>> you're in such an elite club of people. this has been a successful mission. we talked to you in may when they launched. what do you envision and hope for the future now? >> i hope this is just the first step. we've got to keep continuing and progressing. i think it's fantastic that spacex has been successful on this flight. we'll put it into a normal operating procedure and be using them to transport to and from the space station. i also want to see other companies like boeing or other companies to get up there and do the same thing. in order for us to really explore space, we need to have much more capability. a lot of people wonder why you want to go forward with exploring space.

why go. the benefits of the technology that get developed and the potential scientific findings can help all of us here on earth in lots and lots of different ways. it's really exciting to have more people involved, more people aware and hopefully this will become more every day. >> for our viewers who are just fun -- tuning in, pit's 3:00. as the dragon endeavour slash landed. the first splashdown by americans in 45 years since an apollo mission. there's an going joke with bob. he better keep the spacecraft clean. his wife scheduled the fly next

as we speak with nasa astronaut about this mission and the future of space travel as well. peggy, i want to talk to you about what they're doing right now. they just said they are securing the parachutes before they go in. what are some of the actions they are taking to get the astronauts safely out? >> the first thing they had to do was make sure that the fuels, which can be very toxics were not leaking around the capsule. they confirm that. one guy will get up and start preparing the capsule to be lifted. you can see the view that we're seeing on the screen now is getting closer. that's because the big ship that's going to pick up the capsule is approaching them after the first fast boat cleared it and then the second fast boat is picking up the space -- parachutes. as soon as the big boat gets out there, they will have it con g

configured and ready to go to be lifted on the big boat. that's when they will get the crew out of the vehicle. >> we know they will immediately go on the recovery ship to an initial assessment. according to nasa, the distance to shore kind of ranges between the 7 different sites they identified, anywhere from 22 nautical miles to 175. once they get back to shore, both crew members will immediately board a nasa plane to flyhouston. you were mentioning the high temperatures and the speed of which the capsules are coming back and the heat. tell us about the technology that prevents the astronauts from being uncomfortable. >> well, on the exterior part of the capsule, and that's the most important part, is a heat shield. we've had different kinds over the years. it depends on the spacecraft.

basically they absorb the heat and dissipate the heat so it doesn't go into the capsule and make it really hot. 3500 degrees fahrenheit will be pretty toasty. air-condition and cooling inside their space suits to keep them reasonably cool as well. that combination of things helps keep the crews safe during that reentry phase. >> we also know the seats rotate inside. the astronauts are up right and they don't have to be on their backs there. were you one of the people who was excited about this partnership with spacex.

spacex has demonstrated by developing a cargo vehicle. it adviser to take a long time because you want it to be especially safe. >> we know this will go to their space in florida for inspection and processing. it's expected to go.

>> reuse many, if not most of their parts. they are saving a lot of money. they are making access to space much less expensive than it was before and they are going to be some of the drivers that change how are future spacecraft are build and it approaches the different people used for that future exploration because we have to drive the cost down for more and more to be involved. >> for those who are joining us, we are lucky enough to speak with astronaut peggy witson. we're awaiting two astronauts to get out of the capsule, get on a boat and go back to houston. a successful two-month mission. they launched at the end of may to go to the international space station. it's the first commercial spacecraft to be able to successfully complete this

mission. peggy, we know this mission, the return to earth was a 19-hour mission. can row cake us through the steps of docking from the international space station, orbiting earth and then finally descending and why something like that takes 19 hour pps it depends on orbital mechanics which is not trivial to explain. it lands on earth in just five or and a half hours. if you want to keep your options open about where you want to land, then you need to have a bit more time on orbit so that you can determine. because of the hurricane they wanted to make that decision as late as possible so they kept the guys on orbit a little bit longer so they could make the best decision possible to land in the site where there's not a lot of waves and, obviously, not in a hurricane.

