many hours this actuall takes, rachel. >> kerry sanders monitoring rescue operations of the 33 miners near copiapo, chile. please stay with msnbc for the latest. now time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> hi, rachel. thank you very much. we will continue our live coverage of the rescue in chile. there are possibly two big saves tonight. gay republicans may have saved members of the u.s. armed forces the injustice of don't ask, don't tell. and rescuers in chile are close to saving 33 men more than 2,000 feet underground. >> 69 days under ground. those miners in chile. >> a country holding its breath. >> it is truly unbelievable to thing what they've gone through. >> 33 men trapped 2,000 feet below the surface of the earth finally have a way up. >> and the way the plan is -- >> the so-called phoenix one

capsule that will bring them to the surface. >> then they get in a helicopter after doing triage and they fly to a nearby hospital. >> as the rescue draws near, the world watches for constant updates live from the scene. >> kerry sanders is live for us. >> nbc's natalie morales is there in chile. >> kerry sanders and natalie morales both at the scene. >> now there are about 2,000 journalists from 200 countries. >> the world's attention is on that tiny little hole that goes down to those men 2,040 feet. >> this is still a high risk operation. >> miners in good spirits. above, families desperate to see their loved ones. >> i can't even begin to describe the anxiousness, the excitement in the air. >> the families are just over here. this is where they've been living in the desert. >> i've been around them for the last month and a half. >> they've been praying, they've gone through so much. >> you can see this right here

is camp hope. >> and a tough decision for the men underground. they have to pick which loved ones will greet them at the well. talk about a tough choice, if you have a big family, which three family members are going to meet you. >> they also want to have a beer and barbecue. >> and instant fame. >> maybe even some fortune just around the corner? we are not going to be told the order of each of the miners coming up. >> the last one out will be holding the record for a human being buried the longest. so they're fighting over who gets to -- >> good evening from new york. i'm lawrence o'donnell. it is a slow and dangerous journey. a nearly half-mile tunnel that's been chiseled through solid rock. the rescue capsule's only 26 inches wide, 33 men each waiting their turn to take that long ride up to freedom after more than two months deep below the earth. while in the capsule, the men will wear an oxygen mask. they'll also wear a belt that monitors their vital signs along

with a microphone and head set so they can communicate with crews above ground. if it gets stuck, the man can release a series of levers and be sent back down to the bottom of the tunnel. here is a live look at the operations at the san jose mine in copiapo, chile. crews have been checking over every detail of their plan. they've tested the rescue capsule. they're trying to make sure they've anticipated any potential problem. talking to the minister of mines, they've made it clear they're not completely confident of the outcome. we are not about declaring mission accomplished. accidents can happen. but we trained a lot and we feel that we are very well prepared. and you will see the result of this preparation. and a few hours ago chilean president sebastian pinera told reporters this story started as a tragedy and we hope that it will end in a miracle.

nbc news correspondent kerry sanders is tracking it all for us on the ground in copiapo, chile. he joins us live. what is the latest on the status of the rescue? >> well, the latest update on the rescue is that they have indeed run the test with the capsule going down. they only went down about 183 feet. that is inside the encasement. the metal steel piping that is at the top of the shaft, it went down, it came up, it went well. then they had a little bit of a problem with the door on the capsule. so they're running one more test without anybody in it to see if the door will open and close as they intend. i'm down here. the fires are burning. the family members of their loved ones are gathered here. these folks here have -- they're part of a chilean group. 32 of those down below is from chile, one is from bolivia. this is the bolivian family over

here. everybody holding vigil trying to find out when indeed they'll begin to see these rescues take place. a lot of excitement. a lot of waiting. and a lot of anticipation at this point that things are going to work as intended. lawrence? >> kerry, talk about what the press in chile is calling the bolivian. there is, as you say, one bolivian underground there. there's a tense history between those two countries, chile and bolivia. the presidents of those two countries could not be more different. the chilean president is a billionaire and by south american standards on the right wing. the bolivian president is on the left side of south american politics, and yet there seems to be some, some coming together over this crisis. >> yes, indeed. they are coming together. and i think it's point well taken. i'vo morales was a coca farmer. he's indigenous to bolivia.

