andrew and faith? >> heaps not fishing for follower right now on "america this morning," history in space. what we learned overnight just hours after the first all civilian crew took off into space. no astronauts on board. also this morning, what's next after the emotional testimony from olympic gymnastic stars abused by their team doctor now demanding the fbi be held accountable for mishandling the case. new questions emerging after revelations that the top u.s. military general held secret talks with china after the election. a frayed president trump might launch an attack. we're learning the general wasn't the only one talking to the chinese. the mystery surrounding a prominent south carolina family takes another turn. the father whose wife and son

were murdered allegedly hires a hit man for an insurance scam and now the death of the housekeeper facing new scrutiny. and from the eighth grade quarterback already landing big college money to the big rescue involving reba to new help getting all the ketchup out of the packet, it's thursday, september 16th. good thursday morning, everyone. i'm andrew dymburt. >> and i'm faith abubey. mona is off. we want to begin with that historic mission to space. >> for the first time ever, crew made up only of tourists is orbiting the earth, spacex launch, a complete success. >> new images coming in from the big adventure. the first all civilian crew in space is now settling into orbit after their historic blastoff. >> inspiration4. >> overnight the crew reaching nearly 364 miles above earth

slightly deeper into space than expected and farther than richard branson and jeff bezos traveled and even farther than the space station. the crew using the stuffed golden retriever to know when they hit zero gravity. 14 minutes after takeoff the toy seen floating in the capsule. there there they are, our first all civilian crew. >> reporter: earlier spacex made history launching four private citizens into space from kennedy space center. the stunning image of the launch taken into nearby harmony, florida. abc's gio benitez was there. >> we witnessed a spectacular show of that rocket lifting off into the night sky and into the earth's orbit. they are now moving at 17,500 miles per hour as they orbit the earth every 90 minutes. they're going to be seeing 15 sunrises, 15 sunsets every single day for the next three days. >> reporter: the crew includes 38-year-old billionaire jared isaacman who bought all four seats on the flight then gave three of them away as a

fund-raiser for st. jude hospital. one of those seats is occupied by 29-year-old hayley ceneaux, a physs assistant at st. jude, a previous p to go into space. they'll be navigating with no professional astronaut. a computer does all the flying, and that crew is scheduled to return to earth saturday splashing down into the atlantic ocean. now to washington and the heart-wrenching testimony from u.s. olympic gymnasts who were abused by their team doctor demanding charges be filed against the fbi agents that they say mishandled the case and alex presha is here with more. >> reporter: good morning to you. these gymnasts say they were betrayed by the fbi and now they want the agents who investigated the case to be criminally charged. this morning, the world's top gymnasts are accusing the fbi of turning a blind eye to their reports of sexual abuse. >> all we needed was one adult to do the right thing. e veeed

deserve r: thees ng as senators investigate the fbi's handling of the larry. the former usa disasters team doctor now in prison for abusing athletes. simone biles describing the abuse she suffered. >> i don't want another young gymnast, olympic athlete or any individual to experience the horror that i and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day in the wake of the larry nassar abuse. >> reporter: and mckayla maroney described telling fbi agents how nassar started abusing her when she was just 13. >> i then told the fbi about tokyo, the day he gave me a sleeping pill for the plane ride to then work on me later that night. that evening i was naked, completely alone with him on top of me molesng me for hours. i began crying at the memory over the phone and there was

just dead silence. i was so shocked at the agent's silence and disregard for my trauma. after that minute of silence he asked, is that all? >> reporter: aly raisman senat than 14 months for the fbi agents to contact her after she reported nassar's abuse. >> nassar found more than 100 new victims to molest. it was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter. >> reporter: fbi director christopher wray who was not in charge of the bureau during the investigation apologized to the women. >> i'm especially sorry that there were people at the fbi who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. >> reporter: at the hearing investigators revealed the agents doctored paperwork to, quote, hide their dereliction of duty. one agent in the case has since retired. the other was fired just two weeks ago. gymnast kaylee

