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NEW DAY

Supply Rocket Explodes After Liftoff; U.S. Increases Security at Embassies in Response to Lone Wolf Terror Attacks; Only One Case of Ebola Left in the U.S

Aired October 29, 2014 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 29th, now just about 8:00 in the east. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here as the country wakes up to news of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my goodness. That is an unmanned rocket exploding seconds after liftoff in Virginia Tuesday night, then crashing down onto the launch pad into a ball of flames. The privately built rocket was carrying some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the -- equipment, I should say, to the crew on board the International Space Station. We are following the very latest for you from all angles. We begin with CNN's Tom Foreman live in Washington for us. Tom, what is the latest?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest is that the officials of this company, Orbital Sciences, were up looking at the telemetry from this rocket from the moment this happened and pretty much all night. They're looking at electronic signals coming off this rocket, about its force, its altitude, its attitude, its speed, the temperature, everything they can to see if there are any signs in the numbers about where things started to go wrong. And at this hour, investigators are spreading out to the marshes there in coastal Virginia trying to pick up every piece they can to put it back together and solve this mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have liftoff.

FOREMAN: The first stage was just seconds into a four-minute burn when the Antares rocket stalled, fell backward, and exploded. The nearly three-quarters of million pounds of thrust went haywire, and spectators across the bay say the blast shook the ground even there.

ED ENCINO, "BALTIMORE SUN" REPORTER AND WITNESS: Immediately about five seconds in, you just saw kind of a fireball. And it wasn't -- you could tell immediately that something was wrong.

FOREMAN: It also clearly shook Virginia-based Orbital Sciences. The private contractor that built the rocket under a nearly $2 billion contract with NASA now needs answers.

FRANK CULBERTSON, ORBITAL SCIENCES: The investigation will include evaluating the debris we will find around the launch pad. If you find anything that washes ashore in the local area or came down on your farm, definitely do not touch it.

FOREMAN: No one was hurt in the explosion, but gone in a flash, 1,600 pounds of science experiments on everything from meteors to human blood flow, more than 1,600 pounds of hardware, computers, spacewalk equipment, and 1,400 pounds of food for the ISS crew. That does not create an instant emergency, but it will put extra pressure on upcoming missions to reestablish the supply chain to those astronauts in orbit.

And the explosion could create political pressure, too, in the continuing debate over how much space travel can or should be put into the hands of private companies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: It's impossible to tell with all that force how far all these little pieces went or how long it will take to collect them all, but the investigation to figure out what happened here can certainly take weeks, maybe even months before they have a full answer. Orbital Sciences, however, says the Antares rocket will not fly again until they know what went wrong. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course that makes sense.

Joining to us talk more about the catastrophic launch, CNN space analyst Miles O'Brien, and J.D. Taylor. He's a reporter for USAinSpace.com and an eyewitness on the scene last night during the launch explosion. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. J.D., I want to start with you. Tell us what you saw last night.

J.D. TAYLOR, EYE WITNESS TO ROCKET EXPLOSION: How are you doing? Well, we were in the press area, press reviewing area, and we were watching launch. Everything was going as expected. They had very good countdown, very clear weather. We watched it actually clear the pad, and shortly after clearing the pad you could tell it didn't have the thrust that it should have and it started dropping back. And that's when everything started exploding. The explosion was very loud, very bright. It filled our cameras and -- yes?

CAMEROTA: What was the reaction when you realized something had gone terribly wrong?

TAYLOR: Well, first of all, at the press we just wanted to get the shot. But it came very clear it was really bad. We saw the explosion getting bigger and bigger, and the sonic boom actually hit us, you could feel the boom hit our chests. And at that point the safety area people are telling us to get back to the bus, to evacuate the area. And we followed directions. We all ran to the bus, left everything there, everything out, and just went back to the bus.

But we could see the huge explosion. We could see the fire rain back down onto the pad. So I know there's damage to the pad, but the safety crews did a really good job getting us out of there.