to become president is a significant step. he is far to the left. and to the right, far to the right is sebastian pinero, the president of chile here. he's the one who came here because of the economic conditions that he was facing in bolivia. the countries have been at odds for a long time because they were battling over in the 19th century over some land that prevents now, because chile has claimed ownership of it, prevents bolivia from having access to the ocean. the pacific. so there have been longstanding disagreements. the bolivians believe that they should have access to that area, which they do not. and so the fact that this crisis has been able to bring somebody from the left and somebody from the right together in a moment where they can perhaps not only

agree on saving the 33 lives but perhaps establishing a more unified relationship despite the various differences in their approaches to government, i think is significant. >> there was some talk of the president of bolivia traveling to the mine site for the rescue. do you know if he is going to do that or has arrived? >> president morales is expected to arrive tomorrow. he will not come to this location. but rather will go to the hospital in town. as you know, as each of the miners come up, once they make their way up the shaft and they're out, they will meet their family members, then from there they will go through some triage, then into a helicopter to the hospital. and president morales is expected to be there to meet with carlos mam arani.

we'll ask them what you're asking, the bringing together of two different countries. [ speaking spanish ] in this moment that you're waiting for carlos to come up -- [ speaking spanish ] -- how do you feel when they're together? [ speaking spanish ] we feel like brothers. we're together. in this moment, we feel like we're brothers, chile and bolivia. [ speaking spanish ] he says at least in this moment, the differences between their countries no longer exist, lawrence. >> kerry, that is an amazing moment in bolivian and chilean relations if this leads to some kind of improvement. kerry, one final question, quickly, how long is the round trip of that capsule up and down to get each one of them out? >> it should go down in about 15

to 20 minutes. it goes down by gravity -- well, we're hearing some cheer. let's find out what we're hearing. let me just take a look here. >> is that the completion of a test run? >> okay. what we're looking at is we're looking at the first of the actual rescuers who's going to go inside the capsule and go down. so they're preparing now to start this process because -- listen to this. [ cheers ] they're thrilled. because this means that we're about to see a rescue under way. he will get in and go down. it will take, let's say, 15 to 20 minutes to get down. it's fed down by gravity. he will then exit the rescue chamber. he'll get out of the capsule. he'll meet the 33 men down there. and then the very first man

florencio avalos will get in and come up. it's expected it will take about 15 minutes for him to come up. they can slow it up if he gets a little disoriented on the way up. but they think about six to 20 feet a minute coming up. described to me as sort of like an elevator in a big building in new york city. >> it seems his name, the rescuer's name might be written on the side of his helmet. i thought i read gonzalez. i'm not sure. kerry, is he the only rescuer who will go down? >> he will not. there will be at least four rescuers who will go down. two are engineering experts and two are paramedics. they will go down. in the event there is a problem that they encounter -- and the idea is not only to have the paramedics there for the folks who have potentially any sort of medical problems or panic, but also the idea is so that they

can put a clear mind down into the shaft so that that clear mind can perhaps see things differently than the 33 men down there. so if there's a problem, they'll be able to offer some other ideas as well. >> and will all four of the rescuers go down before any of the miners come up? >> no. the rescuer will go in. and they think we're getting ready to see him go in now. he'll go in, he'll go down. then we'll see the first miner climb in and come up. then another rescuer will go down. and then once he arrives there, another one of the miners will come up. then the paramedic. and it will go like that. then it will go down empty and come up. but as we're looking at the pictures here, you can see in the live pictures here, adjusting the air tanks. a little bit of a 30% oxygen

enriched air for the men as they go down. and more importantly, as they come up. they'll have that mask. they're wearing special suits. the suits they're wearing is much like the pilot of an f-16. they get real tight arn tound t legs and they have socks that are tight. that forces the blood to remain up so the blood continues to pump. the fear is -- we keep talking about how small that space is. they won't have an opportunity to move too much. the fear is that the blood could drain and might actually cause somebody to faint or pass out. but this is really exciting because this historic rescue is now getting ready to begin. we see the first engineer climbing in. and positioning himself and i suspect he will be down there within 20 minutes to a half hour. >> kerry, how are the events being communicated to the people, the family members that are on site there?

