be looking for is the weather up the coast, because if you do have to abort and parachute down, weather causes rough seas and rough seas are a place you don't want to be if you are dropping a capsule with parachutes. neil: the pressure on the astronauts, you talked about, but i'm wondering the dragon capsule itself, even though there will be two astronauts inside it today, it can hold up to seven, right? so is that in preparation for longer, further trips, the moon, et cetera? >> i think so. i'm not sure of what their ultimate goals are. but the more people you can ferry to space in a given vehicle successfully and safely, the more capability you have. you know, if you can take four, you can take seven, you pull out three, add more cargo, there are a lot of ways to do this. it will be very interesting to

me to see how it progresses. i know spacex and elon have big goals with nasa and with their own endeavors they are working on. it's going to be a great next decade, i think, for space flight. neil: when you look at that next decade, say it's dominated by private enterprise, it might be spacex right now, it could be richard branson down the road, jeff bezos, other entities we don't even know now, are you okay with that? i talk to a lot of purists who say they are in it for the money, cost shouldn't be a factor, but how do you feel about all that? >> yeah. great question. it's hard for me to say because the cost will dictate who goes. the cost will dictate who accesses and uses space and to what end they use it for. so i would love to see every american, every human, for that matter, get a shot to see the earth from above.

i think it would change everyone's perspective. but to me, it's going to be market-driven. it's going to be driven by who can go, how successfully they can deal with it when they do go and what they are actually going to do when they get up there. it's kind of a new front in the commercial world, i think. neil: to put it mildly. clayton, thank you very much for your memorable service, to the stars, our space program. i'm sure you're watching this with more than just sideline curiosity. clayton anderson, one of the original mccoys here. you are looking at the latest, two astronauts, very different space suits. we are told actually personally designed by elon musk. i don't know how true that is. but with their families in tow, this is the moment they have been waiting for. doug hurley, bob behnken graduated from the same space class back in 2000. they became fast friends, served in each other's weddings, married astronauts, have similar

age sons and are very excited for this moment. they are getting it. it's now. it's on. back after this. staying connected your way is easier than ever.

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neil: all right. the astronauts, doug hurley and bob behnken, are now making their way to the launch pad 39a. they are going to be in a tesla doing this but again, that's to the actual site. remember this is elon musk's company, spacex, tesla kind of joined at the hip even though they are separate entities here. in fact, we are told the inside of the dragon capsule itself, very much looks like a tesla with large screens that replace the typical joysticks that are more familiar to say fighter pilots, both these astronauts were. we are monitoring that closely. first time we are seeing this in more than nine years. interesting footnote, hurley was the last pilot on the last shuttle mission in 2011. that was the last time americans launched americans into space. we are following that.

but still very aware of what other worldly concerns here, the coronavirus which we are on top of here and also ongoing demonstrations, riots, protests going on in hong kong. greg palkot with the latest on where that is going. greg? reporter: protests and we are looking at just the past couple hours, major breaking news. a strong response from the state department to china's new crackdown against hong kong. today, yes, we saw in hong kong more froefts liprotests, activi clashing with police across the city, authorities using pepper spray, arresting 360 people. the folks there are upset about what is called a national security act. the chinese president xi wants to impose it on hong kong. it would prohibit what's described as quote, subversive activity. it's aimed at stripping hong kong of its unique position inside of china.

secretary of state pompeo apparently agrees. in a statement to congress, released again just a couple hours ago, he said in part, no reasonable person can assert today that hong kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from china given facts on the ground. the move could threaten hong kong's special trading status with the united states. so far, it has been shielded from rounds of tariffs imposed by president trump on china. neil, in our trips again over the last 12 months or so to hong kong, business leaders have told us this stripping of the special trading status by the u.s. of hong kong could be an ultimate action by the trump administration to china's crackdown. again, nothing is set yet on beijing's side, washington's side and in hong kong, but the way the covid u.s. china relations are going, it could be headed that way. back to you. neil: thank you very much.

