i'm keith olbermann. rachel is next. good night and good luck. good evening and thanks for staying with us for the next hour. with our world's eyes on chile. 33 miners trapped under mile under grounds at a gold and copper mine for 69 days are right now waiting for imminent rescue. the plan calls for them to be raised to the surface one by one in a capsule. it's only about 22 inches wide. first, though, rescue workers at the surface will climb into that chamber to be sent down to the miners underground to evaluate their condition and prepare them for their journey back to the earth's surface. that part of the process to begin any moment now. expected to take 20 minutes to board each miner onto that capsule and another 15 minutes to raise each of those miners to

the surface. they will be wearing special sui suits, sort of compression suits akin to the pressure stockings people wear on airplanes. that's to help with irthat blood circulation. they'll also be wearing oxygen masks. they'll observe each miner throughout his asent to the surface using monitors and cameras. the first miner scheduled for extrication is 31-year-old florencio avalos, the father of two. so a few more men who are considered to be the fittest will follow mr. avalos. they will then send up the ten miners who are considered to be the weakest, men who are suffered medical problems in some cases from their prolonged confinement. the last miner slated for rescue is the group's foreman and

leader, luis urzua. he managed to keep his fellow miners alive by stretching a two-day supply of food for 17 days. the collapse happened on august 5th. we're hoping and expecting that the first of these men trapped, these 69 days underground will emerge from the rescue capsule soon. once the firnt man's out, hopefully, safely, the process of getting all 33 out will not be just a matter of hours. it could possibly be a matter of days. nbc's natalie morales is at the rescue site in chile for us. she joins us now with the very latest. natalie, thank you so much for joining us. can you tell us what's happening right now? >> reporter: a lot of excitement here, rachel, i can tell you that. the phoenix 2, which is the first of the test capsules to go down just returned from 56 meters, which is about 183 feet or so, if you do the math or rather 65 meters, and that is past the area where they had

sealed and cased the mine shaft. the test, the idea was to send it down a little bit beyond that so they could test the capsule to see if the surface area around the rest of the mine shaft was secure enough. so the capsule has returned now to the surface. i have never seen more people closely analyzing a piece of equipment as they are doing now with the phoenix 2 capsule. chile's president also is there. in fact, before that capsule went down, he gave it a good love tap to give it a good send-off, and it looks like it has come up. all appears to be okay upon inspection here, but now the idea is from here what they're going to do is then send it down part of the way once again with a -- with a rescue expert, a mine expert who's going to go down part of the way, not entirely. they're going to bring that mine rescue expert back up again so he can then report on the conditions he sees before they

then start involving the process and the rescue operation truly begins in ernest here, but all eyes watching and waiting every ounce, every ins, every foot that this rescue capsule descends, and as you can see, everybody evaluating that capsule, as you can see, is outfitted. it's got the wheels on the side so it can make a very smooth and slow descent and gravity pulls it down on that winch system, it just falls down slower. actually it takes about 20 or 30 minutes for it to go down all the way. it comes up quickly. that's where the winch engages. sort of like a giant fishing rod with a ski cable line. that's what is going to pull the miners up to the surface. they have two of these phoenix rescue capsules, 1 and 2, which will be alternating, brings these 33 men up. it's expected to be a very long

process. we're told it could take up to 48 hours, so we could be watching incredible images over the next two days, rachel. >> natalie, in terms of the way things are expected to proceed from here on out, you described a mine rescue expert to be lowered at least part of the way down through that rescue shaft. aren't we also expecting other mine rescue experts, paramedic, medical profegers may go all the way down into the chamber before the miners are before the miners themselves are brought to the surface? >> reporter: absolutely. what they're going to do first is send the first mine expert down into the shaft the first time around. this is after they do that partway test with him. they will leave that mine expert there, they will allow the first miner, who, as you mentioned is florencio avalos. he'll be load and be the first

