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One World with Zain Asher
Trump Unveils New U.S. Tariffs for Nations around the Globe; Canadian PM "Disappointed" in New 35 Percent U.S. Tariff; Gaza Residents Risk Their Lives to try to Access Food; No China-U.S. Deal Yet, Truce in Place Until August 2; 2 Americans, 1 Japanese, 1 Russian Astronaut on Board SpaceX Spacecraft; NASA Launches 4-Person Crew to International Space Station. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 01, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right, President Trump unveils new global tariffs to take effect next week. "One World" starts right now. U.S.
markets are sinking as Trump escalates his global trade war. My guest this hour is the Former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative under President
Obama, Wendy Cutler.
Plus, President Trump's Special Envoy is in Gaza for a firsthand look at the humanitarian crisis. All of this comes amid reports that Israeli forces
fired warning shots within inches of a crowd waiting for a U.N. aid convoy in Gaza as well.
And we are counting down to the launch of NASA's SpaceX crew 11 mission from the Kennedy Space Center this hour as well. Coming to you live from
New York. I'm Zain Asher. My colleague and friend Bianna Golodryga is off today. You are watching "One World".
Want to begin with a new trade era, a new era of global trade in just six months, U.S. President Donald Trump has upended a century of precedent
announcing higher tariffs on just about every single country in the world. Let's take a look and see how markets are reacting.
We see the DOW there, squarely in the red down. The DOW is down about one and a third percent, and then you have the S&P 500 down 1.5 percent, and
the NASDAQ down about 2 percent. Today was Donald Trump's deadline for countries to make a deal or see higher tax rates on goods that they export
to the U.S.
The White House has now set those rates, but they most likely won't take effect until August 7th, so U.S. Customs and Border Protection can actually
have more time to process those changes. Here's how it's all breaking down. Countries with which the U.S. has a trade surplus will face a universal 10
percent tariff rate.
About 40 countries with which the U.S. runs a trade deficit will pay about 15 percent and some 26 countries will be subject to tariffs higher than 15
percent deals with China and Mexico are still pending. President Trump talked up his plan on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have made a few deals today that are excellent deals for the country. You know, we're
taking in literally trillions of dollars for the country. This is making our country very rich and respected again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: In addition, there will be levies targeting various industries, including steel and copper and automobiles. Mr. Trump has previously
threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals as high as 200 percent that's been begin our coverage with CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House.
You know, Donald Trump had been mocked for his sort of TACO trade policy. This idea that Donald Trump always chickens out, he's proving today that
that is not the case. He did say to us that this deadline was going to stay, and obviously we did see an exception for Mexico with that 90-day
extension for Mexico, but by and large, he stuck his guns.
And this is the reaction. Obviously, the president is right that there has been a huge number of amounts of money in terms of what's been collected
from these tariffs. But obviously it likely will backfire at some point on the U.S. economy, just in terms of American consumers ending up paying
more. Kevin, what more can you tell us?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and you're already starting to see the squeeze on the economy in the weaker jobs' numbers
today. And certainly, something to look out for are the higher prices that so many economists have warned will be a result of these tariffs.
By and large, most companies have held off jacking up prices until now because, one, they weren't necessarily sure that these tariffs would go
into effect, but two, they wanted to sort of avoid the ire of President Trump, who would accuse them of trying to build their consumers.
Now that these tariffs are going into effect, and they seem as if that they will be in place by next week, that's not necessarily a guarantee anymore,
and so by potentially the end of this year, the start of early next year, those higher prices could very much start to take hold. But you know,
you're right.
This is now an entirely new era. President Trump reshaping the entire global trade environment to his liking. You know, in some ways, these rates
were a little bit lower than a lot of countries had feared, but there's still, overall, a tariff rate that is now at a more than century high.
The grace period that the president announced. You know, we thought these would go into effect this past midnight. They're going to go into effect
the seventh of July. So next Thursday, that was something of a surprise. It allows the customs inspectors to get more time to get used to these higher
rates.
