welcome back, i'm chris jansing. our continuing coverage of the mine rescue in copiapo, chile. it is 4:00 here on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. there in chile at mining site, and it has been an incredibly successful night. so far, five rescues, which means, 28 men remain almost half a mile underground waiting for their capsule to make the descent again. once it does, when they get to the bottom osmon araya will be waiting and there are a series of procedures that he'll be going through. the first thing that they do is they strap a bio monitor around his abdomen. that's going to keep track of his pulse rate, his blood pressure. they're going to continually be watching him on that ascent. he'll be looking right into a video camera and have two-way communication so if there is any anxiety, if there is any panic, he has someone monitoring him

and someone that he can talk to. they took an aspirin before the ascent and they're putting on compression socks to deal with that ascent. and also as we've seen them coming out, they've all looked a little bit like movie stars with those fancy sunglasses, but of course they serve a very particular purpose, which is that they're dealing with those bright lights there. even though it's not -- even though it's not daylight. mario sepulveda, 40 years old, a married father of two children, his rescue was the one that they're playing over and over and over again on chilean television because he virtually burst out of capsule. he was so excited. he had his bag with him with his rocks in it, and he started handing them out. gifts from below the earth from his 70 days underground including one and a hug for the president of chile, who has been there along with the first lady to greet these miners as they have come out.

he also gave a news conference. obviously looking in great physical shape. was pretty eloquent saying "i was with god and with the devil and god took me." and waiting the cheers of "chile, chile, chile," and the president cheering right along with them. it is interesting, the preparations that have been made for these guys. this guy seems made for television. his family has been saying, he should have reality show, and let's not be surprised if he actually gets one. but all of the 33 miners among the many ways that they've been prepared, physically, emotionally, mentally, for this reintegration into freedom has been actually media training and richard lui has been look more into this. the quote that he gave sound like he gave it some thought. >> he did.

and he had the lines when he came out of the mine there saying "che, che, che, chile." yeah, media training, because you know they're not supposed to necessarily from what we hear in some the reports have an official news conference. yet, they have had some training. you can imagine, stuck again for 70 days underneath the earth, a half a mile in darkness, and then that's the yen. the yang you come out of the well, the lights upon you these cameras coming down on you watching in wheel move slowly and they come out and see hundreds of journalists ask them questions. so this is what we're able to find out about the media training. evidently, they had had somebody by the name of alejandro penno from "the new york times." a former journalist, regional manager of insurance company and he had given some minor training how to speak and express

themselves here, chris, and that they had received actual guide books. one of those guide books was sent up 3f through one of the boor holes. bloomberg reporting that they had six-hour classes that they had gone on how to speak to the media. these long six-hour classes. also, that they had mock interviews on how to use facial expressions, hands and shoulders, as, again, they dealt with the media, and some of the concerns from the families of these miners was that perhaps overexposure outweighed actually the concern of psychological tramaen a physical health according to "the guardian." the miners though, already from what we understand in this report feeling sort of the early age of fame. they spent yesterday signing autographs, flags, t-shirts, banners and then sending up -- up through those boor holes.

who would have ever thought -- we talked about these palomas, these holes sending down food and then sending up autographed materials as well, so really, really interesting here, chris, in terms of how they've been prepared for what will be a very amazing future for los tren trenta tres, the 33 as they'll be called and thinking about this, forget their names now, they'll be called when people ask them, you know whether out in the pub, or meeting family members, what's your name? they're going to say i'm number seven. >> yeah. >> i'm number 15, right? >> and carey sanders and natalie morales who have been there throughout all of this saying that's going to be thenate. movie when they cast the movie it'll be the "33," right? >> exactly. >> easy enough. thank you so much. and you have to wonder when we're going to see about what went on underground. there is a report in british newspaper, for example that they've agreed not to tell a lot about the details about those first 17 days which had to be the harshest of course because

