finally decided you'd completed your run with nasa. you moved on to other fields. >> well, as you recall, of course, the only scheduled missions were the skylab missions. the crews were already assigned. the soviets' crews were already assigned, so it was going to be a long -- >> deke finally got his shot at it. >> we were so pleased. we were so pleased, bless his heart. can you imagine having to learn to speak russian to be able to go into space? that's above and beyond the call of duty. but he did it. i'm not sure the russians understood him, but he did it. we were really so pleased and so happy for him. >> i'm remembering you were with me on television, because you were doing a job as a consultant on-the-air talent when the landing was accomplished and we were thinking, my, deke, they all look great. brand and stafford, they all look great. little did we know they'd been dosed with nitric acid, was it? remember after the fact that they thought they had inhaled something or another, maybe some vapors from the ejection system, and they were in kind of bad shape for a short while. >> i'd

inside nasa's space shuttle program. then billy jean king talks about equal pay for women in sports. after that, commencement speeches by new york city mayor michael bloomberg. . we were doing software, inspections, or day to day decisions for the shuttle. we were there to provide during actual missions, we had a management team at meetings where the shuttle management as well as representatives from the various areas would gather and make decisions depending on how things were going the objectives of the flight, if there were failures that were happening, understanding whether we should go to the next milestone, whether it was rendezvousing with the space shuttle or things like that. in the meetings i attended in my new position was in december 2002 -- i had just been named to the position that month -- the space shuttle program had a "council meetings," which was management of the program and people like me representing mission control, or safety and engineering information. we would meet and talk over issues. the manager stood up at this meeting and said at the basic thing was th

. >>> a silicon valley tech titan and its private perks with nasa? the investigative unit raises troubling questions. the news starts right now. >>> we begin with gay marriage making national headlines again. vice president joe biden surprised some political analysts when he announced today he supports gay marriage. now the question tonight is, does that mean the president might change his stance on gay marriage as well? nbc bay area's kimberly terry joins us with more on what biden said and reaction as well. >> reporter: the vice president spoke on "meet the press" and he is known for veering off-jypt but many political experts say today's announcement was no mistake. here's exactly what the vice president said today about gay marriage. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, heterosexuals are entitled to the exact same rights, civil rights, civil liberties. >> reporter: he prefaced his comment saying the president sets policy, in other words biden's opinion doesn't mean the president supports it as well. our political analyst sa

inside nasa's space shuttle program could than billie jean king talks about equal pay and women in sports. after that, commencement speeches by new york mayor michael bloomberg, baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings but, and oklahoma mayor >> tomorrow, the preview on the supreme court decisions remaining for this term, including the affordable care act and the arizona immigration law. the egyptian presidential election and what it means for the egyptian people. a conversation with a "washington journal" columnist. >> what i want people to get is a better understanding of who she was, which was like during those four years been there have been a lot of books written and most of it has been written by people who are friends of friends. >> former secret service agent clint hill. >> palin click she was a times and how intelligent she was at times. and how rambunctious she was and put me to the test many times. i did my best. >> more sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on q&a. >> now remarks by the deputy director of the johnson space flight center. she spoke at the u.s. air force academy national c

that suggestion, how did nasa receive that idea at first? >> well, i don't think there was any objection. the idea bore fruit in many, many different ways. it required the expenditure of a lot of money to build the neutral buoyancy simulator but it has paid off in training people for eva. it's irreplaceable. >> and thoroughly one of the tools of nasa today. have you had a chance to operate within that neutral tank at all in recent years? >> no. i was at the tank in houston, but i didn't get in the water but have i experienced doing that in the open ocean. with sea lab. >> that kind of brings us right back to where we started. sometime back you had described, if you will, your acquaintance, the working relationship with cousteau. so right now, you moved out of the realm of astronaut, let's move to transition. first of all, what you did after your flight became fairly common knowledge, and i think you were privy to the fact that you probably would not fly again. is that right? >> well, you know, not at the time of my choice. i got really fascinated with this idea that i discussed

