for others, please check back later for cbs this morning and follow captioning sponsored by cbs >> garrett: tonight a brand new mission accomplished with the first splash dunn in decades. spacex in a breakthrough completes a space station rendezvous and returns with astronauts on board. >> splaisdown-- splashdown. welcome back to planet earth and thanks for snrying spacex. >> garrett: also new waves, coronavirus returns to states that thought they had the upper hand. deaths surge. >> we are in a new phase. >> garrett: in washington the white house and democrats tussle bas raging wildfires east of los angeles. virus-battered florida hopes for a side siep from isaias, the queen of the skies flies into

history and later opera's opening night where romans once watched chariots. >> this is the cbs weekend news. >> garrett: good evening, everyone, i'm major garrett in washington. coronavirus remains a threat to america's health and economy. today's maryland republican governor called it a twin crisis. southern california battles wildfires and the eastern sea board casts a wary eye on tropical storm isaias. but we begin with triumph bathed in starlight. the return to earth of two nasa astronauts courtesy of spacex. a private firm with ambitions seemingly as boundless as space itself. their dragon capsule splashed down in the gulf of mexico after a mission to the international space station. mark strassmann has more. >> dragon spacex comm check. >> after six minutes of silence,

spacex mission control wanted to hear from th fro-tronts. >> we read you lou clear. >> when thecasu came intoryone with spacex breatheier. fou mn chutes deployed. astronauts bob behnken and doug hurley 19 hour return trip was almost over. >> splashdown. >> welcome back to planet earth and thanks for flying spacex. >> the first splashdown ever in the gulf of mexico. to dodge hurricane isaias in the atlantic. >> we're doing pretty good so far. >> two spacex reached the fast boats reached the capsule but recreational boaters did too, a breach of safety and security. >> something like this canendant hah on strleadjusting to earth's gravity. >> sea ground is go for undocking.

>> that homecoming began last night, 266 miles above south africa, capsule and crew separated from the space station. hurley and behnken went to sleep. >> rise and shine daddy. we love you. >> their young sons woke them up this morning. >> don't worry, you can sleep in tomorrow. >> they hurry. their fiery plummet into earth's atmosphere reached temperatures of 3500 degrees. they kept falling, now at 350 miles per hour. two sets of open parachutes slowed down the capsule, this two month mission was nearly flawless. spacex had aced its final test flight. america's back in the space-launching business. >> splashdown. >> mark strassmann, cbs news, atlanta. blz today-- . >> garrett: today this warning, america's coronavirus has crisis entered a new phase and a cbs news battleground poll shows president trump's handling of the outbreak is handi capping him in georgia and north

carolina as it appears to be nationwide. a a large number of voters according to our poll also thinr of handling the virus. this as coronavirus deaths rise in 32 states. lilia luciano has the latest. >> coronavirus tonight still out of control. and in many places so are the crowds. like this so-called white trash bash in illinois with up to a thousand partyers as the state nears 200,000 cases. >> it's the perfect element for a problem. >> in south dakota a quarter of a million people expected to pack next weekend's sturgisrcycn lirnia infections with more than half a million cases. this as the cdc predicts up to 11,000 people will die every week this month. the pandemic entering a new phase.

>> what we are seeing today is different from march and april. it is extraordinarily widespread. >> and across the country, the debate over opening schools continues. parents in georgia protesting to get their kids back in class. >> i couldn't get my job done. i couldn't teach my child. it was just too difficult. >> but at one now-closed georgia summer camp a super spreader outbreak among kids. as least 44% tested positive after catching covid in march, the battle isn't over yet for justin wilhite, raising awareness about the long-term effects of the virus. >> i'm still dealing with headaches, shortness of breathe, joint pain. >> what is your fear. >> my fear is that athf this, that there will be some sort of damage and i will pass away anyway. >> justin is just one of many californians dea lingering health issues. like him red sox pitcher edwarda rodriguez is out for the season, if there even is one, i know that is not what you want to hear, major.

>> garrett: we're clinging to hopes for a baseball season. thank you. new evacuation orders are expected in southern california where the so called apple fire burns out of control. at least 8,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. this began as two small brush fires, now more than 32 square miles have bee scorched. so far property damage appears to be minimal, no injuries are reported. some 1,000 firefighters are trying to keep it that way. there is zero containment. the military said today seven marines and one sailor are preseumed dead after their amphibious assault vehicle sank off the coast near san diego. it happened thursday. helicopters and boats searched for 40 hours. the victims were assigned to camp pendleton. the trump administration and law make ares on capitol hill sti don't agree on how to save or reshape 600 dollar jobless benefits that expire this weekend for millions of americans. nikole killion is at the white house.

