now spacex plans to land it standing right up on a barge floating in the ocean. the target is just 30 feet wide. that target will be moving since it's a floating barge, obviously. at best spacex estimates it has a 50/50 shot of pulling off this landing. >>> be the first to collect a winter butterfly and a uc davis professor will spring for a pitcher of beer. the cabbage white species is one of the first to emerge in late winter in sacramento and solano counties. arthur shapiro who works in the department of evolution and ecology is hosting the 42nd annual beer for a butterfly contest to bring attention to the insect. the first person to collect a live cabbage white in 2015 and bring it to shapiro gets some brew. i will get my net. >> somewhere else on the planet somebody gets a beer. >>> this was a great day outside. little bit chilly to go return holiday shopping. >> let's check in with meteorologist drew tuma. seen any butterflies up there? >> no, but we have something we need to do now. get a free beer. if you're going to be out and about, grab the jacket. the

spacex has designed a rocket they hope will be able to return to earth on a barge in the ocean.f spacex can stick the landing it could be a significant advancement for spaceflight and recyclable rockets as well. spacex is scheduled for its next trip on january 6th to resupply the international space station scheduled to land on a barge 300 feet long by 170 feet wide. >> that's not that big. >> not that big. >> good target. >> settle down, we'll take it easy, hope for no wind. around here we're talking about cold. >> once the wind stops that's the problem. clear skies. eventually dipping into the 30s and 40s. patchy frost part of the forecast tonight. more on that in a couple of minutes. >>> plus, their wish came true for a white christmas. now skiers are heading to the sierra. we're going to take you to one resort where the rush couldn't come soon enough. >>> a christmas surprise for a subway train packed with passengers. a woman's water broke while on the "f" train in new york city. that means time for the baby to come. that sent train riders into action, calling an officer for

. >> linkedin, tesla, youtube, yelp, yammer, and spacex. founded by members of the paypal "mafia." what was special about all of you? what did you have in common? >> paypal collected a whole bunch of people who were young, and intense, and were entrepreneurial themselves. then, all of a sudden, it was bought by ebay. so a bunch of these folks were like, ok, what do i do next? and so -- you know, chad and steve go in to youtube, elon goes and does tesla and spacex, jeremy and russ do yelp, and i do linkedin. and yet, because we've had this intense experience together, we all have still really tight networks. so we are calling each other going, 'hey, i'm thinking about doing this, what do you think?' >> who do you call for what? >> so for example, macroeconomic, financial, bold models, i will call peter. the intersection of kind of interesting business models or business technology -- things like big data -- max levchin. for a willingness to just think super big, with risk as not a variable, elon. right? >> what do they call you for? >> laugh

now a new challenge for spacex.hat the company is planning to try next to return its spacecraft to earth. >> and did all the publicity help at the box office? how "the interview" fared on its first day in theaters. , get beautyrest, posturepedic, even tempur-pedic mattress sets at low clearance prices. save even more on floor samples, demonstrators, and closeout inventory. plus, free same-day delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set. why wait for the new models? sleep train's year end clearance sale is on now! ...guaranteed! ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ today.. people paused to remember the victims of the nt tsunami. >>> in many countries of asia today people paused to remember the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated countless villages ten years ago today. reporter alfonso van marsh shows us time has not healed the wounds. >>> 10 years after a massive tsunami killed a quarter million people in asia survivors in india mourning lost loved ones say they still fear the wate

spacex estimates it has a 50% chance of nailing the landing.should happen january 6 or 7. >>> what are the holidays without holiday music? have you ever heard the san francisco boys chorus? they have more than 200 members. these kids are between the ages of 10 and 13 and they are internationally acclaimed. ktvu introduces you to these uniquely talented children. ♪ >> i love it. it is, like, my life. it's nice. main priority. ♪ >> when i heard about this choir, i knew that it was right for me. >> i joined the chorus because i don't really show any interest in sports. ♪ >> this was the perfect opportunity. i really like it. ♪ >> i really like singing because it opens joy in my heart that i have that i just want to let go of. i really love the sound. it makes me feel like i'm floating in the clouds. ♪ >> what's great about the chorus is the boys are all here because they want to be here. ♪ >> let me tell ya, the boys, i love working with the boys. their sound is glorious. ♪ >> how many sopranos are doing the very top part? that's too many now. >>