but nasa started looking at me, several months, several months, several months went by and finally said, yes, all the tests show that you are no longer affected by this -- by this meniere's disease. so there i was, having made the right decision. >> i think we better backtrack a little here. because obviously this is going to bring you into direct discussion about a fella named deke slayton and we haven't established the fact that deke like you was knocked out of flying, so let's go back over a little of that, particularly because that happened back in the "mercury" days when deke was getting ready to fly. >> right. >> and i wonder when you first heard. >> yeah, deke had already been assigned to follow john, uh-huh. right. >> and suddenly he got bumped with his "mercury" flight. that was a heart condition, wasn't it? >> yeah. there was a lot of controversy about that. because it was a heart murmur or a palpitation. some irregularity. but one which was not obvious. i mean, it was not a continuous kind of thing. it was not as if he was, you know, getting ready for cardiac arrest or a

within the nasa appropriations that i don't anticipate will endanger any programs considering the retirement of space shuttle program and a shift in nasa's priorities, i believe we should use the funds in these accounts to help bring justice to defrauded investors, homeowners and consumers. my amendment pulls from nasa aeronautics, they have a budget of $56.9 -- $569.9 million in appropriations, a fair target since nasa only requested $551 funny 5 million and i'm making up the other portion to neutralize the impact on budgetary outlays by pulling $38 million from nasa's space operations, $3.9 billion in appropriations. in subtracting from these accounts, my amendment would encrease the f.b.i.'s budget by $9 million, increase d.o.j.'s legal activities appropriation by $13.5 million and increase the appropriations for u.s. attorneys by $21.5 million in an effort to comply with the obama administration's $55 million request. the f.b.i. needs the funding to increase its capacity to investigate financial and mortgage fraud schemes. the requested 40 new agents and four forensic accounta

grocery run of sorts now that the u.s. has retired nasa's space shuttle fleet, a private company will for the first time fly a nasa mission to resupply the international space station. here's nbc's tom costello. >> if all goes as planned, the rocket sitting on pad 40 at cape canaveral will forever change the way nasa does business. spacex is the first private company ever selected to carry nasa cargo. >> private spacecraft to come back from orbit. >> the man who runs spacex is south african born elon musk. >> this looks remarkably similar to the "apollo." >> they're sort of -- have this gumdrop shape. >> if his name sounds familiar -- >> i am ironman. >> he was the inspiration for the tony stark character in the ironman movies. but while tony stark's passion was robots and weapons, elon musk has always been passionate about space. today, the ironman costume stands on the floor at spacex headquarters in los angeles. so you're ironman? >> well, i am ironman in certain respects. >> a billionaire entrepreneur and inventor who founded paypal and the electric car company tesla motors, musk has

notices what they do. >> well, perhaps the navy should do oral histories as nasa's doing with space flight. since we are dealing with space flight, though, let's deal with other astronauts of the "mercury 7" group. if so -- once the telephone stops ringing, we'll pick up again. >> i was asking, let's get back on a space track. this is primarily obviously for nasa at johnson space center. oral histories there. and i was asking if you had met, had working acquaintance with any other astronaut after the "mercury 7." >> sure. and they're a highly respectable group, all of them. i really feel privileged to know these fellows as well as i did. i had a particular affection for ed white, and i hated to see what happened. he was the prince of the new guys. dave scott was a favorite of mine. but they're all highly accomplished, dedicated fellows that i was honored to know. >> let's take a look at some of the other people of that era and ask for your recollections. gunner vent. what do you remember? >> yeah. gunner vent. he's a great, great fellow. he was probably more closely associated with

