t.j. holmes has been running. >> your coaching of t.j.or him. there he is. he snuck in a quick haircut. getting it all done in atlanta. now hanging out with dwayne johnson and emily blunt. they're helping him with a big surprise along with that great audience. it's all coming up on a big morning. >>> we're going to turn to billionaire space race. richard branson's history launch at the edge of space just days before jeff bezos' trip. transportation correspondent gio benitez is there in new mexico where the launch took place. good morning, gio. >> reporter: hey, cecilia, good morning. this was a groundbreaking launch. richard branson earning those astronaut wings, a dream 17 years in the making. >> three, two, one, release. >> reporter: this morning, history made. >> ignition. >> reporter: sir richard branson blasting off to the edge of space. becoming the first person to launch above his own spaceship. floating in weightlessness for four minutes. sending a message back to earth. >> for the next generation of just imagine what you can do.

t.j. holmes has the story. good morning again, t.j. >> hey there, stra. things that anthony bourdain wrote. these are things -- these were his words but he wrote them. no audio evidence he said them out loud. so the director wants to use those but doesn't have audio. what did he do? he decides to fake it and that has now brought up kind of a recent debate and criticism about using technology to bring back celebrities who have died. >> you're probably going to find out about it anyway. so here's a little preemptive truth telling. there's no happy ending. >> reporter: three years after his death anthony bourdain helps tell his own story in his own words in the new documentary "roadrunner." >> i said earlier i would tell you the truth. this is part of it. >> reporter: parts of the film are narrated in bourdain's voice created by stitching together audio recordings from throughout his career as a writer and host of the tv shows "no reservations" and "parts unknown." >> one i was standing next to a deep fryer and next watching the sunset. >> reporter: the dire

t.j. holmes is here with that. od morning, t.j. >> stra, we know there were states offering people cash and prizes to try to get them to get the vaccine. nfl is incentivizing players with their own paychecks. take a look. they sent out a memo clarifying the policy for the upcoming year. first of all, if there is an outbreak a game has to be canceled. the team that causes the outbreak, that team is going to forfeit the game, but both teams, the players from both teams are going to lose their game checks. they also can put in some other financial incentives and penalties to the teams. e ag can do that. where are they right now? the league wanted everybody to have an 85% threshold for vaccination on teams. right now 75% of the players have one shot of the vaccine, at least partially vaccinated. the league says 80%, about 80% of that vaccination number, about half of the teams have that so not where they need to be. the league, they had some reaction from some of the players. ezekiel elliott found out about it during a

t.j. holmes joins us with the latest on this. od morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning to yu, robin. police want to assure the public, fans and the stadium itself were not targeted. this was an isolated incident, but the crowd didn't know that at the time. this set off a chaotic and eerily familiar scene for us in this country of a crowd scrambling for cover amid gunfire. the urgent search continues this morning for the suspect vehicle involved in the shooting outside of nationals park saturday night that sent fans and players running for their lives. listen as the gunfire erupts in the bottom of the sixth inning in the washington nationals game against the san diego padres. >> padres put three more on the board, 8-4. >> reporter: spectators jumped into the field, fearing an active shooter was in the stadium. the padres star shortstop and teammate manny machado ushering them to safety in the dugout. the manager applauding the actions. >> i couldn't be even more proud to be a padre, to be -- >> reporter: nationals manager davy ma

nice, t.j. holmes, nice. >> thank you. i was up all night with that one. >> i'm sure you are. morning, america. great to be here with t.j. and george on this very, very busy thursday morning. >>> we'll begin with severe weather. elsa making its way up the east coast, threatening major cities from washington to boston and tropical storm warnings for the northeast. >> this after elsa left a trail of destruction in the south. take a look at that. multiple tornadoes touched down. one at a naval base in kings bay, georgia. at least ten people killed there -- rather, injured, injured, i should say there. >> ginger and our weather team tracking all of that. let's begin with will reeve in jacksonille, florida, where another possible tornado touched down there overnight. good morning, will. >> reporter: good morning, robin. as elsa made its way through florida it left a lot of damage in its wake. scenes like this, branches strewn all about. the jacksonville area where we are and this apartment complex, look at this, this tree narrowly missing two apartments right there. on the other si

. >> you'll have the pleasure of reining in t.j. holmes. >> wish me luck. >> i often do.nd her fight to end her conservatorship. new details breaking overnight. >>> also, questlove is joining us live to talk about his recto epic event that celebrated black history, culture and fashithe sn >>> and this morning, get ready for our next stop on our "rise & shine" tour. washington state, ginger zee, becky worley, tag-teaming, both there live showing us the beautiful evergreen state. we'll be right back. ♪ this day is mine ♪ what if i told you... the best place to begin is within. with collagen, that supports our body from the inside, out. because when we feel supported from within... ♪ our confidence... comes from way deeper. it's within us. ♪ when we really, really want something, (whispers) come on greg. it's hard to wait. ♪ ♪ that's why carmax gives you an people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar

t.j. holmes is over there doing all this. you're going to -- you act like you're already there. tell us about the rising stars. >> you remember last year, they had to send those trunks to the players at their homes. wait to hear your name and pick out your hat. they'll be back live at barclays center in brooklyn tonight. that's fine. fans will be allowed in. that's fine as well. a big night for these guys. who will be the number one overall pick. that's always the mystery. who is it going to be? you don't have to wait till tonight. i'm going to tell you right now. it's going to be cade cunningham. the 6'8" freshman smooth like butta out of oklahoma state. not a flashy guy. he is in total control of the game. he was a joy to watch this year but at 6'8" -- he is the consensus number one pick going to go to detroit. he spent time with the pistons already but he made it here to new york. arrived with his 2-year-old daughter riley. really cute to see this scene. you can certainly speak to this, stra, this is a special night. a life-changing night for these players to be drafted and f

t.j. holmeshere with the biggest moments of the night. >> reporter: and one of those moments had us crying. we'll get to that one in a moment, but the commissioner reminded us at the top there have only been 5,000 players in the 57-year history. that's a very small group and these guys are now getting to join and for the top here most of the top prospects it went as according to plan and number one overall 6'8" forward out of oklahoma state talking about cade cunningham. there he is. his daughter, 2-year-old riley, was the star of the show early on. gets up there and hugs his family. these are those moments. his name is cade cunningham drafted one overall to the detroit pistons and the nickname they're going with already motor-cade. >> that's perfect. >> i like that. still the moment of the night went to terrence clarke. his name was called at the nba draft stage. he wasn't there to hear it. this young man died in a car crash three months ago. he was expected to be a first round pick out of the u

t.j. holmesay of 2020. that got moved to april 2021 and then it got moved to may of 2021. now we finally get it and they were waiting to see if the audience had an appetite for going back into the theater. well, from what we just saw over the past couple of weekends, that answer is yes. it's the box office blow-out ph. "f9," the ninth installment in the "fast and furious" franchise, didn't just beat the competition. >> where is the bridge? >> reporter: but brought in crowds and $30 million over the holiday weekend. that was enough to push the film's worldwide ticket sales past $500 million, the biggest global box office haul for a hollywood movie since the beginning of the pandemic. >> we're in a better time right now for movie going. if you see that it's been a soured weekend at the box office, the bulk of that has to do with what's on the marquee. >> reporter: while "f9" hasn't broken any prepandemic sales numbers its success comes on the heels of familiar blockbuster fare like "godzilla versus