[11:05:00]
But it also allows time for these countries to try and get in, to negotiate trade deals, to try and get their tariff rates lower. And you heard in that
clip of President Trump saying that they had negotiated some of these deals yesterday. We don't know what those deals are at this point.
The president didn't actually say and White House officials haven't revealed it, but it is sort of holding out the prospect that we could learn
about more of these deals, you know, in the coming hours or in the coming days before these tariffs take effect, the rates are, you know, somewhat
complicated.
There's the 10 percent rate. That's the global baseline, 15 percent rate for countries that have mild deficits. On the other end of the spectrum,
you see these enormous rates on some of the poorest countries in the entire world, you know, hovering around 40 percent for a country like Syria or
Myanmar.
Not precisely clear how the president determines those rates. It seems like the highest rate right now is on Brazil. That 50 percent penalty that
really doesn't seem to have anything to do with trade at all. You know, the U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil. The president putting that rate in
place because of what he calls political persecution of the country's Former President Jair Bolsonaro.
You see how the president is using these to influence trade, but also using them to influence all of his other geopolitical priorities,
ASHER: And just in terms of Canada, Canada is subject to a 35 percent tariff, particularly on the goods that are exempt from USMCA, I mean, just
walk us through that. Mark Carney has come out and said, Listen, he's certainly disappointed. But how open is the door at this point for further
negotiations in the weeks ahead?
LIPTAK: Yeah, and the talks will continue, although over the last week, you've heard a growing amount of pessimism from Carney at the idea a deal
would be reached anytime soon. And this is another example of the president using an issue that is not directly related to trade and using that as sort
of a pretext for these higher tariffs.
This spike from 25 percent to 35 percent on Canada was related to the fentanyl crisis. The president saying that Canada hasn't done enough to
curb the flow of fentanyl across the northern border, although we should note, last year, there were 19 kilos of fentanyl that came across the
northern border, there were 9600 kilos that came across the southern border.
And Mexico has actually fared quite better than Canada in all of this. The president spoke yesterday to Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican President, and
put in place this 90-day reprieve. And so, I think in one way, this kind of exemplifies the president's attitudes towards Canada as a whole.
You know, he said he wants to annex it. He had seemed like he was getting along relatively well with Mark Carney, but obviously their relationship
has run hot and cold. And so, it's another example of the president using these tariffs to punish countries for reasons that are not entirely related
to trade at all.
ASHER: Yeah, seeing in Canada and as you point out, Brazil as well. Kevin Liptak, live for us there at the White House. Thank you so much. Let's take
a closer look at these tariffs with Wendy Cutler, she served as the Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative under the Obama Administration, and is
Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
She joins us live now from Kyoto in Japan. Wendy, thank you so much for being with us. First of all, just your reaction. I mean, as I was
mentioning to our correspondent, you know, we had seen some skepticism at various points throughout this year that some of these trade policies would
actually go into effect because Trump Administration kept on extending the deadline.
We saw that multiple times this year, but here we are, August 1st. It's come and these policies are going into effect, technically, next week. Your
reaction?
WENDY CUTLER, FORMER ACTING U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I think the president has succeeded in getting countries to negotiate deals with him,
the EU, the Korea, the Japan deal are pretty significant, and other deals followed. And so, I think it shows that countries two things that they
value, continued access to the U.S. market.
And second, they weren't prepared to retaliate, fearing that Trump would counter retaliate, and so they took the less of two evils, concluded these
deals. But frankly, these deals, in many respects, are vague, and each side has different views on what was agreed to, so I don't know how durable
they're going to be.
ASHER: Yeah, I think what's interesting is that you know, I mean, obviously, when you're in a trade war with the entire world, I mean, it is
very difficult to negotiate trade deals with each country, or any kind of robust trade deal with each country, one at a time. And that's probably
part of the reason why only a handful of deals had been agreed to.
But on top of that, some of the deals we're seeing are really lopsided. You have the U.S. essentially getting these countries to agree to these massive
tariffs for their goods coming into the United States, but vice versa, there would be zero tariffs, vice versa. I mean, what do you make of that?