CAMEROTA: And how soon after liftoff did the explosion happen?

TAYLOR: Within seconds. It was probably about six seconds. You could tell something was wrong. You see it starting to drop back down again, and that's when the first explosion started, and shortly after there was a secondary and tertiary explosions, and the entire thing was a huge fireball.

CAMEROTA: Miles I want to bring you in had --

TAYLOR: It was within the six seconds to 20 seconds it was pretty much over.

CAMEROTA: OK, got it. Miles, you have covered dozens of these space launches. What do you think happened?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE ANALYST: Well, if you look very carefully what was going on in that rocket plume from these Soviet-era engines. These are, by the way, 40-year-old engines that were originally built by the Soviets to launch their moon-craft which never succeeded. They were purchased by the U.S. corporation Aerojet, refurbished. Aand what it appears to be is some sort of debris coming off of the lower part of the engine in the plume. After that, you see a change in color in the rocket plume itself, and then things start to go bad very quickly. How much of it was the actual failure of some sort of mechanism on the rocket and how much of it was later the decision to push the button to destroy the craft, the raping safety device, unclear where that begins and ends.

CAMEROTA: So Miles, what about these private space contractors, are they subject to the same safety measures that NASA was, is?

O'BRIEN: Yes, safety is high, but it's a different way of contracting. It's worth putting out that NASA has never built a rocket. They've always used contractors, whether they were Boeing or Lockheed Martin or their predecessor companies. What's happening here with Orbital Sciences and its competitors, in this case SpaceX out of California, is a different way of doing contracting. So instead of being on the factory floor telling them how to attach all the pieces of a car, they're going to Hertz and renting the car. So it's a little different relationship between NASA and the contractor, but the safety standards are supposed to be at a fairly high level. Having said that, the contractor does have more latitude in how they build the rocket.

CAMEROTA: J.D., you are a space enthusiast. Have you ever seen anything like this before? Have you been present for one of the explosions?

TAYLOR: No, I have not been. So yes, it was very spectacular, disheartening, but very impressive thing to be part of that history. CAMEROTA: How many spectators were with you?

TAYLOR: We had a good amount of press and people there. There was about 30 to 40 people in the area, plus there was also the NASA social group which is, again, another 20 or 30 people, and the VIP area is very close to that as well.

CAMEROTA: What a shock. So Miles, what impact does this have on the space station and space travel?

O'BRIEN: Well, first of all, the space station is going to be fine. They have plenty, even if nothing arrived there, they would have enough food until March. And as a matter of fact, this morning, while everybody on the east coast was asleep, a Russian rocket, a freighter called the Progress successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and is safely on its way to the International Space Station to resupply it.

SpaceX is planning a launch in December and February and Orbital was on the books for an April launch. That one is probably not going to happen because not only do they have all these questions surrounding their rocket and maybe their rocket engines, but there was significant damage to the launch pad, and you can only launch this vehicle from one place, Wallops Island. So this is going to be a big setback for Orbital Sciences.

The big picture though here is, you got to remember getting from zero to 17,500 miles an hour in about eight minutes is not easy. It never will be. And it's not routine. Every now and then all you have to do is spring a tiny, little leak and you have a really bad day. That's what they're talking about.

CAMEROTA: That's a great reminder. These space launches are never routine. You think that they are because they're calculated down to within a millisecond, but they are never routine, and as we've seen, sometimes things tragically go wrong. J.D. Taylor, thanks so much for the video that you have provided us and your firsthand experience, and Miles, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much.

Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Now news that the feds are ramping up security at thousands of government buildings. The action coming after the shooting spree in Ottawa last week where this gunman opened fire, killed a soldier, and then stormed Parliament Hill there before being shot dead. So now Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is calling the enhanced security a precautionary measure following ongoing terror threats. The question is, what will it mean for you? CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown is live from Washington with the latest. Good morning, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Chris. That's right, Department of Homeland security Jeh Johnson announced the stepped-up security measures at government buildings in D.C. and other cities in the U.S. after a series of alarming events that have U.S. authorities on high alert, though we are told by a DHS official there's no new intelligence indicating additional threats to the homeland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: This morning, concerns about terror attacks on the homeland continue, the U.S. now beefing up federal security in more than 9,500 government buildings and Washington, D.C. and across the country. These photos taken late Tuesday reveal a much higher police presence near the White House. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the new security measures are a precautionary step against terrorist organizations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's simply being safe rather than sorry.

BROWN: This move comes in response to continued calls for attacks against government officials on U.S. soil from groups like ISIS.

REP. ED ROYCE, (R) CALIFORNIA: There was a specific request made about a month ago by ISIS. They're looking now at lone wolves to attack instruments that represent western governments basically.

BROWN: This as the Al Qaeda offshoot Khorasan poses an eminent threat according to officials. Also raising fears, the most recent terror attacks right across the U.S. border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, there is a shooter on the loose.

BROWN: Last Wednesday a 32-year-old Muslim convert who officials say had connections with other extremists killed a Canadian soldier, then opened fire inside Canada's parliament. And two days before that, Canadian authorities say a radicalized Islamist struck and killed a Canadian soldier with his car. The federal facilities see some 1.4 million visitors daily, officials not disclosing those locations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And this affects only facilities that are secured by Federal Protective Service, which is a DHS agency. Meantime, Johnson says state and local governments need to be equally vigilant particularly in guarding against these potential small scale attacks by a lone offender. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Pamela, thanks so much for that update. Let's get a look at your headlines starting now at 12 minutes past the hour. We begin with the continuing debate over Ebola quarantines. President Obama urging a sensible and scientific approach when it comes to enforcing quarantines. That is not slowing the Pentagon's support for a mandatory 21 day quarantine on all military personnel, though, returning to the U.S. from the Ebola zone. That said, Secretary Chuck Hagel could announce the new policy we're told as early as today.

Jodi Arias' defense team going to work tomorrow to try and spare her life. Prosecutors wrapped up presenting their side of her sentencing retrial Tuesday. Jurors saw and heard five straight days of evidence, some of it even X-rated. Arias was convicted, as you'll recall last year, of murdering her boyfriend Travis Alexander. Jurors could not decide whether she should be executed or receive life in prison.

The FTC is suing AT&T over its unlimited data plan. Federal officials say the plan is misleading and makes customers think that they have unlimited data to use when they see their Internet connection speeds cut by about 90 percent after they hit a certain limit. The FTC says it has received thousands of complaints about this. AT&T for its part says it has always been transparent with customers about its data use policies.

Quite a story. Former big league baseball slugger Jose Canseco recovering from a gunshot wound to the hand. He told police he was cleaning his gun when it went off. Canseco's fiance says, a finger, this is a bit grim for early in the morning, was left dangling by a string after the incident. She tells "The Los Angeles Times" doctors will amputate the finger or attempt to surgically reattach it.

Melissa Rivers has hired an attorney to investigate the death of her mother Joan Rivers. The investigation could ultimately lead to a civil lawsuit against the clinic where her mother was being treated. You'll recall the 81-year-old died in September after suffering a heart attack during surgery.

CAMEROTA: Of course she wants answers. I think we all do.

PEREIRA: Especially while she's still grieving. This much be such a terrible time for her.

CUOMO: One of the things that has to be remembered in that situation is that these clinics are a very fast-growing aspect of our health care system. People don't go to hospitals for endoscopies or procedures like that anymore, and how are they overseen, and what do we know about what happened here? It's one of the big curiosities that remain in that story.

CAMEROTA: You're right, her story affects us on many levels.

PEREIRA: It sure does.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, there is lots of news on the Ebola front to tell you about, much of it has been encouraging. Only one case of Ebola is left in the United States this morning, and the second Dallas nurse, as you know, is now Ebola free and out of the hospital. So does this mean that we've turned a corner in the fight against an outbreak? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has lots on that, next.