they did not know if they were going to be rescued. they only had enough food for two days and we'll see how much of those conversations and those events come to the fore. but think that we'll obviously see many dramatic interpretations because the hollywood agents have been there, the authors have been there who want to officially write their story, and so that is something to watch. our good friend homer, who's been with us on skype throughout evening. homer hickam, since 1951, his dad actually invented this capsule know , an early version of this capsule that is going down into the earth to rescue these guys. so, homer, you've been watching this now, for whatever, five hours or so as we all have. tell me what your overwhelming thought is right now. >> well, my overwhelming thought just now after what you just said is that, hey, maybe i better get down there and write

this story. >> there's an opportunity and you're missing it, homer. >> no, i don't think so. i'm under contract for three more books so i don't have time for this one, but it -- it will make a great story. and i think the part that we don't really know yet is, what happened before that drill first broke through? during that time period, many days, when the miners did not hear anything topside. they assumed that somebody was up there knowing about them but they weren't exactly sure. how were they able to get themselves organized to distribute the food, ration the food? to me that is the greatest story. who was it that managed to pull everybody together, for whatever was said, and to turn them into the team that obviously they are now. and it seemed like from me from the very get-go when we started seeing these folks they were very disciplined. so somebody had been working with them right from the start,

so this is going to be a very interesting story on how all of that happened. >> yeah, from what i've read apparently what's come out so far it was the shift manager and maybe there's a reason why he was the shift manager. that he managed to really get people organized. that he was the one who said, look, we don't know how long we're going to be down there. we've only got a little bit of tuna fish, a little bit of peaches, you know, decided how things were going to be parcelled out. >> yeah. >> i'm curious, though, from your perspective as an author who wrote "rocket boys," which was made into a movie "october sky," how an author will approach this story, and what these miners and their families can expect? >> well, it's a natural. as a writer, what i've noticed is that what people are really interested in is other people. and obviously, you have these 33 miners, i've looked at a brief sketch a biographical sketch of each of them. they've all got a good story. now, that story is in place and

in play and just weaving them together. by the way that foreman who took over, that sometimes can be a dangerous thing. because the miners -- or your men -- you're in trouble. and the men mind tend to turn on you and say, wait a minute, you're the one that's got us into this and now you're trying to tell us what to do. but fortunately he the leadership skills to avoid that. the other story is going to be, what's happening on top, obviously. very quickly, an organization was put together ad hoc organization, an international inscope to bring all of this equipment and all of this excerpties together and it all worked very, very well together. now that just didn't happen. somebody or a few people has the knowledge, sequential thinkers, they thought this through, and they put out their request for these -- these heavy pieces of machinery, got them down there on time. but they took their time, they did it right. so to me, that's a great story

too. so i'd like to see that innerplay. plus also, some of the family members i'm sure what they went through, that's going to be some real human interest story -- or tales to be told right there. and of course at the end, you all merge them together, this story's not over yet. we don't have everybody up, yet. something yet could happen. i think not, the way i see things turning out here. but, still, you know we all want to hang on till that 33rd man is out, and we can say "the end" on this particular part of the story. >> and we're watching, again, this is so remarkable, the camera that is inside the mine. and there it is, the capsule being lowered down for the sixth time. empty capsule for the first four descents as we've been telling you, it took military medical personnel, who have stayed underground, but now it is about to bring up osmon araya, the

sixth man who will come up in what has been a flawless rescue mission in copiapo, chile. homer, thanks to you, so much. we're going to continue our coverage and we will show it to you when osmon araya is rescued. keep it here on msnbc. hi, may i help you? yes, we're looking to save on car insurance, even if that means we have to shop all day, right, honey? yep, all day. good thing you're starting here. we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies', so you can save money! look! we saved a lot! and quick, too. and no more holding her purse!