demanding criminal charges be brought. >> where is the accountability for letting larry continue to sexually assault little girls on your watch? it is five years later, five years of asking the same questions, it's time for these questions to be answered. >> reporter: senators say they have questions for the justice department as to why those former agents haven't been prosecuted but to one from the doj attend the hearing even though they were invited. >> alex, thank you. the u.s. capitol is once again surrounded by fencing. workers reinstalled the fencing overnight ahead of a rally saturday to support the rioters. more about the virus and how the virus has claimed the lives of every 1 in 500 americans. we're expecting the panel to review data from pfizer which is making the case for a third dose of its vac moderna is also asking the fda to allow booster shots for its

vaccine based on similar findings. it's not clear this time if people would need to get a booster shot from the same company as their original shot. >> that question likely won't be answered this week and it may never be fully answered but the cdc later may actually address that. we don't know yet. we'll have to see what the data looks like this week and probably next week as well. meanwhile, the white house confirmed it offered to set up a call with the rapper nicki minaj to address her concerns about the vaccine after she tweeted false information. now to general mark milley under fire for calling his chinese counterpart during the final months of the trump presidency. turns out milley wasn't the first one to reach out to the chinese. this morning new revelations that a second pentagon official allegedly worked to undermine former president trump's authority after he lost the 2020 election. according to the book "peril" by bob woodward and robert costa, joint chiefs chairman mark milley feared trump might try to

use a military conflict to cling to power so he reached out to china's top general to say he would- -- would give him a heads-up if the u.s. were to launch a military strike but as abc's jonathan karl uncovered, the first contact to defense secretary.ump's former - >> what i have learned according to a very senior former defense official that the first contact was not milley but it was then defense secretary mark esper who about a week before milley made his call reached out to the chinese defense ministry with a very clear message that the united states had no intention to attack. >> reporter: this morning president biden says he has complete confidence in milley but trump is calling for milley to be tried for treason, and republican senator marco rubio in a letter to president biden says, actions by general milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgment and i urge you to dismiss him immediately. >> i think that the senator needs to take two aspirin and

call dr. mudd in the morning for some counsel. >> reporter: former cia analyst phil mudd firing back at rubio describing the book's allegations as standard chain of command. >> a famous journalist writes a book that sounds like the sky is falling. that's how he sells book. now let's look at the facts, not the environment the journalist bob woodward sets up but what actually happened. during a difficult transition in america, the chairman of the joint chiefs calls a counterpart. it's secret. what so supposed to do, put it on tiktok? of course, it's secret. >> a spokesperson for the general says milley's calls with the chinese were keeping with his duties and responsibilities. and time now for a look at your thursday weather. what's left of hurricane nicholas has stall add long the gulf coast bringing flooding to baton rouge, louisiana. and many other places from texas to florida. the storm is hardly moving, that's why another 10 inches of rain could fall in coastal areas

in the next few days. rain totals will be lighter the further inland you go. checking today's high temperatures, 84 in new orleans. around 90 degrees in the middle of the country and 60s in the pacific northwest and 70s in the northeast. coming up, the new record on "jeopardy!" but first the frightening scene as a stroller with a baby inside takes off down the street. and a new twist in the story of a prominent south carolina lawyer accused of plotting an insurance scam. the new questions

a frightening scene for this mother. she was going into a store when her baby's stroller started rolling away quickly picking up

speed. thankfully it ended up in a garden, and the baby barely missed getting hit by a car. back in this country, another close call. a u.p.s. driver in indiana came within inches of hitting three kids getting off the school bus. police are investigating and the reminder for all drivers to stop for buses. we turn now to the growing mystery surrounding a prominent family in south carolina. a former lawyer whose wife and son were murdered has reportedly confessed to a separate crime. and new questions are being raised about another mysterious death. here's abc's andrea fujii. >> reporter: this morning, alex murdaugh, the south carolina lawyer whose wife and son were murdered three months ago, is expected to surrender to police in connection with the botched suicide attempt. investigators say murdaugh hired a hit man, curtis edward smith, to kill him as part of a life insurance scam. mr. murdaugh provided mr. smith with a firearm and directed mr. smith to shoot him in the head for the purpose of his son