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CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

This morning, big developments on the Ebola front. There's only one case of Ebola left in the United States, Dr. Craig Spencer, here in New York City.

So, have we learned something about beating the virus?

Also this morning, nurse Kaci Hickox told the "Today" show that she does not plan to stick to quarantine guidelines until her 21-day period is up November 10th. So, what does that mean? She's once again the face of controversy regarding what to do about those exposed to the virus.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KACI HICKOX, QUARANTINED NURSE: I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines. I remain appalled by these home quarantine policies that have been forced upon me, even though I am in perfectly good health, and feeling strong and have been this entire time completely symptom- free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Does she have the right to do that? Is she right to do that? We're going to discuss.

Also, Tuesday, President Obama called for a sensible and scientific approach to quarantines, but the Pentagon has decided that that means exactly what the White House opposes -- a mandatory 21-day quarantine on all military personal returning to the U.S. from the Ebola zone.

We must make sense of these inconsistencies and one man can do that better than most, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent.

Let's start with the good news. The fact that -- especially at Emory, they just keep curing cases very quickly it seems. Does that mean we've learned something?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the doctors made this point I think it's interesting, it's still a small number of people, four patients at Emory who have been treated and are doing well, but they have been aggressive at times with the therapy, even things like dialysis, putting people on ventilators.

It was thought of even recently, Dr. Frieden, the head of the CDC, made this point maybe that's too much. Those patients are not likely to survive if they get that sick and could you put health care workers at the greater risks doing those types of procedures because there's more blood and bodily fluids involved.

Dr. Ribner from Emory says, you know, it seems to be working for us. We've taken care of four patients successfully, so being aggressive is a good thing.

CUOMO: It also reinforces an aspect of the tragedy in West Africa. This isn't about new science. It's not about miracle drugs. It's about doing what you can and it's not getting done there yet.

GUPTA: Absolutely. It's great point. I mean, they simply can't do some of the things over there. Simply giving I.V. fluids, you know, putting an I.V. in and replacing fluids that get lost, getting too dehydrated can cause death. Putting an I.V. is a tough procedure if you're in a remote forested area in Central or West Africa. So, here they cannot only do that, but they can monitor electrolyte

levels in the blood. They can do dialysis that they to. It's a much different standard of care.

CUOMO: And once again, you reinforce this point all the time, it deserves reiteration, if you don't want Ebola in the United States, you must stop it everywhere else. It's the only way to stop it from being here.

GUPTA: You know, I sort of say almost like' medical analogy. Someone is having a heart attack and they also have left arm pain. You can give them pain medication for the left arm pain, that's not taking care of the heart problem. Unless you take care of the heart problem you're not going to rid the body of this issue.

So, you know, think of the heart problem as being West Africa and everything else is of a symptom, significant symptoms but unless you take care of this, it's not going to solve it.

CUOMO: And now the two interests get smashed together with the quarantine debate because maybe it will have a chilling affect on people wanting to fight abroad if they're going to be isolated when they get here. Others say, no big deal, 21 days, let's think of the safety of everybody else.

So, let's put on our debate hats. Kaci Hickox, the nurse, she says, I'm not going to follow this quarantine. Do you support her, Gupta?

GUPTA: Yes. Well, you know, first of all, she's following the guidelines of the organization that sent her over there, Doctors Without Borders, who have more experience doing this, I read the guidelines carefully, talk to them about this. They say quarantine is neither recommended nor warranted.

So, she -- there's no need for her to do anything according to her parent organization. Dr. Spencer, same organization, also no need for quarantine.

CUOMO: He got sick.

GUPTA: He got sick and when he started to develop a low grade fever because he was taking his temperature, he called them, they immediately took him and put him into isolation, and he is now getting the care he needs.

CUOMO: Are you 100 percent sure that at the point at which Dr. Spencer thought he didn't feel well, he was absolutely positively not a threat to anyone else?