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and the preparations are under way down in the mine to bring up the sixth miner as the rescue there is ongoing. osmon araya labor the next to go inside that capsule to get

hokhooked up. one the thanks they'll do as they've done with all of the miners is they're going to put a sweat or them. many of them have been running around shirtless because it's 90 degrees, plus, down in that minmine but it's very cold, near freezing at such surface so they will naught sweat or and strap those sunglasses on how to deal with the light and the sun. it should be coming up fairly soon, it's 5:00 a.m. now in chile but we're wait for example that sixth rescue to begin. everything going as well as anybody could have hoped so far. we are starting to get some feedback from some of the families, the first miner who was rescued, who is florencio avalos, his brother wilson said, i cannot describe what we all are feeling right now. the joy that we all are feeling. and many of the people in this very religious country have been drawing religious parallels. they have, of course, drawn on their faith burks they think it's not coincidental that christ was crucified when he was

33, and there are 33 miners. and even the president said, it may not be a surprise that florencio avalos came back to us on the 13th day of the tenth month of the tenth year of this decade, which sums 33. and as we've been saying all night, that's what they've been dubbed "the 33." carey sanders, you heard it from him first that that should be the name of the movie. as we've been watch all of this unfold there's machibeen so man extraordinary moments. here's just a few put together for us by our own thomas roberts. >> reporter: 33 chilean miners trapped for 69 days. >> there it is! bravosuccess! >> reporter: he's made it to the surface. finally the first miner florencio avalos reaches the surface and straight into the loving arms of his family. with that, the parade of miners to the top was on.

mario sepulveda was the second to safely emerge handing out rocks to chile's president and then channelling the crowd's adrenaline rush. >> reporter: with made-for-tv characters emerging more than 1,700 journalists and camera crews at camp hope are ready to capture the dramatic capture. >> which sandra lily has been watching all night and it occurs to me that those broadcasters must be running on adrenaline as well because they've been on the air nonstop. >> absolutely and they really have done a superb job wall-to-wall the chilean television. talking about the sixth miner osmon araya, you were talking about apparently he's very religious, evangelical and one of those things that when they had their communications, when they were in the mine, he always

talked about god. and interestingly enough apparently he had told a supervisor before he went down this time that he did not think that the mine was safe and ironically enough, it happened and his family has already said that he has made it very adamant that he will not go back to mining, which is interesting, the second miner, apparently, might occur it agaconsider it a. but mr. araya is saying i'm not going back. >> and all at least from recent years a spotlight on them but this is really extraordinary. more than a thousand journalists are there. are they expressing any amazement at the amount of international attention that this has drawn? >> they sure are. dispersed with technical stuff and they go back to saying a billion people were watch and 36

countries have been watching us and with miner communities closely watching how we're doing everything, they talked about times square in new york and the fact that people are watching, they've had american networks. they've mentioned nbc. they interviewed natalie morales, so yes, there's definitely that whole pride that comes with the nact they've covered it so well and it's going -- and the eyes of the world are on them. >> and they seem very happy about that fact. there are a few things that chile is known for but they kind of been in the shadows of many other countries, some people that i've heard interviews saying, you know we're best known for a dictator shia. so inclined for their chilean wine. they've produced some very fine low-priced wines. but in a spotright in a different way in a way that could had been a tragedy in a way that they're clearly relishing, right. >> absolutely. the level of professionalism and the way that everything's been done so perfectly, even the broadcastners chile were amazed

at how -- how much better it went than they thought. i mean, not a flaw when the capsule first went down with the rescuers. the fact that it was able to go faster and earlier. so, yes, it's almost like they're in awe of how well they have looked at the world and i think well deserved. >> all right, you can do a little translations for us. the front page of the newspaper which is already coming out there. >> "historic rescue after a tense journ net san jose mine." that is a wonderful cover. >> and look at that picture. >> it is wonderful. >> one of the embraces that happened and there have been so many embraces. it really captures sort of everything -- everybody's hugging, everybody is hugging in that picture. >> oh, and there was a great comment apparently of one the chilean journalists was saying that they saw in the foreign president didn't mention which one that the capsule was the "apollo 3" of mining and i

thought that was a wonderful remark. >> and gotten help froms that agotten help internationally but especially from the united states, i think, the monitors are from texas, and obviously -- >> the drill bit from pennsylvania. >> that's right from pennsylvania. the nasa folks. so there's many reasons for many americans to be proud as well, because they've helped bring it to this point of success. and again, osmon araya, thank you so much, sandra. osmon araya, who is in the capsule getting in the capsule right now a half mile underground from what you're see reith now and we're going to continue to follow his rescue as well as those that will follow right here, 22 past hour.