we have you to tell us and to tell this country through television coverage what's going on, but if you're standing there in the crowd, how do you know what's going on there right now? >> how do i know or how do they know? >> how do the members of the -- the members of the crowd, how do they know exactly what's going on at this point? >> they rely on reporters to tell them. it's on radio, it's on television. the government has a loudspeaker here, if that's what you're wondering, to tell everybody. they're not getting the play by play that way. but laurence golborne has taken to the microphones tonight and they've heard it on the air and heard it on television. i'll see if i can take you out into the street, because i want to show you the size as we look down here, here's a group of people who gathered here.

then if we come further out into the street. this is main street in camp esperanza, which is camp hope, it's narrow and somebody set up a jumbotron down there. so there are a lot of people who gathered here. it appears to me, quite frankly, there may be perhaps more journalists than there are family members because many of the family members, as we've said, are not getting the opportunity to greet their loved ones as they're coming up because only three were allowed. we can't get in the gate here. they put these barricades up today. beyond over there is where they have the tents set up for the families. the families that have their privacy over there, many have been sleeping in those tents for 69 days waiting out here just for this night. so on this chile night, temperatures in the 40s, the wind blowing ever so slightly, a moon that is a crescent moon, there are hopefully going to be

a lot of smiles in the next 48 hours. you hear people honking horns. i think there's really growing anticipation that this step is really taking place now. >> kerry, is access to the site generally open? can anyone in chile who has a car drive up there and stand around and cheer? >> roads are closed. they closed them at 2:00 today. and they closed the roads because they didn't want to have a problem. let me see i can bring you over here, you see some light. look way over there, you can see some lights. that's the spot where they're doing the work right now. that is where the capsule is being lowered down into the shaft. now, this area has now been cleared out, but in recent days, it's been a mob scene here. the drill that made its way down there, the one that was successful, it was an american group of guys, some of them were working in afghanistan, drilling

water holes when they heard about this. they came down here to chile. and they were able to punch through. jeff hart, matt stoffle, they were able to get down through the rock that everybody thought would be impossible. this is some of the hardest rock in the world here. much harder than quartz. i'm stepping out of the way because we have a truck coming through here. there's been a somewhat regular procession of vehicles coming through. that one's empty. so you know -- >> kerry, we do have -- >> it's really exciting. >> we do have confirmation on that first rescue worker who is going down. i thought i had read the name gonzalez on his helmet. his name is manuel gonzalez. he's 20 -- yes, 20 years experience in mining. he's got 12 years experience as a rescue worker. specialized experience training in these vertical rescues.

he's also married with two children. a family man taking this risk going down there to save his fellow miners. and he seems to be just about strapped in there at this point. >> you can see the crowds of people gathering here. if you look around, you can see family members, people honking horns in excitement. but you still see a lot of journalists here. there are journalists from 200 nations, from china, from yemen, from finland. remarkably there's a crew here from north korea. and there are a lot of journalists who didn't make it here in time. the road closed. and they were stopping people back on the road and turning them back. folks who just arrived here too late. >> we're seeing some close shot of manuel gonzalez being

strapped into the rescue capsule. you have to wonder what kind of conversations he would have had with his wife and his children before setting off in this mission. >> just imagine here now, he is going in to, quite frankly, the unknown. he is the first man who is going down in this shaft. he'll be going down in somethinging that they think is going to work, something that they have planned, something that they have tested. he has a radio to communicate as he goes down. he has, as i mentioned, air supply so he'll be able to breathe clean air with a mixture of about 30% oxygen, which is slightly more than we have, which is just out here, 21% oxygen. he has a camera that is there, a dim light overhead. and he'll go down and you'll notice as the --

