on the broadcast tonight, >> liftoff. the final liftoff of "atlantis." >> the final flight, this was it, it's underway, the end of the u.s. manned space program as we know it. a successful launch while on the ground, hundreds of thousands of people thrilled to witness history. help wanted. bad news on jobs today and signs of a black sliding economy. the question is, is there any good economic news buried in the figures? making history. one woman, a marine, shatters another barrier. tonight, here story and her commanding style. and, california, here they come. the royals are the stars of

hollywood tonight. also tonight, if you live near it, you know it's coming, it's called carmageddon and it's just days away. it's called carmageddon and it's just days away. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. it was visible in the sky for about a minute and then it was gone in the clouds. the last launch of the u.s. manned space program is history. they're in earth orbit now and the crew is at work, and while they're looking down on all of us from that window, what they can't see, perhaps, is that 50 years of history, riding along with them. the race with the russians, the early the u.s. pilots with the right stuff, kennedy's outlandish challenge to get to the moon, all the disasters along the way and so much of the technology we enjoy today. but times have changed, money is tight, we're told, and for now, we just don't see space as the next frontier as we once did. tonight an old vehicle is on its last few laps and a big part of

american life is about to end. we begin our coverage tonight with nbc's tom costello who was lucky enough to watch it blast off at the cape today. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. mission managers admit they got lucky with the weather, no rain, no lightning, even a last-minute technical glitch didn't teach "atlant "atlantis" on the ground. for the last time, a farewell from the ground teams who have spent 30 years launching shuttle missions. >> on behalf of the greatest team in the world, good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of this true american icon. >> go flight, one more time, mike, witnessing this nation at its best. the crew of "atlantis" is ready for launch. >> reporter: liftoff, the final liftoff of "atlantis." >> reporter: the 135th shuttle mission thundered off the florida coast on a resupply mission to the space station. while on the ground,

three-quarters of a million people gathered to witness history. >> i wish them god speed and i'm so proud, i'm happy to have seen them go out. >> reporter: but controversy continues to reign over nasa and its alumni race as to whether weather is conceding its position in the space race by ending the space shuttle before there is a craft to replace it. >> i tell you that i think we're looking at a lost decade. >> reporter: a lost decade in space? >> that's what i think. >> it couldn't be farther from the truth. america has a bright future in space. president obama has committed this nation to moving forward to an asteroid and beyond to mars. >> reporter: still some 9,000 people at the kennedy space center are losing their jobs. among them dean petit who has worked on every mission, dating back to 1979. >> i'm not going to be able to say that anymore. but i can always say i did. now that, they can't take from me. >> reporter: to make up for the $60,000 income he's losing, he's

starting an ecotourism business, spacecoastoutdoors.net. meanwhile, at "atlantis" races for the space station, the ground crew offered a poetic, albeit silent goodbye. >> reporter: the commander anticipates some sort of a tribute from space, but he won't say what. meanwhile the launch folks got their own special moment this afternoon. jimmy buffet performed for them once the shuttle was off the pad. brian? >> so it goes. tom costello for us at today's launch. >> now we want to turn to our exclusive interview tonight with the man who was in command of the second to the last shuttle mission. captain mark kelly has been kind enough to join us from houston. captain, as you hear, people are trying to put a good face on this new era of so-called commercial space travel. i interviewed john glen, a man you may have seen around the office a few days back, he says america's making a very big

mistake, do you agree? >> well, you know, i think what's important, brian, is that, you know, what happened was about a year and a half ago we made a decision to go with this commercial route, and it was very controversial. we had the augustine commission that made a lot of recommendations and the decision was to proceed with smaller companies to provide commercial first cargo and then crew access to space. and i think what's important at this point is that we embrace that and make this work. because, you know, that's what we have now, it's going to take a while before we're flying people in space again, but we could really make this successful. >> a little tough to get used to the idea that the russians are, for now, our ride for american astronauts into space? >> yeah, that is tough to get used to. but it's not the first time we have been in a similar situation without a spacecraft. at the end of the apollo

program, we didn't have access to space for about six years until we first flew the space shuttle in 1981. so it's something we have seen before, obviously buying seats on the russian soyuz is not an ideal situation for us, but at least it's a good option to get our crews into space. >> you're a patriot and a team member to the very end. i have to ask you about your family, coming up here on a big six-month anniversary of that tragic shooting in tucson and today they hoisted the traveling 9/11 flag from ground zero, it was a lovely tribute out there in the parking lot of that safeway supermarket. how is your wife, the congresswoman and how does the prognosis look as we near six months? >> she's doing well. the prognosis is really, really good for her. she improves every day, every week.

she's excited about what we're doing in space. today she watched the launch, not from home where i was, but at her rehab facility and she was really excited to see the space shuttle fly one more time. >> our very best to her, captain mark kelly, pleasure to have you, thank you very much for joining us tonight from houston. >> on another front, we have got the numbers today on the jobs picture for the month of june and they were in a word, awful. employers added just 18,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, a fraction of what economists were expecting. the unemployment rate actually went up a notch to 9.2%, higher than it was last month. the bleak numbers reflect what americans already know that this economic recovery still has a long way to go. cnbc's maria bartiromo is with us tonight and they did not, nobody wanted an uptick in the unemployment number.