>> we heard we're about 20 minutes out right now. what crews are doing is pulling that capsule onto a boat. once it's secure, they will open the hatch. can you give us some insight intoclaustrophobic for the two of them in there. >> it's not that claustrophobic in. it's like being in car, maybe smaller version. there's plenty of room in that sense. i guess, compared to like space station, it is much smaller and much more confining but it's something you get used to. it's something you train in and accustomed to it. you might not want to be an astronaut if you're

claustrophobic. >> that's a good point. let's talk about the emotion you feel when you watch these. i'm sure you have such a unique perspective in terms of you know all the work, all the sweat and tears and lifelong dreams that go into this. it's exciting. it's hopeful. it's inspirational. what was going through your mind when you saw this today? >> well, i'm glad it's been such a flawless mission because we need -- i think our world needs some positivity right now. i really do feel that this is a key moment in commercial space development and our future space flight. it's really exciting for me from that perspective. of course, i know both bob and doug and really thrilled for them as well. >> right now let's take it back to what we're looking at right now. we saw the capsule successfully

dock there in the water. we saw the fast boats speed up to the capsule. we know they are pulling it onto a boat we see right there in the infrared imams. they cut off parachutes just in a few minutes they will be opening the hatch. what's happening right now. you mentioned earlier that they will be watching to make sure there's no noxious fuels or fumes that could be hazardous. what else do you think they are doing down there right now in. >> i think it's probably mostly just trying to make the capsule as expeditious as possible.

>> astronaut peggy, i do hope you cleared your afternoon for us. we're going to be hmonitoring this. thank you so much. for now, let's move on. tropical storm isaias. chris, looks like the winds are picking up. >> reporter: you're right. these are the strongest wind gusts we have seen all day. this storm is getting closer. as i said, wind gusts are much faster and harder than we have seen all day today. the beach has been cleared.

we have been seeing a few stragglers, as you put it last hour, walking up and down the beach. nobody in the water because the surf is so high. >> thank you. >> we still have high surf beach erosion that will be taking place. they are getting hammered with these bands of moisture and we could see some tornadoes out of that. even some water spouts. this storm system has exploded in the last 24 hours. it hasn't come together. it was very disorganized yesterday. right now still seeing sustained winds of 65 miles an hour. it's 45 near vero beach, florida. inching very close to the edge

of the coastal areas of east florida. now what i'm concerned about, this movement has not changed out of the north/northwest at 9 miles an hour. i'm still waiting for the steering mechanism for it to turn a bit so we can get off the east coast of florida. the newest track that just came in, you can see into tonight into monday morning. it's going to race into the mid-atlantic and our concern right now is not really the wind damage. it's the rainfall. we are expecting at least two to four inches. it has taken an east ward trend. look at this difference.

it's really going to go into jersey tuesday evening into wednesday. >> thank you so much. we are going to go back where we're tracking the spacex capsule. really unique vantage point. let's listen in and hear what they are talking about. >> that's where the medical stretchers will be waiting to assist them into the medical base for evaluation after capsule egress. >> it's already been 25 minutes since they splashed down. it doesn't feel like it. >> that was definitely the fastest 25 minutes of the day. >> the time line we were anticipating was for the lifting operations to start within about 30 minutes. we're pretty much right on the timeline still. that's been a pretty common thing so far today. you can see them, with one of the fast boats getting in position to start moving out with the additional rigging to affix to the dragon capsule

where they will use this a frame to pull it up out of the water. it's circular object with the a1 right on it. >> while this is the first time we're rekcovering a capsule wit the crew member on board. rigging is in progress. >> all right. they are just updating the crew that they might feel some momentum as the lines, as a couple of the rigging lines are attached. they practiced the egress.

it's really nice to see that the process itself it's going super efficiently. you may have heard us mention before there are about 40 people on board today. we don't want anyone in danger or to fall overboard. >> we're ready. thank you.

