more fox news on the way. i'll be back next week. in the meantime, be sure to tune in, fox news sunday, tomorrow, chris wallace sitting in with the man behind the budget deal. hi, everybody, on this wintry day in new york city. i'm jamie colby. welcome to america's news headquarters. >> lots of places around the country. i'm eric shawn, hello. topping the news this hour, the snow is back. another winter storm now slamming dozens of cities. all the way from midwest through the northeast. we will have a complete check of this snowy forecast. >> also, such a sad tale to tell. our new details on the school shooting in colorado. what police are doing today to

try to figure out why an 18-year-old high school student opened fire on his classmates and then turned the gun on himself. >> and there are reports of more trouble over obama care. coming up, our political panel will weigh in and how the website's continued issues could determine the outcome or not on the upcoming 2014 midterm elections. we begin with a fascinating story. brand-new information about the retired fbi agent who went missing in iran for nearly seven years. fox news is now confirming that robert levenson was working for the cia when he went there, collecting intelligence as part of a rogue mission for that agency. the white house continues to deny this, saying levenson was not a government employee at the time of his disappearance. elizabeth prann is joining us live with the latest. this story is what's on everybody's mind and what everybody's talking about, elizabeth. >> as soon as we heard the report from the associated press

released earlier that the former fbi agent was working on an unapprove the cia mission in iran, the white house responded with what we heard in the past, levenson, they say, was not a government employee when he went missing and the recent press reports they say are more damaging than helpful and the state department says it's all still under investigation. >> since bob disappeared, we have vigorously pursued and continue to pursue all investigative leads as we would with any american missing overseas. of course, want to do everything in our power to ensure that he is returned to his family. >> meanwhile, our own sources have confirmed several analysts were involved in an off the books program and in some cases the operatives didn't know they were gathering information for the cia. levenson certain lip could have been a part of a collection program of that nature. the last we've seen of him was this proof of life photo showing a very frail and unkept captor

about three years ago. the levenson family who has received more than $2 million to prevent a lawsuit responding to the reports saying, in part, the u.s. government has failed to make saving this good man's life the priority it should be. there are those in the u.s. government who have done their duty and there efforts to find bob, but there are those who have not. the chairman the house intelligence committee says officials do believe levenson is alive and is being held by a special operations wing of iran's revolutionary guard. >> if it wasn't true, it would be hard to believe. we're going to talk about this too coming up. thanks so much, elizabeth. when we discuss how this new information may impact the unfolding relationship we have in iran as we try to negotiate a longer-term deal than the six-month one in place on their nuclear program. >> there's some more problems reported today with obama care. insurance companies and health officials reviewing the applications that were submitted through the healthcare.gov website, they're saying that

there are still glitches occurring. apparently thousands of people who tried to sign up through that website were told they were eligible for what later turned out to be the wrong type of health care plan or in some cases they were just flat-out denied coverage when they should not have been. in this week's republican address, pennsylvania senator pat toomey says what he described as some of the more serious issues. >> the problem with obama care isn't just a glitch, it's fundamental and it's taking away our pregom. at the heart of the program is the idea our government should decide your coverage, what you require and how much you should pay. never mind, what you want what you need and what you can afford. >> well, that's one view. on the other side, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius was in miami this week. she's helping to promote the spanish language version of the obama care site. as the white house continues to say it is working through the glitches and defending the program. the administration rolling out what it calls a soft launch in

order to avoid many of the other issues they've had in the initial rollout. jamie. >> meanwhile, fox news is taking a more in depth look at all of the problems plaguing the obama administration in their latest edition of fox news reporting. this team really gets behind the obama breakdown. take a look at the preview. >> this is more than a free game tailgate bash. it sounds a lot like a call to civil disobedience. though 29-year-old evan fineburg would deny that. >> you've been traveling the country essentially telling young people to ignore the law. >> no, not at all. >> come on, evan, we have cameras following you around. you tell young people to opt out. >> no doubt we're telling young people to opt out. >> you're ready to opt out of obama care, right? all right. >> that's the best possible decision about their health care. >> our fox news reporting team. you can watch the entire broadcast when fox news reporting the basketball breakdown hosted by our very own

