international space station, so it would have to be an international consortium of companies. but then there's other ways to commercialize lowerth orbit with human activity which is having standalone space stations that are privately funded and launched and put into orbit, and then nasa is one of many customers on those new habitation capabilities. we're looking at those studies, and based on those studies, we'll make assessments for the future. >> another aspect of commercialization is the commercial crew program. you announced last month the astronauts will be flying on the initial test flights and initial crew rotations coming up. how confident are you that the companies can stick to the schedules that were announced last month and have those test flights done by the middle of next year? >> i'm very confident we can stick to those schedules. i want to be really clear that those schedules are really -- it's not nasa's schedule, it's our commercial crew partners that are working to make sure that we have, you know, all of the safety mechanisms in place. what we're doing here i

for the international space station. the government has been supporting for lower orbit. and the international space station has been there for 18 years. we need to figure out how does nasa go further? if we want to stay in lower orbit for the next 20 years we shouldn't change anything. but if we want to include human activities, robotics, a lander to mars we can't keep do what we've been doing for the last 20 years. i have to be clear with this as well. we do not want a gap in human activity in lower earth orbit and we're not going to have a gap in human activity in lower earth orbit. if that remains true, we've got to think where we'll be seven years from now. we've got to think how do we commercialize lower earth orbit. how does nasa become one of many customers driving down our cost of access to humans to lower earth orbit and how do we have providers competing on cost and innovation and enabling us to do more than ever before in lower earth orbit. how do we make that a reality. ultimately when we're a customer of ma

space station of course that is an opportunity. so there are some people out there, some companies because it would be international consortium but then there is other ways to commercial lower orbit with a standalone space station that is privately funded and launched and put into orbit so we are looking at those studies and assessments for the future. >> so with the initial test flight, how confident are you they can stick to a schedule quick. >> i am very confident. i want to be really clear it isn't nasa schedule but our partners working to make sure all of the safety mechanisms in place. what we are doing is unique and this is the important capability to the united states of america to have any type of failure so at the end of the day it is important to take our time to get it right to have a better partnership with russia. and now to have a mutually beneficial relationship we can launch on their rockets and they can launch on ours. >> so january 2020 we will run out of teesix rocket launches. so we do have two commercial crew providers and that is important they intentionally wanted multiple providers so if one is not ready the o

the international space education board was established in 2005. spiriting in a new era of global collaboration in space education. the space agency and nasa were among the four founding members along with -- the objective is to share best practices and unite effects to foster interest in space science and technology among the student community worldwide. 13 years later, the leadership in this area shown by canada, the u.s. and others continues to make a difference in inspiring the next generation of space scientists, and entrepreneurs. it's one thing to shape students careers by giving them the skills they need for the job market of the future. you also have to inspire them to follow their dreams. that is perhaps one of the most powerful underlying social benefits of space exploration. our from scientific discovering v discoveries to technological chments and canadians in space. we've always tried to invest in areas of canadian strength and priorities that are valuable contributions to our partners and the international community at large. this mod

i love the fact that the international space station we are just. depend on each other every day with our lives and it's a it's such a great example for everyone politicians and just everyone all over the world of how we can work together to achieve great things everything that's important to us it's really important to us is pretty much the same if you know i started seeing something that he doesn't agree with or he says something that i don't agree with then we'll start chuckling and there's a strong russian bear what are you doing jack we can joke about it and understand that topic we're talking about isn't as important as our friendship and the values that we share so it's not that it's not that big of a deal one of the cool things that's in the russian segment is the russian cosmonauts like our commander in the russian segment we have tons of great windows these are really high quality windows so we can take pictures we also have a lot of systems that keep the station going and we have another cargo vehicle at the very into the station and the