to come out. and the second round, we're told it will be a navy paramedic specially trained. he will be going down and then the second miner from down below the surface will board and make his way back up, and it's going to rotate like that a total of five mine rescue experts. and we're told two medics are among those five are going to be down there to help them and to help load them in. and that's the process that's going to work throughout. the last people to come up out of the mine are not going to be the miners. it's actually going to be those involved in the rescue effort. we saw some really incredible footage. it almost looks like a locker room before the super bowl. we saw 15 mine rescue personal chanting and cheering and singing chile's national anthem, lined up, looking like they were going to jump out of an airplane, all in gear. only five of them are going to go down into the mine to help

with the rescue, rachel. >> natalie, what are the biggest concerns, biggest associations with the rescue. obviously people are concerned with the physical and psychological health of these men who have been trapped underground for so long. but are there concerns with potential danger with the potential rescue itself? fiscal danger were this rescue capsule going down there? >> reporter: obviously, yes. absolutely. you know, they had tested it thoroughly, though, at this point. they're not going to send it down with somebody in it or bring somebody back up until they feel it is fully safe and secure. they're going to be analyzing all the video. it has video and audio capabilities. they've been visit inially checking all of those systems and feeds before they're going to put anyone in jeopardy there. as you mentioned the biggest risk perhaps is to men, of course, these are guys who have been down there for 69 days, more than 2,000 feet. they've spent a lot of time, you

know, in conditions that we can't even begin to imagine. so a lot of concerns about their mental and physical health, although all of the doctors that we've spoke within have assured us -- they speak with us every day several times a day. they monitor all their vital signs. they've assured us these men are in the best shape right now. they're fine, they're capable. there's concern about the anxiety. on the way up they haven't seen their loved ones in 69 days. they're going to feel a range of emotions. it will be the longest 10 or 15 minutes for each of these, that journey up to the surface. >> natalie morales monitoring the condition of the miners operation. thank you. >> my pleasure. any time. >> we will be monitoring developments from the rescue scene at chile owl night bringing you details all night.

again, what's going on right now, they have put that rescue claimer almost as far down as the miners themselves. the next thing they're expecting to do is to lower a mine safety, mine rescue expert down that chamber. that's going to be the next step in this process. we will be keeping an eye on this throughout the night. m msnbc, the eyes of the world on that scene in chile. in other news on politics in the united states and on civil rights. a federal judge in california took a sledge hammer to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy today. whether the policy finally collapses depends on the obama administration and possibly specifically the penalty gone. we have the very latest news on that from the pentagon in a moment, plus the biggest shocker in today's news proves a fake scientific point we have been trying to prove on this show for a while. that is all ahead. stay with us. yellowbook has always been crucial to your business,

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st. cloud, minnesota. ask me what a cloud feels like. and here are the first real people to sleep on those brand new clouds. ask me what it feels like to be comforted by a cloud. a new tempur-cloud supreme by tempur-pedic is the plushest, softest, tempurpedic ever. ask me why we love our cloud. ask me how it's soft as a cloud and it still supports me. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. take the first step! call today for your free information kit with dvd. call the number on your screen or visit tempurpedic.com/cloud. america's policy of banning gay people from serving in the military has had a hard couple of years. at the heart of the problems a man gets elected in 2008 who says he's committed to getting rid of the policy. >> this year i will work with congress and our military to finally repeal the law that

denies gay americans to serve the country that they love because of who they are. >> president obama is elected. more trouble for "don't ask, don't tell" as they also elect big democrat majorities in the house and senate. in the house, an iraq war veteran patrick murphy takes on the issue and says he's going to lobby every member of the house of representatives personally until he's gotten the votes to get the policy repealed. congressman murphy does it. they promise to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. it's stopped by the filibustering of the entire pentagon. because of that filibuster, as it stands now it's not authorize by the united states congress for the first time in 48 years. that seems rather unsustainable. in the military the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the defense secretary have both said they are against the policy. the chairman of the joint chiefs puts his policy in passionate and personal terms.