brett baer airs. the question, can the administration even hope to get back on track? how will all the problems with obama care impact things ahead of the 2014 midterm elections? our political panel will be here to discuss all of it. it's coming up a little later in this hour. and it's coming down. a fierce snowstorm on the move and dumping a lot of snow on a big chunk of our nation today. snow falling in peoria, illinois, last night, causing several accidents. no serious injuries reported. the snow now heading into the northeast. parts of new england, they say, may get more than a foot of snow this weekend. it's causing some big problems for everybody who's trying to travel and setting up to shop for the christmas season. >> this could be a problem for a lot of the businesses who are relying on one of these last weekends for shopping.

areas around the great lakes still dealing with winter storm warnings. they've expired in illinois. the storm has moved past. but this is where we're going to be seeing this intensify over the next couple of hours. this is the broader storm. it's very heavy rain down to the south of this. we could be seeing some severe weather, in towards parts of georgia and the carolinas. then we've got this snow. you see it tapering off west to east but still very heavy across northern indiana where spots have seen up to 7 inches of snow. it's lighter across parts of new england and into the northeast. but there is a coastal storm that's going to develop this afternoon right down here, off the delmarva peninsula. it will intensify. we'll see the snow intensify. we'll also see the winds pick up across parts of new england. this is the future radar, how we think this is going to look as we go through time. this afternoon, it's rain down across much of virginia. it's snow across pennsylvania and new york. then we start to watch that pink

line. this is warmer air that's going to make its way in across the coastal areas. we've turned into rain in philadelphia. by around 9:00 tonight, we turn into rain into new york city. even overnight where it's about 16 degrees in boston right now, it's going to warm up enough overnight that it turns into rain. that's going to keep the snowfall totals along the coast down to somewhere around the 3 to 5 inch range. it's the interior sections where we'll see heavy rainfall, over a foot in some spot, great news for ski resorts across new england. >> great news for them, but bad news for drivers. inguess the best advice is to slow down, be careful of black ice and take it easy if you have to go out. >> stay home and watch fox. is there a question here? anyway, the snowstorm comes as we're less than two weeks away from christmas. what does that mean for folks that are trying to get their shopping done? we are live in new york city's famed herald square where i'm

sure the shoppers aren't letting any of this weather get in the way. hey, brian. >> hi, jamie. no, they are not. we're finally going through. this is the second weekend in a row which the snowstorm has affected millions of shoppers around the country in the northeast and in the midwest. if you look at here, you're looking at a live shot here at cleveland, ohio, where they've been dealing with the snow. the snow that's hitting the east coast now in new york. the retailers are really worried about this snowstorm. i get it, it's winter, snow's expected with these kinds of things. this break this year is the shortest holiday shopping season since 2002. that's 27 days. already we've had two weekends out of the four possible weekends affected by the winter storm. now, analysts, accord to analysts, 19% of all of sales for stores happen during the holiday season. a $1.5 billion is projected to be the loss for these stores. that's because 15% fewer shoppers are expected to

actually enter stores this weekend and last weekend. now, the national retail federation expects there still to be a 4% increase in total sales at the end of this holiday season. the reality is, stores rely on brick and mortar shops. they rely on shoppers to enter their stores just like they're here in macy's in new york city because shoppers end up spending more money, about 80% of their businesses are dependent on shoppers going into stores. the storm does mean people are going to be doing more online shopping. that could help, as long as shipping doesn't get in the way. on top of that, according to the national retail federation, americans could expect and customers could expect deals as panicked businesses over the next weekend -- there's only one weekend left to shop, bring out more promotions and more sales and deeper discounts to try to get you to go out there and buy things. as you can see, retailers are worried that you're not going out there the last two weekends.

