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CNN This Morning

China Sends Two Giant Pandas Off To Atlanta Zoo; At Least One Killed As Nor'easter Batters East Coast With Flooding, Fierce Winds; Two Mass Shootings In South Africa Leave 27 Dead; Pope Celebrates Mass With 150,000 People In Lourdes; Men Arrested In Major Incident At UK Air Base Used By US. Several People Arrested Near U.K. Airbase Used by U.S. Forces; Trump Posts Series of Attacks on Congresswoman Salazar; SpaceX Targets First Orbit Attempt in Major Starship Test. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired September 27, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:21]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to CNN This Morning. Here's what you need to know today. Breaking news, they are here. China's newest panda diplomats just touched down in Atlanta after an incredible 8,000 mile journey. We have team coverage ahead from Beijing and Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard this big crash. A bang, our house shook. We were just lucky to survive.

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ROSALES: Toppled trees, water everywhere and thousands of flight disruptions. A nasty nor'easter leaves a deadly and destructive mark as millions brace for yet another day of extreme weather. We're tracking it all ahead.

And breaking news from the U.K., several men under arrest on suspicion of offenses under the country's Explosives Act near an air base often used by U.S. forces. What we know.

And breaking overnight, two shootings in South Africa leave nearly 30 people dead. We are live with the massive manhunt for those suspects coming up.

And President Trump launching new attacks at members of his own party as some Republicans try to distance themselves from the president and his policies in this final sprint to the midterms.

It is Sunday, September 27th. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Isabel Rosales and for Victor Blackwell. They have landed this morning. We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of two giant pandas in Atlanta and we just got word they're here. China sent Ping Ping and Fu Shuang to zoo Atlanta. The tokens of goodwill left on a flight complete with apples and bamboo shoots this morning from China.

President Xi made the big announcement during his visit to the U.S. late last week. He called the giant pandas a quote envoy of friendship. We have team coverage this morning. Mike Valerio is in China's capital Beijing, but first we go to Rafael Romo live at the Atlanta Airport.

Rafael, I don't know if there's people around you that might have been waiting for this flight. I know it's super early in the morning. Do you have a sense of what the mood is like over there? I can tell you from here, lots of excitement.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if I can say so myself, very excited and not any other people that I can look at right now. But let me tell you, we had been closely watching the radar in the last few hours to monitor the progress of the Panda flight from China to Atlanta. FedEx flight 9756 arrived just a few minutes ago, and our producer, Nottingham, and photographer, Raffy Rodriguez, were able to witness the actual landing, which means that we can now confirm the good news.

The two giant panda bears have actually landed here at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Just a few moments ago I was able to see the flight itself pull into the hangar right behind me. It's hard to see because there are trucks and other structures blocking our view, but it took nearly 15 hours to get from Chengdu, China, where the flight originated, to this FedEx hangar behind me here at the airport.

That means that for the first time in nearly two years there will be giant pandas again here in Atlanta. The pandas arrival marks the beginning of the latest episode in Beijing's long tradition of using panda diplomacy to strengthen ties with the United States and other countries the flight departed China just a day after the conclusion of Chinese leader Xi Jingping's state visit to Washington. President Xi announced Thursday during his remarks at the White House that China would send two panda bears to the United States.

The giant panda, said, has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans. He was referencing, of course, the half century in which pandas lived in U.S. zoos on loan from the Chinese government and not only in Atlanta, also in cities like San Diego and Washington.

And again, now we can say that airplane right behind me, Isabel, that is the airplane that transported the two pandas that now can call Atlanta their home. So, a lot of excitement for a lot of people here for the first time in two years. Now we have pandas in Atlanta. Now back to you.

ROSALES: And I think the plane, right? It's a FedEx plane. Does it have a panda on it as well? ROMO: Right, yes, that's -- that's what we understand.

[07:05:00]

And we learned early on what flight there was going to be so we were able to track it. We were able to track the progress and we had our team deployed at different points here at the airport to make sure that indeed that's what it was. I can tell you too that authorities both at the zoo with Chinese government, they were guarding this information closely. Of course, nobody wants to put the pandas in any danger. They're going to be quarantined. I don't think I'm going to be able to see them, but it's understandable.

It's a delicate species and they want to make sure that they're doing OK, that they're kept in a way that they're going to be healthy here in Atlanta as well.

