Social media platform factcheck tweets the president posted for the very first time and slapped a warning label on the president s assertion that mailin voting increases the risk of fraud. Missouri senator josh hawley says its long past time for social media giants to be held accountable. Twitter is censoring the president of the United States. Heres the bottom line on this. Big tech gets a huge handout from the federal government. They get special in unity, special immunity from suits and liability thats worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives . Harris and it is on. So are we. This is outnumbered, im Harris Faulkner. Here today, melissa francis. Fox news contributor, lisa boothe. Executive director of serve america somebody turn off your phone. Serve america pac and Fox News Contributor marie harf. [laughter] joining us today, former arkansas governor and Fox News Contributor mike huckabee. Hes outnumbered, and its so great to have all of you on a day of space governor, im coming to you. This is going to happen in your state today, because you now reside in the great state of florida. Mr. Huckabee a whole lot of reasons. We need the diversion from the coronavirus and all the political nonsense thats going on. We need to be reminded that america is a country that has done incredible things in innovation. I am a spaceage kid, i grew up in the 50s and the 60s. We played space as a kid. I remember kennedys speech in 1961 when he said we are going to go to the moon and take a man and bring him back within the decade. He didnt live to see it, but i did. This is some of the greatest moments of american history. I am so proud the president and that this administration is recognizing that its not just the direct value of the Space Program, its all of the indirect things. The lifesaving medical opportunities, everything we have today are computers, cell phones, wouldnt have them without the Space Program. Harris you got us started for this hour, and i we are going to actually toggle to the. This person may feel like theyre in space. We want to try to factcheck the president and think he wont fight back . You know, melissa, as we watched this fight kind of go out, all of us are good to all of our social media platforms today because we are about to go back to space from u. S. Soil for the first time in nearly ten years. With this battle going to be like, do you think . Melissa its true. Its interesting to watch this fight play off. If twitter is going to take this on, i dont know the the question, who tell mike youre going to be factchecking everyone on twitter, everything every politician says . I think back, of course, to president obama saying that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. The costs would go down by 1250 per family per year. At the time we knew it was alive. You can use that big word, because now we call everyone a liar in this day and age when youre telling an untruth. We knew that, and it was corroborated later when we had that mit economics professor come out and say on tape that, at the time, they did note i want to get it right, they were counting on the stupidity of the American Voter to impose the true cost of obamacare on the public. They knew it was a lie at the time. It kind of goes and that we know of, youre campaigning, trying to convince people to vote a certain way, put certain people into office. If twitter is going to put itself in the place of factchecking everything everyone says, that is an overwhelming job. Its a private company, so they have the right to do that if they want to. Will people get off . Harris sure. Melissa it is such a lane to go down. Itll be interesting to watch. Harris thats the operative question, right, lisa . Its one thing if youre going to check everybody, factcheck everybody. As melissa points out, good luck with that. Because its going to be a huge job, but go for it. Or youre just singling out certain people on your platform. Because conservatives are quick to come to the president s defense today, and you can see that play out on twitter. And say they have often felt stifled, their voices stifled. Are you targeting just the president , just them . Lisa thats a great question, harris. Heres the thing, how can twitter be expected to do this when they cant even please their own employees . Their head of site integrity was caught tweeting both factually untrue and derogatory things about President Trump, which gets to the question that you just asked me, with conservatives concerned about the way the social media giants police and handle their business. Additionally, the reason why democrats want to shut down President Trumps access to twitter is because they would shut down his unfiltered access to 80. 