space x falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the sector. >> you heard the announcer fellow. privately owned, unmanned space x falcon rocket on its way to resupply the international space station. if this all works out, this mission could open the door to a whole new wave of space exploration. more on what that could mean for the future of nasa. >> and launch of the space x falcon 9 rocket. >> rocket blasted off this morning, launching a new era in space travel. >> as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the international space station. >> for the first time ever, a private spacecraft is on a supply mission to the international space station. >> what a spectacular start. it was just picture perfect. >> controllers celebrated the historic launch. >> tremendous elation. it's like winning the super bowl. >> with the shuttle fleet permanently grounded, space x is one of several private companies competing for nasa contracts to carry cargo and eventually astronauts into space. the space capsule is carrying a thousand pounds of mostly food ask clothing. if all goes well, it will reac

buildup and shut down the engine. space-x is one of five private companies attempting to win a nasa contract for manned space flights. they're hoping a private company would provide a more cost-effective replacement for the shuttle program which ended last summer. space-x will use its unmanned dragon capsule to carry more than a thousand pounds of food and supplies to the iss. it will go through a practice of ma noouvs before it reaches the space station. a robotic arm will reach out and pull the capsule in. >> this is a test flight. >> reporter: nasa hopes a private company can deliver people to the space station by 2018. space-x hopes to do it at least two years earlier. now, if all goes according to plan, space-x will return to ertd sometime around the end of the month. it will splash down in the pacific much like the old apollo mission and hopefully be picked up by a ship and be used once again. terrell? >> dick, this is an important moment for the u.s. space program. if all goes well, what's next for space-x. >> reporter: you said the words, terrell "if all goes well." they say

. he was interviewed as part of the nasa johnson space center oral history project. this interview was conducted in 1999 by roy neal, longtime nbc news reporter and correspondent, who covered the american manned space program. it's a little over 50 minutes. >>> you ready to go, scott? >> let's go. >> you were born near colorado. anything that that background that led to your becoming an astronaut? >> not that i can think of skeptical coal mots. >> from there you went down to low country, meeving the navy. right down to sea level. why navy? >> well i was a naval aviate. but how in the world i got an affection for the deep blue ocean, having grown up in the high country of colorado, i don't know. i've pondered that question a lot and can't answer it for you. >> there is an evolution there, nonetheless though, because i see in your background, test pilot school, intelligence schools. all of these that led up to your being selected as an astronaut. can you describe that training and how you think it might have played off into that eventual choice? >> curiosity is a thread that goes through

fifth man to walk on the moon. he was interviewed as part of the nasa johnson space center oral history project. this interview was conducted just five months before alan shepard died of leukemia in july of 1998. he's interviewed by roy neal, longtime nbc news correspondent who covered the american manned space program. it's about 90 minutes. >> with alan shepard in pebble beach, california. you can't see the magnificent view, because we have blacked it out so we can have a good tape that would work. and alan, thank you for letting us be here with you for this oral history. >> it's a pleasure, sir. it's a pleasure. >> let's begin kind of not at the beginning, because it was a beginning before this. but does the date 9 april 1959 mean anything to you? >> well, of course, that was one of the happiest days of my life. that was the day in which we all congregated, officially, as the u.s. first astronaut group. we had been through a selection process, obviously, previous to that time. but that was the day we first showed up, officially, as the first astronauts of the united states ba

national captioning institute] >> next, nasa administrator charles bolden on a feature of america's manned space flight program. after that, remarks by paul ryan, chairman of the house budget committee. then 2012 commencement speeches by allen west. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor, solicitor general donald braley, arizona senator jon kyl and education secretary arne duncan. there is an extra day of "boo tv" this holiday weekend on c- span2. a different side of the new york politician and vice president, saturday night at 8:30 eastern. afterwards, the former director for asian affairs at the national security council on the impossible state, north korea. >> it is a ridiculous dialogue. you can tell them you need to improve your human rights situation and their response to you will be, well you, the united states, have human rights problems too. that is not a compared will discussion. >> also this weekend, the tale of operation red wing, from service, and navy seal at war. sunday night at 10:00 eastern. three days of "book tv this week anend. >> commercial space capsule docked at the s