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photographers in copiapo, chile, in the moments after five successful rescues. now, the sixth is under way. 28 miners who have yet to be rescued, but soon it should be 27 on a night that has really brought so much joy and elation replacing the anxiety that had been there for 69, now into the 70th day, about a half mile above that golden copper mine in chile. we'd been watching it from every vantage point throughout this evening including from our reporters natalie morales and carey sanders, who've been on the scene on and off throughout these 70 days. here's a little bit of the conversation that i had with them a while ago about exactly what this means to chile. take a listen. >> it's just like, it is a wow moment. it really is because it wasn't supposed to be possible. everybody said it was impossible. impossible for these guys to be alive after 17 days, impossible

to get through this rock for them to survive and possible for them to make this fenix get down and bring them up, and everything that was impossible is possible. >> this is a day no one will soon forget. this is truly been a moving moment for everyone here, from the first miner who was pulled out, to the last miner who will be pulled out perhaps hours from now, days from now. they're saying this operation could go on for 48 hours. so we're just here still in the very beginning stages. but with each one, chris, the family members have all said, it's -- they've compared this to almost a birth, and they say, we cannot wait. we're hours away from our loved ones being born again. it's a description that you hear from every single one of them over and over again. so -- and that is, i believe, as every parent feels the sentiment as they've seen, you know, with the first miner florencio avalos

hug his 7-year-old son biden, and the tears that he shed at that very moment. i think that every parent felt that and felt as if it were their own child. imagine that separation for 70 days now. from the minute that they learned of the accident, they started forming a tent city here, which then became a family here, a community united in this veryest to make this happen. from that very first communication on day 17 when they were able to finally get some sort of communication down to the men, and they realize, they're all alive. >> yeah, imagine that. >> they're alive! >> every one of these guys survived this mega block of 700,000 tons shifting under the earth and every one of these guys survived. it's not as if they're mourning the loss of any of theirbreath

-- their brethren. >> no one gave up hope here. it's been a global effort. we've had rescue teams. you've been talking to the american teams involved. there was south africans, canadians, every piece of equipment here has come from some other place. there is such a bond that has formed between the miners and all of the rescue team. this has been a labor of love and a labor -- a sacrifice for all of them. no one has really had a good night's sleep since this happened 70 days ago. and all have been committed to seeing this very day come to fruition. >> it's interesting how a -- a crisis and now a triumph can unite a country. >> first, the crisis as well of the earthquake earlier this year here. an 8.8 earthquake.

and very catastrophic in the southern part of chile. and sebastian pinera, then -- was then elected into office as the president and then to have this happen, and you see a lot of the men giving the president big embraces. >> first lady. >> it's really been sort of a moment in his presidency that, they say, will be truly -- has tru truly has moved the nation. >> i wonder if he's going to spend all night out here for these 33 hours or what, because we've sort of settled into our positions here with -- if george wants to pull out here, we've sort of settled into our positions where it's cold and we've got some blanket it's. >> a long night ahead. >> exactly. exactly. >> we're like kids at a movie right now. >> yeah. >> it's a drive-in theater. >> we're watching the movie here, chris. >> the in the back of the car in new england in the drive-in

theater. >> carey sanders and natalie moral morales, who've done amazing reporting from there. and take a look at scene live because you're watching as they're watching waiting for that capsule to come up. once again, the cable that will lift osmon araya to freedom after 70 days underground. we're going to take a quick break.

