Space Workers News Today

There are a lot of feelings here that are mostly sad. this is first shuttle to actually retire. it is discovery, as i said, the workhorse. and the realization is here today to thousands of space employees that this is the end. and i think that the biggest problem that the space workers have here is we dont have -- we being the united states of america, we do not have a spacecraft that can fly american astronauts to replace it. they are retiring it before we have another one to fly. >> as i under...

When they resisted the macho images. maybe kids are better off looking up to heros of the space program. today space workers finished up vital repairs on a broken cooling system. look at the cute cubs. actually, theyre at the center of a controversy. theyre ligers. a cross breeding of a male lion and a female tiger. the mom and dad cats grew up together and had these cubs yesterday. but its illegal to cross breed rare and protected animals like these. i am way beyond my time limit. were way pass...

They dont come in here, theyll probably go and land in california if they can because theyve already extended the mission one day and theyre running out of days up there. but theyll get them back. if they have to land them or even if they have to land in california, have to land them in new mexico. as you know, i want to say something -- we were talking about breaking news, but i want to say something, alex. you and i were on the other day when president obama was flying here to the space center...

And the program could languish. i dont necessarily think thats whats going to happen, but there is a public sense and a fear amongst many space workers that doom is upon us. >> robert, one last one here. thank you, first of all, for cutting through a lot of the noise around this and taking us back to history to when the program was devised in 2004. what do you expect to hear from the president later today? how is the president re-imagining constellation or this public/private partnership moving ...

>> reporter: yes. and the first thing he did, tamron, was he went to launch pad number 40. now, thats where theyre going to launch falcon 9. this is the commercial group the president wants to get flying. they do have a rocket on the pad out there getting it ready to go and the president did get to talk to some of the space workers there and that was good because he will be speaking here shortly to a very closed group and the rest of the space workers will be as we are watching on tv. but as you...

Cancelations on space ships. the president is headed to florida to try and convince space workers that his five h year plan for nasa is a good thing. is it or isnt it? were going to discuss that.

Along. now, theyre calling that piece a bailout. and even a republican member on the floor today said, five minutes of negotiating, we could get that out of the bill. but overall, the bill, no, its not a bailout. this is about a philosophical difference should government regulate these banks at all or should we let the markets do their own thing, and its about politics, wolf. >> a lot of washington is about politics. jessica, thank you. one-on-one, with the first lady, michelle obama, shes in ...

Folks. >> well, dont miss "andrea mitchell reports." i dont have to write it down. its all up here. 1:00 every day. who do you have on today? >> weve got barnicle and buchanan. well talk about all this, talk about sarah palin, talk about the super bowl. >> what were doing is working, unlike the federal government. thats right, nbc, always on. >> andrea, thanks. well, earlier this morning, space shuttle "endeavour" was finally given the green light to send six astronauts into orbit. nbcs jay ba...