in two weeks spacex will launch a rocket. musk is trying to salvage that most expensive part of the rocket and make it reusable. the platform for the landing is 300 feet long by 170 feet wide. the launch is scheduled for january 6th. musk says his team has a 50% chance of sticking that landing. >>> ski resorts in the sire's are expecting huge business this weekend. north star shared this video with us. according to the resort, new snow and cold temperatures allowed them to open more trails. several sierra businesses are trying to make up for several dry seasons. mike carroll shows us a family-run ski area thrilled with the holiday snow conditions. >> reporter: christmas and the sierras hasn't looked this good at donner's ski ranch in a couple of years. >> oh, boy, we are all so happy. >> reporter: christmas here is 100% better than last year. last year the ski ranch could only be open for 42 days. barely enough to make ends meet. >> last year we were looking for dirt waiting for snow. >> last year was a tough year. a lot of d

spacex also has a rocket that could do the job, sort of, the falcon heavy. it's never flown. to get to deep space, you need one of these big guys. the first test on a spacex heavy is in 2015. not one but two apple trials in the bay area today. in oakland the federal trial over ipods takes place. we get big job numbers tomorrow from the labor department, 5:30 our time. gains may not be as strong as last month but we'll find out for sure tomorrow. the fed released its beige book, a peek at the economy. it said out west here, guys, the biggest jobs will come in construction, computer programming, electronic game design and mortgage brokers. i like the beige book because there's lots of facts there. also hamburger sales down, people in the west moving to mexican food according to the fed. >> can't beat a burrito, i suppose. thanks a lot. >> all this rain right now making for some beautiful pictures. take a look at this. it one of the many waterfalls as yosemite's national park. they were dry because of drought but several days of rain brought them roaring back to life. >> and tha

it would use air foils like the one used in spacex rockets to change shape and cushion the fog. >> don't worry, i still find like we'll find a way to defi t defiandefian defiant -- defy anti-gravity device there is. >> it may be hard to get your hands on a big mac across the country. landon? >> reporter: we have strikes going on and today fast food workers are going on strike, calling for $15 for fast food workers. >> and people are having difficulty paying their car loans. >> now it's time to check out the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. no pounding rain at least this morning. >> no, but it's still slick out there. we have a great story to tell when it comes to the amount of rainfall we've accumulated. not just here in the bay area. it's a great story for the entire state of california. we might be able to climb from d4 to d3. you may not know what i'm talking about. we're talking about the drought. right now we're as extreme as it gets when it comes to that drought. but we've picked up so much rainfall over the past five days, enough to mack up that deficit up to about 20%

my friend, elon musk's spacex company, is motivated by the idea that they will get human beings to mars in the next fifteen years or so. it is not a cult in that that's a wrong belief, but it is unusual -- it is a unique set of ideas that motivate people there and distinguish them from the rest of the world. >> something else you say is that a messed up startup can't be fixed. why not? >> the foundations are important. if you get some of the first things wrong, it is extremely hard to recover. >> i am guessing you do not think messed up tech companies that are larger than startups can be fixed either. can a yahoo!, hp can they be fixed? >> i would argue that hp and yahoo! are not really technology companies at all. they were technology companies , in the 1970's and 1980's with hp. in the 1990's with yahoo! even though these were technology companies in the 1980's or 1990's, today they are fundamentally bets against technology and innovation. >> even though they are not technology companies, can yahoo! and hp be fixed? >> there are things we can do to streamline them. it is probably a mi

my paypal friend's, elon musk, spacex company believes that he will get people to mars in the next 50 years ago. it is unusual. it is a unique set of ideas to motivate people there to distinguish them from the rest of the world. something else you say a messed up startup cannot , be fixed. why not? m of the foundations are incredibly important. if you get some of the first things wrong, it's extremely hard to recover. >> can yahoo!, can hp be fixed? >> i would argue that hp and yahoo! are not technology companies at all. they were technology companies in the 80's and 90's, and even -- 70's and 80's with hp, even yahoo!. or 90's with they are not now. >> even though they are not technology companies, can they be fixed? >> there are all kinds of things to do to streamline them, but it is probably not a good idea to reinvent them. >> you mentioned marissa mayer. >> i think she is by far the best ceo david has had in a decade -- ceo yahoo! has had in a decade. she should not be evaluated on what she cannot do, she is trying to improve those incrementally and that is fantastic. >> other th

similar to deals it had with spacex and orbital scientists to take cargo to the space station. n.a.s.a. was moving to the frontier challenge lining going to mars. we recognise that it is important to continue the economic expansion. that's why we are hoping companies will be able to do what n.a.s.a. once did. >> the goal is to promote a competitive market. there's another lair to the competition. the 40 million google lunar x prize, a company driving images on the moon and send back hd images. astro bottic and moon express are competing, along with 16 other companies around the globe. many plan to launch to the moon in 2016. astro bot uk proposed to split the $70 million cost with other teams, setting up a kind of n.a.s.c.a.r. for moon rovers. >> you'll have real-time feedback and see video streaming live. >> this is red rover and the entrant to the race. >> they are already planning advertising on the rover and the lander. >> it will be full of logo, and opportunities for companies to have messaging, branding and social experiences on the moon. >> it's competition for the spor