>> looks like they're ready to send him down, kerry. >> he's at an angle there. here it goes. >> people around the capsule have stepped away from it. they've given him that final t pat. there he goes. there he goes. the colors of red, white and blue, the chilean flag. >> manuel gonzalez. [ horn honking ] >> we're hearing the people cheer here, chi, chi, chi, le,

le, le, chile, chile. this man here wearing an arm band. [ speaking spanish ] fernando rocca. [ speaking spanish ] johnny rojas is one of his family members that he's waiting here for. [ speaking spanish ] do you know what number he's going to be coming out? he's number 21. boy, they've all memorized the numbers because they're anxiously waiting for that. 21 means that his wait could be in excess of 21 hours. >> rojas, his wife urged him to find a different job after years in the mines. should have listened to his wife on that one. >> right, well --

let's just watch a little more of this moment here as it plays out. the technicians surrounding that capsule looked confident, kerry. they seem to be solemn, smiling, some almost looking as if this was a routine process. >> well, the confidence they had said to me repeatedly they didn't want to be interpreted as overconfident. they were trying to make sure that they had done every checklist possible. as you know, there were representatives of nasa, our space agency, who came here and consulted with them to go over the details to see if there were any things that we could offer them, which they said that about 5% of the things they just

didn't think about came from nasa. the redundancy was one thing that was stressed by the folks at nasa, to keep going over the list of things that we need to do. we're going to take a break and move our way over to another location, lawrence, just for a few moments. we'll join you back shortly. okay? >> thanks, kerry sanders reporting live from copiapo, chile. the first rescuer has been lowered into the rescue shaft. that rescuer is manuel gonzalez. he'll be going down to where the miners are to help them board the capsule to go back up. no one can know better what these men are feeling right now than other miners who have been in the same situation. joining me now are blane mayhew and tom foy, they're survivors of the 2002 quecreek mine

accident in somerset, pennsylvania. they were trapped underground for 77 hours. along with them bill arnold, one of their rescuers. as you watch this, what goes through your mind? >> it really takes me back to that same time eight years ago when we were here at quecreek. there's an electricity, a nervous anticipation. but it's also a very focused nervousness. we knew very clearly that the most dangerous part of the quecreek rescue was coming up when the capsule was going down. and i'm sure that the rescuers around that shaft in chile have that same sense of nervous anticipation. i'm quite certain that they've rehearsed this and practiced this many, many times. they want to make sure nothing goes wrong at this point. >> bill, the professional rescuers like yourselves, i have to wonder, a lot of us in our jobs, get into certain kinds of routines, but it looks to me like every one of these

situations is different and there's no such thing as routine, is there? >> that's exactly right. we rehearse every possible scenario we can think of in rescue situation. and we did exactly that here at quecreek. we were rehearsing for every possible scenario we could thing of and what problems we might encounter. i'm certain they've done the same thing in chile. they've had quite a bit of time with the men being trapped for a long period of time. they've had a long period to prepare for this, so i'm sure they've prepared for every possible scenario they can face and plans for what might go wrong. >> bill, one of the unusual aspects of this rescue is that the rescuers were not under an immediate hour by hour time pressure. the trapped miners were able to have food and sus enens and so if this couldn't happen today, kite happen tomorr it could happen tomorrow. does that mean they've had a chance to plan this rescue with much more caution and careful

calculation? >> i think they probably have. and they also have quite a few men down there. and with the long-term entrapment that they've encounse encountered, that's brought about interesting possibilities with that long-term entrapment. it's given them a unique set of questions that we did not have here. we had a lot of critical situations with not only the climate within the mine, but air quality and, of course, water flooding in the mine. so we have a lot of unknowns. and that was the hardest thing i know as a rescuer from my perspective, not having communication with the men for those 3 1/2 days, not knowing if they were still okay and still able to hang on. that's one thing that they do have in their favor in chile is that ongoing communication with the men that are trapped. >> blane and tom, talk about what's next for these men. what happens when you get up to

the top and you suddenly get your life back? >> well, there's going to be a bunch of happy guys once they do get out. i mean, it's going to be a big, big change. when they come out, i mean, they're going to be so excited. i mean, we were. we was excited when the capsule came down, but when we came up, we was really excited. it was one of the best days of my life. i mean, i really enjoyed it. it was really hard on us, i mean, as far as heartbreaking, i mean. but it was the best day of my life is all i can tell you. >> tom, the capsule -- >> it's going o be a big change. >> go ahead, tom. >> it's definitely going to be a big change for them. we was down there 3 1/2 days thinking that we wasn't going to get out. and everything, as soon as we got pulled above ground, we thought maybe local media, johnstown, altoona, pittsburgh