let's go to amber smith, the former deputy assistant to the former defense secretary, james mattis. this gets dicier and dicier by the day. we had threatened retaliation if there's a crackdown on the hong kong protesters. we are just not sure exactly what that retaliation might be, i would assume sweeping economic sanctions but what are your thoughts? >> i think that we need to continue to expose the chinese communist party for exactly what they are. we just saw very strong statements from secretary pompeo condemning the chinese government which i think is a great step in the right direction. we need to see the president continue to speak to the american people about exactly what china is all about, what they are looking to gain for all of this. we have seen the u.s./china relations deteriorate over the last few months because of the coronavirus, but i think what we are really seeing is china being

squeezed, china feeling extremely threatened. we have seen it with their disorderly behavior and actions all at once, the way they are bullying these smaller nations like new zealand and australia, the border dispute with india, the propaganda on social media about the origins of the coronavirus and now with hong kong. they are really threatened by the western world and the freedoms that come with it and the freedom of speech, the free court system and the civil liberties that the people of hong kong have enjoyed since 1997. it's a lack of control and they want that control back. neil: what do you make of how the chinese are handling this, maybe using the coronavirus as a backdrop, thinking the world is focused on other things or maybe not just caring, if the world has been alienating china and universally condemned the chinese for not being forthright and honest about this, they are

saying what the hell, nothing to lose here, we are just doing what we want to do. >> i think that it's a sort of panic mode. i think that when they feel threatened by the outside world, hong kong really has thrived because of the freedoms that exist, because of those financial opportunities, because of the one country but two system that has been in place for the last 23 years. they really thrived because of that. and once again, that threatens the chinese communist party, and so they are looking for any ways that they can gain control again and it seemingly is happening all at once in terms of china's behavior and aggression. we have seen military aggression from them for some time in the south china sea and sort of pushing out influence that they can and seeing what they can get away with in that aspect. i think it is them switching into sort of a full-on panic

mode and grasping for whatever they can. neil: while i have you, i respect your military opinion as well and i wanted to get your sense on this launch day in the united states, the first in close to a decade, where two u.s. astronauts will be hopefully, weather permitting, launched into space by americans. i'm thinking about the competition in space travel now, not only with the end of our hitching rides with the russians, as we see the astronauts make their way to the launch pad in a tesla, that it's a different world now. we have so many countries competing for space. china is spending the most by far. i was reading one statistic that their total spending and commitment to space dwarfs all other countries combined. i haven't been able to check out the accuracy of that. but they have an aggressive plan and some doubters in the u.s. wonder if it's all for exploration. should we be worried?

>> i don't know if i would say worried. first of all, i'm a super space nerd, probably because of my aviation and i'm a pilot myself, so this is a super exciting day for america. i'm very excited to watch the launch. but i think that what this is, it's a proof of concept for the public/private partnership. so bringing in that private innovation, the private technology, i think is going to be completely separated from the russia, from the china sort of space advances that they have made since we sort of -- from the last administration took a step back from it. i think introducing this and working together and also when we work with the private side, spacex, going and conducting research on the international space station, really frees up nasa as well to focus more on the mars mission and the mars exploration. so overall, this is a win/win. the competition is there, of

course, we always have to be worried about that. but this is really putting us back at the forefront of the space exploration which is where we want to be. neil: which is exactly where we want to be. you and i are so similar. you, of course, as a trained fighter pilot who imagines this nerd fixation in space. me, somebody who used to play in the sandbox. so similar, it's ridiculous. thank you for your service to this country and more for your insights on this. a lot more valuable than mine. amber smith. all right. you were not imagining things. you are seeing astronauts on their way to launch pad 39a leaving the kennedy space center, just a few miles away via a tesla vehicle. many of you have been e-mailing me, please tell us it's not one of those driverless teslas. today, they have a driver. the astronauts are in the back seat. more after this. >> we choose to go to the moon

and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard.