>> as president trump hit the links sunday no hole-in-one for his negotiating team on a coronavirus rescue package. >> i'm not optimistic that there will be a solution in the very near term. >> chief of staff mark meadows and trsh ree secretary steve nusmin say talks with congressional democrats have been productive but they are still far apart on a deal. >> do you think the president needs to be more involved. >> the president is incredibly involved. >> but he's been golds to hold a meeting here at the white house. >> let me comment. >> i think mark and i spoke to the president something like eight or ten times yesterday. the president wherever he is is available round-the-clock for us. and let me just say, you know, i may go biking later today. so i hope everybody doesn't say why am i going biking and getting some exercise and i'm not on the hill negotiating. >> we all know how negotiations should go. there has to be true back andrt democrats say any extension

of unemployment benefits should be part of a sweeping package similar to what the house passed in may. republicans and the white house favor a short-term extension of the weekly payment to allow more time to negotiate. >> we had been for the $600. they have a $200 proposal, which does not meet the needs of america's working families. >> staff held talks today, formal discussions continue between the white house and congressional leaders monday. major? >> garrett: nikole killion, asking key question, thank you. former vice president joe biden is close to announcing his running mate. the obsessive question is who. equally important, how will that decision be made and what if anything that reveals about biden. ed o'keefe has the latest. >> as he continues his running mate search joe biden is said to be considered from a group of female governors, law mack ares and former obadministration officials. two contenders spoke out sunday. >> any one of the womens whose names have been mentioned to be

considered are fabulous women and well prepared to step up and do the job of vice president. >> absolutely, i do feel that i could do the job. >> as biden reviews his options, cbs news analyst robby mook who led hillary clinton's campaign said the former vice president is likely trying to answer two main questions. >> without do you think is prepared to be president of the united states should something happens to you. but also who do you want to be your partner, you know, in the west wing and the with us. >> former new mexico governor bill richardson was considered for vp by al gore, john kerry and barack obama. >> i went through the process because st an honor. >> he warned the process can place a big burden on the contenders family. >> your life is going to change dramically but at the same time that you can possibly make a big contribution to the country. >> in 2008 obama also considered former kansas governor kathleen sebelius who recalled turning over reams of personal and financial information. >> to say it isn't fun is an

understatement. imagine an irs audit on top of a, you know, social audit, on top of a quizzing every, in my case, every vote i had taken. >> sebelius said she is especially eager to see who biden chooses this year. >> joe biden having designated a woman from the outset to be his running mate has created a whole new platform. and i find that very exciting. >> everyone we spoke to said that personal chemistry between biden and his running mate will be key to making that team a success. so if you look at that list of contenders and wonder who is biden actually worked with before in the past, the oy name on that list is former obama national security advisor susan rice. major? >> garrett: possibly a clue. #ed, thanks so much, florida appears to have escaped the worse of isaias. tonight once a hauer caine now a tropical storm it's churning off the state's east code and heading north. forecasters say it could gain

power on its way. manuel bo jor easy bojorquez is in riviera beach. >> high winds and dangerous surf along floor a's atlantic coast. in riviera beach rob swan is relieved it wasn't a direct hit. >> but this one kind of stopped, hung a right and basically seems like it is offshore. so it was pretty much a nonevent. >> it wasn't so much a nonevent for the state's efforts against the coronavirus. several government run test sites remain closed. florida reported just over 7,000 new cases today. one of the lowest to thals in weeks. though reporting delays mean the impact of the closures may not yet be reflected. >> isaias was unforgiving over parts of bat hamas d ys hurricane dorian. dumping flooding rain in areas still recovering, as it churns north, florida officials warned residents to avoid the rough surf and stay prepared. murphy's law, if something can

go wrong, it will, don't put yourself in a situation, wrap up your precautions and be ready. >> along the carolina where isaias could make landfall by tomorrow, the concerns ring from potential storm surge to inland flooding. >> we are urging anyone who has to evacuate to try and stay with family and friends. >> tonight issa sas is expectedded to continue to scrape up the east coast of florida before reaching the carolinas tomorrow and possibly bringing substantial rain amounts over much of the eastern sea board into the new week. major? >> garrett: manual bojorquez, thank you. >> still to come, europe's hard won coronavirus gains begin to slip as new infections spread. and she may be the queen of the skies but the 747's long reign is really over.