>> it goes to the terms of the fundamental principle with me which is everybody counts and part of the struggle back to the institutional integrity aspect of this -- >> wait, now, i appreciate that. >> and putting individuals in a position that every single day they wonder whether today's going to be the day and de valle ewing them in that regard just as inconsistent with us as an institution. i have served with homosexuals since 1968. senator mccain spoke to that in his statement. everybody in the military has. and we understand that. so it is a number of things which cumulatively for me personally get me to this position. >> senator sessions to me it's not about command it's about leadership. i take that very seriously. >> the "don't ask, don't tell"

policy has had a hard couple of years because of all that happening in washington. the biggest part it's had a hard couple of years is because the country keeps meeting these honorable and incrediblyism pressive americans in uniform who the policy says must be fired from military service. they are the faces of the policy. they are activists against the policy, and in some cases they are plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the policy. today, another landmark blow against don't ask, don't tell in a lawsuit brought by the log cabin republicans, a gay group within the gop, a permanent injujz against the policy was issued by a california federal judge. now, this is not an unexpected development in this case but it is a big deal. now within 60 days the justice didn't must decide whether or not to appeal. tick tock, tick tock. even though the obama administration is technically on record against don't ask, don't tell, they could, in fact,

appeal this ruling if only for procedure rulings. that said they got political cover for letting this thing go if they decide to. almost 70 democrats in the house asked the obama administration to not appeal the ruling, let the judge strike down the policy back in september. today 21 senators asked again that the obama administration let this judge's ruling stand. and in what seems like an important development, a pentagon official gave a comment to the news tonight that suggested that the military may as a practical matter just stop implementing the policy now. quote, it's important to point out that today's federal court order comes less than two months before the pentagon is to provide secretary of defense robert gates with a plan on how, not if, but how to implement the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in the military. joining us now to help us understand what that might mean is jim mick klaszewskmiklaszews

pentagon's correspondent. thank you. >> you bet. >> what is it today in military circles in today's rulings? how are they greeting this. >> it's surprising. even at the justice didn't appear to have been caught flat footed by this ruling and court order issued out in california. i can tell you, howevering the pentagon has pretty much kicked the over to the justice department for the time being saying only that they would leave any remarks or decisions about any further legal litigation up to the justice department. the justice department for its part simply said no comment as to whether they in fact would appeal this desuggestion. >> the justice department being part of the litigation side of this making sense. one of the sort of sleeper issues as this policy is debated is that pentagon enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" seems to have really slowed down since

the obama administration has been in power. what other considerations do the pentagon need to make about whether or not to effectively enforce this policy even before it's repealed. >> the reality is it's pretty much come to a halt already. and it was because of secretary robert gates, defense secretary robert gates decision to enforce what he called a more humane method of enforcing "don't ask, don't tell." he, for example, is against the involuntary outing of gays or lesbians in the military and then forcing them out of service under don"don't ask, don't tel, and because he decided on his own and he has the authority to do that to lift that provision or to ease enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell," "don't ask, don't tell" enforcement has pretty much come to a halt for the time being, nevertheless secretary gates said he and the

pentagon are still obliged to follow the law and enforce "don't ask, don't tell" at least for the time being. but it's interesting that in this court ruling today, the judge gave the justice department, the federal government, the obama administration 60 days in which to file this appeal. and if you look at the clock, that means the midterm elections will be over, a lame duck session in which democrats promise to again bring up the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" will already be in session and may be near completion. and, of course, that 60-day deadline will also be beyond the time when secretary gates set the deadline for the package -- the report from the military on not how to implement "don't ask, don't tell," but rather how to than if to implement "don't ask, don't tell," seemingly putting it on a road tony everybody itability. yet pentagon officials will tell you there are all sorts of

roadblocks ahead, particularly up in congress, if the republicans should seize control of either or both of the houses up there in the capitol hill. >> certainly even with enforcement stalled, sort of de-mack lease hanging over their head at this point the obama administration having to decide whether to finalize this thing or peeter out of the political process. this is turning out to be not the way anybody believed it would stand. >> some of the officials believe it wouldn't be advisable for any gay or lesbian in the military to walk out on the front steps of their barracks tonight and openly declare their sexual preference but at the same time you get the sense that they feel -- the gays and lesbians now in the military should be less threatened of being forced out of the military any time soon in the foreseeable future