>> the crew was just told in about in the next 30 seconds, they have lines affixed. they will lift the capsule up out of the water. the communication we're getting with dragon is being routed through the boat itself at this point. we can see the lift. dragon is out of the water. the a frame will start swinging it back. it's bound right for that nest at the bottom of your screen. >> we're getting a better shot. ensuring it isn't swinging freely.

we can see dragon endeavour being carefully set down in go navigator. >> welcome aboard the recovery vessel. >> thank you. >> for the first time in two months, nasa astronauts bob and doug are on some sort of ground. guess we can't call it solid ground because it is a ship. however, it's the first time they are not in space on a rocket or bobbing in the ocean. >> now that they are in, they will start translating it

forward and dragon will move into the hangar section underneath the helipads and up to the recovery platform that we saw earlier. at this point, the spacecraft technicians will work to open up the hatch. it's manual process with a couple of different attachments you have to engage before the hatch itself can be open. they'll get it open and spacex will be the first one through the hatch to check in on bob and doug. get there initial health assessment and see if they are ready to move and we'll start assisting them out of the capsule and into that medical facility on the boat. >> at this point the recovery team is doing final securing of the capsule in preparation to

actually move the recovery nest into closer to the interior of the ship. it will be in a little bit of covered deck there. we saw that camera view earlier looking straight out from the center of the boat. once dragon is secured in the nest then the nest will be reco. closer to the position in which we're able to open the hatch. while dragon is on board safely, we're not able to do that just yet. >> they're working to detach sochl those lines that were used to hoist it using the a frame and we heard that they should be done with that in just a moment and start that translation.

>> all right. we're watching the recovery of the dragon endeavor right now. as the person at nasa said, this is the first time these two astronauts are on some kind of solid, pseudo ground, not orbiting in space, not bobbing in the ocean. it's been a little more than 25 minutes since they first touched down in this two-month mission. hundred isaias is forcing them to do a splash landing. this is the first time nasa is recovering the dragon capsule. i want to bring in pnasa astronaut peggy. the first time they're recovering this and sent to commercial spacecraft with salespeople on splash landing here many the gulf. the first time they have done a splash landing at all in 45

years. >> this is what the test flight is about. it's to prove the vehicle is safe and capable and going into an operational status taking our crews to and from the international space station. >> you know these two astronauts personally, bob and doug and the fact they are making this milestone for the rest of us, paving the way for more restaurants to come. another mission scheduled as early as september. what can you tell us since you know them personally about maybe any fears they had going into this. obviously, it's worth it this is a lifelong dream but really because it's a first of its kind, there's a will the of unknowns. >> yeah. both of these guys worked in the military and bob was a test engineer. both of them have done a lot of test flights before. they were very excited to be able to be a part of this really special mission of a lot of firsts. obviously, they want to make

sure that everything works well with the vehicle and make sure the next crew goes aboard will have learned from any of the things they found difficult or challenging or things that could be corrected in procedures. things like that. they are both very meticulous guys. i know they were all over it and that the vehicle, the procedures, everything will be the best it can be when the next crew flies. >> we know they said in their communication that we were listening to live that it was about 25 minutes since they had land landed. they were well within the time they expected. tell some of our viewers why that latch hasn't been opened yet. >> everything had to be secured on the vehicle before they can open the hatch. one of the big concerns was how long would it take to get them out. they have obviously practiced this drill several times in

advance of the real thing here today. they want to make sure and the rougher the water is then the longer it takes. more challengi crew members on board the vehicle, the length of time plus rougher water itself. this has been a really good and relatively quick progression here. they want to make sure they are not doing anything out of order to maintain the safety of crew inside but the safety that are outside that could be injured by various things like toxic fumes, et cetera. >> tell us about the magic that bob and doug experienced while traveling to space and docking with the international space station.

what's it like? >> i think the best part about being in space is actually adapting to a new environment that doesn't have gravity. until you lever gravity, you don't know how much it determines our every day life. >> they are removing some corrosion from the hatch. let's listen in right now. >> they're just pausing the operations for a moment. doing some additional air sampling around the prop system. flight controllers able to monitor pressures. not seeing any issues with those at the moment.

