tonight on "nightline," love on the rocks. it is the love triangle that transfixed the world. but some of what you heard about the miner, the mistress and the wife is not true. tonight, we have new details as this real life soap opera moves into the light. robo-pets. it is cutting edge science performed on cats and dogs. we meet the not quite mad scientist who is building bionic pets. better, stronger, faster? and going ga lal tick. from star trek to star wars to wall-e. space travel has long captured the imagination. now, we get a look at how reality might stack up to the fantasy. and that is a "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global

resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," october 15th, 2010. >> good evening, everyone, i'm bill weir back inside after a thrilling week down at the chilean mine rescue. so many rich storylines down there. but the one that captured the most headlines in this country involved yonni barrios, his wife and his mistress. there is a lot more nuance to this love triangle than originally told. until about five years ago, divorce was illegal in chile. so, there are a lot more marriages in name only in that part of the world than in this one. and against that backdrop, jeffrey kofman feels in more details from chile. >> reporter: today, the miners came home to a hero's welcome. florencio avalos walked into his

fous, followed by his brother renan who was trapped with him. and the foreman, miner number 33, doused with confetti by his family and friends. "i never want something like this to happen again," he said. "but i can tell you the flip we had will goover forever." only two miners remain at the hospital where they were all treated. doctors there told abc news that while they are mostly healthy, all the miners are having a little trouble adjusting. >> it's practically impossible to say that they're not going to have psychological or mental consequences or post-traumatic stress. >> reporter: but late this afternoon, most of the group had been sent home. now, a new set of issues, and perhaps worries. >> at this time, it's going to be very hard for him, for readaptation, to cope with all the media interest. also life will never be again

the same. >> reporter: certainly not for one, yonni barrios. his is a story of a love triangle that transfixed the world. as the story gets bigger, it may turn out it's been a little embellished. the story of how he broke his wife's heart is seemingly true but more nuanced this is how it's been told, that the wife was shocked to discover that her husband had a mistress of five years when they both showed up clutching pictures of him at the mine. this is the woman we've come to know as the mistress. this is a chilean writer who lives in nevada. she's writing a book about the role of the women in this story. she says the story that is circulating is wrong. >> no, no, it's not true. i talked to both of them. actually, the wife came first. but the interesting part is that the lover went to tell her, you know, yonni had an accident. so, you know, they live like two blocks apart. >> reporter: yonni had become a

familiar character in the drama playing out. he had a little medical training as an emt a year before the collapse. and so, he became the group medic, monitoring the men's vital signs and administering medicine. >> dr. house. >> reporter: they nicknamed him house after the tv doctor. while above ground, he was getting a very different reputation as a will that are owe. did the wife know? >> she had an idea. she had an idea. but she didn't have the facts. so, she basically, you know, the lover went and told her, so, she came up here. the lover didn't come the first day. it was the wife that was here with a blanket and sitting in a chair for day after day until, you know, and then the lover came. and that's what, it was a little bit difficult. >> reporter: difficult, but perhaps not much of a surprise. was he living with the

misstress? >> according to the wife, he has always been a womanizer. this is not the only story and such. she says that she has forgiven him several times and now she's not willing to do it because of the public embarrassment. >> reporter: the emotions involved in that situation with the world watching and us talking about it. >> yes. it's sad. for her it has been a terrible moment in her life because she feels like so many things have been said that are not true. >> reporter: two days before the rescue, yonni sent a note, saying he hoped both women would be to meet him. but at this point, marta had enough. >> and the lady says, i love much too much now. i have learned a lot about myself in this two months and i'm not going to be humiliated in public. >> reporter: his wife? >> yes. >> reporter: on the day of the rescue, everyone was waiting to see who would show up. chilean tv actually identified the woman waiting for yonni as his wife. and even as yonni emerged, he

looked a little confused. >> whether this is the wife of 28 years or his sister. >> reporter: at any rate, it certainly wasn't the steamy reunion he was waiting for. the girlfriend got a hug. the wife got to keep her dignity. that didn't stop the headlines. today, yonni left the hospital with all but two of the other miners. his wife saying she wished him and susanna well and that he still had some things at home that he was welcome to come pick up. i'm jeffrey kofman for "nightline" in chile. >> thanks to jeffrey kofman for that. and when we come back, cutting edge surgery to give cats and docks a second chance, using tech knowledge that could one day benefit us. first is the first 4g phone. first is live video chat on the go. so you can be face-to-face