news stations were there. and i mean, it was just a media frenzy, the lights the cheering. we thought we were going to get out of the capsule and actually just go home, take a shower. well, they took our clothes off, they rushed us in an ambulance and some in a helicopter and took us to the hospital and, i don't know, we just went celebrity status right away. and our lives changed from that day forever. >> tom, before you became a celebrity, you had to make that trip up in that capsule. what goes through your mind when you get into that capsule and when you feel yourself moving up? >> well, we'll start off as far as celebrities doesn't go with me. if anyone was the celebrities it was the guys that got us out of this. they deserve the credit. because without them, we wouldn't be anything. i don't know what all to tell yas. >> is there anything scary about

getting into the capsule and going up or at that point do you just feel the worst is behind you, this just has to be better? >> well, the worst was definitely behind us. getting into the capsule wasn't too much of a problem. i mean, some of the guys were a little bit bigger than others. but everybody helped everybody and all i know if you want to get out of there bad enough, you'll get into there no matter what. if you're upside down or what, you want in there and you want out. >> blaine, talk about what it's like for the families when you get back up to the surface. they've been through something that in certain ways can be worse than what you've gone through because at some periods of this situation they don't even know whether you're alive or dead. >> i couldn't really hear the question. >> i'm asking, blaine, what it's like for the families of these miners when they come back to the surface and the families at

least at the beginning of these crises sometimes go through something worse than the miners do because they may believe that the miners are dead. and so they have to go through an emotional recovery, too, don't they? >> the families, they didn't know -- the rescuers heard from us about the first six or eight hours through the rescue attempt with us. it almost went three days before they heard anything from us again. so us, we knew we was alive, but our family members they didn't know if we were alive or dead for those 3 1/2 days. it was very tough on them. >> blaine mayhugh and tom foy who were rescued from the quecreek mine disaster eight years ago and bill reynolds, their rescuer. we'll take a quick break. i do a lot of different kinds of exercise,

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we're back with more live coverage of the rescue of the miners in chile. we are joined now by kerry sanders. he is live at the san jose mine. kerry, what is the latest update on the rescue? >> well, the rescue process has now begun. as you know, we have an expert,

one of the engineering experts who has entered into the phoenix tube. that is the capsule that is now headed down to where the 33 miners are. they've been down there for 69 days, surviving in an area not small like a tiny cave as most people would believe, but still trapped under the earth. remember, for the first 17 days, no confirmation they were even alive. the family members who were up here holding out hope. and it's remarkable to think that in those first 17 days they survived on what were the rations for two days. they had peaches and tuna. and each man was given two spoons a day. it got them through the first 17 days. then contact was made, food, communications, now the shaft is finally through. they got through on saturday. the phoenix tube is-- phoenix

two is on its way down there with that engineer. they have a camera feeding them a live picture as it goes down. when he makes it down there, he'll exit, greet the 33, he'll explain to them some of the process. something that they've already had the opportunity to do. because they've had that video link. and then the first of the 33 miners is expected to get in to the capsule and the capsule will come up. the ride to the surface, about 15 minutes. we hear people singing. some of the singing has been the national anthem. some is the cheer which is quite popular for the national soccer team here. there's a sense of jubilation and excitement leading up to what everybody anticipates to be the first of 33 successful rescues. >> kerry, manuel gonzalez, that first rescuer to climb into the capsule and go down and may be just about now arriving at the

bottom, will we have an indication when manuel gonzalez has made it to the bottom? >> well, i think the way we're going to know that is we're going to draw the conclusion when we see the winch has stopped. well, there we go. he's there. they're celebrating right now. people are clapping. he's made it. and i think we have a shot from down below. there it is. look at this. amazing. it is arriving as we look at it. there it is. the capsule entering the chilean flag, the folks are singing the national anthem. this is it. there it is. oh, my goodness. everything they said that they were going to do appear to have worked. i think this shows us why the technicians at the top had such confident looks as this capsule first entered the earth. there it is. let's see if we can determine who that is that's walking over. that's one of the miners. i think you'll notice that the

weather down there's a lot warmer than on the surface. you can tell just by the way he's looking. let's watch this door open. they were having problems with the door before. let's see if they've overcome those problems now. here we go. stunning. there it is. [ clapping ] look at that. look at the smile. the hugs. there we go. 33 heroes greeted by the first man they've seen in 69 days arriving from the surface. it's just amazing. you know, we talk about all the technology. i'm stunned by the fact that we can actually watch this with that camera down below. and you hear those cheers for chile, chile. if you look at the men that are

being -- look at them. their arms are up. if you look at men, every one of them is thinner than they were before. on average they've lost about 20 pounds through this process. they lost a tremendous amount of weight in the first 17 days. then, of course, they had to build it back up. they were given special diets. they were put on exercise. so now he's presenting some information. let me see if we can listen to this. [ speaking spanish ]