>> garrett: the number of covid-19 cases worldwide stands at nearly 18 million with the

highest case totals outside the united states if brazil, india and russia. cbs news senior foreign correspondent elizabeth palmer reports from london. >> southern australia grappling with a big spike in covid cases declared a state of disaster this weekend. and ordered a fresh lockdown with an 8 p.m. curfew. >> across europe too there have been upticks in infections. in britain where life and summer had been getting back to normal, the government reversed direction and tightened up the rules. french and german officials are so worried about local surges they started free covid testing at airports. and mask haomma beach. >> though not in moscow where officials allowed the city's half marathon to go ahead. a crowded field widely ignored social distancing, even as the

country counted almost five and a half thousand new covid cases in 24 hours. the recent uptick in europe follow broad easing of the coronavirus rules and then people letting their guard down. the situation is very different in the developing world. >> south africa is a good example. extreme poverty and overcrowding, coupled with an overburdened health-care system means the country has half of africa's covid cases. it also has three times as many covid deaths as it had just a month ago. in countries like india, which is seeing 50,000 new cases a he vir thrives in the slums. india is now on course to overtake the united states in having the worst outbreak on earth. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. >> garrett: still ahead on the cbs weekend news, one nhl player

takes a stand against racism by taking a knee.

>> garrett: the nhl playoffc comeback playing in two cities in canada. this post season began last night with minnesota's matt dumba becoming the first nhl play tore kneel during the american national anthem t happened before an oilers-blawks game in edmonton, he also spoke about racial injustice and black lives matter before the puck dropped. actor wilford brimley has died. he might be his walrus like mustache and sometimes crusty characters he

played in movies like cocoon and the natural and as a tv pitchman for quaker oats. wilford brimley who was on die all sis died at-- die all sis, next, etthed just about everything in commercial aviation makes its final approach.

>> garrett: boeing rolled out its first 747 at its everett washington plant in 1968. the jumbo jet as it became known quickly revolutionized air travel for the world. but last week we learned its days are numbered. and here is kris van cleave. >> july has been a tough month for fans of the 747. the economic falcovis mae thhe n landing a kwan tas 74747 just days earl british airlines ground its entire 747 fleet and wednesday boeing announced it will fill the final order for the iconic jet dubbed the queen

of the skies in 2022. >> there is a bit of me on every one of those airplanes, so it is kind of an odd feeling to see that phasing out. kind of traumatic in a which. >> we talked to boeing employee paul chamberlin in 2017 for cbs sunday morning. he had worked on the 747 line for 27 years. >> every time it takes off i get goosebumps, to think that something this big, something this awesome just lifted off >> in 1966 pannal asked boeing for the biggest airliner ever, starting from scratch and nearly banrupting the company, boeing pumped back double decker jumbo jet made its first flight three years later. >> your our line wasn't an airliner unless you had a 747. >> boeing historian, because of the sighs, because of the economy,segn, itade flyordable. >> the 747 four engines carried the space shuttle across the country and five u.s. presidents

around the world. >> good morning. >> we were there in november 2017 when united's final 747 left san francisco for honolulu, retracing its original route 47 years earlier. thomas lee was there at the beginning. >> why was it so important for you to be here today for this flight. >> well, having been on the first flight of the 747, naturally it is wonderful opportunity to be on the last flight. >> while its passenger days are dwindle, 747s will fly for years freighters and the new air force one. five decades later, the final chapter in this queen's reign. kris van cleave, cbs news, washington. >> garrett: when we return, i ronedolton a famous placegedchar race

>> garrett: we end with a night at the opera, in this era of social distancing chris

livesay reports how an ancient perfnce a♪.me has become a safe >> more than 2,000 years ago it was chariot races that drew romans here to the circus maximum-- max muses. today it's opening night of the rigoletto reinterrupted with a 1970s setting. >> but the audience is unmistakably from 202020. safely seated more than six feet apart, something the opera couldn't achieve inside its concert hall or smaller outdoor venue. >> now picture it, this is the same race track where emperor nero would race his chariot before 150,000 screaming romans. now today because of social distancing and coronavirus, it's opera. >> soprano rosa feola says

circus maximus spanning two football fields is a god send. >> it is four months that we are not allowed to sing in theaters because it is not safe place. so we were waiting for this moment to come back to life again. so i feel like a very young, young, young singer again. >> even the set was designed with social distancing in mind. >> when you have the energy to go to a person, you have a cart in the middle so you remember you do not go to the other side. >> with the singing, with the sic, you can give emotion even if we are not touching. >> if there's going to be a second act, even opera can adapt. >> chris livesay, cbss, >> gartt: come b te thay70 is coing ews for i'm