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boomers and gen-xors alike may remember the $6 million man, the show about steve austin, a man rebuilt after a devastating crash. well that was pure science fiction 35 years ago. but tonight, we're going to show you an operating room where technology mixes biology and mechanics is being used in surgery. but not on spacemen, but rather, dogs and cats. here's nick watt. ♪

>> really mess it up at that point. suction. enough, enough. >> reporter: nervous nurses prepare for surgery. er jargon fills the air. >> we need a 2-7 and a 2-0. >> reporter: jumping adrenaline, surgeon-sized ego. >> you can film through that window for now. >> reporter: and anxious relatives wait for news. >> they're part of the family, aren't they? >> reporter: this is a multi-million dollar hospital with an mri scanner, machines that go ping, a hydro-therapy pool. here, international interns learn from the master. >> ideally, that should be the other side. >> yeah, i know. >> reporter: a slightly crazy master. >> and it's like an artist working with paintings. pin, please. >> reporter: and a master. >> if i have one thing i'd like

to achieve before i die is to explain to human surgeons why vets and human surgeons should work closer together for the benefit of all living creatures. >> reporter: his patients are all cats and dogs. >> and we'll make veterinary rock and roll. >> reporter: operations i didn't even know were carried out on animals happen here every day. >> so, hip replacement is routine to me. i consider it, you know, routine surgery. >> reporter: something that is not routine that happens nowhere else. fitzpatrick has attached bionic feet to a cat. >> i think a triumph of modern engineering. it's the perfect marriage of biology and mechanics. >> reporter: oscar's feet were sliced off as he slept in a field. now, he can run again. >> and if the legacy of this one animal helps others and then humans, there's no losers.

>> reporter: mitsy's foot was trampled and severs by a horse. >> there's a big piece of metal inside this ankle bone. >> reporter: i'm not a dog owner. i -- i find this bizarre, that -- >> you probably do. but we love her and i wanted her to have four legs. >> reporter: her new leg behaves like a deer antler. skip and hair grows onto it. it cost $3,000. her owners don't care. >> loads of people spend thousands on boob jobs and -- >> reporter: operations like these have never been tried in the u.s. next month, fitzpatrick will fly to chicago to take part in the first such procedure on american soil. >> people who say it's only a dog, i don't understand that. because you've never experienced unconditional love. you just haven't.

because if you had, you'd never say that. >> reporter: fitzpatrick starts his day early. >> all right, sweetie. >> reporter: first up, consultations. >> we're going to cut it here with a dome saw, which is like an ice cream scoop. >> reporter: and then he's in and out of surgery until midnight. in between, he's meeting the engineer who creates new surgical tools to his specifications. he's e-mailing and calling owners, suppliers and a handful of other veterinary surgeons around the world who understand what he's doing. >> yeah, i can see this on a primetime american tv. do you eat out of a trough? this guy does. he also lives at work. >> reporter: his bedroom is next door to his office. around the corner is a gym where he works out in the middle of the night. >> i have had relationships, you know, i've had a life before this, before i chose to give it up. it's physically impossible to

develop things at the rate we're developing them and have a normal life. it's not possible. my life is a mess outside of work, so -- my life's a mess. yeah, period. >> reporter: he claims he last took a vacation 11 years ago. and he works seven days a week. >> coming to london in november. 10th of november, i'm taking a night off. >> reporter: so, why does he do this? >> i know this sounds very, very cheesy, but i see the veterinary profession at the guardians of unconditional love. >> reporter: he believes humans have a responsibility to look after animals. he insists he's not experimenting, but he is pushing medicine forward. >> every living creature is just flesh and bone. so, what we do here may benefit another dog, may benefit another human. but the most important thing is this dog today. >> reporter: this dog needs a

new hip, so, he's getting one. and humans may benefit down the line. >> they can't have an implant or a new technique in a human unless we do it on an animal first. because the licensing requirements are that that is what should happen. >> reporter: some critics say fitzpatrick is going too far. his argument? in pushing the bound rips, he is first and fore most doing what is best for animals like oscar who would otherwise be put to sleep. >> you will never get a more black and white situation. life, death. so, anybody who argues against us doing this should ask themselves the question, look in his eyes. and you pull the trigger. off you go, mate. >> reporter: and one day, a human might just have feet like oscars. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in surrey, england. >> givens new meaning to the pitter patter of cat feet. thanks to nick watt for that

amazing report. and up next, a sneak peek at the world's first space tourism vehicle which may soon open its hatch to receive paying customers. ring ring. progresso.