under the "don't ask, don't tell." >> very important point. mick thank you very much. as jim mentioned, the anti"don't ask, don't tell" group, service members today like some who were speaking with mick today, they reacted to this rule big cautioning gay service members, people who are gay, lesbian, buy sexual or transgendered in the military to not come out just yet. tomorrow on this show we will have exclusive interviews with two members of the military are w.h.o. are heeding that advice. they're not coming out but their stories have never been told before. this is a story with which we are taking great caution and which we think will add a new and important demission to understanding this policy and how it perhaps will inevitably will end. that's tomorrow night exclusively on this show. we're working hard on that story. we're very proud to bring it to you. we'll be right back. mom, did you borrow my green shirt?

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the state of california recently passed the toughest energy legislation in the country. it's a law to reduce emissions and promote alternative energy. three tus from now on election day, california voters will get to decide whether or not to scrap that law, to essentially get rid of it. at the california secretary of state's website you will find that 91% of the money that's been raised to kill the state's energy law comes from oil companies. , many of which are out-of-state oil companies. in other words, people who make a lot of money when their emissions are not restricted are

funding the effort to kill california's law to restrict their emissions. and also to come up with alternative energy that competes with them. that's remarkable. what's worth preserving an amber and printing a norm on this is figuring out who's paying to kill california's new energy law is a dowable thing. proposition 23 to kill that energy law may indeed pass. those in fifb of killing the law have dumped a ton of money into effort but california yns can at least know it's essentially all out of state oil companies trying to kill the law. those oil companies can try to make themselves look like just a california housewife when they're running their tv ads but in the end they do have to disclose their donations. when you as a viewer see a yes on prop 23 ad you can go online and find out that yes on prop 23 is not this nice personable california housewife. it's va lair rowe energy and ox

dental petroleum and marathon energy and frontier petroleum, et cetera. it's oil companies. but at least you get to know that. that's a noble thing. that, this year, counts as a good news story about the small "d" democratic nature of america's democracy. because at least in california politicians and schwarzenegger and every everybody in between, people who want to protect california's environmental laws are at least able to say we're protecting california's laws that is funded by 91ch of mostly out-of-state oil companies. at least they can say that. at least they can make that argument. at least voters can know who's on each team. that is the exception and not the rule this year. >> i challenge karl rove to tell me this money isn't coming from billionaires and millionaires, insurance companies, oil company, major executives who

have been in common and concern with them as i don't know what does. >> headed by karl rove and ed gillespie, two of the men who were running the republican party under george w. bush and apparently are still are regardless of who's name is on the door at rnc. american crossroads met their fund-raising goal of $52 million last week and could raise as much as $70 million on campaign ads. some of which what they raise requires no disclosure whatsoever. what has been disclosed has been hilarious. in the part of their funds that they disclose, more than 90% of their money came from three people, three -- count them -- three individual billionaires. "the new york times" reporting today that last week mr. rover and mr. gillespie, quote, received a check for several

million dollars from a single donor whom they declined to identify naturally. nor are they required to identify this person. this anonymous funding thing is the same charge that the obama administration is levying right now against the chamber of commerce. the chamber of commerce not only does not disclose their donors, but they're known to receive foreign money and so far the only assurance they've offered regarding foreign money doesn't end up paying for the ads they're running. it's just their aserk that it doesn't. trust us. we say that's not happening. trust us. or don't. last night vice president joe biden made clear that he's on the "or don't" siechld he said, quote, i challenge the chamber of commerce to tell us how much of the money they're investing is from foreign sources reechl responding to that challenge the chamber answered, saying, quote, zero, as in "not a single crept." you know, trust us.

