always good to have leroy chiao on the program.up, what -- give us a sense of what richard branson and the other people onboard are going to experience. what are they going to see? >> yeah, this will be a very exciting adventure for all of them. and when they get up into space, even before, just approaching space, but they will get that view of the earth. the atmosphere being lit up by the sunlight glowing these wonderful shades, bright shades of blue. and then, when they unstrap and get out of their seats, they are going to get to look down at the earth and see all the beautiful colors. and it's -- it's pretty awe-inspiring moment. you know, was for me, the very first time i flew into space. those first-few moments were really special. >> i -- i can only imagine. i mean, in a -- in a technology sense, i mean, this is a suborbital flight. which, let's face it, alan shepherd did 60 years ago. but are there broader benefits of flights, like this? and -- and the technology that allows it to happen? >> sure. as you point out, the techn

leroy chiao, thank you so much for being with us. >> my pleasure, thanks. >>> and thank you for joining me. see you back here at 1:00 tomorrow. in the meantime, follow me on twitter, @anacabrera. alisyn and victor are next. >>> hello, everyone, thanks for joining us on "newsroom," i'm alisyn camerota. >> i'm victor blackwell, good to be with you. we're starting with the delta variant. it is spreading quickly. there is an alarming increase in new covid cases. it's a sign of just how much of the country is heading in the wrong direction. the u.s. is averaging more than 19,000 new cases over the last 7 days. that's a 47% increase from the week before. and as cnn medical analyst says a third of those cases are coming from five hot spots, florida, louisiana, arkansas, missouri, and nevada. >> the people most at risk, obviously, are the unvaccinated. according to the cdc, unvaccinated americans made up more than 99% of u.s. covid deaths in june. so, later today, drug maker pfizer will brief government officials on why they think it's time for a vaccine booster shot. now, last week, pfizer sai

. >>> earlier, my colleague michael holmes spoke with retired astronaut, leroy chiao, and he explained what these space travelers are likely to experience when they reach the edge of space. here's what he said. >> this will be a very exciting adventure for all of them. and when they get up into space, even before, just approaching space, but they will get that view of the earth limb. the -- the atmosphere being lit up by the sunlight glowing these wonderful shades, bright shades of blue. and then, when they unstrap and get out of their seats, they are going to get to look down at the earth and see all the beautiful colors. and it's -- it's a pretty awe-inspiring moment, you know, was for me. the very first time i flew into space. those first-few moments were really special. suborbital flight is a lot easier than orbital flight. you know, orbital flight, you are going up to 17,500 miles an hour to get into orbit. and in this case, you're -- you know, you're going around mock three. so, you know, a lot slower, lot less energy. but you will get the experience of what it's like to be in sp

leroy chiao, thank you so much for being with us. >> my pleasure, thanks. >>> and thank you for joining:00 tomorrow. in the meantime, follow me on twitter, @anacabrera. alisyn and victor are next. >>> hello, everyone, thanks for joining us on "newsroom," i'm alisyn camerota. >> i'm victor blackwell, good to be with you. we're starting with the delta variant. it is spreading quickly. there is an alarming increase in new covid cases. it's a sign of just how much of the country is heading in the wrong direction. the u.s. is averaging more than 19,000 new cases over the last 7 days. that's a 47% increase from the week before. and as cnn medical analyst says a third of those cases are coming from five hot spots, florida,

the latest on that, and the future of space tourism with my guest, former-nasa astronaut, leroy chiao

let's talk our good friend and former nasa astronaut leroy chiao. leroy lovely to see you.s that it is? it has certainly been a long — tells that it is? it has certainly been a long time _ tells that it is? it has certainly been a long time coming. - tells that it is? it has certainly been a long time coming. i. tells that it is? it has certainly been a long time coming. i lot tells that it is? it has certainly - been a long time coming. i lot more difficult than i think he believed it would become a lot more difficult than i think he believed it would be, spaceshipone, the smaller prototype of flu in 2004 and back then, he was promising by 2007 we would be here selling commercial rights to paying customers and so it is been a little bit later than that but thankfully we are there now and it is ground—breaking and at this ushers in a new era of commercial space flight for suborbital flight and the reason that is significant is because to date, some very wealthy people have been at between 20 and $50 million each to spend a week aboard the international space station flying

leroy and i have had the opportunity to do. >> and frankly, only about 600 people or so have, less than 600 people on earth have experienced that sort of thing over the years. and commander chiao, to you, i don't you are not necessarily a meteorologist, but you starting this stuff, in order to get to space and throughout. so i want to talk about the breaking news of today, being delayed about 90 minutes. we just received words the launch will be delayed about 90 minutes t >> perhaps there is a reason for this, i want you to talk me through this. this is not just a rocket launch where you went up into space, and it is like, we worry about the weather conditions for that one moment, of that one day. this is a full 90 minute experience, where you have to be concerned with the weather conditions, correct? >> that is right. so, if you are launching or boarding a rocket, a missile if you will, as i did on my fourth mission, flying above a russian soyuz rocket, you are less concerned about climate, and upper level winds and stuff like that. but when we were flying space shuttles, you know, we were very much paying attention to the level of winds, sometimes we would scrub a launch on