ROSALES: Hey, you put that panda watch, you took it seriously. Bravo. You got the plane. Rafael Romo, thank you.

And Chinese state media reports that the pandas also got a warm send off before the cuddly pair went on to their big adventure here to Atlanta. CNN correspondent Mike Valerio is in Beijing with more. Mike, how big of a deal is this from China's perspective?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I would say it's a huge deal. I mean, among many people throughout China, I would say millions of people because it's a through line through history of this continuing from the days of Mao Zedong, who established this tradition in 1974. Relations can change, but this fuzzy tradition remains the same.

Let's go to the video of the sendoff, though, in southwestern China, in Chengdu. It was a panda motorcade of sorts. You see the vehicles there, the trucks with the panda pictures and people with big panda placards waving good after they spent the first six years of their lives here in China.

You know, as Rafael noted, it's a big, fluffy, fuzzy undertaking to have not one but two pandas do so well for 15 plus hours on a flight. So there were two main things that researchers and keepers were doing in China for the past month to make sure that this journey to America would go all right.

Training number one, making sure they were okay with the pens because heaven forbid this moment would happen 15 hours ago and the pandas if they weren't trained perhaps they might not want to go into those pens and be scared of them that didn't happen and then item of training number two having been exposed to aircraft noises because pandas as you know are pretty chill animals. They don't like loud noises at all.

So over the past month they were exposed to more and more gentle aircraft noises so they would not be scared of what was ahead of them in a month's time.

Now, in terms of if you are going to visit these pandas in the, you know, you near future the highlight of, you know, the experience of seeing them is that they have two very different personalities. Ping Ping, the male. He's very peaceful, very demure, very chill. Fu Shuang, the female, she sometimes exhibits chaotic energy especially at snack time, as you noted last hour, who among us does not?

But again, people are thrilled because we have these White House summits. We have Xi Jinping and Donald Trump meeting in Shenzhen, China next summer -- next, I should say November in just a few weeks time. So, it certainly represents another dimension of diplomacy that so many people can come together and say, you know, this is what we want our friendship to be between these two superpowers. Very good feelings, I would say on both sides of the ocean today, Isabel.

ROSALES: Hey, you can't blame a girl, Fu Shuang, for wanting a snack. Mike Valerio. Thank you.

VALERIO: No.

ROSALES: All right, making a turn now. We've got to talk about that powerful nor'easter that is still pounding the northeast. Flood waters are swamping coastal communities, strong winds are toppling trees, and thousands of people are without power. The storm has reportedly claimed at least one life, a 56-year-old man out of Brooklyn.

Officials say the New York City Housing Authority employee was walking through a parking lot when a tree fell and sadly killed him. This is what the storm looks like out of Avalon, New Jersey. Coastal flood warning remains in effect along the Jersey Shore through this afternoon. Officials are warning people to stay off of flooded streets and away from the beach and ocean.

From flooded streets to battered shorelines, this right here is video from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, showing massive waves slamming into a seawall and then sending that seawater crashing into homes along the shore. There are over 137,000 customers across the Northeast without power, with of course New York and Connecticut reporting the largest outages.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is riding out the storm in whole Massachusetts. Derek, a lot of wind, still rain. What are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Isabel, conditions are still really intense. Wishing I was in the studio with you right now, right? But we're looking at some of the highest wind gusts and what we found was incredible. There was a 70-mile per hour wind gusts in Barnstable County in Massachusetts near the Cape. So that's just to our South. We're in Hull, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.

[07:10:03]

But that's incredible even widespread 60, 65-mile per hour wind gusts. We're still getting battered with tropical storm force winds so this storm even though the worst of the wind has subsided it is still very powerful and it's still driving up a very angry Atlantic ocean which is just over my shoulder to the left. We're not going to point the camera in that direction because the rain is so intense it'll block our shot. But we can tell why this storm has become unfortunately lethal because it's gusting so heavily and the trees still have leaves on them. We haven't dropped our tree the leaves yet from the autumn season, so they're acting like sales catching all of this persistent wind and with the two to four inches of rain that's already fallen in the area, the saturated ground, it can topple trees and unfortunately that's how one of the fatalities has occurred.