i spoke to some shoppers here. about half of americans are done with 50% of their shopping. according to the national retail federation. i spoke to some shoppers here who are braving the weather. >> you only have a few more days left to get out there and do it. >> yeah, it's great shopping in new york in the snow, right, buddy? >> right. >> people are clearly in the spirit. as of now, about 32 million americans have not even begun their christmas shopping which puts all that emphasis on super saturday next weekend. the last saturday before christmas. jamie. >> and the beauty of your assignment today, brian, is in between live shots, you can get your shopping done, so go do your part, thank you. there's new revelation, today on the apparent power of the nsa surveillance. this time they say by actually being able to listen in on private conversations on cell phones. we haven't heard about that yet. according to documents obtained by "the washington post," the

agency does have the ability to crack the encryption codes on billions of cell phone calls and text messages. this comes as the presidential task force that's been looking into the nsa snooping has issued its report. the president created that group last summer in response to the criticism but a lot of the detail also of the report have not yet been made public. an annual wreath ceremony now under way at arlington. this particular event is organized by a group called wreaths across america. they've been providing this wonderful service for the past 22 years. every year, this group lays wreaths at more than 100,000 head stones and veterans buried at arlington. they say their mission is to remember, to honor and to teach. there's a search for answers now ongoing in yesterday's disturbing school shooting in colorado. the community there still in shock after police say an 18-year-old classmate opened fire, critically injuring a

he turned the gun on himself. friends and family described the 18-year-old gunman as an overachiever, an athlete who ran cross country. today, police have been combing through his parent's home, hopes of trying to figure out what went so horribly wrong. >> the latest information authorities have now released that 18-year-old's name. they say that 18-year-old carl pierson went into arapaarapahoe school yesterday carrying a shotgun. emdentally, they say he may have been targeting a teacher, a librarian who was also a speech and debate coach. apparently he found out pierson was inside the school and left immediately. that's when a 15-year-old girl came across pierson's path. authorities say she was shot. she's now in critical condition. when those shots rang out, they sent more than 2,000 students into hiding.

>> we were at a classroom just in the same hallway as the shooter entered. and we heard two very loud, loud gunshots, and it wasn't until we heard the second one we realized it was a gunshot. and it was absolutely terrifying. >> authorities say that pierson ended up turning the shotgun on himself and took his own life. they also say that they found a possible molotov cocktail inside of the school after the shooting. then last night, they ended up searching pierson's home in centennial, colorado, obviously looking for more information that could lead to a potential motive. they say pierson was smart. they say he was nice and they're shocked about yesterday's shooting. in terms of the response, they did the active shooting response where they didn't wait for other officers before they went in. they went in immediately and, eric, to leave you on an eerie note, this shooting happened

eight miles away from columbine high school where the school shooting happened in 1999. >> thank you so much. jamie. >> it was horrible to see the picture of the kids in the paper today. each child at that school was patted down outside. just awful. a final farewell as mourners line the streets in south africa today. a motorcade that carries nelson mandela's coffin will make its way to his final resting place. we're going to have a live report for you on that. have you heard about this, china landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon. the iranians say they spent a monkey into space. for us, nasa is reportedly dealing with a cooling problem on the international space station. we'll speak to a top scientist.

today, nelson mandela's body arrived at an airport near his hometown as preparations are under way for a state funeral service tomorrow for the former president. the mandela family gathering to meet the coffin at the airport.

followed by a huge procession through the city. we are live from johannesburg, south africa. hey, greg. >> jamie, nelson mandela is coming home for the last time. the body the man considered to be the father of modern south africa transported to these rural eastern part of the country. that's where he was born. that's where he will be buried on sunday. amid a flea flap. apparently the archbishop desmond tutu and a former friend of nelson mandela not invited to the funeral. he has had differences with the ruling party here. a military procession from that airport to the burial site. that's mandela's ancestral village of qunu. apparently, we understand it went a little bit too fast for some due to concerns about