CUTLER: Well, again, I think the U.S. had a considerable leverage here, and countries were willing to agree to these one-sided deals.
[11:10:00]
Now, for certain countries, they're boasting at home, not what they got, but what they didn't have to give. So, for example, in Korea, their big
success is that they did not have to further open their rice and beef market. And so, for them, that's, you know, that's a win.
So, it's very, very different than an actual win that improves things for them. And I think that lesson applies to other countries as well.
ASHER: I mean, yeah, take what you can get at this point, just in terms of tariff revenue, because Trump Administration has said that tariff revenue
is surging, that the U.S. has collected $124 billion worth of duties so far this year. I mean, that's not nothing that is a significant amount of
change.
But just in terms of what the ramifications are going to be for the U.S. economy as it pertains to customers paying more as it pertains to the
retail sector, which I'm particularly worried about, just because they're certainly subject to tariffs, and they've obviously the retail sectors
countries obviously had other hits to it, just because of more people shopping online.
What are you most concerned about how this is actually going to play out, not just in the jobs' numbers, but in, you know, people, sort of people's
pocketbooks, being a hit too?
CUTLER: Well, exactly. And you know right now, we're not feeling that yet in the United States, but I think with time, now that these tariffs are
here to stay, we're going to see increased prices. I think companies were planning for this and built up a lot of inventory before these high tariffs
put in place.
They're running those inventories down, and they're going to be left with no choice but to raise prices. Also of concern is businesses and businesses
investment given all the uncertainty. Because even though now we've gotten through the reciprocal tariff 90-day period, remember there are lots of
sectoral tariffs that are coming down the road, including on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and critical minerals.
And on top of it, if you read the executive order, the president makes it very clear that if he's not happy with the way these countries implement
the deals that have been reached. He reserves the right to impose more tariffs. So, I think we're going to be living in a tariff world for a
while, and that's going to impact companies' willingness and interest in investing given all the uncertainty.
ASHER: If you're a country that is in the process of trying to negotiate some kind of deal with the U.S., and obviously you've missed the August 1st
deadline. I mean, what is the right way to go about it? I mean, obviously with Trump, it really does depend on the personal relationship he has with
you as a leader.
We've seen him, though, blow hot and cold with Mark Carney, for example. I initially thought that, you know Mark Carney, at least, in Trump's eyes,
would be a step up compared to his relationship with Justin Trudeau. And I'm sure on some level, he is, but at the end of the day, that relationship
does seem to be hot and cold.
I do think he has a pretty decent relationship with Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, and that's probably part of the reason why he agreed to this 90-day
extension, although Mexico is still subject to tariffs in the meantime. I mean, walk us through, you know, what seems to be, if you can make sense of
it for us, what seems to be the right way to negotiate with the U.S. President, right now? You're laughing.
CUTLER: Look, it's complicated. Now look at India, we thought that Trump and Modi were best friends.
ASHER: OK.
CUTLER: And they hit by a -- not only hit with a 25 percent tariff, but Trump had pretty nasty language aimed at Modi on his recent social media
tweet. So even if you're a friend, I don't know if you're a friend forever. So that's number one. Number two, the lesson I take away from these deals.
If I were negotiating with the White House, I'd put a lot of emphasis on the commercial aspects of these deals, big numbers in terms of more foreign
direct investment, big purchases, big investment funds, and you know, just hope that no one follows through on these numbers, and the president can
announce big numbers, big deals.
And I think that's what we also may see him trying to do with China, as he looks to see, you know, to conclude a deal with China in advance of a
potential trip to Beijing and the margins of the upcoming APEC meeting in Korea.
ASHER: All right. Wendy Cutler, thank you so much for being on the show. We appreciate it. All right, Mexico and Canada have two very different
reactions to the new tariffs that are kicking in. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney says that he is disappointed that the U.S. raised tariffs on
some Canadian goods to 35 percent.