that got a double-barreled response from the whours first from vice president biden i'm not taking their word for it, show me. and then from white house press secretary robert gibbs. >> if there are organizations raising tens of millions of dollars who won't tell white house their donors are, my guess is they're not telling us for a reason, because they have something to hide. >> the end result of the sus staped white house campaign against the chamber of commerce against this funding stuff came in a letter from the chamber obtained by the no, times today, quiet, to chamber will not be silenced. in fact, for the next three weeks leading up to election day you will see us ramp up our efforts. you say we're not using foreign monies to influence the e ee lengzs and if you keep saying that we'll influence the elections even more with money from who knows where. no word on whether the new round of ads from the chamber of congress will be a panhandle rinne. this is one of those moments where you can watch the beltway con nichl beltway before you

very eyes as the president makes an issue oust this, as the vice president makes an issue out of this. as the white house spokesmap makes an issue out of this, as in my case random senior citizens in delaware raised this issue with me when i'm at a campaign event that doesn't address this issue at all. as dem crates start to make an issue out of this, about this thing that is new in american elections. you can see the beltway common wisdom about it forming. you can see it right now today. you can see this common wisdom form, actually this isn't an issue democrats should be talking about. this isn't a good thing for democrats to talk about in this election. keep hearing that today from beltway pundits. you know, sometimes when they're giving that advice, it's not because they think the punch being thrown against them won't hurt them. it's because they just want to stop being punched. last night in a very hard-fought senate race, feingold ignored

this callcy fieing common wisdom and went ahead and hit his republican opponent ron johnson on this issue over and over again. ron johnson initially defended what he called the free speech rights of these anonymous donors running ads in support of him before he finally was forced to admit that, yeah, maybe people votes in wisconsin this year have a right to know who's trying to lack core the election there with their money. >> you say you don't want them? will you call on them to stop? >> i have no control over that. >> will you ask them to stop. >> that's part of the problem. >> will you ask them to stop. >> that's the right of free speech. you want to be able to select who has free speech and who doesn't. i want everyone to have free speech but i want to be abe -- as you said, discloe. you haven't called on these people to disclose. you said you're for disclosure. you won't call on them to disclose. >> i beal happy to do it. >> ask them to do it. >> disclose. >> i want -- i want disclosure. >> let's see. >> don't forget, word on the street in washington, democrats don't bother with this issue,

nothing to see here, people don't care, never mind those cheering people in the audience happy about their republicans caving on this issue and having to defend their earlier decision. pay no attention. joining us now is democratic po pollster solinda lake. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> do you think h this is a good issue on the can pain trail. >> it think it's a great issue. this is an issue that is a good october surprise for the october democrats and progressives. it's a way of raising a fundamental question ofs who side you're on. it ties into an economic narrative who we've had a hard time getting off the ground and the 22 congressional districts where the chamber is running its ads with foreign money, 148,000 jobs have been outsourced to

many of these very same foreign corporationings. what are are they buying? it isn't free speech, it's bought speech. and the republicans have a right to know. >> you raised the issue of outsourcing, not connecting this just to the idea there may be foreign sources, influencing american elections but they may be self-interested foreign sources that want to influence the elections because they want more outsourcing of american jobs and they want to support candidates who will do that. that's an important next peek f piece of this in terms of messaging. are you hearing that from democratsome. >> i think you will hear it from democrats and you'll hear it in questions about trade policies. i mean you don't get something for nothing. when they put up campaign contributions, they want something in rush. when foreign corporations are trying to influence it, you can bet they want something in return. this should be illegal. it should be disclosed and it

should be ill legalillegalle. it talked abouts who side you're on, gives an economic message and something that ordinary people can understand. it cuts through back-and-forth stuff. as feingold was saying clearly, get them to disclose, tell them to stop. this isn't free speech. it's bought speech. >> is there a difference in the types of districts, types of states that this would work and not work. would this resonate in more liberal districts or more conservative districts. >> actually where it's going to resonate is more blue collar districts, the midwest. some of them the democrats are having a hard time with. this is a great issue to unite blue collar voters of all kinds, democratic leaning union workers and tea partiers. all of them say that we're -- our economic system is being undermined by these policies and these corporations are trying to pay for a congress that will keep these policies going.