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meg whitman's hometown newspaper said it best: "meg whitman has demonstrated a loose relationship with the truth" "a poor understanding of government" "pat solutions for problems whose depth and complexity clearly elude her" "she utterly lacks the qualifications to be governor" jerry brown "offers california exactly what it needs" "good ideas, strong principles, a reputation for telling the truth" and the ability to "get things done in sacramento" meg whitman's hometown newspaper and newspapers across the state have endorsed jerry brown for governor. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> this month marks the 53rd anniversary of sputnik, the first satellite and the dawn of the space age. and many small steps for man in space have come since then, but the prospects for the man or woman on the street traveling out there has remained a distant dream, until now. and for john berman, that is a

"sign of the times." >> reporter: on star trek, they called it -- >> space. the final frontier. >> reporter: final, as in, the very last one, a really big deal. only imaginary people like captain james t. kirk or special real people like neil armstrong, actually get to go. >> that's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: almost the entire planet watched when armstrong took that small step 41 years ago. but you may have missed it five days ago when mankind took another small step towards space. one that might actually get you, that's right, you, out there. 45,000 feet above california's mojave desert, a successful ten-minute flight from this one of a kind craft called spaceship 2. the idea is that this thing will be able to carry us about 60 miles into the sky. at that height, passengers will

experience weightlessness and be high enough to see the earth's curvature. >> the first 12 years of operation is going to have 100,000 new astronauts. >> reporter: this undeniably sort of cool. going to space bragging rights and all that. but is this really what we dreamed about all these years when it comes to space travel? i mean, in star wars, the x wing fighter had x wings. and roll for an r-2 unit. and the death star -- it's a bit catchier of a name than spaceship two. star trek has beaming. lots of beaming. spaceship 2, well, no beaming, and no you have ck vulcans. as far as we know, none of the passengers on spaceship 2 are that. just humans. at just 60 miles in the sky, there shouldn't be any problems with aliens, either. and while you will be able to see the earth's curvature on spaceship 2, can that really

hold a candle to whatever jodie foster saw in contact? curves are nice, but this is nuts. also, the idea will be to go up and down prefrequently so, you won't run into any problems, say, of the wall-e nature. >> time for lunch in a cup. >> reporter: you won't get fat just by flying. you'll probably get that just by being american. as for companionship, just your co-passengers on spaceship 2. no robots like, say, hall, in 2001. >> i'm afraid i can't do that. >> reporter: or even tweaky from buck rodgers. in fact, a great deal of this new venture may be less about buck rodgers and more about bucks. >> we want this program to be the beginning of a whole new commercial era for space travel. we believe there are millions of people that want to go into space. >> reporter: that is sir richard branson, a big part of this

project. >> this is a very long trip. >> reporter: while it might not be futurama, it is the future. they hope to start taking passengers to space as early as next year. several hundred paying customers have already signed up. the cost? $200,000. hey, no one said the final frontier was cheap. i'm john berman for "nightline" in new york. >> and "virgin galactic" premieres monday on the national geographic channel. thanks to john berman for that. here's what's coming up next with "jimmy kimmel live." >> jimmy: bruce willis and karl urban. we have music from hugo. and freshly killed from tonight's "dancing with the stars," from "jersey shore," mike, "the situation"

time now for tonight's closing arguments. after recent spate of suicides among young people bullies for being or appearing to be gay, a city councilman in texas made a plea to american teens in a public meeting this week. describing himself as the son of a methodist church pianist and a cowboy, joel burns broke down with his own tale of persecution. the despair his felt and the message that life gets better. here's a portion of his speech, which has now been seen hundreds of thousands of times and counting. >> one day, when i was in the ninth grade, just starting high school, i was cornered after school by some older kids who roughed me up. they said i was a [ bleep ] and that i should go to die and go to hell where i belonged. i think i'm going to have too

hard a time with the next couple of sentences that i wrote and also, i don't -- i don't want my mother and father to bear the pain of having to hear me say them. i have never told this story to anyone before tonight. not my family, not my husband, not anyone. but the numerous suicides in recent days have upset me so much, and have just torn at my heart. the sto this story for the kids who might be holding the gun. i want to tell any teen that is seeing this, give yourself a chance to see how much better life will get. i would take the 13-year-old me to just a few days ago at baylor hospital to