>> i'm beginning to bring you in again to ask you what they're doing here. >> they had to just test, do some air sampling again like i was mentioning. we want to make sure the capsule is safe for the people working around it. also, if you're bringing the crew members out and they have their face shields open, which

i'm sure they do by this point, they want to make sure there's no toxic fuel around the capsule. >> looks like th looks like they have the hadar which they will use to help brace the crew members and they should be opening up here shortly. >> i know i asked you last hour but what are some physical affects these two astronauts might be feeling right now after two months in space? >> after two months in space, you'll be feeling -- your inner ear, that keeps you balanced here on earth, when gravity is working with you, it's forgotten how to work. you'll feel very disoriented with gravity. their arms and legs will feel heavy. they're not going to remember quite how heavy they were before they left. it's very challenging time but actually your body learns to adapt relatively quickly to the weight of everything. that's the biggest thing is you feel heavy.

they have been pulled out of the wear and hoisted onto the recovery vessel. right now the team is just completing -- they did an initial check and found there might be some remnant vapored which we don't want to be around when we have bob and doug coming out of the capsule. the team is working to purge the service in preparation for crew egress. the top hatch is used to connect

to the international space station, that's located under the nose cone which is hid in there at the top of the capsule. before this is the side hatch is what is utilized for ingress and egress on the launch pad as well as coming up here on the recovery vessel. when the international -- when the capsule is docked to the international space station, they will use the forward hatch to exit and enter the capsule. something to note, once that side hatch is opened, it will be first time that bob and dug have gotten a breath of fresh air. the first time they have been able to do so in two months since they boarded the falcon 9 at the start of their mission back on may 30th. >> with an on time splashdown they return with almost exactly 64 days in space on this

mission. just a few minutes shy of that. they are seeing the levels dropping. >> we show that levels are declining but are continuing with purge. >> copy. >> in addition, just so you know, we're not seeing any leak indications or anything like that. these are pretty small levels but we still need to do the purge at this time. >> copy. wondering if you saw any in case of leak or depressurization. sounds like it's just part of deal.

>> yeah, that's a good readback, doug. they are at very low levels. >> we are going to get monitoring this and show our viewers what's happening. it looks like the crew is trying to figure out what kind of potentially toxic fumes there could be that could endanger the

crew members. trying to purge that before very fancy word they said, the crew egre egress, bob and doug are able to get out of there. i want to bring in ali velshi y really how significant this is. i asked astronaut peggy witson about all of firsts with this mission but what strikes you as the most symbolic here. >> i think about it as last. i think this as the end of a cycle that's been going on for a long time. first of all, we haven't seen a splashdown of a nasa crew since 1975. in 1994, we had the first space challenge, the first private jet challenge. it was one in 2004.

it gave birth to commercial space flight. depending on how you were, you thought about that a space tourism or mining in space. it allowed nasa to get out of the business of transporting people using a shuttle, literally to get people to the international space station and hand that over to commercial enterprises so nasa could think about bigger things and new frontiers. to be able to see the first crew land safely on earth. 15 miles an hour under those parachutes. i actually think there are a number of firsts but what you are seeing is proof of concept. this actually works. that's why they want to be so careful. that's why they are checking before the astronauts have their egre egress, an aviation term, they want to make sure everything is

lockeddown and safe. they have surgeoned ready for them. they will evaluate their health. they have been in communication with them. they seem to be doing well. they need and want this to be perfect. every space geek in the world even at competing companies is watching this launch. their hearts are in their throat and they want to see the astronauts come out. they want to see bob and doug come out. this marks the beginning of a brand new age in space that little kids can look at and say i also want to be an astronaut. i want to be a space traveler. we are watching and waiting for the hatch to open.