What we have coming forward is still this relentless northeasterly wind from -- from our nor'easter the defining perimeter of these storms. And that's going to push up the ocean through several high tide cycles. So coastal erosion and coastal flooding is still a concern anywhere from southern New England. The east facing shorelines of the Jersey Shore into Long Island Sound that area.

These are the concerns that we have going forward. Power outages still a concern. We've got about 10,000 customers here in Massachusetts alone, but widespread over 100,000 people without power right now. Isabel.

ROSALES: Derek Van Dam, stay safe out there and as dry as you possibly can. Really appreciate that. Thank you.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us now and man, he's really going through it out there and unfortunately this thing is just moving slow.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I was going to say Massachusetts is not the only one that looks like that this morning. There are a lot of other areas because yes, part of the problem with this particular nor'easter has been the incredibly slow, almost stationary movement over the last 24 hours.

Now once we get to the latter half of the day today, we are finally going to start to make some pretty decent forward progression. But until then the storm looks very similar to what it did last night and the peak really has been last night through early this morning. Not just in terms of rain, but also in terms of the very gusty winds.

You can see here we've got some heavy showers mostly right now across areas of Massachusetts and even around Rhode Island, although it's now starting to spread outward from that area. But this is going to be the case. It's going to be off and on throughout the rest of the day. Today you'll go from light rain to heavy rain, light rain to heavy rain. That's why you still have the potential for some additional flooding in these areas.

It's because now the ground is already completely saturated in many places. We're going to be adding more rain on top of it, and even though most of these areas aren't expected to get a tremendous amount of rain yet today, maybe an extra 2 to 4 inches. It's the fact that it's on top of what they already had from the last 24 to 48 hours. That's what triggers the flooding concern.

So here you can see again the forecast radar. This is into the evening. Again, you can see some more heavy rain bands once again across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, another round starting to spread back in across New Jersey and upstate New York that will spread into Pennsylvania.

So again, even if you have some lighter times, you're also going to have some of those heavier rain bands all the way through this evening. And once we get to Monday morning, it is still going to be a soggy commute for areas from New Jersey all the way up to Maine. But we should finally start to see that gradually taper off as we get through the latter half of the day Monday and the wind component is still expected to be strong through today.

But by the time we get to tonight, almost all of these wind alerts are going to finally go away, which is good news. We still will have some wind gusts up around 30 to 40 miles per but not the 50 to 60 that we had last night.

ROSALES: Hey, any silver lining is good and must be taken seriously as we saw somebody unfortunately has already lost her life. Allison Chinchar. Thank you.

Well, breaking overnight, pair of deadly mass shootings in South Africa. 17 people were killed and 15 others wounded when eight unidentified men opened fire on customers at a tavern. It happened in the township of Wedela in the West Rand district near Johannesburg.

Also this morning, 10 people were shot and killed at an entertainment venue in the Western Cape of South Africa. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is tracking those latest developments. Stefano, good morning.

It seems that these mass shootings are happening with alarming frequency in South Africa. What can you tell us?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT: Yes, alarming frequency, unfortunately. It's truly dreary news coming out of the African country. And compared to the last hour, in the last six minutes, we are following fresher lines. For what concern, the massacre in Cape Town, to the southeast of the nation, where the police seems to suggest that the preliminary investigation showed that all of this was due to a business dispute. Take a listen.

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LT. GEN. SIZKHELE WILLIAM DYANTYL, SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE: Now according to the owner, in terms of the criminal investigation that we have.

[07:15:03]

It seems there is a business jealousy that might have been the issue.

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POZZEBON: Business jealousy. That's how the Cape Town Police Commissioner motivates what happened there where unknown government arrived at a bar at around 1.46 a.m. local time and opened the fire against locals and bystanders, killing at least 10 people. A similar situation happened up north, closer to Johannesburg, in the township of Wedela, where 17 people have been killed, according to the police and the preliminary findings.

In this case the attackers used both AK-47 automatic rifles as well as pistols and set to vehicles on fire. And Isabel, this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to police data, there are about 58 murders on average every single day in South Africa. Back in March, the president, Cyril Ramaphosa called it the most immediate threat to our democracy and our way of living.

Unfortunately, a situation where this country really doesn't seem to be able to turn the page. Isabel.

ROSALES: Yes. And with the tavern attack, to think this could have been from a business dispute or jealousy, how they phrased it, incredible and sad. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you.