meniere's, to stay with nasa, and during the time period when i was grounded, i could become very, very useful in the -- in the astronaut training business. and i suppose that we really had grown, if you consider the number of chaps that were involved in the simulators, for example, in the suiting procedures, taking care of the suits and so on, direct supporting facilities for the astronauts, really quite a number of people involved. s, they decided to make it a separate division. deke was the head of that division, and i was given the job specifically of the care and treating of these -- of these astronauts, in charge of their training, helping deke with crew assignments, that sort of thing. >> was it deke primarily that got you the job, or was it just the fact that you had all the qualifications? how did that work? >> well, i think it was just -- it was just a matter of saying what do we need. when i became grounded, informed nasa i was going to stay there, then we had two guys that really could have -- either one of us could have done the job. one little difference i think perh

langley. why langley, i wonder? >> well, of course, naca had become nasa in a great big hurried turn around, as you recall. and the program of astronaut selection and training basically was run by the people who worked from langley. originally of course we all reported in to washington. that was where the initiation, the introduction, the preselection, all that sort of routine went on. and then as you know, we had physicals elsewhere in the country. but once the selection was made we reported to those people at langley field. which was kind of neat for me because i was already stationed in norfolk in a job which i didn't like in the first place. i was finally taken out of airplanes and put behind a desk for the first time in a bunch of years. but -- so it was a real easy trip for us. we just didn't even have to move. >> in your journey to get there, it took you through test pilot school, took you through combat experience, took you through everything, didn't it? >> uh-huh. >> why was that, nasa decided to pick test pilots, of all things, to fly the first space mission? >> well, i thi

national geographic on an e-book about nasa's curiosity mission to mars. in his book, first contact, mark takes on a big subject, the hunt for life beyond earth. he does so in a very lively and engaging way. he somehow manages to treat the subject in a compact 200 pages, covering an impressive amount of ground or i should say space. here is how mark against. it is just as in the universe, what a terrible waste of space. but it is not. for the end of this century and perhaps much sooner than that scientists will determine that life exists elsewhere in the universe. this book is about how they're going to get there. now, how can you not be hooked after such a bold and intriguing opening assertion? the search for life beyond earth , pastor of biology. mart provides a first-person account traveling not just to observatories in chile and australia where scientists are searching the planet and the stars, but to remote places on earth, places like the mines of south africa and california's alkaline like, why gutser look places on earth if your focus is like an out is based? because if you can fi

magnitude cheaper than it is right now. is there any doubt in your mind that this is the way nasa and the country should go as it looks towards the future in space? >> no, not all. this is... it's not... this is not a path, it's the only path that will succeed. if this doesn't succeed, nothing will. >> reporter: the path to musk's bold vision is now taking him to the international space station. this falcon 9 rocket at cape canaveral is slated to launch a dragon capsule to the station, where spacex hopes it can safely orbit in close formation-- and then, if all goes well, berth- delivering a load of food, water and clothing, and then about two weeks later, return to earth. it sounds pretty routine, but this is a mission like no other in the history of space exploration. spacex is building rockets for nasa like boeing would build an airplane for an airline. the space agency is not directly involved in the process. it is an arms-length fixed price contract. why make this change? >> there isn't that much new or unknown about launching to low earth orbit anymore. we've been doing it for 50 ye

nasa and the u.s. space program. he argues that the exploration of space benefits americans more than they may think. this is just over two hours. >> good evening, everyone, and welcome. thank you for your patients. my name is susan morris command and a senior manager of public programs year at the museum. we are thrilled to have you all here tonight. give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] [applause] the american museum of natural history has been home to some of the country's greatest thinkers. scientists and citizens to have changed the way that we understand scientific and natural phenomenon and have brought that understanding to the national consciousness. from theodore roosevelt degenerated seminal american conservation and preservation practices, to margaret need to change the way we view and value other cultures. bringing his unique intellect and the force of personality to help us understand the beauty and the importance of space science and exploration. the frederick p. rosen director of the planetarium, born and raised in new york city. dr. tyson attended the brides