>> there's a lot of things. nasa is a government agency. there are a lot of people who think there are benefits to having a government agency control what we do with space. there's a lot of people who think it's wasted money. neerpt neither of those are true. it's definitely not wasted money. what's the level of involvement that the u.s. government should have on things like this. since shuttling people to the international space station or sticking them into orbit or space tourism or commerce may not be what taxpayers should be paying for but maybe there's other applications. the government contracted with boeing and with spacex to do this. they are come pettepetitors. this marks a mission where you transfer some of that authority over to the private sector. there's a lot of people concerned about spacex. people wonder what commercial motivations are and whether it

will be as nasa. i will remind people there's been accidents when it's commercialized and when it's a government run operation. the questions have always been what do you hand over and what responsibilities do people take and what sort of governance occurs with these types of missions. the bottom line is shuttling people to the international space station or tourism is probably beyond the domain of what government needs to do now. space geeks like me think the government should be involved in the things that are not doable by the private sector. that are higher risk and that do need to be a new frontier but this has become like trucking cargo. it's probably time to start thinking about it that way. let commercial enterprises do this. this only bodes well for increasing relationships between nasa and the private sector. there's many of them. it's not going to be just space exthat wispacex

that's just involved but it's the most successful completion of this relationship. to these these astronauts spend 63 days up in space, orbit the earth, dock, and come back and descend peacefully off the coast of pensacola and about ready to exit this thing. they will be thoroughlily tey t and this will make a lot of people think there's a future we are prepared to explore together. >> stick around for us. i want to bring in retiered astronaut peggy. we just heard they are purging the section getting rid of fumes around the seals. how are they doing that in. >> they are using probably nitrogen pressurization to purge from the capsule itself.

they probably also have fans. >> they are wearing masks. is that for coronavirus or because of the fumes from the capsule? >> it's probably both. they will isolate the crew and keep them isolated because of coronavirus, obviously. they probably have masks on as well for the fumes. i can't tell the integrity of the masks they are wearing so i don't know if they are for the fumes. >> you're now retired and you haven't traveled through space in times of a global pandemic. how has that shaped this mission in. >> i think it probably is a little different. we always do a quarantine before flight to isolate our crews because we don't want them to take any viruses of any kind up to the space station. even a cold bug is going to be given to everybody on board the

station because it's a confined environment. recirculated life support system. every one will get a virus if it's sent up there. we do do quarantines pre-flight. it's funny because we have doctors that run around and with thermometers to take temperatures of people and keep you separated. now we call it social distancing. it's interesting that all the same procedures we did for our pre-flight quarantine are actually we're putting in place and giving names to a bit better. >> you were doing it before it was mainstream. >> i guess so. >> talk to me about the perspective of the length of this mission. they've been in space for two months. last hour when we talked to you, you said in the apollo days missions were may believe 10, 11 days. now they are getting longer. is two months significant?

>> two months is significant. i've never flown that short but i still think it will be more significant. both doug and bob have flown before. they did shuttle missions. they were only on orbit for about 14 day, 15 days. this will be very different for them. now everybody comes back from flight differently. some people get sick when they get up into space and other people get sick when they come home. some get sick both ways. some don't get much sick at all. >> sick in what way? >> vomiting. for me, it was coming home what has the hard part. that's when i would feel sick, not want to be moving around a whole lot, which is why there was some concerns about being on a spacecraft in the water where you'll be rocking for very much. >> i have to know whether you took dramine before your asent

back? >> i took different drugs. they were of limited use. >> bob and doug missed father's day. they were up in space. their first order of business will be to reunite with their families. you spent 665 days up there. what were some of the first things downd s you did when you home? >> getting a hug feels really special. i really had cravings for food. >> yeah, that freezer dried stuff. >> the first flight i wanted a steak. the second, i wanted a salad and the third i wanted pizza. it was different every time. >> we're watching video of that landing on the right side of the screen. the four parachutes coming down into the water. on the left side of the screen these crews are trying to get rid of those fumes that could be

potentially hazardous to the people on the ship as they are reaching the coast. let's talk about the mission ahead. we know that there are more astronaut will be going up again in another spacex crew as early as september. thankfully this mission was successful paving the way for future missions. what do you think their goal will be for this next time around? >> it will be normal. they will be up there for six months. it will be four people. that will be an additional person. there's space walks like ones that bob participated in with the space station commander and