GUPTA: Well, look, I think in science, you want to be careful about speaking in absolutes, but there's a lot of data on this sort of thing.

CUOMO: But fears, it fuels the fear.

GUPTA: Yes, sure. If I said look, is there an absolutely zero chance? No. I don't think anyone can say that.

But let me give you a couple of examples. Mr. Duncan we talked about in Dallas. He was sick, went to the hospital, got turned away.

CUOMO: Yes.

GUPTA: Was living at home for two, two and a half days with his family and friends.

CUOMO: Very sick at home.

GUPTA: Very sick at home, none of them got sick. They weren't intensively caring for him likely or may not have been exposed.

CUOMO: All the people on the plane with him.

GUPTA: All the people on the plane with him. Mr. Sawyer was a guy who flew from Liberia to Nigeria. Upon landing at the airport in Nigeria, landing at the airport, he got quite sick and actually collapsed, was sick. Nobody on those plane rides ever got sick. They were all checked and none of them got sick.

So, it's not easy to catch. Can it happen in an unusual case? Perhaps. But I think that the idea of quarantining people when they're not sick doesn't make sense.

Take the temperature, if they even have a low grade rise call somebody because that's a precursor to anymore significant symptoms.

CUOMO: People putting too much stock in the unknown? Is that what you're saying?

GUPTA: Yes, you can understand it.

CUOMO: You can understand it but do you enable it? I think the government's been all over the place on this. You have the Fed going slow, you've got the Pentagon going fast, you got my brother as the governor of New York and Chris Christie jumping out in front of the feds and they get pulled back.

It's all over the place. That's going to make people upset.

GUPTA: Here's what I tell you -- it's a really good question, Chris. And I think from the politician standpoint, they've got responsibilities to their constituents who have fear.

There's all the different interests in this. I think the scientists cannot be wavering on this. They can't say, well, you know, I think perhaps this, perhaps that, we'll do this just because. The scientists have to be clear on this because science does matter.

And I think it's a little bit difficult when scientists who know the right thing and often say the right thing suddenly start to transition a bit and start playing politicians. I think the scientists have to be clear. If the scientists are not clear on this, and I think it throws the whole system into turmoil. I've tried to be clear since the beginning on this. You're not going

to spread this virus until you're sick. It's not a binary thing. It's not to say that, as soon as your temperature hits 100.4, you are now infectious, you've crossed the line. You could potentially become infectious at that point, but you're going to be really infectious when you are really sick. It is unlikely the low grade fever guy is spreading this virus. He should get checked out, and that's what he did.

CUOMO: It's all what that word "until" means, though, and there's doubt and doubt creates lack of confidence.

GUPTA: You know, I was talking about this in the break, up until recently, we have a ban on patients, people with HIV/AIDS coming into the United States.

CUOMO: Until very recently, until when?

GUPTA: Until 2010. More than 20 years.

At the time it was done, people thought it made the most sense in the world. Of course, this is going to be necessary. Why would you left people with HIV/AIDS coming to this country.

It didn't make sense then, the scientists knew that and it took 20 years to overturn that.

So, you know, let science trump politics. Facts really do matter here. Is there going to be fear? You don't want to dismiss that fear. That's not right either. The science and the facts can help actually overcome that.

CUOMO: Strong point.

And, Alisyn, as we go to you, it should be known that when Sanjay returned from West Africa, I did shun him, but that was personal, it had nothing to do with my thoughts about exposure.

GUPTA: You gave me a big hug like you always did.

CUOMO: I only pretend not to like him. How can you not?

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, he tries, try as he might, he can't not love you.

GUPTA: He tries, let me tell you.

CAMEROTA: I know, that's great. Thanks so much, guys.

We have an update for you on one of the most heartbreaking stories we've covered. You'll remember the story of the woman who lost her three children and parents in a fire on Christmas Day three years ago. She's coming forward to talk about her life now, and how she has been able to endure unspeakable grief.

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