security. the funeral will be attended by dignities all around the world, including reverend jesse jackson and uk's prince charles. it will be beamed live via satellite globally but it will be conducted in the age old tradition of mandela's ethnic grouping. and it's not over. on monday in south africa's capital of pretoria, a scene with much emotion as the public viewed the remains of the late leader. there will be an unveiling of a statue of the man right in the heart of the building. >> for a long, long time, too, thanks, good to see you, safe trav travels. the new sign that some of the fixes to the obama care website have not done a lot to sway some people's opinion of the law. accord to a new gallup poll, a majority of americans still disapprove of it and possibly even more troubling as the country heads to the midterm

elections next year. less than one-third of the independents, a key swing voting group, back the law. angela mcglouen is a fox news political analyst. david and angela, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> how will this play out at the polls when you see numbers like that dealing with the independents? >> the bottom line is in 2010 republicans won the house on obama care and i believe that obama care is going to be a factor. the president's poll numbers are plummeting. and obama care's popularity is eroding. and independents want results. they want solutions. and democrats, they're not coming with any. republicans need to come with some but i think that independents are going to sway. look, to win the senate, we only need six seats to actually get the majority back. so i think that it is feasible. >> some of the democrats apparently are in trouble in some of those races. how do you interpret those

numbers? >> as i see it, it's one of many polls, and it's one -- when you speak of independents, it's one of many voting blocs. there are women, african-americans, minorities, and the point is, that even with the recent governor's race in virginia, you had terry mcauliffe who lost the independent vote by 9%, but still won the election. why? because of his broad outreach to a broad electorate and he won overall by three or more points. so i think that, you know, to hang the hat on -- as we go through fixes to obama care and making it work, which it's going to, and we'll see that going into january, february and march with the enrollment numbers going up. but you will see the independents moving more towards supporting not only obama care, affordable care, but also democrats. >> angela, what about that? look, 75% of the democrats support it, obviously. look, mcauliffe did win, even

without those independents. >> mcauliffe did win but that race was very close because of obama care's unpopularity. and that's just one stake, eric. here's the deal, democrats are going to have to do the potomac two-step. they'll have to keep their base in line running for re-election. then also they'll have to run away from obama care, the affordable care act, because it's not affordable, david. it's costing more jobs. it's costing more in tax dollars. it's not even fully implemented yet. i think by the midterm elections if we don't delay the affordable care act is going to be what will cause republicans to gain both the house and the senate. i think independents will come to our side. >> did you just say the potomac two-step? >> the potomac two-step. they'll have to make their base happy, but also do another two-step to get those independents. with the unpopularity of obama care, they're running out of

time. >> david, what about that? look, they don't even have the numbers that are signing up. you've got some major hospitals and medical centers in this country turning it down. new reports in the "washington post," information not getting to the insurers, "wall street journal," people being told about the wrong plans, being denied when they shouldn't have been denied. i mean, how do they sort all this stuff out? you don't even have the numbers yet? 365,000 signed up. they say 7 million by march 31st. it just seems right now this thing isn't on that track, david. >> it is on track. in fact, you even have governor rick perry from the red state of texas sitting down with his leadership in the legislature to expand medicare. and that is because they see that their constituents are yearning for and want affordable health care. and they have to service their constituents to the point where rick perry under pressure from his leadership and legislature is looking to actually expand medicare and also to talk about

the exchange and providing access to states which have the least insured population throughout the country. it's about time they start waking up to address the needs of the constituents, rather than playing to, you know, the rhetoric of trying to move their conservative extreme right -- >> when more americans find out that for obama care they cut dollars to medicare, when more americans find that out, they're going to vote more republican, because we're trying to save the health care system in america. we don't want it to be socialized. and the government overtake it. >> angela, in california, between 2,000 and 2009, premiums went up 109%. chairman darrell issa would be better to stop the circus of hearings that he's having and go help his constituents get enrolled in health care they can afford. >> that will have to be the last word.

we'll see if this is ready for january and the debate will continue. angela and dave, good to see you, thank you. >> good to see you as well. the saga of an american missing in iran and his connection to the cia, how this unfolding story, and the new developments, may impact sensitive nuclear negotiations with iran going on right now, that's just ahead.