there's -- we do robotic deploys of different little payloads off of the porch outside that we have on the international space station. >> it looks like this capsule is pretty beat up. we know that spacex aims to recycle. how would they do that with this capsule and maybe what i'm seeing is just cosmetic? >> it is just cosmetic. they have recycled numerous capsules that they used for cargo previously. this is pretty routine for them to reuse this vehicles. they will get it cleeped up and they obviously have to do a will the of testing to ensure that

there was no damage done during the mission but they will reuse the capsule. when i was on board the space station, we had one of the cargo vehicles, a spacex cargo vehicle arrived and it had been used twice before. >> i want to bring in ali velshi again. we have this beautiful video of the capsule coming back down. there it is again. we talked about the significance of this splash landing. hurricane isaias changing the plan completely. tell me what you were thinking. >> i get so excited about landings. msnbc at one point made a promo of me watching a take off because i can't get enough of it. i don't know, it's weird. when i see it happen, i just

think of all of the hope of humanity all at once. one thing that every astronaut i've ever talked to says to me that there's something you will never feel if you're not an astronaut. when you leave and look back on earth or your in orbit and you look back on earth, somehow the things that we all fight about and the things we all disagree about come into sharp focus. every time ipse an astronaut come back to earth, i think here we are populated by one or two people but who understand that the things we can do together are just bigger. when i watch space missions, i just never -- i thing to myself this is the thing that's bigger than all of us. this will help us understand what's possible and what we can do. you and i live in a world where we're very focused on the things that don't happen and the things we don't do and the disagreements we have. i look to space and think to myself that's the one thing we can agree upon.

i think those are all really important conversations. the idea this is something humanity does together. >> we really could use it now. you look at stars and realize how small you are. we did hear the crew say the hatch opening procedures are to begin soon. hopefully that means that their attempts to remove the hazardous fumes from the seams have been successful. you said you haven't seen a lot of splash landings. the last time this happened for americans was 1945.

let's talk about the significance of the splashdown and appearing to go off without a hitch. we're watching the replay right now. >> one of the things that a lot of people of a certain age who follow space forget about is the one fascinating thing about the shuttle is they land like an airplane. that's remarkable. the level of control you have over things when you can land this thing like an airplane is remarkable. when we got rid of the shuttle program, it does become important in commercial space to understand control over landing. how much can you control, how much can you move it and how is that done. we saw all of that in this mission. we saw the craft move around so it would be positioned properly. we saw it come down. we saw the parachutes deploy. we saw it come down at 15 miles an hour which is really great to see that majesty of that thing landing. we saw it landing where they hoped it would land.

now we'll see the two astronauts come out of the hatch. if you're outside of orbit coming back into orbit. these are things that have to be mastered. when you see that come down under the parachutes, it looks like it happened the way it was supposed to happen and it did. i worry about climate change but

i think this is really rocket science. we have the ability to do this so there's nothing we can't do. >> to go from 17,500 miles an hour just incredible. also just the precision. talking about coronavirus with peggy, it has changed things. it has changed things with this mission. what can you tell us since you covered launch so extensively and we were already in the midst of this global pandemic, how are things different? >> everybody gets sick. one of the things that pilots do, astronauts do is they go

into these parabolic flights so you test your system with nausea and things like that. sickness, germs, things we take for granted have to be super, super regulated in space. they make sure that everybody is in perfect health. there's been experiments about how your body reacts and changes. some experiments are just about that. scott went into space just to see how he changed. scott kelly and mark kelly are a different size because scott kelly shrunk a bit in space. what you don't want to do after millions of dollars in work and timing and negotiations with the government is to have somebody go wrong for health reasons.