>> each of the miners including one of the technicians -- [ speaking spanish ] >> so you can see that's the live feed coming from down below that they're monitoring in the -- just off to the side of where the capsule was launched down into the mine. kerry, what is manuel gonzalez telling them now? >> we were led to believe that what he was going to explain to

them was the order of the process. they already know who's on the list to go first and last, but to just explain to them, even though they've done this already by teleconference, to explain to them what to expect, how to go through this, what the experience will be like because he just experienced it himself. i think there was a great message of support from the surface as the president pinera, sebastian pinera is shaking hands with a member of the team. i thing that might be rene aguilar which is one of the folks from the state mining agency here. interestingly his engineering background is preceded by his psychology background. so he said he was thinking a lot about what these men are going to have to be going through. >> there we go. that's the president there with his wife. then we cut back to the picture. and this is what they've been

monitoring. so they've got a clear picture, as they have had for all along of what's been going on down below. but to see it live here, i know it's only 2,040 feet and this is not the moon, but it's a feeling of getting these live pictures off the moon as neil armstrong was stepping off on to that planet. because this is such a moonscape here on the surface and such an unknown world to all of us down below. it's fascinating to see that we can watch this and not just us, the whole world tuned in to this as it unfolds. >> it certainly is an historic moment and imagery. that photo, that image of manuel gonzalez stepping out of that capsule is now the image of heroism in chile. possibly soon to be outdone by the image of the first miner coming to the surface there at the site, kerry.

>> i know. i'm excited. we're thrilled for the fact that we're able to watch this, to see the president saying prayers, making the cross, thanking that this has worked so far so well. and to soon see florencio avalos make his way to the surface. you know, i went with florencio's father and his uncle into a nearby mine here. i went in with alfonso and wilson avalos. alfonso is a miner himself. and as we entered into the mine, he's 52 years old. he said that he had never felt nervous at all going into a mine, but knowing that his two sons are trapped down there, florencio and his other son renan, he just didn't feel comfortable going in there. i asked him, will you let your children go back into a mine after they exit this?

and he said, no way. there's no way he's going to let them return to this career. and i think that we may discover that many of these men feel that what they've gone through is enough for their experiences. there's a former soccer player who is down there, and his last name is lobos. he kind of had drifted into obscurity after being such a phenomenal player for the local soccer team here. he will once again emerge into a society that maybe he is best -- best prepared for because, as we've talked about, the number of cameras, the number of journalists from around the world and the number of movie producers and book authors who are all here all want iing to tk to them, to hear from them, to better understand what it means for 33 men to be trapped in a tomb in the earth together and

building a society with a leader and with direction and with because these men were not simply down there waiting for a rescue. they were working themselves. driving heavy trucks down there and these wide mine shafts, removing some of the rocks. and then, of course, as the drill went closer and closer, about 20 tons of rock and water was gushing down every day. and they were having to clear that out so they could help the effort with everything that was taking place on the top. >> kerry, i think it's fair to say we have never seen anything like this. we haven't had cameras in a position like this before in a crisis like this. to be able to deliver this imagery. this is awe inspiring at every level. kerry sanders, please stand by.