well, back to our other stop story. an american citizen wouho vanisd nearly seven years ago in iran was indeed working for the cia. information that comes at a pivotal time because the u.s. and iran are trying to hammer out a long-term deal over their nuclear program. iran is keeping mum about levenson and has yet to even acknowledge he's a prisoner. jim walsh is an international security expert with the

security studies program at the esteemed m.i.t. i wanted to talk to you about this because i have so many questions. let me start by asking you this, how hard has the u.s. been looking for him? because now that it's been confirmed that he worked for the cia, after the white house and prior administrations denying it, what do they do? >> this person was not a cia agent, he was a contract employee who was supposed to be an analyst, but sort of a group within the analytic camp which is not supposed to run operations violated cia rules and sort of inserted him in a situation or allowed him to go into a situation where he's put in danger. even though he was a contract employee, i think at the end of the day the professional code of the intelligence agency is if someone has one of our people, we're going to do everything we can to get him back. there was some misleading statements to congress and some

folks within the agency were not forthcoming. i'm sure they've turned over every rock and done everything they can to get him back. the curious thing about him is when governments take spies, they normally end up trading them up. what was weird about this story is that there was a video sent, a proof of life video, which seems to point more towards kidnappers or terrorists than the government. so i think there's -- people are very unsure about what happened and what -- and where he is now. i've been to the island of kish in iran. if you go there, you'll certainly be watched by intelligence. >> that was the question i wanted to ask you, sort of being in this business, when you hear the revelations, which fox news confirms what your thoughts are about it, do you think that it's out in the open in anyway, it jeopardizes the ability to get him back alive if he still is or jeopardizes any other authorized operations going on?

>> no, i don't think so. if we acknowledge what the situation was, there may be a government that can intervene and help here, whether it's the iranian government or some other government. it's been so long since that last proof of life video that it's unclear where we're at on this right now. i don't think it hurts. >> i'm sure the family expects the worst but would love a miracle as we all would. what would it cost us in the negotiations over the nuclear program as we move from the six-month deal which iran is still kicking and screaming. we can't expect full cooperation. but what could we give up that might get him back? >> i think this will be on parallel separate tracks. i think if -- the really different issues, you know, the nuclear negotiations in geneva are focused on sanctions relief and involves not simply the u.s. but five other countries,

britain, france, germany, china and russia. i don't think our particular issue on this is going to enter those negotiations but i will say if this agreement takes hold and gets some momentum and we begin to see more cooperation between the u.s. and iran, for example in afghanistan or in -- on syrian chemical weapons issues or in iraq, that might pave the way. the more discussions, the more normal the relationship, the greater the chance if the iranians do know something, they'll be able to pass it on later on. i don't expect it to immediately impact it but if negotiations go well, it might help in the intermediate term. >> i want to ask you this question too, because the family accepted a substantial pay out from the government, more than $2 million, several years back, for his disappearance. is that common place? >> you know, i don't know about the practices but i would think that is probably an appropriate response. you know it -- >> if he was a contractor and not necessarily working for the cia, though, why would the government have an obligation to

pay? once the family accepts it, it i mean, as a lawyer, i would say in any other case, they've waived their rights to do whoever paid them would, talk about it. >> first, it was clear a lot of internal rules were broken. as a consequence of the breaking of those rules, this person disappeared. so there's certainly some culpability or liability there. secondly, it's been suggested, i've not spoken to the parties directly, but it's been suggested that part of this agreement was the family would not report out loud in public that he was, in fact, on contract to the cia. which the cia had denied for years. so, you know, is that hush money, is it compensation for wrongdoing, you know, very hard to know. >> it is out there now. we'll have to see what happens. please come back and continue to educate us on it.