it was still a big enough deal they had to control the environment all around them and specifically with those astronauts. they will be met by flight surgeons who will determine immediately what their vitals are. they will take their temperature, blood pressure, things like that. they will be monitoring them very closely. they didn't take coronavirus into space and develop any systems over the 63 days they were up there. that doesn't mean they're out of the woods with respect to anything else. because there may be a compromised medical state they are in having been up there for 63 days and coming through this launch does do bit on your

system. they're being so careful about everything, including the fumes. there's no particular danger in anything catching fire at this point. they are in a contained environment. they could contain it. they don't want anything out of the norm, out of the ordinary happening which is why they are taking such care to determine the nitrogen dioxide levels before they open the hatch and let them out. >> i didn't think about the fact their immune systems could be compromised after this mission. they will be leaving that capsule right now in the pandemic still has its grips on our nation. i'm so happy you'll be sticking with us. we'll keep you around for bit. we just heard that the procedures for hatch opening will be taking place in a little

less than five minutes. we're looking forward to that. we did hear bob and doug, the astronauts on board, have been in this capsule since splashdown since undocking from the international space station. it was a 19 hour trip to come back to earth. they just reported they feel good. they say they feel a-okay. i remember when you were covering launch at tend of may, i believe it was scrubbed because of weather. are you surprised that the return still happened given hurricane isaias. >> there's a piece of me that thought it might be delayed. these things are not left to chance. there's various groups that make the determination of whether it's launched. everybody has got to sign up on this. there's nobody who wants to be

responsible for the wrong decision because of weather. i tend to trust the nasa folks and the spacex spokes because i know how much is riding on this. i was pretty satisfied. they are risk takers but not for the wrong reason. >> nasa says that they talk about how they decide these return low kags. they prioritize locations that require the shortest amount of time between undocking and sl h

splashdown. on the left we're still waiting for that unhatching. they have been -- they splashed down almost an hour ago now. then it took about 25 minutes for them to get on a boat. that's where they currently are as they are going back to the coast. we're talking ining about you mentioned this is the last of an era, the beginning of a new era in terms of space travel and what do you see in the near future that's realistic. we know it's going to be another mission in september. when we talk about things like space tourism, how likely is that to be something we're talk

about in the next year or two? >> well, space tourism will be a long time before space tourism is an basak accessible thing. there's been private people who have gone up in russian vehicles and gone up into space. they are astronauts. space tourism is very, very, very expensive. it will be like cargo truck, 18 wheelers to the international space station. then there's other commercial enterprise that's not just for that but commercial missions. there are obviously, virgin galactic is in the business of space tourism. they have sold out hundreds of tickets and that will happen. the price is still very, very

high. in the hundreds of thousands of dollars permission. that's going to be -- that's not going to be in our immediate future. people like elon musk, part of the reason he succeeds is because he thinks really big. he thinks he's going to be buried on mars. he thinks village will be occupied up there. he's got money and resources and raises money to do these things. the back to you si of human kind is we the think big. they're abilities the terms of their technical astronaut abilities or their engineering ability and other people who tend to be a bit over the edge in terms of how they think about stuff.

there's some who want the scientific discoveries from these things. i do think and i'd love to get peggy's perspective on this. she's seen this through the nasa administered space programs that did amazing things that make little kids like me want to be an astronaut and the shuttle program. start frg the moon. it should be as motivating to the little kids. the little kids are who keep the space program going.

>> i want to bring in kathy park. i believe they just opened the hatch. no, they have not. they did say they were about a minute away from opening the hatch. all their procedures are complete. they've been saying it's a flawless flight. what can you tell us from your perspecti perspective? >> i have been honoring this ever since the splashdown around 2:48 this afternoon. everything has been relatively smooth. you have been talking about it's historic. it was a successful splashdown that happened off the coast of pensacola. i've been reading up on the remarkable facts as the space capsule entered the earth's atmosphere. it has to decelerate from 17,500 to 15 miles be p they had to weather temperatures of up to 3500 degrees sdplp kat.

>> kathy, i'm going to interrupt. they say they're about to open the hatch. >> this hatch will be manually opened. flight surgeon will say hello and make sure they are still doing all right. then proceed to a system with exiting the capsule. >> we see the hatch is now open. hatch being opened at 12:59 p.m. pacific. hatch is open. s >> right now they are going to put a piece of equipment in there that smooths out the edges and makes sure that it is a comfortable exit from the dragon capsule. a piece of instruction to ensure the hatch will remain