space station. here's mark strassman. >> and launch of the space-x falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the international space station. >> reporter: space-x hopes this morning's successful launch will push private enterprise deeper into space as a for-profit marketplace. nasa retired its shuttle fleet last year and the obamaed administration wants private aerospace companies to provide basic transportation to get astronauts into orbit. in a 2010 test flight, space-x launched a capsule into orbit and retrieved it, the first time a private company had achieved that feat. today's mission will be another first. a commercial space craft flying all the way to the international space station. on friday, the dragon capsule was stopped within 30 feet of the station, each of them moving 17,000 miles per hour in low-earth orbit. that's five miles a second. the station's robotic arm will grab the capsule, dock it and the station's crew will unload its supplies. charles bolden is nasa's administrator. >> there's a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, w

nasa to be the first lady astronaut trainees or f.l.a.t.s, called the mercury 13, as they underwent the same tests their male counterparts, the "mercury 7" astronauts. these women never flew a nasa mission. miss funk was interviewed as part of the nasa johnson space center oral history collection. this is about 50 minutes. >>> this is carol butler and i'm doing an oral history for the nasa history office with wally funk, retired ntsb investigator, senior flight instructor, chief pilot, wonderful woman of aerospace. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you very much for having me. >> to begin, if we could talk briefly about your early career and your interest in aviation developing and how you moved forward into the aerospace career as a woman. >> well, aerospace really was not a name in my young life, but flying airplanes was. and i got my first try at flying, just pure flying, by flying my superman cape off my daddy's barn when i was about 5 years old. and then i was allowed to make airplanes out of blocks of wood and hang them from my ceiling. when i went on it to college, i w

conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> nasa administrator charles bolden speaks at the international space development conference in washington. his remarks will coincide with the scheduled docking of the first commercial space capsule at the international space station. it's part of the obama administration's long-term plan for replacing the space shuttle program which ended in 2011. the goal is to have private companies handling flights to and from the space station, allowing nasa to focus on deep space missions. this is live coverage on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] finish [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good morning. good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national space society's 31st annual international space adopt conference. my name is paul damphousse, i'm the executive director of the national space society, and on behalf of the members, chapters, supporters and leadership of the nss, i'd like to express our

but a technical problem scrabble launching. nasa hopes it can mind lunch tuesday or wednesday rental pinkston reports >>> the countdown for lift off when all way down but the rockets never launched. >>> we've had a cut off lift off did not occur >>> at last second technical problem shut down one of nine engines scrubbing the first launch of our private spacecraft to the international space station. >>> this is not a failure we aborted what purpose >>> engineers will try to figure out what went wrong. >>> they'll either have to make a repair or worse case replace the engines >>> the shell used to be nasa's were course for delivering supplies and cruised to the space station and now the shuttle no longer flies nasa is looking for a cheaper way to get to space >>> x one of five firms competing for nasa contracts it launched the falcon 9 rocket two times before once the capsuled reaches the space station it will do practice maneuvers before it can dock. an armed will reach out and pull the capsule and. it helps to have astronauts aboard the capsule by 2015. randall pinkston cbs news kenn

lawmakers that would require schools to keep a simple potentially life saving device on hand. >> nasa is getting ready to take spot skies this weekend. we'll tale you about how space- x could change the way business is done on the final frontier and maybe one day change how we all travel. i hope so. love to get to the west coast quickly. agents, be on the lookout for aliens. [ people screaming ] hmm... oh, one small black cocoa creme iced coffee, please -- yum. woman: will that be all? [ brakes squeal ] uh-oh! not good. let me out of here! let me out of here! try dunkin's new black cocoa creme iced coffee and call star-star-d-d for a text to capture your alien today. the galaxy runs on dunkin'. ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...in my arms... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...and all your charms... ♪ whenever i want you, all i have to do is... ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing xfinity streampix. stream your favorite movies and full seasons of shows instantly on any screen. find out more online. >>> it's new