if you can make it is fit right into space also now on board the international space station. for security very far from here for the purpose. of her. her her. her. her her her her. her. her. thought. here everything is very different than back on they have to float rather than and it's not that easy to get used to they have to sleep standing up in a sleeping bag making sure to zip up so that they don't flail about in syria gravity that's a station you have to learn how to get alone anyways there are too many threats here to waste time quarrelling. that are similar but i do you do when you. get this newbie. he did you know. i love the fact that on the international space station we are just a team that depend on each other every day with our lives and it's such a great example for everyone politicians and just everyone all over the world of how we can work together to achieve great things everything that's important to us it's really important to us is pretty much the. if you know i started seeing something that he doesn't agree with or he says something that i don't agree wit

space sector i think that brexit has opportunities as well as challenges. we are looking to the outside world, we are looking to increase inward investment and export. international support space export. we have seen a lot of investment into the country. i don't think brexit is actually causing the space sector in the uk to contract in any sense. i think we are growing rapidly. let's talk about how you are growing and what your ambitions are. the former british astronaut helen sharman who still keeps a close eye on what you do, she is deeply disappointed about the lack of ambition in the uk space programme. she says that for decades successive british governments have been far too short term it about their involvement in key european space agency projects. we need to think the go, she said. post—brexit she says that space is a good way to stay on the international stage and to remain in contact with europe and rebuild national pride and identity. have you got a big idea to do that? you do not need to look further than oui’ announcements you do not need to look further than our announcements at the airshow a few months ago where we announce the investment we are m

rest of sports. >>> a look at the picture of hurricane florence, taken this morning from the international space station. that is amazing. the european astronaut called it shilling, even from space. we will be back with more in a moment. that is unbelievable. fast, reliable internet is crucial. does it every go down? yes. can't do my job. business grinds to a halt. our gig-speed network not only downloads files up to 20 times faster, we go beyond fast with 4g backup for complete reliability. so if the unexpected happens... (snaps fingers) you stay up and running. we lost power... but not to that. i want that. (laughing) for a limited time get fast, reliable internet for a low price. call now. comcast business. beyond fast. hebreakfasthe stair takers, step counters, outdoor explorers, faith restorers, appointment keepers, fantastic creatures. farmer's market goers, cholesterol lowerers cell phone silencers. the new lease on lifers, and the positive thinkers. here's to you all that see every day as an opportunity to thrive your way. >>> ktvu fox2, complete bay area coverage. >>> the oakland a's ke

in the nasa process, but nasa certainly well coordinated with the partners, the space agency and other key internationalagencies developing that whole future of what happens after space stations. so i think it's an example of something that is well coordinated internationally. i wanted to just perhaps also just re-emphasize what richard said earlier because it might have got lost a little bit. but answering the question of is it for real? the commercialization that we're seeing in the space world? i think the answer is yes. and i think it is driven by this point of it was very expensive to do it the previous way. when you had government agencies that were not just deciding what needed to be done, but deciding how it was to be done, forcing certain solutions and often the solutions became very expensive. but you know private industry will find the most cost effective way and so if you could define what you want but not necessarily how it is done, so again government acting more as a customer rather than the director, it produces more cost-effective solutions so that combined with some of the advancements

it was taken from the international space station. the astronauts say hurricane florence is so big they could only capture this picture by using a special wide angle lens. >>> a major story in bakersfield, investigators are looking for a motive of a gunman who killed five people and then killed himself. police say the gunman and his wife went to a trucking business in southeast bakersfield last night and confronted a man. the gunman first shot the man, then his wife. another person then showed up at the scene and the shooter chased him down and shot him. investigators say the gunman then left, went to a separate home, where he shot and killed another man and a woman. then he carjacked a car with a woman and child inside, fortunately they were not hurt. a deputy later saw the stolen car, got the shooter to pull over, when the deputy confronted him, the man shot himself. >> certainly, there is a connection. do not randomly go to certain residents, but am comfortable that there will be a connection between all of these players. >>> they