3 million americans. If you look at 2016, remember facebook executive said that President Trump won because of facebook. Because he had ran the best ad campaign that he had ever seen from any advertiser ever. You look at President Trump, in the 2016 campaign he was able to use social media so effectively, and to his advantage politically, and he still has continued to do that. So thats why you see democrats really wanting to shut it down, to shut off that effective Political Tool that President Trump uses. Harris you know, marie, barack obama kind of got the party started. He handled online and social media like we hadnt seen before, as he scooped up obama for america email addresses, so on and so forth. It was quite a platform. What do you say about this . Marie well, democrats dont want to force donald trump off of twitter because of a political reason. Democrats dont want the president of the United States to be able to use a platform to lie, using melissas time, to the American People about the safety of mailin ballots. Democrats dont want the president of the United States to use a platform to drag the memory of the young woman who is now dead, through the mud for political purposes. I will say im not on twitter, i think most of our viewers, we certainly know we talked about it on the show that i dont have a twitter account. Thats because largely conservatives bullied, threatened, and harassed me off of the platform, where i felt like i was not able to use it in a way where the positives outweigh the negatives. To the idea that conservative work voices are not prevalent on twitter or are being put down on twitter just isnt borne out by the reality. The question twitter faces as a private companies whether they are going to hold the president of the United States to the same rules that all of us have to use on their platform. Whether they are going to enforce their rules for everyone. We couldnt do things the president is on twitter. Or whether he is a different case. Weve never seen a private company confronted with quite this kind of really challenging problem before. Harris you know, its interesting, because what you are alluding to judge and correct me if im wrong, marie you think twitter is going to try and do that monstrous effort of factchecking everybody. Is that what you think is really going to happen . Marie im really not sure, harris. I dont think twitter is sure, because as a huge undertaking to factcheck everyone. There are people who should be factchecked more than just ran a bath we arent even sure i really will. These are questions twitter doesnt know how to answer. Harris governor, i will take that question to you, then. Should twitter figure out what the parameters on the rules are going to be before they target the president of the United States . Mr. Huckabee their rules are pretty clear. They favor liberals. Im on twitter, marie said she is off. She should go on and read what happens when any of us send out a tweet, and we get blessed with the most notoriously noxious things. Heres what i would suggest to twitter. Quit trying to referee the content. Act like youre the phone company. You provide the lines, you let people see what they want, and let people regulate it. Thats how it ought to happen. If the marketplace cant regulate it, shut the thing down. Twitter shouldnt be in the job of picking winners and losers in the whole arena of free speech. There are some nasty things that get set. If there is truly nasty, negative things, you can report that, but my gosh, i dont want twitter determining whether what i said is okay to them. Thats not their job. Harris strongly said. Yesterday, just so everybody knows, the conversation the governor was happening twitter was whether or not you should put delicious slaw on your barbecue sandwich. [laughter] weve got to scoot. See . Delicious, right . Governor huckabee got us started out the right way, focus on these astronauts. They are making their final preparations right now for Historic Mission just hours from this very moment. The little box on the righthand side, the bottom of your screen, is going to give you that tcount on. The first commercial spacecraft about to go to orbit today, curing people. Details on that. Plus, joe biden trying to clarify his remarks about undecided black voters in his first sitdown interview since the lockdown. The former vp pressed on what the controversy means or his choice of running mate. Has he boxed himself into a political corner without . Charlamagne told cnn that he thinks a black woman as a running mate is necessary. 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I should have been such a wise guy. He was being a wise guy, and i responded in kind. I shouldnt have done that. Melissa joe biden still trying to get past his controversial you aint black remark made during an interview with charlamagne tha god, those of the radio show the breakfast club, the Presumptive Democratic nominee saying the radio host had an attitude and the comment was meant to respond in kind. One of bidens dodges reporters, congressman jim clyburn, was pressed about the former vps remarks on the view. I cringed, no question about that grade in this instance, joe did not do as well as i had hoped. I will say this, i go about my business every day. Comparing to a biden to the alternative, not the almighty. Melissa governor, its interesting to me. Im still still trying to get over marie saying that she allowed herself to be bullied off twitter. It reminds me, because we know, my goodness, if i read the comments every day and we went through and she mentioned the bots, theyve all come after all of us, and it reminds me that you dont always have to respond to your critics. Maybe what joe biden should be doing at this point is