previously worked as a flight surgeon for nasa. he even head the the nasa team that helped officials rescue the 33 miners trapped in a mine in chile in 2010. his passenger who also died was identified as paul gardea. the two men were in at plane that collided with this one over fauquier county hitting the ground about a mile apart. thomas proven was at the controls of this plane which lost a wing and part of its tail. he survived that crash. >>> take a look at this. police in prince george's county have released this hoping it will help them track down a suspect in a fast food robbery. you see him climb right through the window there and confront one of the employees and push her around. it happened at a macdonald's on the 3500 block of branch avenue in hillcrest heights early tuesday morning. the suspect kicked in the drive- through window, climbed in and con fronted that employee. if you have any information in the case, arked to call prince george's county police. -- you are asked to call prince george's county police. >>> still ahead, we'll tell you why former president george w. bush w

making space exploration history, a local company is still competing for nasa's business. we'll take you to orbital sciences. >>> the spacex dragon capsule one step closer tonight to making history. the world's first private space supply ship looped around the international space station this afternoon, a test run before tomorrow's docking. spacex is on a resupply mission for nasa now that the space shuttle program is over. the capsule will be first private spacecraft to ever try to deliver something to the space station. there is another company hot on spacex's heels, orbital sciences based in dulles. as kristin fisher reports, it's poised to put virginia on the map as a leader in commercial spaceflight. >> launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket. >> reporter: spacex has taken the title of the first private company to launch a spacecraft to the space station. but orbital sciences based in dulles is just six months behind. their mission from nasa is the same, resupply the space station. orbital has had less time and less money to get the job done. >> we've closed the gap with the spacex tea

. >> for the first time a private business is getting involved in space missions with nasa. the spacex rocket launched from cape canaveral this morning, and it's heading to the international space station. dick brennan was there for the launch. glr. >> and launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket. >> reporter: the rocket blasted off this morning from cape canaveral launching a new era in space travel. >> as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the international space station. >> reporter: for the first time ever, a private spacecraft is on a supply mission to the international space station. >> what a spectacular start. it was just picture perfect. >> reporter: flight controllers celebrated the historic launch. >> degree men douse elation. it's -- tremendous elation. for us it's like winning the super bowl. >> reporter: with the shuttle fleet permanently grounded, spacex is one of several private companies competing for nasa contracts to carry cargo and eventually astronauts into space. the space capsule is carrying about a thousand pounds of mostly food and clothing. if all goes w

rocket is due to take off for the international space station. but it's not one of nasa's. and get ready for a ring of fire this weekend. that's what experts are calling a rare solar eclipse. we'll tell you where you can safely catch a glimpse of it as fox reports live tonight. wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. new v8 v-fusion plus energy. i haand then i have eleven my grandkids. right when you see them, they're yours, it's like, ah, it's part of me. it's me again. now that i'm retiring they all have plans for me. i'm excited. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with sympts of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take

ended in 2005. >>> well, a group of highly respected former nasa engineers, scientists, and astronauts are taking on the agency, sending a letter that criticizes nasa for what they say is the agency promoting global warning. joining us here in studio is a fox news contributor and nationally syndicated columnist. good morning. what are the astronauts saying? this seems pretty unusual. >> eric, how are you. good to see you. what they're doing is asking the space agency, nasa, to stop putting out press releases and making statements saying that carbon dioxide is causing a catastrophic warming of the planet, and i think this is very significant because people who are pro global warming will dismiss skeptics of the theory as flat earthers, knuckle dragging idiots, people who are anti-science. it's very hard to call anti-science two men who walked on the moon and two others who circled the moon but not landed and a total of 49 people who said don't push this theory, it's not proven, get off it. >> nasa's position is they don't push the theories. one of the chief scientists said nasa does not