value in every job.ten dahlgren, nbc news, new york. >> could the recent air leak found on the international spaceabotage? that's the theory coming from russia's space agency. the hole in the station was originally thought to be caused by a small meteorite but now russia's space chief says it was drilled by a human hand, possibly on purpose. it has since been patched up and nasa said the six people on board are not in danger. however, the agency declined to comment on the new russian claims. >> wait a minute. what? vengeful aliens? they're all up there together. i don't get it. >>> guinness book of world records has certified a japanese couple as the oldest married couple with a combined age of 208 years old. 100-year-old and 108-year-old, they are happily living together in a retirement home in western japan. they've been married for over 80 years. they say a key to a long lasting relationship, patience and endurls dure endurance. they are part of a family of 60 and had great grandchildren. >> relationship goals. here are famous faces who will turn a year older today. activist rose mcgowan turns

ground—breaking discoveries, and now a team of british scientists wants to send worms to the international spacew our muscles can waste away. we've been given special access to the scientists as they prepare to launch the worms into space. john maguire went to see them at their laboratory in switzerland. when tim peake spent six months on board the international space station, regular exercise was vital. floating in zero gravity means astronauts stop using their muscles to stand and those muscles then start to waste away. now, a team of scientists from british universities is working to find out more. they've come to switzerland and, on the shore of lake lucerne, this lab that specialises in space biology. we're hoping to prevent muscle loss with astronauts when they go into space, so this will allow them to undergo really long space flight and then this will translate to people on earth. as well, so if we can prevent muscle loss in astronauts we could potentially prevent muscle loss in the elderly population. this will be the first uk—led experiment on the space station. these bags contain thou

in two thousand and one when a californian businessman paid to go on a russian rocket to the international space station if mays our makes it to the moon he'll join an elite group of astronauts who can look up at the moon from earth and say i've been there. and that is our show for this week if you'd like to get in touch with us about anything that you've seen this week you can tweet me i am at a sit in on twitter please use the hash tag a j c t c when you do or you can drop us a line counting the cost of al-jazeera dot net is our e-mail address as always there's plenty more for you all live at al-jazeera dot com slash c.t.c. that takes you straight to our page and they will fight individual reports links at a time episodes feature catch up and that's it for this edition of counting the cost i'm adrian finnegan for the whole team here in doha thanks for being with us the news of al-jazeera is next. we're. i have dedicated almost my entire professional life to the bench and fight against corruption and what i have heard is that we need champions we need also to shine the light on those shampoos a

online with two new launch vehicles us and canadian astronauts at the united states space - - international space station the first time since 2011 that is embarrassing i have to say that that there such a long gap that we can finally close that there is a ton going on is suborbital space mike virgin galactic or just galactic orbit. also blue origin and what they are doing and talking about the cube sets we see this suborbital application that is taking place and what the students are building all across the world for the cost to find a football team five or $6000. i don't need to go into the enthusiasm of the stem program if you can get young people involved in second and third grade about into space you are building your workforce for the future. nasa has been great about this with the suborbital strategy and with the microgravity strategy coming out online it is a great program and really helping out the community. we have new launch vehicles. by anyone's estimate between 75 and 100 new line vehicles in development maybe not all will succeed. [laughter] the market is exploding. >> no. we don't

why do we have a human presence on the international space station? it's because of the science and the breakthroughs that we are seeing beyond teflon and velcro and things of that nature. it's the medical breakthroughs and those are some of the markets we need to look at with the medical research. and the health-related research that is going on in microgravity . i think if you look at some of these breakthroughs that nasa has had -- not just nasa, but all the agencies working on the space station, is going to revolutionaries -- revolutionize the way we have health solutions in the future. that's why we are in space and that's why -- what we need to keep in mind. >> that's all the time we have. i will think the panelists for joining me for your insights and thank you all for coming. >> [ applause ]. >> i think every president would confirm that experience. i'm going to tell this guy off and then they go in and there is something about the office and the respect that all americans and most foreigners have for the office where you just don't feel like