collecting a life insurance policy valued at approximately $10 million. but murdaugh survived the shooting calling 911 himself. police say he later admitted to the plot. it was back in june when murdaugh found his wife, maggie, and 22-year-old son paul murdered at their hunting lodge shot multiple times. the deaths remain unsolved and murdaugh denies any involvement. >> are they breathing? >> no, ma'am. my wife and my son. >> reporter: the day before murdaugh's attempted suicide earlier this month he left his law firm amid allegations he misappropriated funds. murdaugh's lawyer says he suffered from depression and had checked into rehab. for the last 20 years there have been many people feeding his addiction to opioids, one of those individuals took advantage of his mental illness and agreed to take alex's life. in the meantime, several other mysterious tragedies continue to swirl around the murdaugh family. authorities have opened another investigation in the 2018 death

of the family's longtime housekeeper, gloria satterfield. her death was initially described as a trip and fall accident, but the coroner requested an investigation alleging inconsistencies in the rule of her death as natural and murdaugh settled a wrongful deah claim brought by his family but the family says they haven't seen a dime. >> they just want answers. they want answers to know what happened to their money. they want answers to know who made claims against what insurance policy. >> reporter: meanwhile two years ago alex murdaugh's son paul was accused of being under the influence while crashing a boat killing 19-year-old mallory beech. charges were dropped after his death and authorities also recently re-opened a cold case in the death of steven smith who died six years ago, his body found on a south carolina road. police say information from the murdaugh double murders prompted them to take another look at the case. murdaugh's arraignment for the botched suicide is scheduled for this afternoon.

andrew, faith. >> andrea, thank you. and coming up, country music star reba mcentire rescued. a ma vepmt eah for vepmt eah for cross-country trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... ♪ if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis.

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the girl tried to grab it and started crying. he decided to make her day, giving her the ball. we turn now to the search for a woman missing since going on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend. and now police are revealing the couple got into a fight in utah. new details as officials search for 22-year-old gabby petito. >> morning yoga. >> police naming her boyfriend brian laundrie a person of interest hindering their investigation. police say they tried to talk with him saturday. >> we don't know what brian knows. i mean, that's the bottom line. and we're hopeful to talk to him. he needs to talk to us. >> the laundrie's lawyer say they won't be talking to police. >> no one in the family is going to be issuing a statement except through us. >> they have one question of him. >> where did you last see gab?

that's the question. >> leading up to the disappearance, the couple was on a cross-country road trip in this van documenting their trip on social media. >> we are outside capital reef right now. >> she was last seen august 24th at a hotel. her mother spoeke to gabby who said they were in wyoming. he returned to florida with the van, but without gabby. police detail an incident from august 12 when the two were in utah. a witness called 911 after seeing the couple argue at a convenience store. the report lists petito as the suspect and laundrie as the victim saying, quote, the male tried to create distance by telling gabby to take a walk to calm down. she didn't want to be separated from the male and began slapping him. he grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him. a responding officer said the incident seemed to be a mental health issue, saying petito

revealed she suffers from anxiety. no charges were filed. and police in the couple's hometown in florida have scheduled a news conference today. country music star mcinread to be rescued from a building in oklahoma after the stairwell collapsed. she was among 7 people escorted out a window. she was touring the building at the time. coming up, the greatest song of all time. that is according to rolling stone magazine. also ahead, the 8th grade football phenom. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7.

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>> so, again, in eighth grade and just received a full scholarship offer fromhe gars. no te ecommit yb >>next the reigning moving up in the record books. >> amodio has won 21 consecutive games now in third place all-time behind "jeopardy!" legends ken jennings and james holzhauer. >> so far he's won $740,000. next "rolling stone" magazine has updated its list of greatest songs of all time. >> which came out on top? here it is. ♪ what you want, baby, i got it, what you need, you know i got it ♪ ♪ all i'm asking is for a little respect when you get home, baby ♪ >> put some respect on her name. the queen aretha frank lynn and number two on the list, public enemy's "fight the power." >> a new way to get the most out

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>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding

solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> now at 5:00, a big fire breaks out over east bay overnight. the challenge for fire crews. >> marine county has tried to anticipate what is coming next. >> the push to get kids vaccinated. the work one local county is doing as it waits for the fda vaccine authorization. >> mike is tracking cooler weather and a transfer rain -- chance for rain this weekend. >> 3, 2, 1. >> ignition. >> history in space. this all civilian crew in orbit this morning. the new images from their big morning. you are watching abc seven mornings live on abc seven, hulu live in wherever you stream. >> we heard rain, mike and we got excited. mike: it is not until sunday. you have a couple of days. i am glad you are excited about it.

here is something you