we're going to be back to you soon. joining me now, dr. james polk and dr. al holland. dr. polk is a nasa physician and dr. holland a nasa psychologist. they've been working to keep these men healthy over the last 69 days. what kind of medical attention will these men need as soon as they get out of the mine? >> well, one of the things that they're obviously guarding against, which you've mentioned previously, with the garments they're wearing and the food load that the miners have embarked on is to make sure their blood pressure doesn't drop. we think about soldiers locking their knees when they stand at attention and passing out. you wouldn't want that to happen to a miner while they're in this escape pod because they can't lie down and get blood back to their heart and to their brain. that's one of the first things they're guarding against. exposure to uva/uvb light. they've been down in this darkness for two months. if you think about coming out of a theater, how we squint, this

motion picture's been about two months long for them. they'll take the folks to the triage tent to do what we call the primary survey, looking at breathing and circulation to make sure they're stable. >> what kind of transition to normal will they go through? when will they be eating normally, when will they be sleeping normally? >> well, they've been eating a fairly normal diet down below up until we were getting ready for this ascent. and the thing we worry about in high stress environments a s an enclosed environment is reactivation of viruses, herpes virus, epstein-barr virus, those of us who go under stress studying for exams or have stressful things in our lives have cold sores and things of that nature. they could have this for a period up to a month after this odyssey they're going through.

>> dr. holland, talk about the psychological issues? >> i think they're going to be running on adrenaline pretty steadily for the first few days. they might find it hard to sleep. certainly get used to sleeping in a bed again. after that, they're going to have to adapt back to doing the daily laundry and making sure the kids get off to school. so there might be some mood slump there. and then i think basically they'll be taking up a new life because it will all be different. >> how will they deal with their celebrity status in this situation? >> well, that's got a range. you got 33 people. so you have 33 solutions to that question. but i think for the most part, the people that are balanced and have good resources, coping resources and have a good social support system, good family around them, they're going to be able to adapt best to the celebrity status and to the down side of that celebrity status.

>> sometimes when people go through these kinds of situations, they develop very strong bonds, lifetime bonds. is that likely to happen with this group? >> that's quite likely to happen with this group. there should be a subset of these guys that had always be meeting at reunions, sort of like combat veterans have their redowns for years. and centuries. down the line there. their kids as well. and it's likely to be like that for a subset. for another subset, they may not want to continue the close relationship. they may go their separate ways. all that's normal. >> dr. polk, dr. holland, thank you for joining us. back to chile. kerry sanders. kerry, what's the update? >> oh, my god. look at this. what you see moving here is alfonso ava los. that's the father of the first

miner who is going to be coming out. he's being rushed into a secure area for the family. as we've said, florencio is married with two children and only three family members are allowed to be at the location where each of the miners coming up. and so alfonso and his brother wilson decided that they would not be part of that. ultimately the decision was being made by the miners themselves of who was going to greet them. unless he's going to perhaps get a little special treatment as the first miner is brought up and be able to be rushed up there. but surrounded by media from around the world looking for a glimpse of his reaction. we're now 30 minutes and 5 seconds into this rescue. the launch of the capsule effectively making its way down, as was the thought going down in

to the shaft, coming down through the -- coming down through the earth pulled by gravity. i'm not sure whether we're looking at the same picture right now, but if you see a man who is walking there and being hugged, that appears to be wilson, who is the uncle. yeah, there we go. a lot of emotion here tonight. and a lot of tense feelings because, as we know, nobody's made it to the surface yet. we just know that there is confidence this is all going to take place. anyway, we're looking at that top of that hole waiting for the -- waiting for the phoenix two to rise. named the phoenix, of course, because it is rising. let's see if they're getting ready to go inside the capsule now. 31 minutes, 12 seconds into the rescue.

we have the live picture from down below. we can see that the engineer who has gone down is still engaging the men. the men are standing around. waiting for their next -- i don't want to call them order. but their next step to this process. >> kerry, it's very likely that getting the first miner in to the capsule will be a longer process than getting the 10th and the 209 th in there. they'll speed up this process as they go along. but this first one is something they're doing very carefully and very slowly. >> you know, i was talking to the health minister today. he said something very interesting about these 33 men, that in the way that they've bonded, there is the possibility that they may face a separation anxiety as each of them steps into that capsule. and as they come up in -- well,

they have a dim light, but still have a very enclosed area. they may have some feelings, often as those marines and soldiers who are wounded and have to be evacuated out from their brethren in the middle of batt battle, just a sense that they feel that they belong with the others. that is why the word from down below had been even though the officials here want the them to go through triage, see their families and go to the hospital, the men below say they do not want to depart the surface until all 33 men have come up. the concern is that getting them to the hospital here all at once, 33, would overwhelm the hospital. they want to trickle them in. the men have a different idea. we'll see how that plays out. but clearly, the process of getting the first in to the escape hatch and leaving is a