houston, we have a problem. >> houston, we had a problem. words that would be forever linked to commander jim lovell. >> did you actually ever think i might die? >> well, we thought our chances were about 10%. >> did you really? >> oh, yeah. what we realized after we saw the oxygen escaping that things could be really bad. neil: we didn't know that at the time, though, did we. jim lovell, commander of apollo 13, remember that famous mission but remember also the right stuff that all of these great astronauts, men and women, shared. imagine growing up in an environment like that. kristin fisher, besides being an excellent reporter and anchor, she is the child of astronauts. her mom and dad both astronauts. in fact, they used to call you

our first astrotot. i always got a kick out of that. do you remember much of it? you were very young when they were obviously on their missions but that's pretty cool. >> it is one of my life's great regrets that i was only a year and a half old, 2 1/2 when my mom and dad flew so unfortunately, i don't really remember it but tell you what, i'm almost glad i don't remember it after watching that emotional good-bye, doug hurley and bob behnken, the two nasa astronauts flying today, saying good-bye to their wives and their two sons. really hard not to get emotional there. i remember my mom telling me that it was one of the most difficult things that she has ever had to do and their wives, their spouses are both nasa astronauts as well. they have said that it is much harder to watch your loved one go into space than it is to fly into space yourself. it is a huge day for nasa, big day for spacex but also a really big day for this white house.

president trump has prioritized space since the very early days of his administration, from creating the space force to directing nasa to send american astronauts back to the moon by 2024. but now we are just months away from election day, of course, and space plays well with both republicans and democrats, especially in battleground florida. remember, the space coast, it was hit incredibly hard after the space shuttle fleet retired back in 2011. thousands of jobs were lost. it's been slowly building back up thanks in part to nasa's two commercial crew partners, spacex and boeing, and this launch today is really the final test flight of that program. the first time any humans will be launched into orbit on a space craft built, owned and operated by a private company. now, the commercial crew program that started during the obama administration and will hopefully become fully operational during the trump administration and yesterday, the current nasa administrator, jim bridenstine and former nasa

administrator during the obama administration, they really gave each other credit for where the program is and getting it to this point today. but in terms of presidential politics, both president trump and vice president -- former vice president joe biden expect them both to attempt to take quite a bit of credit for what's happened today. i mean, just yesterday, joe biden's campaign held a press call with reporters to talk about and preview today's launch and of course, president trump will be speaking there tonight. but neil, everything hinges on what happens in just a few hours. i have goosebumps and butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. neil: were your parents ever saying you know what, maybe you should be an astronaut? you didn't get that bug. obviously we are fortunate you didn't because you are doing great work now. but did you ever feel hey, you know. >> other people ask me that question all the time growing up. my parents did not. my parents are pretty good about

letting me pick my own path and i'm eternally grateful for that, but i will be lying if i told you that i'm not a little bit jealous of those two astronauts launching today and slightly questioning my career path. though being here with you and getting to be part of the coverage today is a pretty close second. neil: we are very lucky. i wanted to be an astronaut as a kid but my parents took me to the space center, showed me how small the capsule was and that i wouldn't fit in it. >> well, neil, how lucky are you that the launch is actually going to be taking place during your world with neil cavuto on the fox news channel? neil: i've got you, i've got -- there we go. i got you, all these astronauts and it doesn't get better. thank you very, very much. the things you find out about someone. although i had known that about kristin. a lot more here, including scott shellade on the significance of this.

you think about it, moments like this, we hope and pray successful moments, it brings confidence back to the country. we had sort of farmed this out, hitching rides with the russians, you know the drill. this is a pride thing as much as it is an impact thing, isn't it? >> there's never a better way to kind of heal the american psyche. with kennedy we looked to the stars. with reagan, he made us feel like something was better coming around the corner. the american psyche is both very very big and strong but it also can be very fragile. we have to worry about that in our business, too. sometimes the american psyche gets damaged so badly, for instance, 31% of americans are afraid to come out of their houses even 'tif the virus was gone. we have negative interest rates. the psyche with that, we don't trust the bankers anymore. how are we getting back more than we borrowed? there's a lot of things, we can make segues back and forth and nothing could come at a better time to heal the american psyche