The Head of Canada's Chamber of Commerce says, more fact-less tariff turbulence does not advance North American economic security. She adds
businesses in Canada and the U.S. urgently need certainty. Meantime, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her strategy of calm negotiations
worked after Trump paused a 30 percent tariff for 90 days.
[11:15:00]
Let's go live now to Mexico City, where we find our Valeria Leon. So, the fact, though, is Mexico still does have some tariffs with the United
States, namely, that it's going to continue to pay a 25 percent fentanyl tariff and a 25 percent tariff on cars and a 50 percent tariff on steel,
aluminum and copper.
So, the problem hasn't gone away completely. It's just not as bad as it could have been had this 90-day extension not be put in place. Walk us
through what the reaction in Mexico is to this. And you know, it does seem, though, as I was saying to our previous guests, that the Mexican President
Claudia Sheinbaum, does seem to have a relatively decent relationship with the U.S. President, which I'm sure is coming in handy here.
VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, yeah, exactly. Well, what President Sheinbaum has done is use this patience and pragmatism over confrontation
in dealing or negotiation with Donald Trump. And right now, Mexico has managed to negotiate a privileged position in this new global commercial
order launched by the Trump Administration.
Do you in large part Mexico's position as the U.S.'s largest trading partner with over 80 percent of Mexico's exports sent to the U.S. Yesterday
on X, Trump stressed that the deal between these two countries is a very complex one compared to other nations, and that's because Mexico has the
best possible agreement.
And what President Sheinbaum has maintained is a cool-headed approach, negotiating with her U.S. counterpart, succeeding in holding off more
crippling tariffs. Although Mexico still has a 25 percent fentanyl tariff, and yesterday during the night phone call between both presidents,
Sheinbaum said she was praised by Trump on the fentanyl awareness campaign Mexico has launched with the U.S. President showing interest in
implementing something similar in the U.S.
It hasn't been easy to negotiate with Donald Trump. And Mexico has conceded to special requests made by its neighbor, like the historic extradition of
29 dropping things most wanted in the U.S., and while the latest 90-day tariff extension has provided some breathing space for continued dialog on
trade, the current focus over this period is negotiating a -- longer term deal between the two nations.
Mexico has been actively working in Washington to explain the legislators and officials. The importance of keeping Mexico as free of tariffs as
possible under the USMC trade agreement. So, this tariff extension is a window of opportunity, but economists have warned that this pause might
bring more uncertainty to investment in the country.
And it's very likely that the uncertainty surrounding the trade relationship between the U.S. and Mexico will go on into 2026 until the
USMCA review is complete, Zain.
ASHER: All right. Valeria Leon, live for us there. Thank you so much. All right. Still to come here, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel says that he
visited a controversial aid distribution site in Gaza with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to learn the truth -- But some Palestinians fear they're only
getting one side of the story.
Plus, Russia's heavy bombardment of Kyiv marks the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital in a year. The latest on rescue efforts, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:00]
ASHER: As global outrage against Israel intensifies over the starvation crisis in Gaza, American officials are getting a firsthand look at the
controversial U.S. and Israeli backed food distribution system. Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, praised the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation for achieving what he is calling an incredible feat.
Huckabee made an extremely rare visit to a GHF aid side with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Meantime, President Trump tells "AXIOS" that he's working on
a plan to get people fed in Gaza, but Hamas is dismissing the Witkoff visit as nothing more than a photo opportunity.
And many Palestinians are skeptical as well, urging officials to come see the real suffering, not just the picture presented by the Israelis. One
Gaza resident described the situation as comparable to, quote, putting food for the animals in a cage, where only the strongest can get their hands on
flour.
The GHF, meantime, is only operating at three sites throughout Gaza, as opposed to the 400 distribution points previously managed by the U.N. and
Palestinians. Weak from hunger, are forced to walk long distances, sometimes through active war zones, just to keep from starving to death.