>> let me just ask you one process question here, and that is all of the polling data that i have seen, all of the descriptions i have seen, even the focus group data on what messages most resonate with the elector for this election shows -- is in line with what you're saying, is essentially saying this is a good issue for democrats and yet the reason that i observe reaching against the beltway common wisdom here is that it really is kalscy fig common wisdom that democrats shounlt do this, that they shouldn't talk about it, that it doesn't resonate. as far as i can tell, that's totally contradicted by the day tachlt does that mean the pundit dock doesn't want them -- >> i think there's all kinds of insanity in washington and this is just yet another example. and some of this is republicans of course who don't want to talk about it it. i mean when karl rove said don't talk it, we have to double up the volume. if rachel maddow said don't talk

about it that would be something entirely different. people in this town do not understand what the economy is like out there. people are out of touch with what the economy is like and how people are feel and how americans want to stand up for america again and this is a very strong issue in main street in middle america. you're going to see a lot of democratics who say, common sense, i don't need polling on this. common sense tells me this isn't a good issue. >> secelinda lake, thank you fo being here. >> it's nice to be here. >> $14 million, one quarter. well, when that candidate is shairn a sharron angle, what do you call that? we've constructed a special graft in an effort to explain this phenomenon. it's not a science, it's a start. tonight in chile they're working to free 33 miners underground

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in talking politics it is easy, in fact, it's fun for those who have a high whack factor, candidates who outline the cuckoo meter, the cuckometer. it is easy to talk about them. it is hard and less fun to talk about money and politics, but this year the thing that is hard to talk about, money, and the thing that is very easy to talk about, cook inter-related. you cannot understand the cookiness of this year's slate of candidates to not unhow cash is working in this year's election. in order to help facilitate that understanding we invented a graph last week we call it a not a scientific graph of kiikiness

and electoral viability. we realized we were aping the hot craze schedule from the tv show from "how i met your mother." >> the hot crazy meter? >> if she's hot, she has to be crazy. if she's this crazy e she's hot. >> we want this girl to be above this line. >> okay. we were not trying to have anything to do with burning hot crazy scale from that tv show from "how i met your mother," but it turns out the "rachel maddow" show works on exactly the same principle, thank you, mr. harris. the kookiness of a candidate be be accounted for by the amount amt of money they spent on their campaign. you ku have the kookiest

candidate be viable as lodge as you have all the money in the world seem viable and that's what explains the biggest shocker headline in politics today. that ee's sharron angle who say conservatives should be skpeblted to take up arms as in guns if they don't get their way in this next election. sharron angle raised $14 million last quarter in her race against senate majority reader harry reid. i know it's just a number. $14 million. there's lots of dollar signs being talked about in this year's elections. but $14 million in this year's campaign is a lochlt it's a nearly record-setting amount of money. it's one thing to talk about our friend art robinson from oregon talking about aids being a conspiracy and you should sprinkle nuclear waste into tension t oceans. his cookiness is being offset by

millions of dollars being spent on his behalf by unknown donors and they makes him seem way more viable than he would otherwise seem. art robinson, $150,000 but sharron angle, $14 million. that compensates for a lot of cook iness. so sharron angle may be way way out there on the kooky scale but she's still electorally viable because she has so much money. armed with her high kookiness factor but high infusion of cash, the latest pooling shows her roughly tied. it shows she's on-on-that line of viability. sure it's taking a precedent of fund raising to get her there, but apparently $4 million is about what it costs to turn a sharron angle into something

representing a feasible candidate in the u united states of america. but, again, the most important thing to remember about the cook iness graph, not a scientific graph is that it does go on forever. so if sharron angle can figure out how to raise a infinite amount of money by going on the fox news and talking about her website. it can extend infinitely as well and she can remain a viable candidate. if she could double her latest quarterly cash haul, who knows. you watch. when she banks $50 million, she will admit on the campaign trail that she's really a four-headed space alien here by taking over earth by chewing through her abdominal cavities human by human by human. receiving the bronze star, that was definitely one of my proudest moments.