>> reporter: absolutely, brian. the unemployment rate going up to 9.2%. the number of new jobs created at a very, very low 18,000. we were expecting 120,000 new jobs created for june. it was tough all around, businesses cut jobs, state and local governments cut jobs, even in education, it was a surprise on the downside and it indicates that we are very much in a slow recovery, housing has really not picked up at all, that has contributed to it. and it's still very much tough going for most americans today. >> and maria, last time you and i smoke -- spoke, we talked about it, the possibility of this so-called double dip recession and you never quite recover and then you go into another recession. >> if i had to make the bet, no, we're not going to see two consecutive quarters of negative growth which is what the recession would be. however, you and i talked the last time, it doesn't really matter what you call it, you could call it cupcakes, whatever

it is, it just doesn't feel good. so we may not be in a double dip recession necessarily, but it feels like one. you're worried about your job, you're worried about your neighbor's job, your family doesn't have a job. one piece of good news i'll leave you on, the corporate sector has been vibrant. we do begin the second quarter earnings next week, perhaps that gives us some vibrancy, but it certainly doesn't feel like it on the ground, brian. >> okay, let's call it cupcakes tonight. maria bartiromo on the ground for us from cnbc. overseas tonight in great britain that reverberate all the way to parliament, the phone hacking scandal now shut down an entire newspaper, is only getting uglier, there's dire warning of more damning revelations to come and today the first arrests in the case, after so many violations of personal privacy. michelle kosinski has the latest from london. >> reporter: a day after the 168-year-old news of the world fell to a scandal of its own making, two former top employees were arrested.

an editor who once served as the prime minister's communications director and a reporter who served prison time for hacking into the paper back in 2007, when victims included celebrities and the royal family. today the offices of his current employer, "the daily star" were raided by police. and the prime minister vowed no stone will be left unturned. >> if these people could have had their phones hacked into in order to generate stories for a newspaper is simply disgusting. >> reporter: now even more questions. were other papers doing this? why were police allegedly taking huge payments from journalists and why didn't politicians push to get to the murky bottom of this? among the possibly thousands of phone hacking victims whose names and numbers have been turned over to the police by the newspaper of the world, include murder victims, terror attack victims and fallen soldiers.

tony just found out that his son james who died in afghanistan in 2006 may not only have had his cell phone hacked into by news of the world, but also his e-mail. >> they have hacked into a dead soldier, it's despicable. what else would you say? what on earth did they think they were going to find? >> reporter: in the words of the prime minister, people trust the police to protect them, politicians to represent them and the press to inform them. and says the british public has been failed by all three. michelle kosinski, nbc news, london. in the middle east where fridays are typically the biggest day for protests, following friday prayers, hundreds of thousands were out on the streets of syria again today demanding regime change. and in egypt, protesters are back in the streets, back in tahrir square. it's been five months now since mubarak was forced out, since we were there to cover it. there was so much hope back then, but there's now growing

anger over the slow pace of change and growing concern about who holds the power. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel finds himself back in tahrir square once again tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we certainly are back here in tahrir square, and so are the demonstrators. today saw the biggest protests since the ones that brought down president hosni mubarak and people here are not at all satisfied with the pace of reform and they say they're going to stay in this square until their demands have been met. the revolution is back on. over 100,000 people in tahrir square today, back with their tents and slogans. mubarak may be gone, but he and his top officials have not been put on trial, reform is slow or nonexistent. the revolution here is clearly not over, but now many of the young activists who started this revolution five months ago fear it's being hijacked by the

military and islamic groups. we visited the cairo headquarters of the secular revolutionaries who toppled mubarak with their campaigns on facebook and twitter. they're nearly out of money. their office, grubby, cheaply furnished with a few old commuters and a photocopy machine. ameril says young organizers like her are losing power to the groups like the egyptian brotherhood. >> reporter: just compare the real estate, in january the muslim brotherhood's office was a small apartment with a tiny sign outside. their headquarters now, a palatial six-story villa, with guilded furniture, chandeliers, and the group's logo, crossed swords and the koran. the brotherhood is rich from

donations from around the arab world. it's leaders like osama arian have been out campaigning at egyptian universities. the muslim brotherhood, egypt's most powerful political group says it wants, quote, islamic democracy. >> we need to give the whole world a new version of democracy. >> reporter: the brotherhood says it is not antagonistic to the united states, but it is staunchly anti-israel. >> israel cannot do it. >> reporter: why not? >> because they want to live in war. it is the history of the jewish people. >> reporter: in tahrir square today, both groups were out, the secular revolutionaries and the muslim brotherhood, each demanding faster change. this is a struggle for egypt's future. in addition to the protests here, there were also demonstrations in sharm el sheikh in front of the hospital where the egyptian government says mubarak is under medical supervision. brian?