. >>> and spacex will try to land a rocket on a tiny ship at sea. how challenging is that?pacex says it's like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in a middle of a windstorm. that's tough. the takeoff is planned for either january 6th or 7th. so we'll watch that. >>> and in weather, many of you heading back home after christmas. we'll see how it goes, karen maginnis in the cnn weather center. what's it going to be like for people on the road? >> lots of bumps on the road. let's start with the gulf coast, rain could be heavy at times. a couple of inches here with flash flood watches out for a number of ear, from coastal regions in texas, into louisiana and here's the cold front all the way from the great lakes to the gulf coast. behind it, cold air. but that much colder air is really going to materialize by the middle of next week. we're looking at rainfall from new york, houston, new orleans, towards jackson, mississippi so the rainfall spreads all along the advance of that frontal system. behind it, we'll see snowfall. we've got reports coming out of minneap

the tune would use air foils like those used in spacex rockets to change shape and cushion the fall. it is worth noting apple has secured patents for a number of technologies that have never ended up becoming a reality. >>> up next, a sneak peek at a holiday tradition that lights up the sky and it's happening in just a few minutes. stay with us. sweetie, i'd love a hazelnut. mom? dad? big uncle wayne? hot chocolate. green tea. uh, decaf, cuz. wow. i'm dying for an herbal tea. the all new keurig 2.0. >>> tonight at 6:00, you may never know their names, but their work helped create the california that we know today. now a bay area businessman has big plans to honor those people 150 years later. that's coming up at 6:00. >>> a big night at 30 rock. it is the christmas tree lighting show at rockefeller plaza in new york city, nbc's headquarters. fans showed up early to hear sound checks of performers, including trisha yearwood and leann rimes. the star of the show is a norwegi norwegian spruce from pennsylvania. it's crowned with a crystal star on top. you can watch the tree lighting ton

then private enterprise comes in behind it and makes a buck on it that's what spacex is doing, carrying cargo to the space. when the government does it, they might give us the vehicle that we'll pay for, but they're not going to make that a private thing. there's no money in it. sorry, you could do it as a vanity project. bill gate says, let's go to mars. fine, get money, you'll pay for it, it's not a business model. it's not a sustainable and the -- >> and in a kind of corny sense of who we are as a nation, the country doesn't own that if bill gates or somebody else does it, right? >> yeah, but i'm telling you, if he does it, it's a one-all. it's just a one-all. you want to turn a space program into a space industry, you've got to sort of find capitalizable activity. tourists for sure. but you're not going to be a tourist on the frontier. that's a dead tourist. >> right. i'd rather go the beach, honestly. that may just be me. your phrase earlier, not mine, although i love it, science missing. we seem to be at war in some -- >> no, no, it wasn't my phrase. it was other people asking me

elon musk and spacex. origin.os and blue richard branson and virgin galactic.uld nasa and the in competition with these companies, partnering with these companies as they are in some cases? how does the country maintain its edge? >> this is a really important goal of the space program that i believe we are working to focus more on and we are partnering with some of those companies. that is where the excitement is, in my view. you leverage the government investment technology and allow the industry to innovate. that is how the jet engine when and how the satellites have gone and launch vehicles as well. human spaceflight is that next that the space travel private sector wants to get in. there is no way nasa should try to compete with them, which is somewhat difficult for them. if we had this much excitement those commercial launches, the public would understand all the great things we are doing in space. nasa's pr to see machine do so well and talk about this as a flight that will eventually go to mars, but they do so many other things that we could be connectin

spacex, that you mod bus firm is looking to recruit.o mars, you will have to work. >> getting behind the holiday season. you maybe could better collect being warm coats for families in need. before you warm up, there is a bigger evil at work that needs to be stopped out immediately. the group calls itself no gender december. they are asking people to not buy gender-based toys. no shopping for anything that had a social message to children about what they should and should not be playing with. i have two boys. they play whatever they like. they are angry members demanding to take the pledge. the m form children's feelings about whether it is socially acceptable to show interest in toys. back to my boys. just go ahead and scroll up, please. my son wanted a doll. i bought it for him. he lost interest in it immediately. that is just how it goes. we as parents can only really shape and. market vegetables like nobody's business at home. remember, on the list of things you need to spend your energy on this holiday season is helping those that