moving on. He said his piece, he said what he meant. He said he didnt mean this, and he had people responding. Should he move on instead of responding, do you think . Mr. Huckabee melissa, there are a couple of rules you learned early on during politics. Im surprised he hasnt mastered them as long as hes been in it. One of them is when you are explaining, you are losing pair that is a maxim, you can take it to the bank. When youre having to explain something, you are losing the debate. The second truth is that there is nothing written into law or the constitution that requires you to answer every question that is posed to you. Sometimes the smartest thing in the world is not to give a good answer, its to give no answer at all. Joe apparently has failed and both of these two very important lessons of politics. As i say, hes been in a long enough, you should know better. Melissa harris, its interesting to me, because we all make mistakes. Right . I think weve found you address it and he move on. But to linger and to continue over and over again to be talking about it, and reexplaining it, is maybe not the way to go. Harris so, i have 16. 4 million reasons why maybe joe biden cant let it go. Those are all of the black voters that participated in the election in 2016. You know, there may be this assumption by some in his Political Party that all of us should be voting the same. Maybe he just expressed it. I dont know. It sounds like he still needs to explain what he said. But heres the thing 16. 4 million. You dont know exactly who is going to vote how this time around, because you havent talked to all of them. But weve managed to drum up a conversation, joe biden, thats all about our skin color. So, i think that, in part, probably a big part, melissa, is why he can get let it go. He is getting some reaction and some response people continuously. Melissa meanwhile, it has also sparked or added to, i guess, the conversation about his running mate. He mentioned skin color. Thats part of that conversation, too, apparently. Lets listen. Look, im not going to get into that now, because we havent gotten there yet. There are women of color under consideration, and they are women from every part of the country under consideration, because a lot of really qualified women are ready to be president. But im not making that commitment. Melissa mary, does this influence that decision . Marie maybe a little bit. But i think that this process in picking a Vice President is still months ahead of us. I dont think hes anywhere close to picking a Vice President. For me, melissa, im actually heartened to hear a politician admit when they are wrong and apologize. It is so different from what we hear from donald trump. Jim clyburn, as always, was right in the comments he made about Vice President biden. Joe biden is not a saint, but hes a good Public Servant and he is a distant human being. For many people in this country, according to polls, a majority of his people in this country, they think youd be a good president. So, it has started a conversation. But one of my questions is why there isnt a conversation about whats happening on the other side. Two days later, President Trump treated essentially calling a prominent black female politician on the democratic side fat. That didnt spark outrage among the people two days earlier who were so outraged to joe biden for his comments. Jim clyburns rights. Politicians arent angels, they are alternatives. Elections are choices. They are choices between two people. For many democrats, particularly in the black community who Jim Jim Clyburn leads in many ways, theyve made their choice over and over again for joe biden and for democrats. Melissa yeah. I guess, lisa, it comes back to the passion behind the candidate. And now the temperature has slid from before he was going to bring character back and he was going to restore the soul of america, to now, in marys words, joe biden is a decent guy. So it seems like his stock has gone down a little bit over time in terms of the main part of his platform. The character. And this really kind of, it seems like it, takes a knock out of that. Maybe thats why its a problem. What are your thoughts . Lisa i read this as i write dismissiveness. The presumption hear from joe biden is that africanamericans can make their own decisions in who they decide to vote for. I think that would be more excusable and more grace given if maybe this was just a mistake that he said, and wrongly worded. But you have to think of some of the things he has said previously, which are just blatantly racist. Whether its saying former president obama was the first mainstream africanamerican who is bright, articulate, and clean, or that poor kids can be just as bright as white kids, whether you have to have an indian accent to go to Dunkin Donuts or 7eleven. I think there would be more grace extended to joe biden here if he didnt have this past history of saying incredibly racist things. Melissa all right. Well leave it there. There is less than four hours until liftoff. Im very excited about this one. As nasa prepares to break records this afternoon with the spacex rocket launch. We will bring you all the details of the history making moment next. [space oddity] this message