>> richard, unbelievable turn of events since you and i stood in that spot five months ago. richard engel back in cairo for us. thanks. when we come back here to new york, there is a new boss in paris ald, and when she says jump, the only acceptable question is, how high? and what's it like for the nearly 1 million people who just had to see the last launch in person, in their own words tonight. drink what we want, and sleep soundly through the night. unlike antacids, one prevacid®24hr pill prevents the acid that causes frequent heartburn for 24 hours. choose prevacid®24hr and see why 9 out of 10 users say they're satisfied. so relax. enjoy. with prevacid®24hr, happiness is a day without heartburn™.

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at paris island, south carolina produces 20,000 marines a year. >> now is this a timed event? >> reporter: inspecting the training is the new commanding general, lori reynolds. >> i was the guy on the bottom. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: brigadier general reynolds is the first woman to head paris island and says she is humbled to command the recruits who volunteer during war-time. >> for us it's not just a name on a page or another uniform, those are young americans and we owe it to their families to take good care of them. >> reporter: before coming here, general reynolds already made history in afghanistan, by serving there as the first female marine to become a lead commander in a battle zone. of the 200,000 marines around the world, nearly 14,000 are women. and many see general reynolds as a role model. >> i believe it would empower them to believe more in themselves and their capabilities. >> reporter: reynolds says her promotion tells a lot about the marines, being a performance-based culture for

men and women. >> for young women out there, they should just never say never, keep pushing, keep challenging yourself. >> reporter: at a graduation ceremony today, she was on hand to meet the parents. >> you're the mom? well, welcome to the marine corps family. >> reporter: and to honor the new marines, all of whom she's extremely proud. mark potter, nbc news, paris island. also tonight perhaps you heard about the terrible tragedy at the texas rangers home game last night. their star outfielder and league mvp josh hamilton was just trying to do a nice thing, he tossed a foul ball to a fan in the stands, 39-year-old firefighter named shannon stone who was at the game with his 6-year-old son, lunged to catch the ball, fell 20 feet to his death. the rangers are setting up a memorial fund for his wife and son. stone was a lieutenant, a 17-year veteran of the fire service.

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governor, she was given flowers, reds, white and blue. they jumped into a british range rover and that car and its motorcade was tailed all the way across town, a ten-minute drive from beverly hills, security is really tight here. the lapd saying they will not tolerate the paparazzi, saying they will arrest people if they do that. the trip takes them to santa barbara tomorrow where william will be playing polo. there will be a red carpet gala which will be tomorrow night. you see them arriving at beverly hilton for a technology summit. this is more than a vacation, this is a working trip for them. here they're promoting a british version of the silicon valley. a three-day trip crammed with

stops. a first trip for kate to the u.s., brian. >> so the anticipation is thick tonight. a story we'll be bringing to you on "nightly news" next week. it's being called carmageddon. and it's just days away and if you know the roads in southern california, they are shutting down the 405. a major artery for a major repair. 50-mile backups, the likes of which we have never seen before. we will preview carmageddon here next week. when we come back here tonight, the folks who showed up in florida today to witness a bit of history.

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when we can eat what we want and sleep soundly through the night. prevacid®24hr prevents the acid that causes frequent heartburn, all day, all night. finally tonight, back down to florida, it turns out more than one family had the idea to tack a little side trip on to their summer vacation to see the end of an era, the last shuttle launch. there were predictions of 1 million spectators this morning at the time of blastoff. they came, they saw, and some of them spoke with us. >> go for main engine start. two minutes ten. >> i have been live for 30 years, they have been doing it for 30 years, it's so special.

>> nine, eight -- >> i want to see some more manned space flight. >> seven, six, five. all three engining up an burning. >> i hope i live long enough to see more american manned flights. >> two, one, zero and liftoff. >> reporter: the final liftoff of "atlantis" on the shoulders of the space shuttle, america will continue the race. >> roger roll, "atlantis." >> i can't wait to see what we do next. i just wish them god speed and i'm so proud and happy to have seen them go out. >> houston now controlling the flight of "atlantis." >> it's not the end, it's the end of a chapter, the book is still open for manned space flight. and everything beyond.

4.5 million pounds of hardware and humans taking aim on the international space station. >> just a few of the folks that showed up to see history today in their own words. that's our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt will be here with yo wthu eeis a sdier from the bay area was killed in afghanistan. what we're learning about his life and service. >> and i'm scott budman in watsonville. a small plane crashed claims an entire family of four. >> also new, federal report involving phillip garrido and the parole agents who were supposed to be watching him. the news at 6:00 starts right