process that, as you know, will likely take longer with number one, two, three and four before we see some sort of -- i don't want to call it routine, but some sort of sense that everything is working as planned. and they can follow along with each of these in the protocol that was established at the beginning. >> kerry, you mentioned the possibility of separation anxiety among the miners. is there a plan for the miners to be able to stay at the top waiting for their friends to get up to the top with them as a group? or will they be taken away individually to medical treatment as soon as they're up there? >> yeah, that's what i was saying that the guys want to stay together. and the government wants them to go to the hospital one at a time so that they can have them processed. i wouldn't be surprised if the men down below who clearly are heroes, if they're forceful,

will be able to remain here. it is just a real problem because, as you can see, it's extremely cold out here. you can see the way i'm dressed. and the men down below have been living in humid warm conditions. and they really don't have the facilities here at the top to keep the men comfortable. and the last thing that anybody wants is for the men to come up and then encounter any sort of problems. so they want to get them as quickly over to the hospital as they can. it's not just physical checks. it's also the mental process here. and there's probably many schools of thought on what is the best way to do this. but they thought it through here. and the conclusion they've come to is to get the men to the hospital and keep them there for at least two days. the men have all lost, as i said, about 20 pounds. but they've been on a liquid diet since yesterday drinking the liquids that an astronaut

would drink, rich in potassium. the reason for that, they don't want to have anything in their stomachs as they come up just in the event that they feel queasy. >> kerry, i don't have the best view of this image from inside the mine, but it looks like florencio avalos is in the capsule at this point waiting to be lifted up. >> let me take a look here. i've got to tell you, i think you might be right. i'm looking as close as i can. [ speaking spanish ] yep, there we go. there it goes. it's moving up. there it goes. listen to that. we are 23 minutes, 55 seconds, i think. let's see. no, there we go. 36 minute, 8 seconds into the rescue. and now we can set our watches, we'll see if this really does take 15 minutes to make it to

the surface as they hoped and planned it would. there he goes, phoenix two rising out of its location. 2,040 feet below the earth through some of the hardest rock on our planet. the president accompanied by others smiling. the miners down below have now seen one of their own depart. and so the winch is pulling up a capsule that weighs about a ton plus the weight of a man. and there it goes. turning just as they intended it to do. the cable going down flown in from germany. it's the type of cable that they use on a chairlift at a ski mountain. the chilean flag proudly displayed. and what we're going to do here is we're going to face our camera to the crowds over here

so that when and if he makes it to the surface, you'll not only get a chance to hear but you'll see the reaction, which i know is going to be one of jubilation. because i'll tell you what, i think i might jump up and down, too. >> you go right ahead, kerry. florencio avalos, 31 years old, married. he helped his brother get a job at the mine. he will be the first miner out as long as that wheel keeps turning as steadily as it has been. that pace of the wheel is very encouraging, kerry. that's keeping a very steady momentum. >> and there we go. now it's like there's a hush over the crowd as everybody is waiting. folks sort of holding their breaths for this moment. some of the engineers are hugging.

you hear people chanting for their country. chi, chi, le, le, chile chile. >> kerry, i assume the crowd is well versed in the timing of this. they know it will be about 15 minutes from the time they just saw that capsule start to move? >> absolutely. it's supposed to travel somewhere between six and ten feet a second. and they said they might do it a little bit slower with the first one. but, you know, if you got your stopwatch going on this or if somebody in the control room did, we'll see how long it really takes to get them to the surface here. and there you can see there are members of the rescue team as this phoenix two arrives, another rescue engineer will get in to go down. but before they do that, i think they told me they wanted to run

a set of checks on the capsule to make sure that it was not bumped or damaged on the way up. the wheel's spinning, the family members anxiously approaching for their opportunity to greet their loved one. people sitting on the edges of their seats. not only here in copiapo, not only here out at the san jose mine, but in the capital of santiago across the country around the world as, really, the unbelievable appears to be taking place. 69 days under the earth and now the first man making his way to the surface. it's got to be quite -- it's got to be quite a strange feeling to be inside that capsule knowing that whichever way you look, you're looking at the rock. the big mega block of rock that