Well, we are monitoring developments in the United Kingdom where several people have been arrested near an Air Force base used by U.S. forces.

Plus, Pope Leo drawing huge crowds during his visit to France. More on his visit to one of the nation's holiest sites that's ahead.

And Lindsey Clancy will be back in court again for the first time since the mistrial and her triple murder case. Those stories and more after the break. Stick around.

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[07:21:40]

ROSALES: Welcome back. Pope Leo celebrated mass in France this morning in front of Lord Main Basilica to an estimated 150,000 people. He used the moment to express his opposition to euthanasia and medically assisted dying. The French Catholic Shrine is associated with miraculous cures and is also a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

Today the Pope is also meeting with the bishops of the French Episcopal Conference. More now from CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb.

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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the American pope is proving very popular in what is a highly secularized country in France. Another big crowd have turned out to see the pope here in Lourdes in the southwest of the country. More than 100,000 for a mass led, celebrated by Pope Leo.

He's here in what is a major Catholic pilgrimage site in France and the mass taking place just by the most holy part of Lourdes, the grotto, where it is believed that the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl in the 1850s.

Now, the Pope has been very keen to encourage what has been seen as a rise of young people becoming Catholic. And I've been amongst the crowd. There's young people here. There's people from all over the world really excited to see the Pope.

But while he is in France, he is also addressing some of the major crises in the Church. And he is going to later be meeting with abuse survivors here in Lourdes. And he has met with the bishops of France for a behind closed doors meeting where it is expected that he will address this topic of abuse. But this has been an action-packed trip for the Pope in France. Tomorrow he heads to Metz for a major political speech. Christopher Lamb, CNN, Lourdes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: And here's some of the other stories making headlines this morning. British police say they arrested several men in a village close to an air base used by U.S. on suspicion of offenses under the country's Explosives Act. The village is just two miles away from the Royal Air Force Base at Fairford. Some residents have been evacuated to local centers.

In March, the U.K. granted the U.S. permission to use the base to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites targeting ships on the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump wants to use a controversial budget provision known as a pocket rescission to cancel nearly a billion dollars in funding that's already been approved by Congress, including money to help refugees and minority businesses. The White House says Trump is targeting wasteful spending, but Democrats and some Republicans who are criticizing the move say that the president is simply canceling funding that he does not like. They also insist that Trump does not have the right to claw back congressional approved spending without the approval of Congress.

And we have new details about the security breach yesterday at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Officials say an intruder breached the perimeter at the base and then got into a violent confrontation with security officers. The suspect and an officer suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital nearby. Officers detained the suspect and an investigation is underway.

[07:25:03]

Still to come, President Trump is ramping up his criticism of Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar. More on the falling out between them and what has caused it. That's next.

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ROSALES: Welcome back. We have breaking news out of the United Kingdom linked to an air base used by U.S. forces. British police say they arrested several men in a nearby village on suspicion of offenses under the country's Explosives Act.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is joining us now live from Fairford, England with the latest details. Nic, what are you learning?

[07:30:00]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is the Fairford Air Base right behind me. You can see some of the Ministry of Defense police, unusually for policing in the U.K. heavily protective equipment, tactical gear, armed officers here securing the area of the base. This road leading to the base is closed. There's a couple of helicopters in the air hovering around over the air base here. This remains a closed area while this investigation is ongoing.

We also know that the army has their bomb disposal teams, their explosives experts, on the site. Several vehicles found believed to potentially have explosives in them. Several people arrested at this site earlier today. And it is the scene of an ongoing investigation.

We just passed a few hundred meters away down the road here a small community center where a number of those families who've been evacuated from one of the villages that's right on the edge of the base here, they've been evacuated to a community center. You can see firetrucks based there as well as other personnel, emergency personnel.

What we understand at the moment is that this investigation is being led by the counter-terrorism police. There is no word yet from authorities in the U.K. about who may have been behind the discovery of these vehicles that potentially have explosives or who these several individuals who've been arrested, who they may be representing or, if you will, you know, perpetrating an action for. None of that is clear at the moment.

But a major incident underway here and that is very, very unusual in the U.K. The prime minister is being kept informed, the minister of Defense here, where Streeting has said he's very thankful for the emergency services personnel who responded quickly. This news broke literally just a couple of hours ago, so really hitting the headlines very quickly.