is for spouses of veterans with a va loan. With just one call to newday, you can cut your familys mortgage payments by 2000 a year. The va streamline refi is a benefit your spouse earned. It shortens the refi process so veteran families can save money by refinancing. Theres no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs and you can do it all right from home. Harris two nasa astronauts are preparing to suit up and board the brandnew Spacex Dragon capsule for a historic flight. The launch is set to take place just hours from now. Check the bug on the right bottom screen for the exact time. It marks the first time a private Company Rather than a National Government will send astronauts into orbit. Its also the first launch of americans from u. S. Soil in nearly a decade. Phil keating is live from Kennedy Space center in Cape Canaveral florida. Action. Take it away, phil. Come hey, here is. All systems are go at this point. No technical and no mechanical issues. 4 33 p. M. Launch time. As you see right there on the countdown clock, we are four hours and 5 minutes away from this blast off happening. The only potential problem here, and the only thing that appears to possibly be able to scrub this launched today, would be weather. We had hellacious weather here at the cape this morning, lightning, thunder, tons of rain. It rained again for a while about an hour ago. It stopped. It is sunny and hot again. However, the meteorologists that work with these launches have diminished the probability of weather cooperating at 4 33 p. M. Eastern time. It is now a 50 50 situation. But the president and Vice President are expected to be here, soon to depart joint based andrews on air force one. They want to watch this historic flight in person. Its the first time we are returning astronauts on an american rocket and capsule, into space, from american soil. Of course, its florida, and the missions could last 14 months. A lot of it depends on how this capsule performs. It is a test flight. Bob behnken, one astronaut, and the other, doug hurley, both flew missions on Space Shuttles before. They both into the space station. They are quite accomplished veterans, and they are very excited to be doing this. They didnt even think they would ever have an opportunity to get back into space again. Theyve been here for a week. They did their last dress rehearsal with full on space suits, the walkout of the famous building, the Neil Armstrong building, hopped into the modern day version of the astro van, which is actually a tesla car, naturally speaking. And they drove out to the launch pad, went up the tower, and weve got some live pictures, tight shots of launch pad 39. You can see the falcon nine rocket with its big engines on the bottom and on the top. It is standing next to the big tower, and theres a little white bar that goes from the tower to the capsule. That is the crew access arm. That is where these astronauts, at roughly 2 00 today, 2 30, will take their last steps on earth before they hop in and strap in and get ready for this launch. A whole lot of excitement. Lets take a live shot look at cocoa beach. There are people out there on the beach, theyve been out there for hours. They have camped out, they have set their positions down, popped up their tent, they are having a beach day, they are barbecuing. Very excited to once again watch live and listen live to the thunderous launch of the falcon 9 rocket as we are now, after nine long years, sending astronauts back into space. Nasa was concerned because of coronavirus and social distancing concerns that three weeks ago they were advising and urging all americans, all the typical thousands and tens of thousands of space tourists to descend on the cape for launch days, not to do it this year for this launch. Stay home, watch it live on tv. Everybody will be broadcasting it. As we all know, you cant take the dog tired from watching a rocket launch in person. They are out on the beach. Now we just cross our fingers and hope the weather works with the mission. Harris 50 50, you told u us. Those are excellent odds. Lets hope those are one of those things. Phil keating, thank you very much. I want to bring in elmer hickam, a former nasa engineer who trained the first japanese astronaut. Homer, great to have you on the program as this news is breaking today. A little more than four hours from the projected liftoff here. Let me ask you about the components and how weather plays a role, since thats now part of the conversation about a 50 50 chance the takeoff will happen today at 4 30 p. M. Eastern. Yeah, harris, the weather at the cape is fine. Its down in the north atlantic, which they are concerned about, just in case there is any kind of anomaly and the crew had to land at the atlantic. You dont really want to land in turbulent weather. The crew are already worried a little bit about getting seasick when they come back. You definitely dont want them bouncing around out there in the north atlantic and trying to get to them. Thats the primary concern right now about the weather. Harris you know, homer, one more quick one and i will handed off to my colleague, melissa. I want to ask about the mission possibly taking four months. Thats what we just learned from