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the eyes of the world on chile tonight where rescuers have been working around the clock to save the lives of 33 miners, 33 men trapped half a mile underground. tonight what everyone is hoping will be the end of the miners' incredible and harrowing ordeal. the miners expected to be brought up to the surface one by one in a man-sized capsule. 6'4" long, just 22" wide.

it will take approximately 15 minutes to bring each miner to the surface. when we return, kerry sanders joins us live with the very latest. ♪ ♪ oh ♪ my love, what have i done? ♪ ♪ my burden is too heavy ♪ how will we go on? ♪ my burden is too heavy ♪ how will i go on? ♪ hahaha! ♪ we have more ♪ we have more! ♪ life goes on ♪ life goes on [ female announcer ] great tasting wine doesn't have to be expensive. yellow tail. open for anything. one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box.

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it is expected to take about 20 minutes to board each miner into the capsule and another 15 minutes or so to bring each man to the surface. nbc news correspondent kerry sanders is with the families of the miners waiting for the rescue. he joins us live with the very latest. i have to ask you, first, how are these family members holding up right now? >> they're doing remarkably well. i'm here with alicia campos. her son daniel is down there. she's nervous passing the time making in bread on the fire here. [ speaking spanish ] what number will your son be in the list coming up? he's number 17 coming up. [ speaking spanish ] how do you feel right now? she goes, i feel well.

yeah, as she says, she's making some bread, passing the time, waiting for the moment. gracias. [ speaking spanish ] everybody here is with you. okay. so let's take you up, if we can, to what's taking place right now, and that is the actual capsule itself has had a little bit of a problem tonight with the door. the door that opens and closes. they took it down about 183 feet. that is the length of the steel-encased pipe that they have placed inside this hole for the first portion of the 2,040 foot shaft. it went down and came up without anybody in it. they had a little problem with the door. so they're checking it one more time. it doesn't appear that the door is going to cause a delay to the point that they won't be able to begin the rescues tonight. but it's something that's had their attention. the reason they put that steel casing in that first 183 feet is

because at the top of the shaft where the rocks are, it's slightly fractured. thfear is that the capsule going down and then coming up may have caused some of the rocks to let loose, and the last thing they want are any rocks tumbling down on top of the can sul. after that 183 feet, they think the rock is solid, although, remember, this shaft is not straight. it's not like you can go to the bottom and look up and see the people up top with the lights. it kind of does little s-turns. when you look at the capsule and you see the wheels protruding from the side from time to time, that is designed so that the capsule can negotiate those s-degree turns of about no more than a 10-degree turn there, rachel. >> kerry, what's the expected timeframe on the rescue effort starting the first miner starting to make the first ascent and how long the overall rescue might take? what's the expected range? >> well, the longest that they believe they can get this all

done in is in 48 hours. it may be more like 35, maybe 42 hours. they're not really sure. and they won't really fully understand how rapidly they can do this until they actually execute the first five or six because they're going to move extremely cautiously on every one of them. but the first five or six will be the learning process, as it were. once it gets down there and they actually get the first miner to get in, florencio avalos, he was chose on the be the first one at 31 years old, because they say he's in good health, he's an expert miner. so he is somebody who in the event that there is a problem will not only inform them of the problem but may actually offer a solution to how to overcome the problem. i think it's interesting because

he has a younger brother, 29-year-old renan who is also down in the mine. and he will be departing as his brother remains behind, then, of course, reuniting, if everything goes as planned, as they all come to the surface. >> kerry, in about the 30 seconds that we have left, let me ask you if there is a plan b if this approach doesn't work? do they know what else they might try? >> if there is a need for a plan b, it will take some time. and that is, they have two other holes that they were digging, two other shafts, but those shafts were not completed, and they stopped drilling them out of fear that the vibrations could affect the shaft that they did complete. they have a high degree of confidence that this is going to work. but again, we're seeing slight delays here tonight. although i believe in the next hour or so, this may actually be the first successful of hopefully 33 rescues over the next 24,