We are just about two hours west of London and of course this base used by the U.S. Air Force, is used by the -- is used as part of the combat support wing. They help plan some of the U.S.'s long-range strike missions and of course a base here that's been used since March by the U.S. Air Force for some of the long-range strikes on Iran. Iranian IRGC members had earlier in the year threatened retaliation against the British if their bases were used for strikes on Iran.

Following that, the British officials said -- the British MOD said that they were quite ready and prepared to deal with any potential threats again at this time. Absolutely not clear who is behind this particular major incident. Plenty of police here keeping it secure.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, very serious. Really appreciate the rush to you, Nic, and your photo journalists for getting us these live images and for your report. Thank you.

Well, just 37 days until the midterm elections and President Trump is ramping up his attacks on Republican Congresswoman out of Florida, Maria Elvira Salazar. Salazar gained national attention last week when she broke with the president on his immigration tactics and last night the president reposted a series of social media attacks against her.

I want to bring in Larry Sabato. He's the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, really appreciate you coming on the show. So, we saw this ad with her saying, hey, Mr. President, you went too far on immigration and now he's calling her a backstabber. What do you make of this spoiling of the relationship? And does she need him to win?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA AND CO-AUTHOR, "CAMPAIGN OF CHAOS": Well, I think she probably did the right thing. It's possible that she will alienate some of the more extreme pro-Trump voters, but probably not. They don't want the Democrat to win.

And, you know, this is a case of a Republican waking up to the fact that Donald Trump is more than 20 points underwater. He is in worse shape than George W. Bush was in the 2006 midterm when Bush lost both the House and the Senate. So, I think it's an interesting move. It may well pay off. Trump, of course, can go back and forth, criticize you one day, praise you the next day, especially if you win. And winning is pretty much everything to him.

ROSALES: Yes. And we have a new CNN poll that finds Republicans heading into the midterms with a weaker political landscape than they faced back even in 2018, where Democrats picked up 41 seats. Trump's approval rating is even lower than it was then, and just 27 percent of Americans approve of how he's handling the economy right now. And looking at the generic ballot, the new poll finds that voters prefer Democratic candidates for Congress by eight points nationally.

[07:35:00]

That's -- Larry, that's a significant advantage, but it's actually smaller than the Democrats' 12-point advantage at this point back in 2018. What do you make of that? And shouldn't they be doing better, at least, in this polling?

SABATO: Well, I'm sure they're quite happy with eight. And of course, you can get obsessed with what number really matters in the generic ballot. I think eight would absolutely secure the House of Representatives for Democrats, and it would make the Senate very, very competitive, which it already is. The problem for Democrats is not so much where the generic ballot is. It's the fact that the real contests in the Senate, and some in the House, are in Republican territory, in the Senate, in very Republican territory, like Texas and Alaska. And Kansas, of all places, has become very competitive.

So, when you look at the broad picture, you can tell which party is doing better. Will it be good enough for Democrats to get the 51 or maybe even 52 seats they need, depending on what Senator Fetterman in Pennsylvania does? That we'll just have to wait and see, because 37 days is 37 eternities in the Trump era.

ROSALES: Yes. The House is certainly in play, and it sounds like you think the Senate is too, which was something that was preposterous not that long ago, but here we are, but still 37 days out. I want to stay on the economy because, as they say, it's the economy, stupid, right? Over two-thirds of registered voters call the economy poor in that CNN poll and, quote, "extremely important to their vote. And the same amount of Americans say that Trump has worsened economic conditions in the country. The majority say that the war in Iran, the tariffs, have hurt them financially.

And I want you to take a look at this at an ABC-Ipsos poll that asked the question, which party do you trust more in gas prices? Democrats have gone from trailing Republicans by 17 points to leading by 13 points today. And then also, which party do you trust more when it comes to inflation? We have a Marquette University poll. About eight months ago, the GOP was up by one point. Now, Democrats are up by 12 points. Larry, any of this come as a surprise to you? Are we looking at the beginnings of a blue wave here?

SABATO: Oh, I think there's going to be a blue wave. It's just a question of how high the blue wave is going to get. Does it get so high that we call it a tsunami, or is it just a big blue wave, which is enough to carry the House, but maybe not the Senate? But you'd much rather be the Democrats than the Republicans right now.