where no private spacecraft has gone before. >> zero and launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the private secretary tore resupply the international space station. >> what a sight, huh? it happened not too long ago, a rocket built by the commercial space flight company, spacex blasted off an hour ago from cape canaveral, launched the unmanned dragon capsule to the international space station. the world's first commercial space station supply flight. nasa hanging its hopes on the mission now that the retired space shuttles are museum exhibits. john zerella is live in miami. i was watching you as it went into space. no glitches this time, right? >> reporter: no glitches, this is huge. you cannot understate how important this launch is. it paves the way for a whole new era in space flight. the white house releasing a statement saying it represents the potential for new era in american space flight. only four nations in the world have the capability and have ever actually rendezvoused and docked with the international space station. what spacex is attempting to do is to do

one of the leaders of nasa because today is the day that space x hooks up. right. >> yeah. >> with the space station. as soon as that happens, we will is have one of the heads of nasa on the show this morning. we are also going to barbecue and beer before the end of the show. a brewmaster coming in with samples. >> assuming we don't burn the studio down with the grill. >> so if you are anywhere near the studio just come on in for a beer. >> all right. >> i wouldn't go that far. and some disturbing on the sirius necessary, disturbing new finding in the trayvon martin case but first: >> this is the full court press. >> well, on this friday some other headlines making news folks at the daily caller have pulled one out, a good one out if the from the department of bright ideas the conservative websites plans to give away a gun a week until election day. the atlantic reporting the contest doesn't target any specific issue, only that a large number of their readers love guns. they are giving away 23 9 mil midnight meter fmk pistols through november 6th. >> tucker carlson's worst idea, a

stephanie. how sweet. >>> still to come, one of the companies competing to help nasa stock the international space station is in our own backyard. we'll introduce you to orbital science when we come back. >>> aaa >>> 900,000 people in our area will drive someplace for the memorial day holiday and if your travels take you toward roanoke, you'll find the best gas prices in the harrisonburg area of i-81. on gasbuddy.com we found three stations around the marketburg exit charging around 3.07 a gallon. you can fine the best gas prices in your area -- find the best gas prices in your area on wusa9. click on pump patrol. >>> lots of fuel used to send the spacex dragon cargo ship to the international space station. the commercial ship did a fly- by of the station today. it was a mile and a half away, but it still showed up like a tiny speck. so we highlighted it for you in that circle there on your screen. the dragon is scheduled to dock with the space station tomorrow. if it's successful, spacex will make history, but there's another company hot on its heels. orbital scientists based

. you have to let me out of this thing, i've got to go. the nasa engineers said no way. they had pulled back all the apparatus that surrounded the spacecraft and this little thing was standing on top of an 83-foot rocket all along and here is shepherd saying, come get me out, i have to go to the bathroom. so it set off this huge flurry of phone calls and conversations among all the engineers, and the chief of the rocket program, warner von brawn, former nazi who came to the united states after world war ii said, no, the astronaut shawl stay in the nose cone. and so he was stuck there for a little while longer and finally shepherd said, sorry, i'm going go in my suit, which set off another flurry of concern among the engineers. shepherd had all the censors attached to his body and they were afraid he was going to electrocute himself, but finally shepherd convinced them to shut off the power. he did what he had to do, they waited for a few minutes until it was absorbed by the suit and gingerly turned the power back on. when shepherd wasn't electrocuted, they were allowed to go ahea

, as nasa turns to the private sector to re-supply the internatiol space station. >> brown: with that, the rocket fired into the pre-dawn sky over cape canaveral, florida, opening a new era. space-x, or space exploration technologies, became the first private company to send a vessel to the international space station. billionaire founder elon musk exulted as he watched from the company's mission control in southern california. >> every bit of adrenaline in my body released at that point. it's obvioly an extremely intense mome. >> brown: he'd faced several delays, including a last-second abort on saturday when computers spotted a bad engine valve. >> some questions generated by the prior launch board. but actually it worked perfectly, so i was really glad to see that. and then, the second stage worked really well. and anything could he gone wrong, and everything went right, fortunately, so i feel very lucky. >> brown: the rocket lifted its cargo, the dragon capsule loaded with supplies, into orbit. on friday, it will attempt rendezvous with the space station as depicted in this nasa a