light on what they do and do it not shine a light on your hero with your nomination for the international space award two thousand and eighteen for more information go to isa war dot com. again you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour china has rejected an accusation made by u.s. president donald trump that it's trying to interfere in november's mid-term elections made the claims of a u.n. security council session and said it was because of his tough policy on trade with china. one of the two suspects in the nerve agent attack in the u.k. has been identified as a russian military officer who received an on off from president vladimir putin investigative journalism website belling katz says these photos prove the man named on the body show is anatoly moscow denies any involvement in the attack. on donald trump's supremes court nominee brett kavanaugh and his first accuser christine blassie ford will appear in front of the senate judiciary committee a number of women have now accused kavanagh of sexual assault trial now says he could change his mind if the evidence is co

have liftoff of the sixty fifth progress resupply vehicle beginning a two day journey to the international space station. and. this supply did kill should ability scientific equipment luggage food and oxygen so the iris is for the cosmonauts to attain the needed altitude and never reach the station some of its fragments burnt in the dense on the sphere and some feel down to. and there is the view that there we saw about thirty minutes or so ago a clear rotational spin on the progress cargo craft failures detected in the cores automated system. mr. bell. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you final training sessions at star city chief in and sink arizona ski receive instruction on how to launch satellites they haven't mastered it so far. sanjay will join the station crew shortly because i'm an old swiss supposed to do a space will together in new spacesuits however one of them was on the cargo ship that had just crashed in will now have to alter the old suit they've got on the i assess one of the cosmonauts will wear it for the space walk i. thank you before the launch the crew traditionally

and german astronaut alexander garst has snapped at these pictures from the international space station of a powerful storm that is hurling toward japan typhoon tranny is expected to bring heavy rain and wind to the country southwest islands on friday night and make landfall on the mainland on sunday. a powerful earthquake has rocked indonesia triggering triggering a two metre tsunami dramatic footage has been posted online showing the tsunami hitting the town of paul lou on the island of supervisee officials say that houses have been washed away and communications have been cut. it's a horrifying thought being in the path of an oncoming tsunami. when high rise buildings could only watch as the wave hit and witness as it washed over everything and signs. the impacts not only destroyed many people's homes and businesses but also places of worship. communication and power was cut in many areas. that tsunami was triggered by a seven point five magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast just minutes before this footage shows the quite so media the aftermath many people rushed to the str

it was taken from the international space station and they say hurricane florence is so big that the only way they could capture this picture is by using a special wide angle lens. coming up, we will take a live to wilmington for the latest on storm conditions. >>> let's >> including florence, a strong category two hurricane. it is moving northwest miles an hour. the outer bands are approaching the islands of the north carolina coast. strong will rains will be a big issue. -- strong rains will be a big issue. wilmington is in that category at 25 inches of rain but even inlet, fayetteville over 13 inches and that will cause a lot of issues with flooding. our pattern is very fall-like we have mostly cloudy skies and a cool mild pattern with a few sprinkles and light showers. napa airport reported some rain last evening between 6 pm and 7 pm. you can see some of the cloud cover zooming over us today. we are in the 50s and 60s mostly's -- mostly. san mateodeees. we have clouds this morning and and we continue in the 60s tomorrow. no sign of any wag and we conti 60s tomorrow. we have no s

light on what they do and to have not shine a light on your hero with your nomination for the international space award two thousand and eighteen for more information go to isa war dot com. i really felt liberated as a journalist was. getting to the truth of that i would say that's what. we need strong north african baldness storms and the fish in countries like egypt rwanda others. could egypt provide the key to europe's migrant crisis say you leaders consider new partnerships as they meet in austria. you're watching al-jazeera life from a headquarters and. also a heads on top of the world leaders of both koreas make history at their three day summit but can they make peace. celebrations in uganda as pop star turned politician bobby wine returns home from the united states.