our correspondent, phil keating. What does that mean for these astronauts . Well, i know they hope it will be four months long tour of duty up there on the International Space station, because that means the dragon capsule they are flying in is healthy. The whole idea is to be able to carry a crew up there in this brandnew spacecraft, the dragon, let it be attached to the International Space station, and there it will stay and be used for a different crew to come back from orbit. So, they are hoping. I know that they are, bob and doug. They love being in space. Its not the first time, they are veterans. They love being in space and hope they can be up there for that many months. Well just have to see. Theyll be checking on the health of the dragon as time goes by. Harris melissa . Melissa homer, this is melissa francis. In our house, we are big space, nasa, spacex, elon musk nerds. We love all this stuff. I know in your career that part of what you did at nasa was that you helped engineer spacecraft. This dragon spacecraft is so different. I have heard it compared to its like a tesla versus a 1957 chevy. The chevy was gorgeous technology at the time, but this spacecraft has, for example, a touchscreen. And the control panels, and the astronauts themselves now have gloves that have that technology in it, like we try to have, where you can have your gloves on and still use the touchscreen. How different do you think this will be for the astronauts on board, and how exciting is this upgrade in technology . Well, its very exciting. This is probably the most advanced humanrated spacecraft in the world. There is nothing that really compares to it. I think it will revolutionize space travel. Comparing it to, say, the old mercury capsule back in the 1960s, its like comparing a tesla with a t model ford, really. So, this is an amazing machine, and actually, elon musk is very big about building vehicles that are autonomous. His vehicles, his cars, as well as his spacecraft. So, the dragon is very much autonomous. The crew, of course, it can interface with it and keep track of everything thats happening and take over if they have to. For the most part, they get to just enjoy this ride uphill and watching the numbers flow across that screen. I hope we are all going to just enjoy watching it as they go. Harris you know, you had mentioned the veteran space astronauts that they are, doug hurley and bob behnken. In fact, they joined the program, they were selected to be nasa astronauts back into thousand zero. They both completed two Space Shuttle flights. Its great to have you on board. Homer hickam today, giving us some of the detail on the color about what we were about to see. Thank you so very much. As we come out to the virtual couch now, i just want to let everybody know, phil keating queued up this shot for us momentarily so we would be watching this walkway. We are expecting to see any moment, according to the schedule weve been handed, and weve all gotten really practiced at counting backwards now, because thats how they do it. You know, on the ground before they take off. So, we should see them pop into screen, and when that happens with hurley and behnken, we will all taken those images live. Governor huckabee, you kicked the hour off with your thoughts and feelings and passion about with that moment means. We are so close to it now. Tell us more. Mr. Huckabee first of all, wow. Homer hickam. Im thrilled, i wish i would have been able to meet him in person. One of my heroes. His story captured in the great film october sky. He, like a lot of other kids growing up in america, he came out of a small West Virginia town but he wanted to be part of the Space Program. The ladies of hidden figures, another reminder that the Space Program was ordinary americans who ended up doing extraordinary things. This launched today is again just a reminder that any kid can look at the sky and dream and end up doing amazing things, because this is the kind of country that gives kids of maybe lowest economic circumstances the opportunity to reach for the stars, grab them, and ride them all the way to the ends of space. This is an extraordinary thing to celebrate as a country and as a human race. Harris lisa, i know youve got some connections to space. Tell us about it. Lisa yeah, i use to work for former member of congress sandy adams, who represented the space coast. I went to the final launch of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. It was one of the coolest things ive ever seen in my entire life, and one of those moments you just want to shout, usa, usa thats really what this is about. As phil keating laid out, this is the first launch of american astronauts in an americanmade rocket on american soil since the previous demonstration ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011. Why that matters was that it forced a reliance on russia to send astronauts to the International Space station. Thats why it is so important to return that capability to the United States, and to america. This really is about america first. Its a remarkable moment, and really a moment of a new era in time and space exploration. Very, very cool. Very cool. Harris you know, its interesting, politics seemed to come into play