is this case where nasa is versus spacex? >> no, whole different ballgame. great statistic, lori.eed martin, this is big thing for lockheed martin. remember a joint venture, they developed the actual craft. it's a big step in the aviation. it is a good thing that they don't launch and find troubles while they're on the ground. i do see launch tomorrow. weather does look good. it will cost money. this is start of a major program that will be successful. >> folks see us spending money. they wonder if it is worth it with all things on the ground. lori, what is your take? >> 100%. melissa: why? >> this is the future. people are -- melissa: go to mars? >> we need to expand. we talk about climate change and all this stuff and population exploration, explosion. melissa: go to mars, because people believe in climate change? >> okay. that is a stretch. where do we go from here? everyone thought that 1969 landing on the moon was just ridiculous. landing on an asteroid. as space research we have to push forward and keep our eye on it. melissa: weil keep an eye on it. thank you, guys. money i

. >> and spacex is hiring. they want a farmer. qualified applicants should know how to drive a tractor. they launch out of farms there. you have to have a high school diploma and ten years experience as a farmer as well. why exactly they want a farmer i'm not sure. but those launchpads are surrounded by farms. so maybe that. >> very interesting. >> that was the next question. weep thought you might have a theory for us. >> nothing. i got nothing. >> fair enough, scott. one final check of the day's top stories. >> san francisco police are trying to get a better description of a person who shot a man after an argument in north ridge. it happened in the middle of the afternoon right in front of buster's cheese steak. they say the man drove off in a gray sedan. >> and kaiser is back open after a chemical-type odor shut down the hospital for several house last night. one staff member was treated after he said he felt sick. the hospital reopened around 10:00 last night. >> today janay rice will share her side of the story. she opens up

spacex. on its next rocket launch it's going to send the first stage down by rocket to land on a sea born platform. they've already done it on land. now on the sea born platform. >>> speaking of things that go up and down, and sometimes explode in a giant fireball, talk about your retirement. the dow moved 705 points up and down tuesday from down 90 to up 247 before settling down 112. nobody, guys, likes to see this volatility. when you've got oil at record lows, ruble at record lows and huge worries about the future of russia, this is what wall street's got to do. >> all eating a lot of soup. >> mm-mm-good. >> i like campbell's soup. >> thick chicken noodle, double noodle. especially if it's wet and rainy. good morning. >> hey, you got mike inouye here clapping for your hearty soup collection. you know what? yeah, he likes the noodle soup. what do you like? meats or chicken, mike? >> chicken. >>> what we thought, for the soul. more rain on the way. switch from record lows and, yeah, bummer s

. >> some of the new players include spacex, whose dragon spacecraft is used to ferry supplies to the iss. big low is built inflatable mod he'll for space and there's blue origin that's building rocket engines for nasa and designing orbital and suborbital craft. despite this month's setback, virgin galactic has a broad understand agenda. >> it's one component in building a space infrastructure that that company i think intends to do. >>> the author and theoretical physicist at arizona state university says we're learning a lot from common missions. he spoke to al jazeera's richelle carey. >> we're learning when we land on a comet, most of the water that's on earth probably came from comets. in fact, what we see when we look at that material is the pry mored yal material that was the basis of forming the earth including learning about maybe organic materials delivered to earth which was the sooeds for life on earth. we're really learning about our origins when we look at that. by the way, you'd neverland a human on a comet at least not in our lifetime. you can do so much more with robo

continues to grow and more and more consumption goes through the online channel, this is three times as spacex >> because they're shipping everything. >> in small units as opposed to pallets. the shift in consumption into the channel increases the space. >> is it more likely amazon would become a competitor of yours, then become a smaller business? >> absolutely. their return on capital is much higher. the return on capital people , innd in real estate effect, we have slower growth. i do not think it really makes sense from a capital standpoint >> great to see you. thank you for stopping by. much more ahead, the new start for the new republic. employees washed out last week in protest over the company's changing direction. we will dive into the new world of online publishing. stay in the loop. ♪ >> a new report says disney's one of hundreds of companies that benefited from lower taxes in luxembourg. according to a report, and corporations lower their tax will from less than 1% of our profit. also name disney -- documents in the sony .ttack e-mails between the top sony executive and a producer.