beginning a two day journey to the international space station. this supply did cool should have full scientific equipment luggage food and oxygen city i assist with. to attain the needed out shoot and never reach the station some of its fragments burnt in the dense atmosphere and some fell down to earth and there is the view that we saw about thirty minutes or so ago. clear rotational spin on the progress cargo craft failures detected in the cores automated. system. which. thanks. to the. final training sessions of star city chiefs in and sink arizona ski receive instruction on how to launch satellites they haven't mastered it so far. sanjay will join the station crew shortly the cosmonauts were supposed to do a space will together in new spacesuits however one of them was on the cargo ship that had just crashed in will now have to alter the old suit they've got on the eye and says one of the cosmonauts will wear it for the space walk. before the launch the crew traditionally visits to honor the memory of the world's first cosmonaut despite the r

from satellites, from the international space -- from space assets. that helps us model where the hurricane is going, how fast, when it's gonna hit, what time of day, and who should evacuate. tell me you don't need space. it's keeping you alive. >> in terms of what we're teaching kids, though, and how children are learning about scientific literacy and learning about science, you think it's possible that the focus on technological literacy has supplanted an important focus on scientific literacy? >> that's a great question. i don't have a good answer for you, but i do know, from what i've been able to glean, that the next generation, i guess millennials and later, born into a world with a smartphone, they all know the smartphone uses satellites and technology and complicated stuff that's in there, and they come to the table with a level of respect that i don't -- for the science and technology that i don't see the older generations have for it. they've taken it for granted. they think that they can just pick and choose and cherry-pick, and so i actual

, it is a not a contest, and spacex has been a partner with nasa for launching cargo to the international spaceon, and eventually with the crew members going up to nasa space station, and for this bfr, this big falcon rocket, it is going to give our country some added cape canability that we need to get big payloads into the orbit. >> all right. it is an interesting planmazawa going to pay for himself and a handful of artists to create some moon-inspired works when they get back to earth, but one has to wonder getting the commercial money and rich people going into space, weird things are going to the happen. in your days in space, it is mostly scientific experiments and things that were meant to advance us a little bit differently. >> yeah, i flew four flight fos international space station aboard the space shuttle and the the commander of the space shuttle a couple of times. it is all about science and building a facility in orbit, and this for spacex and elon musk is really about testing his rocket and getting people on it. and you know, he chose to go this route more for the funding than an

this an important engine this is from nasa this is a huge storm take friend the international space station. they are looking down and saying that hurricane florence is to big, they can only capture this photo with a special wide angle lens. >>> with many hotels fully booked, some that are evacuating are turning to social media to find a place to ride out the storm. a group page is called hurricane florence lodging for and it has 4100 members. one family posted a message and soon afterwards someone near athens, georgia opened their home to them for free. >> it is a huge blessing. we would still be trying to find a place to stay. >> opening our homes for people that in trouble. i don't people would take a advantage like this where there are people whose lives are in danger. >> organizers of the group started the page during hurricane irma. and they will use to help people in future storms. >>> a major story from bakersfield. they are looking for the motive of a gunman that killed five people and then shot himself. and the shooter and his wife went to a trucking business in southeast bakersfi

the light on what they do and to have not shine a light on your hero with your moment for the international space award two thousand and eighteen for more information go to isa war dot com. when they're online the humanity has been taken down is going to do this but told you about the number on a spreadsheet or if you joined us on sat i guarantee no one else has a back story like yours this is a dialogue i'm just tired of seeing the negative stereotypes about native americans everyone has a voice mysterious and that's your comments your questions i'll do my best to bring them into the south join the global conversation on how to zero. demilitarized zone is to be created around syria's province as the turkish and russian president say they've made progress on a plan for syria. doha three one i'm come all santa maria this is the world news from al-jazeera pressure is growing on president trump's pick for the supreme court as a woman who claims sexual assault says she is ready to testify who is beyond the killing of a prominent environmental campaigner the questions linger as a murder trial begins i