at every moment, and we dont want to make this one all about that, but there are some things to compare this to you. Those are other big moments in american history, and we are about to see one in the midst of a pandemic. Melissa, what are your thoughts about the timing of this right now and how much America Needs to see something to root for . Melissa something positive, something to pull us all together. Think we all look at this through different lenses of our own perspective. I would say my dad is an is an aeronautical engineer, he worked in concert with the jet propulsion labs turning, as he said, airplane parts into rocket parts. Today i watched this with my son, who had seven years old told me he wanted to be a quantum physicist, and now hes 13, and he has never wavered from that. He is so inspired today watching this, because you need to inspire mines like his that are the next generation to invent things, to take the world forward. Not america, to take the whole world forward. This is a step to our next mission, which is to go to mars. My son is so inspired, not just by my dad, but by elon musk and all the things that he has dared to do. Two dared to dream, and to take this into private hands as well, and private leadership. Its just so inspirational. Harris wow. You know, as we watch the dragon capsule there, and we are anticipating at any moment bob hurley. Excuse me, doug hurley and bob behnken, to walk in their space suits. I see some movement. You guys tell me, is that what i think it is . Lets watch together. There we go lets watch this now. So, we have been able to catch this. They are pretty much on time. You dont have this countdown backwards in front of you, but youve got the spacewalk on the bottom of the screen right. We are seeing them get securely into their space capsule suits and seats. This is a big deal, this is how they do it. What they are going to do is make sure those suits are secure. You do a run through. You see the computer on the lefthand side, they are running the logistics and making sure that airflow and those things really work out. We have caught them and the beginnings of go time. This is so special, because we know these people now. They have been in the Space Program since 2000. We havent seen anything like this take off from u. S. Soil in almost nine years, but we know, as melissa was just talking about, with their dreams must have been as young men. And now that they are veterans of the Space Program, to see them pull into prelaunch mode. For all of us to be together to watch this at one time, you can compare it to history, but there is no place in history like this one. We are in the middle of times where we are stretched, we are called upon to be warriors against an enemy that we cannot see, that we call covid19. We get a wave they are, the astronauts know we are watching. They know what this moment means for all of us to pull together, and for them to lead us into that next mission. Melissa, this is about dreams coming true. Melissa it really is. I have to tell you, one of the things that we have totally kicked out about in my house are these suits that we are seeing right here. These are i mean, like the dragon rocket that they are boarding themselves, these are so different from the suits of the past. I wont be able to do it justice. If i had my 13yearold here next to me, he could do it. This is one of the things, just the technological advances that you are seeing and what they wear now into this new age. And we are really seeing america catching up and surging forward in terms of the technology. We have had it on hand, but remember, we were using, reusing, although Space Shuttles that were staye state of the art the time, but time has passed them by. Let me tell you about these astronauts we are looking at right now. Bob behnken and doug hurley. They were selected in 2000, they have each flown to space twice on the Space Shuttle. They are among the most experienced members of nasas astronaut corps, and they have both been trained as test pilots, which is critical putting the Space Shuttle through its paces. A total of 28 days and 11 hours in space, and behnken has accumulated a total of 29 days and 12 hours, including 37 hours of spacewalking time. In case you were wondering, both of these astronauts are married. So, they will be leaving wives on the ground here, saying, boy, we really need you back in one piece. Watching them in a different way, meaning, you need to come back, please. Your family needs you. It is so phenomenal to watch, and to get this upclose look at these suits. I can only imagine the excitement, the adrenaline. There has to be some fear in there. I cant i mean, harris, can you imagine how that feels right now . Harris as we look at the notes about them, i want to mention that both of these astronauts were pilots in the military. Doug hurley was a fighter pilot, a test pilot in the u. S. Marine corps, and bob behnken was a flight test engineer with the u. S. Air force. So, i dont know fear, but i know exhilaration. They are about to see rarefied air and beyond. So, as we watch this, this literally is, as our screen tells you, a historymaking mission. They could and we heard homer hickam saying this, the nasa space engineer who