in chile they're calling it a marvelous start which has to be a tremendous understatement given the fact that it's never happened before. they've never rescued men buried this deep. men have never been buried this long, but now the six of the 33 miners, osmon araya, coming to the surface. and the cheers continue. and there he is in that small capsule just about six feet four

inches high about 26 inches across, they will open the door, they'll unhook him from all of the monitors, and he will have a chance to be reunited with his family. osmon araya is 30, he has two children. he is someone who has never felt comfortable in the mines. he's only worked there for about four months. he came as a temporary worker and had, in fact, expressed that he wanted to change jobs. he was looking for something else to do. could never had imagined certainly when he started there, such a short time ago that this would be his fate. and they're taking off some of those monitors. he has an integration process that will begin immediately. he'll have a few minutes here to say hello to his family and as we've been telling you throughout the night, they were allowed to choose just three

members of their family to be there with them and to greet them, and then he will go into a triage center. he is one of the people who has been having some of the physical probl problems. >> chi! chi! chi!. le! le! le!. chile! >> that picture really speaks for itself the reunion with his wife. and the greeting by chile's president and many of the other rescue workers who had been there throughout there to greet the men each as they come up. when he eventually goes onto the stretcher which should be within the next couple of minutes and he'll be taken into triage and checked out, a lot of skin

problems and respiratory problems of course when that 700,000 tons of rock came down and then when the drill came down to drill -- to bore that shaft. thanking everyone. a lot of dust was stirred up. soap many of them have had some problems with breathing and respiration and so he'll get all of that checked out. the first four who've been rescued have already been taken by helicopter to a hospital. they'll get a thorough physical when they get there. and have some time to rest and hopefully get back on to a normal sleeping and eating schedule. something that has been denied them for the past 70 days. number six, osmon araya, who says he will never go down in that mine again. and richard louis, that is a seen that we've seen for each of the six, the thumbs-up and the

elation at being rescued. >> it's like christmas all over again every time that we see this. it's a new year's day now doubt for them and i'm enjoying it with you watching this. as we've seen number six come out -- and we were watching the clock here as well as many of the family members are -- when was osmon araya going to be coming out? and it seemed a little bit delayed and we've actually been keeping a little list of the 33 and the time in between. and -- excuse me, this latest rescue or rising of osmon araya, that was about 85 minutes in between. and as you reporting earlier there, chris, they were cleaning the wheels. and you were speaking with homer hickman about that -- hickam, rather, about that and so we've consistently seen about 58, 60 minutes between each and every appearance between those who are rescued in the numbers watching, this latest one taking a little bit longer.

and of course could that be, as we've been looking at some of the animations, related, to of course, their concern. because as each and every time that capsule goes up and down, there is concern about the degridation of that particular bore wall and as we know only about 300 to 400 feet of that 2,000-foot depth that that capsule needs to go down has a well casing, and in the industry, when you do bore, those sorts of holes because the difference of layers of dirt in between, it can become broken down. and so obviously as you were talking about with homer about this, there's that worry that that dirt will get into the wheels. that that particulate will get into the capsule itself and perhaps get stuck along wait. so that is -- take those precautions and that's why we've seen that slight delay of about 25 minutes, as you were saying, it was planned. and we might expect that going forward.

so as our viewers look at this timing, if you're doing it along with us, they might report into see some spaces where a little bit more than the 58 to 60 minutes in between as we wait for each and every one of those 33, chris, to come up. and come out of that capsule into the chi! chi! chi! le! le! le! >> and as you say, this is planned in as you say from the very beginning, at least over the last couple of days when naper really getting a schedule down. >> right. >> it would take about 48 hours, they thought, for these 33 miners and the good news that we were hearing earlier on chilean television is that they've spoken to a couple of the families of the miners in the 20s, and they're in very good spirits. you think that they might be anxious and maybe a little regretful that their miner wasn't one of the first ones brought up, but this really is a tightly-knit community. and everyone seems to be just so happy that everything is going so flawlessly. we're going to wait for that capsule to go back down. miner number seven, jose ojeda. 45 years old. a widower and a master drilling

machine operator, will be the next to be rescued and brought to the surface. stay tuned. we're following it all step by step. if you're on medicare and thinking about a new prescription drug plan, behold -- your window of opportunity is here. starting november 15th, you can enroll in an aarp medicarerx plan insured through unitedhealthcare. call now for your free information kit. see why over 4.3 million members are enrolled in these plans. i recently got this letter from my current drug plan.