The interesting thing to me is that when you look at where the two parties were, where they are now, look at those numbers you've just come across, you've just recited for us. That means when you have that large a majority being unhappy, upset about the economy, you've got loads of Republicans and conservative independents who are also very unhappy. Maybe they're truck drivers who normally vote Republican or have been voting for Trump. With the diesel prices they're paying, are they really going to go to any effort to vote for Trump?

And that's where I think the election is going to be decided. It's differential turnout. Does this depress Republican turnout? I don't think many of those Republicans are going to vote Democratic. But what they may do is vote with their feet, meaning their feet are resting. They're not voting. And that's where elections are won and lost, especially in mid-term elections.

ROSALES: Yes, and the margin of the majority is also an important topic. Larry, really appreciate you coming on. Larry Sabato, thank you.

SABATO: Thank you.

ROSALES: Well, still ahead, the countdown clock is ticking for SpaceX coming up, why tomorrow's launch is such a major step for its program.

And good morning, Baltimore. Remember, you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right now from the CNN app. You can also go to cnn.com/watch.

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[07:40:00]

ROSALES: Welcome back. Right now, SpaceX is gearing up for the 14th flight of Starship. It is the company's massive rocket it hopes will one day carry people and cargo to the moon, Mars, and beyond. And if it all goes as planned Monday, it will be the first time Starship reaches orbit around Earth.

Joining me now from Reuters is space reporter Joey Roulette. Joey, thank you so much for joining us here on the show. Hey, put this into perspective for us. This launch, why is it getting so much attention?

JOEY ROULETTE, SPACE REPORTER, REUTERS: Yes. So, this is like the next major challenge that SpaceX faces in its Starship program, and I think the most important, the rocket is getting to orbit for the first time. Since 2023, I think there's been 13 Starship tests so far, and none of them have gone so far into orbit, which is where rockets are supposed to go when they're deploying payloads.

And so, this one also has 23 new Starlink satellites on it as well, which is really the profit center of SpaceX. So, it's an important test for this rocket that's supposed to be the centerpiece of SpaceX's future ambitions with everything they want to do. But it's also a pretty important, you know, kind of revenue -- first revenue milestone for their new Starlink upgrade.

ROSALES: And if this flight goes as SpaceX hopes, what does this mean for the company's bigger plans in space? You mentioned getting orbit is the first part.

[07:45:00]

ROULETTE: Yes. So, they want to continue. on a regular cadence of deploying Starlink satellites using Starship. And so, that's a big revenue generating goal for SpaceX. But there's a lot of other things that hang on this mission, such as landing on the moon. I mean, SpaceX is a pretty important contractor for NASA's Artemis program, which is trying to get humans on the moon by 2028 now. That's probably going to be a little bit of a challenge for SpaceX. But Starship is a major vehicle that's going to allow that to happen alongside a separate lander from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

So, this is a test that's very important for SpaceX's Starlink business, but also very important for the U.S. space program because it's a central kind of piece of the Artemis program at NASA.

ROSALES: Yes. And let's talk about that, because SpaceX has been working toward this moment for years. What would a successful launch say about how far the program has come?

ROULETTE: The program has come a very long way. I mean, this rocket has been in development for almost a decade now. And, of course, Elon has had various different projections on when this thing is going to get into orbit. It's a few years later than he initially anticipated years ago, I think 2021 or some year around then was when he was expecting it at first.

But, you know, this is probably the most important milestone in Starship's development so far. There's been explosions and suborbital tests, and usually they just kind of almost go around the world once, but this time the rocket's going to go around the world six times, six orbits at about 275 kilometers, deploying satellites. So, you know, anything can happen within this 10-hour mission. We'll see.

ROSALES: Hey, it's a big moment. Joey Roulette, really appreciate you coming on the show and talking to us about this. Thank you.

ROULETTE: Thanks for having me.

ROSALES: Well, still ahead, an SEC showdown. Florida takes out Ole Miss in a blowout. Carolyn Manno has your game day highlights in this morning's sports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

ROSALES: Here's a look at stories we're covering in the week ahead. On Tuesday, Lindsay Clancy returns to court for the first time since her murder case ended in a mistrial. Clancy was charged with murdering her three young children, but the jurors could not unanimously agree on a verdict.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics will release the jobs report for September on Friday. It will be the final snapshot of the U.S. jobs market ahead of the midterm elections. The August report saw 162,000 jobs added to the economy and unemployment at 4.1 percent.