joined us just moments ago, that if they are able to stay in space for four months, that will mean the dragon capsule is safe, secure, and ready to rock. It will mean that its able to technologically do its job. So, they are hoping that four months is the period of time they will be able to stay in space. They look excited and calm. I mean, they are obviously laying back, they are in that role where they are testing. Marie harf, we havent heard from you. I want to get your thoughts, just as an american today, what this means to you. Marie yeah, harris, its really interesting. Elon musk is certainly a figure or not without controversy, but looking today at what he has accomplished, this is why so many people believed in him when he started projects like this. Setting aside all the controversy he has engendered at sometimes, this is him at his best. To melissas point earlier, the combination of private industry and private business with the United States government, that private public partnership, those are the kinds of things that we do really well here in this country. Ive been thinking a lot about the Space Program, as a native ohioan, i grew up loving john glenn, being inspired by john glenn, and a few weeks ago we lost his longtime wife to covid. He obviously passed a few years ago. But that brought up all of these thoughts again about the history of the Space Program and this country, and the Space Program really is a family. Melissa mentioned the two wives of these astronauts that will be watching today. This is really something we need right now. We have had such a rough few months, harris, as you mentioned. Itll be nice today to have something hopeful to look forward to. Harris all right, ive got the count down in my hands now, and we are pretty much on schedule. Just a few minutes off. This is the suit donning and check out point. I want to bring in somebody who will know whats happening. Former nasa chief astronaut Peggy Whitson is with us. Thank you so very much for being with us on the program today. So, they are doing the check out of the suits. Tell me exactly what this process is like. Well, first off, they are actually donning the suits, putting them on at this point in time. Then, once they are inside and everything is zipped up, basically, they will close their visor and do the pressure check. This is important because that suit is responsible for protecting the crewmembers in case something goes bad and there is a depressurization of the cabin. The suit will protect them in that case. So, they have to do a pressure check. They will do one pressure check in the onc building, where they are now, and once they get to the launch pad they will do another second pressure check. They will also check the Communication Systems while they are in there. And make sure they are working. Harris peggy, what can you tell me about the difference between what they will experience and feel inside the dragon capsule technologically that you know versus the Space Shuttle that they both have been in in previous lights . Well, it will be quite a bit different in the sense that, you know, the solid rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle actually provided a lot of really big thrust that launched that vehicle for the first few minutes. With those solid rocket boosters, there was a lot of vibration. So, i anticipate based on my experience in a capsule where its all liquid fuel, that it will be a smoother ride than it was on the shuttle for them. At least for the first 2 minutes and 40 seconds. About that same time, is when the falcon will burn up all the fuel on that first stage, so the first stage will shut down around 2 minutes and 40 seconds, and then the second stage will light up and get them the rest of the way to space. Its really quite amazing, i think, to think youre going 0 miles an hour and then around eight and a half minutes later you are going live in teen thousand 500 miles an hour. Really impressive. Harris you know, my colleagues code melissa peggy, can i jump in . Harris oh, sorry, go ahead. Melissa i was just going to ask a quick question, because you were talking there about the launch, and i wanted to ask about the return to earth. We know the crew dragon will parachute down into the atlantic ocean, and the capsule and crew will be recovered by a ship called go navigator. What will that feel like . That will be pretty different, as well. Landing on the shuttle, of course, i would say thats the most civilized landing because it lands pretty much like an aircraft, like being in an airliner. Of course, its a glider. We landed on land. I think this is going to be a little to dominic different, because on top of landing, they will hit with the same force we hit the ground with in the soyuz capsule, but we are going to be on water. I think that additional rocking motion is going to make coming home a little more uncomfortable for most of us. [laughs] harris homer hickam was with us just moments ago, and he said, peggy, that their biggest concern right now is seasickness as they come back. That rocking. After a Long Duration space flight, thats pretty common when you land on land to have that feeling. So, its going to be very much an issue with this crew, if they stay up there very long. If they are only up there a short period of time, so depending on the duration of the mission, they might not feel as bad as if they were up there for 120 days as they might be. Harris look, we are at that point, peggy. Peggy whitson joining us, former nasa astronaut. She herself has done gosh, what, ten spacewalks i believe . 