we'll introduce you to a story the company spacex is doing.an blast a rocket off and let it land on a platform in the ocean and reuse the thing. if you can do that then you save 100 times the price. more on that in america's newsroom. new details on the benghazi attack of 2012. state department emails revealing disarray at the u.s. consulate in the days and hours before the attacks which left four americans dead including our ambassador. the security agency protecting our embassies did not have a valid license. >> a number of them allowed them to work without vetting. >> i don't understand how two years after four americans were killed in benghazi ... >> reporter: the benghazi whistle blower. the author of "13 hours." >> sorry i couldn't get a visual today. bill: a bit after difficulty on the satellite signal. what did you make of the revelation about hours before the attack when there were big concerns about security and a lack thereof. >> i don't know if it's a revelation. we were telling them in tripoli six months prior to the attack. i thi

launch pads haven't been used since the retirement of the shuttle program, but one has been leased to spacexons to mars. >> if we have too much washover it could impact those launch pads. >> do you think you might have to move them because of the erosion? that would be an incredible task. >> that would be annin kred ill in kredcredible and incredibly expensive task and that's what we're trying to prevent. >> reporter: to protect them nasa is counting on a new $2.8 million mile long dune. two more are planned. ingenuity will also be needed to deal with the forces here on earth. nasa says it will be rebuilding the dunes over the next several years. >> do the hurricanes that pass down there, do they actually have to be close to shore to impact the shoreline and the launch pad? >> what's interesting is that the hurricane doesn't have to make a direct hit. it can be hundreds of miles offshore. sandy was 200 miles offshore but the waves that the storm generates ultimately do impact the shore, even though it's way offshore. >> it must be interesting to see how they measure the waves. how come we di

and my paypal colleague, elon musk, started spacex back in 2002, the goal was to be the first company to build rockets powerful enough to send human beings to mars. this was a very inspiring goal. nobody else in the world thought it was possible. most people wouldn't even think this made sense, but it's inspired a really talented group of rocket scientists to come together and help build that company over the last 12 years. so i think it's always this sense of if we did not do this, if we were not working on this, nobody else would. that's very powerful. and it is sort of like a cult in that you have, you have some privileged knowledge or you have some insight into the world that's not shared by other people. but in a good start-up unlike in a bad cult, that knowledge turns out to be true, and you're working on something that's real or that becomes real in the course of working on it. >> host: peter thiel, what is the power law you write about? >> guest: well, the power law is this distribution of the sizes of these technology companies. and so if you look at the, if you look at the t

spacex has a launchpad that it uses, too. there is this, of course, the orion project, along with the sls which will be what launches next time. a lot of money. a lot of work. >> and that is the biggest building in the world, right? >> are you tacking about the assembly building? >> yes. >> and when it's lit up, it has this tremendous american flag on the side. i'm not sure if it's the largest building in the world. you're like, wow, i'm glad it's mine. >> you see big birds flying around out there. >> i have a story about that. they have vultures. on the top of that building, it's apparently a disgusting site. eagles or whoever, birds of prey will take their kill there to let it dry out and get back to it later. >> ooh. kind of like jerksy. >> yuck. >> yes. >> fried meat. from the sun. yum. yum. >> by the way, the vehicle assembly building is one of the large echt buildings in the world by volume, one of. >> i've been there. seen it. cool. very cool. that's why i remember. you look up and you can't appreciate how big it is un

boeing and spacex are poised to take over the job.with o'ryan, nasa hopes to carry four astronauts to the moon, an asteroid, and even mars. >> this remits the beginning, if you will, the first flight in the next era of human exploration for the nation and the world. >> reporter: when an asteroid or mars mission takes time, the first manned test flight will not be for another eight years, and a mars mission could be 20 years way. >> they'll try tomorrow on the unmanned task. the variable -- again, tomorrow, this could be the weather. we expect, again, high winds and clouds. to give you per special circumstancetive -- perspective. this went 250 miles up, and this mission, again, 3,600 miles up into space. back to you. >> tom, thank you very much. savannah? >>> breaking news from the middle east this morning where an arrest has been made in the brutal murder of an american teacher in abu dhabi. we have more on the story, richard, good morning. >> good morning. it seems that police officials and intelligence officials in the united arab e

how would that apply to spacex?t seems to me that's more of a way for us to be useful than which problems should we look at and what is the conservative solution. it's a different way of thinking about how government ought to solve problems. >> i think this creativity and the markets that you all are talking about, it's just much more in step with the times. it's interesting that liberals are really out of step, these sort of technocratic don't tend to yield the kind of flexibility that american consumers can enjoy from the private sector, from civil society, where, you know, the rest of our lives has become for customizable and leaner and more responsible to individual concerns, government continues in this sort of nonresponsive, top-down way that is not -- it's really interesting that, you know, that conservatism is really where there's room for creativity. >> so let me ask you, shifting gears a little bit but not entirely, you know the big movement in conservatism that has been noticeable in the past few years is