looking at it from the international space station, you can see how big it is in the eye of the storm. jeff will rejoin us and give us an update of the path in about 15 minutes. >> taking action to prevent another tragedy. sonoma county is test go how the better warn people in the event of another firestorm. tonight the city put one of its alert systems to the test. >> reporter: people in santa rosa called the operations center after getting a test call. calling irst time all land lines and the cell phones people registered for alerts, about 290,000 calls. so this is a test that will see, what is the maximum capability to the system in we have to design them to fit. >> reporter: it is part of the program for emergency notifications. during the wildfires, authorities said they sent the alerts but fires damaged the infrastructure making it impossible in many cases. not many have signed up for the alert. this gives manners a look at how the system performs. >> it took 21 minutes to get the alert. >> so i think it is really important that they get word out. so if it works, kudos. and i th

the international space station also keeps an eye on the storm's path as it passes over the hurricane 16 times per day. and one of the big concerns is that once florence stalls once it gets close to land it could mean not just hours of intense weather but days. >> as we watch this and it gets downgraded and stalling, we know the conditions change quickly. how are things right now? >> reporter: well, yesterday morning when a group of you guys -- it was quiet. there was not much of a breeze. this morning, it is significantly colder and the breeze has been picking up steadily over the last couple hours it is a noticeable change so we're expecting more winds to set in the next couple hours with the rain starting here in early afternoon. >> stay safe up there. thank you for that. >>> heavy rain, winds from tropical storm olivia knocked down trees and wires. the winds were about 45 miles an hour. that brought strong surf. some homes were evacuated because the rivers are rising. but the storm did not cause a wide damage and it has moved out to sea. >>> this is a $147 billion package that wit

ground—breaking discoveries, and now a team of british scientists wants to send worms to the international spacescientists as they prepare to launch the worms into space. you could call it one giant wiggle for mankind. john maguire went to see them at their laboratory in switzerland. when tim peake spent six months on board the international space station, regular exercise was vital. floating in zero gravity means astronauts stop using their muscles to stand and those muscles then start to waste away. now, a team of scientists from british universities is working to find out more. they've come to switzerland and, on the shore of lake lucerne, this lab that specialises in space biology. we're hoping to prevent muscle loss with astronauts when they go into space, so this will allow them to undergo really long space flight and then this will translate to people on earth. as well, so if we can prevent muscle loss in astronauts we could potentially prevent muscle loss in the elderly population. this will be the first uk—led experiment on the space station. these bags contain thousands of microscopic

scientists are sending creatures to the international space aation for an experiment which could benefit usll. could benefit us all. laura: could benefit us all. >> this is storm is a monster. it is big and it is vicious. it is an extremely dangerous, life-threatening, historic hurricane. gary: more than a million people have been ordered to leave coastal areas of north and south carolina, and some highways have been made one-way to smooth the flow of hugely increased flows of te ffic. >> peodon't understand that when it is time to evacuate, no emerge are closed, get back to the mainland to get some comforts. gary: for those who have chosen to stay, it has been a panicked rush to buy essentials for the ming days. a we are looking for water. we been to walma the shelves are cleared. we stopped at walgreens. the shelves were cleared. we thought we would bypass the water d come to lowe's. gary: w gary: l as the threat to life, people's homes and businesses are endangered by florence. everyone doing what they can to daotect against mother nature. likelihood of beinged. at a meeting at the wh

the international space station has been permanently men since the year two thousand how can people survive in this very difficult environment. most homosapiens live on the surface of the earth. but a few of them beyond. the four hundred kilometers above it. they need space suits to survive with a backpack containing the oxygen they need to breathe constantly. without it they would die. besides humans can't stand the zero pressure of space their bodily fluids would boil so they need pressure suits but one bar of pressure like on earth would be too much. it would look like this the pressure difference between inside and outside would blow the suit up like a balloon the astronauts wouldn't be able to move. so a spacesuit has only zero point three bars of pressure for humans a tiny amount on earth that would be the pressure at nine thousand meters above sea level less than on top of mt everest in order to cope astronauts have to breathe pure oxygen. even with a space suit humans can spend too long out on a space walk a normal six to seven hour stint is very tiring. and humans perspire and have