over what we have been just going through and for that matter, for a lot of other countries to watch something successful like this with a nice public/private partnership. i think there's nothing better and it could not come at a better time. neil: you know, obviously people look at an event like this as something that punctuates whatever is going on in the world. i can remember with apollo 11 when it landed with such a tumultuous decade of the vietnam war, assassinations, runaway economic problems, yet that put a final capsule, no pun intended, on that era and showed our inner strengths and inner abilities, and the better part of valor. i'm just thinking it's night and day and i grant you that as we watch these astronauts leave the tesla vehicle en route to the stars, but it is a reminder of the great things we can do. >> yeah. we get to celebrate a great

america that can think outside the box. some people may disagree with elon musk. some people love him. at the same time it strips away the partisanship and we as a country can look to something together and not have any politics or shouldn't have any politics get in the way. i think that's what's great about something like this. there's a uniting and also it brings hope and again, you're right exactly, it will kind of put a cap on things and crystallize some very very good feelings and good moments rather than wallow in some of the bad things that have happened as of late. neil: well put, my friend. i will now make you an honorary astronaut with me. scott shellady, always good seeing you. much appreciated. in the meantime, we are learning that wynn las vegas is looking at a june 4th reopening date. this has been rumored for awhile, that much of the strip in las vegas could start reopening in early june. wynn, as far as i know, las vegas, the first to actually put

a date to it. june 4th. we launch for the stars and launch casinos all around the same time. after this. it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪ there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need.

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i think you can too. trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. so you can... retire better. neil: all right. this is the point of the day the astronauts, where they actually get in the capsule, the dragon itself, the equivalent of the apollo command module, if you will, and getting all suited up and ready for that. they arrived in a tesla at launch pad 39a. if that rings a bell, it should. it is probably the most famous launch pad on the planet, launched all of our apollo rockets, including the one that first took us to the moon with neil armstrong and buzz aldrin and michael collins, a number of skylab missions, good number, majority of the space shuttle

missions. it was from this same entry point that we had the astronaut launching, that was the last time about ten years ago, that a u.s. astronaut left under u.s. auspices and now he is back a decade later joining his colleague, bob behnken, to be the first return to space by americans. as you have heard maybe more than you wish, we have been hitching rides with the russians in that duration but that stops today. all right. so we are looking at that and we will watch that very very closely. about two and a half, almost three hours north of that into central florida, of course, you have all the excitement in orlando on not only the space launch but word that disney, sea world, have already penciled in a gradual reopening of their respective parks. that's something a lot of floridians and pretty much a lot

of vacationers around the world have been waiting for. kristina partsinevelos has more on all this. kristina: and all the children out there, big and small. but yes, you had sea world and disney present their reopening plans to a florida team, they were approved that sea world will reopen on june 11. then you have disney that's going to be opening magic kingdom on july 11th. so little bit later. on the call, he did promise that the goal of keeping it as magical as possible. what should park goers expect? you will have to wear a mask at all times. you have to get your temperature checked. there's going to be a lot of contactless payment, specifically with sea world, you will have to use sanitation on your hands when you get on the ride and when you get off the ride. and there was a statement in the presentation saying according to the cdc quote, there is no evidence that covid-19 can spread to people through water used in pools, hot tubs or water

playgrounds. proper operation and disinfection of pools, hot tubs and water playgrounds should kill the virus. that means all the water stuff will be open. sea world, interim ceo will be on our network tomorrow morning on "mornings with maria" at 7:30 a.m. eastern time. for walt disney, let's talk about that, animal kingdom as well as magic kingdom are set to reopen on july 11 so little bit later. that most likely has to do with refurbishments to the park. we did have the senior vp of the parks on the call. listen to what mcphee had to say. >> most significantly reduce the capacity of our parks and facilities within. this includes reducing capacity on attractions and restaurants and retail stores and on our various modes of transportation, which plays a very important role in connecting our experiences together. we will temporarily suspend parades, fireworks, and other events that create crowds.