655 days in space for her. Moments ago, peggy, you told us that at some point they would get up. And they are doing that pressure test now . At least i think so, they are hooked up to hoses. They have closed their shields, they arthe cleared shields. Tell us what feels like and said that suit. Once they are getting pressurized, basically you feel kind of like the pillsbury dough girl. [laughs] so, its pressurizing on you. If you try and move your arms or your hands, you are working against that pressure. So its a little more challenging in that situation. But thats why suit design is so important, because you still have to be able to function. If, for instance, there was a cabin depressurization and they would need to perform this procedure is to come back to earth, they still have to be able to make those commands on the vehicle and make sure that happens correctly. Also, during the rendezvous, there is the potential they might have to take over for manual flying if some situation occurred. Again, if they were pressurized, youd have to work against that pressure of the suit. But it saves your life. So, obviously its the trade. Thats why we dont normally pressurized. Harris let me ask you, just about the experience of being away for so long. If they are able to stay up there as long as the mission is intended, four months, having spent 655 days in space, what is that like, peggy . Well, i think i kind of it depends on your outlook. For me, i really enjoyed every minute of being up there. That includes the more mundane days when you are just unpacking cargo and repacking, whatever, cleaning up the ventilation system. On those days, i was reminding myself that i was participating in something bigger than me, space exploration, and it motivated me and kept me going through those more mundane days. Of course there also some really incredibly special days, doing really interesting scientific experiments were spacewalks. There are some really cool things we get to do. So, it all balances out. I think if you go in with the right attitude it can be very satisfying. Harris these guys look like they have the right attitude. Thumbs up, smiles, they are ready to go. Melissa . Melissa the ad. Peggy, let me ask you, as we are watching them on the screen looking through all this, what is going through their minds, do you think . You try and keep your mind in the moment of what is going on, or are you flying ahead and thinking about what is to come . Talk to us about sort of those thoughts and emotions. Do they tell you about the mentality as you are getting ready here . What is helpful for you in terms of a mindset . I think you go through so much training that, by the time you get to that launch day, you feel like this is what youre supposed be doing. This is where im supposed to be. There is, of course, more excitement, because youre going to get on the rocket. [laughs] there is that pole to get out there and get it going, to get started with the mission, thats there. But the guys themselves are, you know, they are confident, they are ready. Harris are you ready for space, group . Im sorry, i heard some of the conversation . Melissa its okay, you can continue to tell us. Also, real quick, before we go, can you talk to us a little bit about whats so different about these new suits . Oh, the new suits are really, i think, very unique, novel, and its really important. Because i think they are going to be easy to move in. They obviously fit better than those orange we call them pumpkin suits, for obvious reasons. [laughs] because they were designed to fit multiple people. These are more designed to fit you. So i think it will be more comfortable and easier to work in. Im just excited to see the new Technology Going on to make that happen. Melissa it is, its exciting to watch. Its exciting to see this giant leap forward in technology, four, really, the world. Peggy whitson, thank you so much for joining us and walking us through some of this. Well continue our coverage of this historic moment after the break. Ws all time lows. By refinancing now, you can save 2000 a year. And newdays va streamline refi shortcuts the process. Veterans can refinance with no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. One call could save you 2000 a year. nsrkx 8y⌟ xb8hq6z if you have a garden you know, weeds are low down little scoundrels. With roundup sure shot wand you dont need to stoop to their level. Draw the line. 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As we await the two nasa astronaut set to lead the Historic Mission pay live pictures, live eyes on this the whole hour. Outnumbered overtime now, im Harris FaulknerHarris Faulkner. Mr. Huckabee and nasa have teamed up to launch those two american astronauts to the International Space station. In the first manned flight from american soil in nearly a decade. Nasa administrator, earlier on the importance of his mission. We