light on what they do and to have not shine a light on your hero with your nomination for the international space award two thousand and eighteen for more information go to isa war dot com. a historic moment in pyongyang as south korea's president makes a landmark speech to bring the peninsula together. you're watching from a headquarters and. also ahead a pakistani court orders the release of the former prime minister nawaz sharif who was jailed on corruption charges. i can only say the. u.s. president defends supreme court nominee despite accusations of sexual assaults against brett kavanaugh. and on a mission the man who travels the world to help save lives in disaster zones. i know it's been a landmark day for the rebuilding of relations on the korean peninsula the south korean president made a historic address in the north at a special mass games attended by about one hundred thousand people earlier the two leaders signed. changing the face of their nation's reports from so. they hailed it as a new era for the korean people. and the south of the peninsula. a commitment to a denuclearized fut

some time in developing the platforms to which humans can go, things to take the place of the international space station as we try to provide a sustainable infrastructure. >> of course you would go up there. you've already done it dumb question. >> thank you, no, it wasn't at all. thank you, charles. >> thank you so very much. >>> up next, we are on the money. just one inch of flood damage can cost up to $25,000, and there is one way to protect yourself we'lltalk about it >>> also, later, the gym where skills from the ring can get you into fighting shape. do you hear that? no. it's quiet. too quiet. xfinity home cameras. xfinity home gives you an extra pair of eyes to help watch over your family. plus, you have added peace of mind from 24/7 professional monitoring. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity customers, add xfinity home and get a great offer. plus, ask how to get free installation. call, go online, or demo in an xfinity store today. . >>> with rivers rising more than expected hurricane florence could result in more than $20 billion in uninsured flood losses by some estimates hom

the light on work to do and to have not shine a light on your hero with your moment for the international space award two thousand and eighteen for more information go to isa war dot com. a desperate search for survivors after indonesia's earthquake and tsunami police say more than twelve hundred dead the final toll likely to be in the thousands. along hasn't think of this is. also coming up what's in a name for macedonians of the ballot box it could be the admission fee to nato. polls close elections in iraq's kurdish region one year after a failed bid for independence.

these photos are from the international space station.al ea of trond storm surge watches and warnings cover about 450 miles of coastline. the ter has already washed over roadways.. and is starting to swallow communities all along the coast. officials are warning people that the severe conditions are just begining. hundreds of thousands have lost power in north carolina alone.. and that number is expected to grow.. stay with nbc bay area for hurricane coverage through the morning. developing right now: some people who escaped from their homes .. say it felt like armageddon: dozens of those homes are now destroyed after a series of gas explosions in massachusetts. at least one person has died. 20 more people are injured .. after blasts that rocked 3 awrence is about 30 miles shaken. once the explosions began .. "columbia gas of massachusetts" quickly ordered everyone to evacuate immediately. it may take days or even weeks for investigators to figure out an exact cause. the gas line explosions in massachusetts will likely remind many in the

from the international space station. right now, it's making a beeline for virginia and the category 4 storm that is intensifying at this hour. we begin with jay gray at carolina beach in north carolina. >> beachside, things are just about perfect right now. >> it's been beautiful the last few days. >> but the situation along the south atlantic shoreline is expected to change dramatically. the forecast places north carolina in the bull's-eye of hurricane florence. the storm is rapidly getting stronger. >> florence is a monster, a major hurricane, visible from space churning in the atlantic gathering strength and pushing toward the coast. >> there really is a serious threat from dangerous winds, dangerous coastal storm surge and also dangerous river flooding caused by high amounts of precipitation. >> hundreds are getting ready. sandbags and -- >> i'm worried. i'm on a generator. >> everything else needed to ride out the storm. >> i got flashlights, i got tons of gallons of water. yeah, i'm ready. >>. >> reporter: working,