good to see you, as always. >> good to see you. >> it is a day of continued pain, heartache and solemn remembrance. today marks one year since that horrible mass shooting at the elementary school in new town, connecticut. bells rang in the town 26 times, one for each victim this morning. in all, 20 children and six teachers were killed there. the mass shooting so stunning this nation just before christmas. also sparked a new outcry for tougher gun control laws. rick levinthal now with more. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the horrific shootings at seand hook elementary school in newtown, there were loud calls for greater gun control, starting at the white house. >> we can't tolerate this any more. these tragedies must end. and to end them, we must change. >> reporter: the president asked congress for reforms including

strengthened background checks, but the bill failed. in many states, gun owners have more rights today than they did before sandy hook. more than 1,500 new gun laws proposed, 115 passed. of those new laws, only 41 are considered tougher. 74 loosen restrictions like allowing weapons in some churches, bars or school. >> we didn't make nearly enough progress and 33 more americans have died every day as a result. the country is in a very different place. there's almost unanimity on the idea we have a better background check system. including nra leaders who disagree with their leadership. >> reporter: the laws give most of the nation a failing grade. california and the northeast were given the best marks since newtown. gun rights advocates continue to fight for more freedom. >> whenever you tell people you can't protect yourself, that's the magnet for the criminal

element. they may be evil but they're not stupid. they don't shoot up a police station. they don't shoot up a gun show or anywhere like that. they choose specifically places where they're going to be the only one with a gun. >> to mark the one-year anniversary, family members plan to grieve privately, but made a brief appearance to reveal how they'll remember those they lost. >> with will light a candle for my older sister victoria. >> we will be lighting a candle for my sweet boy jack. >> we will be lighting a candle in honor of our beautiful girl grace. >> the families are asking supporters to visit a website created to honor the victims, mysandyhookfamily.org. in new york, fox news. and as the nation mourns on this somber day, the first family is also remembering the victims of this horrific shooting. president obama and the first lady lit candles for each of the work timvictims.

they lit 26 candles in all in memory of each life that was lost one year ago today. this occurred in the white house map room. the president and first lady bowed their heads in silence and remembrance. we'll be right back.

as the christmas shopping season heads into its final days, retailers are looking for a few good men. they're targeting a group of customers not always known for being big fans of shopping. studies show men spend more during the holiday season than women, how about that. i think i speak for almost every man in america. i hate shopping. i hate it. i don't want to go shopping. i want to just like get it online. i want to go in the store, get what i want and i want to get out. we spend, what, like 40% more than the ladies. >> i feel exactly the same way. later on today, i'll be out there shopping. you know what happenings when we get there, we spend more money because there's a couple things that happen.

if you're like me, my wife says, this is the category, go make it happen. i start hearing the music. i hear the bells. everyone seems to be having a great time. i want to join in on the party. and i don't know what to do so i oftentimes will rely on a salesperson to say, you want a sweater, get this, you want perfume, get this. i just want to do it and get away. we are also -- i think it's a really good point. we're shopping online more. i'm going to buy a lot of stuff online so i avoid the big crowds. >> i get that list. you got to get that list. you don't want to go home without getting something on that list. no matter where you go, you go from one store in the mall to the other store in the mall. how does this affect the economy, unemployment, our financial future? and what does the shopping season look like? >> i think men -- right now, in fact, i have a group of guys i have breakfast with every saturday. not one of them has even begun to shop. they're going to start some time in the next week or so going out and shopping. a lot of us just delay this. none of us really want to go do

it. if you think about it, we're all a little nervous about the economy. about the world. none of us want to say, hey, i want to go buy a bunch of gifts and -- but we're going to do it anyway. so we kind of delay that. the numbers are not coming in great right now. the retailers are starting to hurt. they're really getting anxious about this. more people are shopping online, which is good, but less people are going to the stores than they had projected so there is a lot of nervousness. i heard from one of my clients who's a ceo of a big department store company that there's a high likelihood we're going to see some big names shut down after this holiday season. >> no, seriously? >> it's going to be sad but we're going to be seeing it. >> you walk in the mall now, it's like jam packed and the numbers are down a bit? >> yes. versus the projections. i mean, everyone's going to say things are great and rosy but based on where they need to because their expenses are higher and sales are not hitting the numbers that they need. they're hitting numbers and people are out there. there's no question about it. but i think we're going to be seeing some big name department stores start to fail and close their doors after this holiday