And we're still tracking that powerful nor'easter along the East Coast. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is joining us now. At what point are we out of the woods? In a couple more days?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK. Yes. Unfortunately, we've still got today. We also still have a portion of Monday where you're going to be contending with a lot of these heavy showers and even the gusty winds.

Now, we're kind of wrapping up the peak of the storm as we speak, but this is a delayed effect, especially for the rivers, creeks and streams that are starting to fill up. That takes days to see those come back down. So, here's a look at the radar again, the heaviest rain right now across portions of southern New Jersey and this area right through here across portions of Massachusetts. So, a lot of the western Boston suburbs looking at some of those very heavy rain bands coming in right now.

We still are looking at an extra two to four inches of rainfall for the remainder of the day today and tomorrow. That may not sound like all that much, but remember, this is on top of what they've already had the last 48 hours. And if some of those places have already had two to four and you add more, you're looking at six to eight inches of rain in some of these locations.

Here's a look at the forecast radar. By the time we get to this evening, again, you can still notice several heavy bands from New Jersey all the way up towards Maine. Once we get into the early hours of Monday, it is still going to be a soggy start to the commute for several areas from New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, a lot of these areas. It's also the wind. Now, the many of these wind advisories are going to wrap up through the day today. So, that is some good news. It doesn't mean the wind is going to go down to zero, though. It just means that instead of 50 to 65 miles per hour, we're going to be looking at wind gusts around 25 to 35 miles per hour through the evening tonight and even through the morning hours tomorrow.

ROSALES: Hey, any little bit of good news that we can take, we'll take it. Thank you, Allison.

Well, Oregon takes down USC in a Big Ten summer. CNN's Carolyn Manno joins me now. Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Let's start with that thrilling Big Ten showdown between number 20, Oregon and 12th ranked USC. The story of the game actually was the injury to Oregon's starting quarterback, Dante Moore. He left in the first half. But then his backup, Dylan Raiola, stepped up seamlessly in this game. Raiola stepping in, throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns. This was really a back-and-forth battle. USC came back strong early in the fourth quarter behind quarterback, Jayden Maiava, connected with some no-kinds there to tie the game at 27.

Oregon quickly answering. Raiola connecting with Dakorien Moore for this go-ahead 29-yard touchdown before a late rushing score sealed the 41-27 win to extend Oregon's winning streak over the Trojans to five games dating back to 2019.

In a statement making SEC blowout on Saturday afternoon, the 21st ranked Gators routing fourth-ranked Ole Miss. Florida's offense completely controlled the game through a relentless rushing attack. They racked up 300 total yards on the ground. Running back Jadan Baugh led the charge 142 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries. His teammate, Duke Clark, adding 126 yards and a score.

So, after being up 17 six-and-a-half, the Gators catching fire after the break. They scored on all five of their second-half possessions. Final score, Florida 52, Ole Miss 28, moving the Gators to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2019.

And in his final career start, Justin Verlander sharing this deeply emotional moment on the mound with his seven-year-old daughter Genevieve. This was so sweet. This was the sixth inning.

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Detroit manager A. J. Hinch orchestrating the surprise visit and a tearful Verlander pulling her into a long embrace, walking off the field for the final time with his team, holding his daughter's hand to a standing ovation and capping off a legendary 21-year MLB career that includes 266 wins, more than 3,500 strikeouts, three Cy Young awards, an MVP, two World Series titles and three no-hitters, hugging his family, Kate Upton there with his children and saying goodbye for the final time.

Anytime you see a fierce competitor break down like that, it's just so sweet. That was one of the best moments from the weekend, Isabel.

ROSALES: Hey, a beautiful moment and an amazing career. Carolyn Manno, thank you for that.

And thank you for joining us on CNN This Morning Weekend. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next. But before you go, we leave you with a live look at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, where you can see that the FedEx plane that just carried the two giant pandas from China, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, they should be emerging from that open door soon as they embark on a 10-year stay right here in Atlanta. Good for us. All right. Stay with CNN.

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