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well, so far they've made it look so easy, but it is anything but. this is an extraordinary technical feat, what we have been witnessing over the last several hours from chile, as six of the 33 miners have been rescued. and they're getting ready to put that fenix capsule back down into the ground to go and

collect jose ojeda, who will be the next miner, the 45-year-old widower who has one child. he's also a grandfather, he is on medicine for diabetes. so he's one of the nine, ten people concerned about with pre-existing conditions, medical problems that have come up in the meantime, but i have to say as we've watched the first six come out, they have looked amazing. they've looked healthy. they've looked strong. some of them practically jumping up and down with excitement. none of them seeming to want to get on that -- that gurney to go into the medical tent and get checked out. they were ready essentially to rock and roll, and speaking to this technical marvel that we're looking at, this fenix capsule, this is not like an elevator shaft. it's not straight up and down. it has all of these twists and turns. so they went to germany to get a cable, the kind used on a ski

lift, so that it wouldn't get caught up when it went through these little curves. it is some of the hardest rock on earth that they had to drill through. so they brought numerous drills in from different parts of the world. it was that drill from pennsylvania that did the trick. and so far six of the 33 have been rescued, and as we said, we're watching and waiting as they're doing last-minute visual inspections on that capsule before they let it go down underground. and sandra lilley has been following all of this with us, as she's been watching chilean television. to my unsophisticated eyes, i don't know these men, i didn't know them before. obviously, they stepped out of those capsules -- i'd only seen pictures but theyf i thought that they looked so great. >> they just seem so contained and self-possessed. it was sort of cute chilean

television florencio avalos he was crying when he came out and he was the first one. it was actually the sixth who shed tears for the first time. and there's some cute anecdotes. they had women relatives of mario sepulveda, of the second miner, the more loquacious of all of them. and the women were saying, one woman relative said they, gave him back to me the way i sent him down. they just couldn't believe that he looked exactly the same. >> so they thought that he looked great, too. >> and another woman relative said that he looked like he went on vacation. so i think that the families are very surprised at how well they came out. >> yeah and it was mario sepulveda, as we're watching them in the monitor there, as they're getting ready to send that capsule back down, it was mario who had that news conference, and he's a little bit of a pistol, boy. i mean, when i was talking to homer, who is the mining expert, who's written books about it, his dad was a miner, he said you'll never find a miner

without an opinion. he's making political statements at a press conference. >> he sure is, he says that chile has to revamp the labor laws and be more careful with the miners and he saidf he did praise the president as well as the professional. he said he thought that he was always in good hands and also had a poetic one, he said when i was down there at times i the hands of the god and i the hand of the devil but i chose the better of the god. >> yes, a lot of reports that many of these men have relied their faith. that some of them have found faith. i think one of the things that went down in some of the deliveries to them were actually bibles that they had been reading. but they have such a different world that's going to face them when they come out. i mean, i can just imagine chile is going crazy for these guys. they really are national heroes. >> you are right i think that they're anticipating that. because sepulveda also said in the press conference they don't want to be treated as artists or

journalists. they're miners. so i think that they're already sort of anticipating how life changes when they have that media spotlight. and that's one of the reasons that some of the professionals in chilean television were saying. that they -- one of the reasons that they want to isolate them apart from medical reasons is because they think psychologically they couldn't deal with the media onslaught. >> thank you. the author of "rocket boys," which became the movie "october sky." i'm sure you've been hearing our conversation about how great they look. sow strong they seem. >> oh, they do. >> yeah, were you amazed. >> yes, very much so. heartened, really. again, this comes down to the great planning of the folks that put together this whole rescue during the many days before that happened. they're get ago they were able to get down enough food and enough water to keep these -- these young men healthy. and, yeah, they look great.