season unfortunately. >> because of the competition from sgron line and not the bricks and mortar? >> you hit it. you're seeing a lot more shopping online and it's very tough to be in business. >> these studies are fascinating. they say baby boomers, they spend an average of $738 now during christmas. generation x, they'll spend the most, $847. baby boomers are older, i'm sorry, generation x is 30s to 40s. it's amazing. $847 on average. i don't know where they're getting the money from. i don't know where my daughter gets it but she shops online and somehow she has money, i don't know where she gets it. >> she gets it from bank of daddy. >> there's a little scheme between my wife and daughter, i know it. they're spending money. i hope everyone's spending money. i hope the economy does well. it's going to be a tough beginning of next year for some of these retailers.

>> go out and shop but don't get into debt. >> help me out again before we go, how much do you hate shopping? >> i hate shopping, but i'll do it, will go and do it. >> you're a good man. >> got to support the economy. >> i love that. so much honesty in this hour. well, houston has a problem. there is a unit on the international space station that is now failing. i'm not talking about about the movie about space. this is the real deal. how dangerous is it for the crew? we're going to look at this developing story with scientists and experts, someone who really knows next.

there is trouble aboard the international space station. nasa's mission control has launched several so-called tiger teams that work around the clock, trying to figure out how to fix a faulty cooling pump. for now, the crew, including two americans, is safe. nasa says they need to do an emergency spacewalk. that is pretty risky. our guest is the chief astronomer in philadelphia, a place that every american should visit. it is so cool to have you here. i am worried. i love the space program and i'm

worried about astronauts that are up there, the americans and the italians who are supposed to spacewalk but can't, it's a catch-22. >> it is sort of a catch-22. the problem is there's a faulty flow control valve that's making it tough for the astronauts to control the level of heating and cooling actually on board space station. the good thing is there are actually two coolant loops. one is faulty. another one can be used. it's just that they can't use all the components on board international space station at full capacity because they're generating too much heat. it's really important that they keep the electronic components as cool as possible. but at the same time, this does need to be repaired. you don't want to have just one of these. you need both of the cooling loops operating. >> of course. >> so they will eventually. >> doctor, let me show this video of this spacewalk that was done. and now that's the catch-22. you have to do a spacewalk to

repair it. and they've called off all spacewalks at this point because they say it's too risky. how are they going to fix it then? >> yes it the first thing they're going to do is try to see if there's any way they can fix it without having to go outside to replace it. or they'll figure out another way in which they can simply reduce the amount of heat load on the cooling system by turning off nonessential electronic components. making it possible to have adequate cooling capacity until a new space suit can be brought up. the difficulty is they're down one space suit because of a problem they had in a space suit last year. >> the astronaut, i believe, that had it on it started to flood, inside the helmet, right? >> yes, there was a leak inside the space suit. quite a bit of water started to fill up inside the suit. so they need to fix that, get that straightened out, before they do another spacewalk. spacewalks are risky under any conditions. and this is a situation where

they do have a way in which they can sort of moderate what's going to happen until they can get the suit repaired in order to go out to replace the valve that's leaking or the valve that's faulty. >> i know they have plans to bring another space suit that is operable the next time they're there. we're happy to hear from you that they're safe in the meantime. thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, jamie. >> have a great day. have a great day to all of you. that will do it for us in this hour of america's news headquarters. i'll see you back here on the fox report at 7:00 a.m. >> we'll be back tomorrow morning here on the fox news channel. and of course at 12:00 every sunday. have a very warm and safe day. >> please be careful. follow us on twitter too. we'll let you know what else is going on around here at the fox news channel. i'm @jamiecolbytv. eric is -- @ericshawnon fox,

twitter. >> "editorial report" is up next.

this week opn "the journal editorial report." the white house releases new enrollment numbers but not the ones that really matter. if if the law is working, why the secrecy? plus, a bipartisan budget angers some conservatives. and if you thought the irs targeting scandal was over, think again. we'll tell you about the agency's latest efforts to silence tea party groups. welcome to "the journal editorial report." i'm paul gigot. the white house released new obama care enrollment numbers this weekbo