kristina: i think it's really important to reiterate that. that means there will be no parades, no fireworks. the playground section for children will be closed down. as well, there's going to be no unfortunately character meet-and-greets. you did have disney say they will be continuing with their magic bands, the wrist bands to help you get into places but they will expand their focus to include apple as well as google play. what stood out to me on the call, you didn't have any questions from reporters, was the fact that there's no recourse for those that choose not to wear the mask. both parks were asked about this. you had disney that said they have very strong language on their signs and that they are looking into relaxation zones should you want to take off the mask and for sea world, they said they have plenty of signage. just to recap, you have universal opening on june 5th. sea world is june 11. disney magic kingdom july 11th and epcot on the 15th.

back to you. neil: all right. it's a busy rollout. thank you very very much. take a quick glance at cape canaveral. the astronauts are in the capsule right now. it is officially a crew dragon. the dragon referring to the capsule itself. it's pretty big in there. right now it's about 13 feet across, 21 feet in height. it can hold as many as seven astronauts, two for this mission. remember all the other missions prior to this one have been cargo dragon capsules, where the space craft would make back and forth trips to the international space station delivering supplies, no fewer than 20 times. the difference this time, there are men on board. more after this.

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last week on your show, we reported that the congressional insider trading investigations would focus on richard burr, the republican senator from north carolina. as you know from yesterday's news, it is now focusing officially on burr. loeffler, kelly loeffler, the georgia senator, has been essentially exonerated by the doj. so is dianne feinstein, the senator from california, who also traded stocks before the covid epidemic spread and after some briefings. insider trading is notoriously difficult to prove. i have been speaking with people close to the barr defense team. here's what they say. investigate us all you want. we believe we have sufficient evidence to refute any insider trading charge. what they are essentially going to say is this. they are going to say the private briefings he was given as head of various committees on congress, the information given there was not all that much different than was in the public realm about the spread of covid. people were talking about the spread of covid back in january.

february, clearly people were talking about it and it really heated up in march when the markets fell apart. so they believe they have good evidence that this stuff is out there. by the way, in order to really be nailed on insider trading case, you have to misappropriate information from the companies that he sold stocks, that didn't happ happen. under the stock act which is a subsequent law that's supposed to beef up the insider trading statutes as they relate to congressional people trading off non-public information they receive, you know, you really have to prove that the information he got was materially different than what was out there. so again, they think they have a good case. they think they are going to beat it back. they think it's going to take months. there have been no charges filed against him, no notices from the s.e.c. signaling pending charges. one other thing. loeffler, she got a clean bill of health from the doj. lot of people close to this investigation think she's going to get a similar letter from the

s.e.c. to completely exonerate her in this whole thing. as you know, we have been reporting she's been seeking those letters from doj and the s.e.c. back to you. neil: indeed. she was just on saying i consider this done. we will see what happens. charlie gasparino, thank you, my friend. a lot more after this, including the latest on apparently the nasa administrator that said we're good to go, after this. uth accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident. cut! is that good? no you were talking about allstate and... i just... when i... accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. unlike ordinaryveness wmemory supplementsr? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference.

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neil: charles payne, we both wanted to be astronauts. but he did serve in the air force. so he is a far more credible candidate. we're lucky he decided to focus on the markets. right now, charles payne. hey, buddy. charles: neil, i thank you so much. i cannot wait, how appropriate the launch in your hour at 4:30. couldn't have scripted it better. see you soon, buddy. good afternoon. i'm charles payne. this is "making money." they will love it but it will be amazing. speaking of amazing right now in this moment we're in a classic tug-of-war. the dow jones industrial average has been higher all session long but there is massive profit taking in technology sending nasdaq plunging with market rotation signals from the economy. what it means for your portfolio with some of my favorite guests. paying people not to go back to work, a plan being weighed