energetic, and it looks like they could go down and mine some copper. >> and i do wonder, you know, the last one who came out, osmon araya, he has only been a temporary worker for the last few months, and so he said he's never going down again. he never really liked being down there, but history would tell us that most of them will return to mining, right? >> yeah. they will. it does get in your blood, it's what you do. i mean, for a while, of course, they're going to get dragged away from that. and a lot of people will tell them, oh don't go back down there. it's a terrible place, and look at what happened to you the last time. but i would say at least 75% of them will probably end up mining again. i mean, in the first place, to be a miner of any type, hard rock miner, copper miner, coal miner, it takes a great deal of training and specialized training at that. operate all of that heavy equipment, be around all of that

heavy equipment. so i -- you know, they want to use that, so they're miners. that's the way that they define themselves so tip like they do end up going back to work. >> yeah, we did make a little bit of a joke about the fact that the one miner, mario sepulveda quickly held a news conference and got quickly politexam some of them have talked about safety conditions in the mine. well, it is an inherently dangerous business, in this case, they're you know drilling a half a mile below the surface of the earth. but have things gotten much safer since 1951 when your dad invented that capsule? >> well, i think it has. i mean, in the first place the principles of mining engineering are pretty well known. and there's also a requirement for most miners to have what they call red helmet training. that's what they call it back in west virginia anyway. where a week or two weeks concentrated training before a

miner ever goes down into the miner -- or does any work down in the mine. so, yes, there's been a lot of improvements. it shows up in the safety record, both in the united states and around the world. but there's still some glaring problems with mines and we saw it with this because we still don't quite understand why all of this rock came crashing down to plug up this mine. and cause all of this to happen. so i'm sure it's going to be lots of investigations to figure that one out. there's, again, the principles of mining engineering are very well known. there's really no reason in this day in age for horrendous accidents like this to occur. >> and we are watching that winch turning and that's always a good sign, because that means that they're on their way to the seventh rescue. but we've said repeatedly, as exciting as this is, it's not over. what are your major concerns over the next, whatever it turns

out to be, 30, 40 hours or so? >> well, from the get-go, i've counseled against getting into any kind of a big hurry. and so far it looked like nobody -- nobody is in a big hurry. you know i mentioned that with nasa, sometimes nasa got into what we call launch fever. and all of a sudden, let's launch this rocket even though we haven't done everything we're supposed to do. we're sure it's okay. let's go. especially after you've had a lot of success. that kind of thing can happen launch fever. i'm very, very impressed though that the leader of this rescue have resisted. any thought of speeding things up and skipping any steps, they seem to be very sequential thinkers. and the result of that is it's a very smooth operation that we've been seeing all night. >> the you have been very g generous with your time, staying up all night.

lending in your insights and expertise. do you want to give us one final thought because you look like a happy guy to me right now. >> well, i'm very happy. again, i'm not a miner, but i'm -- i've worked in the mine. i'm the son of a coal miner. the grandson and even a great-grandson of a miner. so i feel like i'm part of this great fraternity, if you will, of miners in the world. and to see a -- this successful rescue of these wonderful guys, yeah it's going to make me really, really happy. i think that mining families across the world are grinning tonight and happy tonight and just grateful to the managers who put this wonderful rescue together, get it right, and of course also to our lord who clearly looked out after these men, saw them through, and now we see them back home where they should be with their families. >> without a doubt where they

should be, homer hickam, thank you again so much. it's just been great getting to know you a little bit via skype. >> thank you. >> it is 54 minutes past the hour. and richard lui is here as well. and i guess as we head toward the top of the hour, richard, i had asked natalie and i had asked the various people across the evening, what's the moment that they'll remember? obviously the first rescue. but what's the thought you take away from this night. >> you know, chris, as we watch, this yeah, i had no idea what to expect as we were thinking about this day and this time. but what i find really dynamic is we're really getting to understand these individuals, those seconds after they come up from the mine. each and every person, right, they're showing their personality. you've talked about mario sepulveda, and how he's you know so energetic. florencio avalos, who's the first one that came out. it was said that he was a very quiet person. and sure enough, you know, those 30 seconds after he came out of the well, he was very thoughtful. so what i find interesting is

how we're getting to meet each and every one of these people. we get to learn more about their backgrounds, their families and how they're a lot like maybe people we know or people we don't. >> thank you so much, richard. what is a grand night when a billion people, it's estimated, together, watched and shared the joy of what, so far, has been an overwhelmingly happy and joyful moment. the rescue, so far of florencio avalos, mario sepulveda, juan illanes on their way to their freedom.