Once they get there, they not only face the crush of desperate crowds, but also the threat of gunfire. The U.N. says more than 1300 people have been
killed while seeking food since late May, mostly by the Israeli military. The IDF acknowledges firing warning shots, but denies responsibility for
the heavy death toll. CNN Salma Abdelaziz has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You're watching an aid convoy as it enters the Gaza Strip. It's kids. It's children. Israeli
troops firing warning shots just inches away, according to the U.N.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no. Don't do this. Don't do this. No, no, no.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): This aid convoy was held at an Israeli checkpoint for nearly 2.5 hours. So, by the time it is allowed to pass, thousands of
people are ready to descend. Each face here is etched with fear and desperation. Nothing makes it to the United Nations warehouses.
On the other side of the enclave lies another aid entry point, Zikim. Gazans call it a place of death. For most, there is an arduous journey to
get here, and then a long wait, often crouched and afraid that death may strike. Suddenly, people start running towards danger. Food has arrived.
Our cameraman hangs back for his safety. As people return, so do the accounts of horror at the crossing. This injured man says he's lucky. He
made it out alive. You go out to get a bag of flour for your family, he says, but you're the one that returns in a body bag.
Amid global outrage, Israel says it is implementing tactical military pauses for 10 hours a day in limited parts of Gaza to allow more aid into
the strip. But even during these so-called pauses, fathers are risking their lives to feed their children. Three hours under fire and tanks beside
us just to get this bag, he says.
We want the aid delivered to our children safely, peacefully. Please end this siege on us and on our children. On this day, at least 60 people were
killed trying to get food aid, according to Palestinian health officials. But the dangers don't end here. Criminal gangs may try to rob them on the
way home.
Some have armed themselves with household objects, just in case. If they make it back, their families will eat tonight, a luxury here where a third
of people go, one or more days without food.
[11:25:00]
Everyone here is afraid, even the aid workers. CNN spoke to a local Klansman who sent us this video. He says it shows his men providing
security to an NGO. Loaded trucks speed down the road as the Klansmen fired dozens of warning shots. This is seemingly the only way to ensure the cargo
reaches its destination intact.
Law and order have broken down here. That's why Israel says it is now allowing air drops, but the U.N. warns these are inefficient, costly and
dangerous. You can see why here the goods land amid gunfire, only the strong or armed will grab a box. I got nothing, this woman says.
The man behind her adds, the criminals take it and sell it on the black market. This is not a solution. These chaotic, limited in deadly sites are
now the only way most can get food. Children are left fighting over scraps. Many will go to bed with empty bellies tonight. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN,
London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: A rescue operation is ongoing in Kyiv after the single deadliest Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital in a year. This is all that remains
of an apartment building that took a direct hit on Thursday's onslaught. Rescuers are still pulling victims from the rubble of the nine-story
building.
The death toll in Kyiv has now risen to at least 31 people with nearly 160 others injured. Meantime, Ukraine is standing firm that Russia has not
captured the Town of Chasiv Yar. This after the Russian military posted video of a Russian flag being raised to support its claim that the key town
in Eastern Ukraine has fallen.
President Trump says his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Russia in the coming days. Details of Witkoff's planned visit were not revealed.
President Trump called Russia's latest assault on Kyiv disgusting. He has given President Putin until the end of next week to reach a ceasefire
agreement in Ukraine, or he says he will order new sanctions on Moscow.
All right, still to come. China still doesn't know its fate, when it comes to Donald Trump sweeping tariffs will the world's top two economies come to
a deal. We'll take a look. Plus --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Warning signs were ignored or just not known --
ASHER: Disturbing testimony about that deadly collision between a commuter plane and an army helicopter back in January. Up next, we'll tell you why
the plane's pilots were never told a helicopter was in the area.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher in New York. Here are some headlines that we are watching today. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff
and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee visited a controversial aid distribution site in Gaza today.
The White House says it's part of a plan to get more food into the besieged territory as a starvation crisis unfolds. But Hamas is dismissing the move
as nothing more than a staged photo op. And in the coming days, Witkoff will be heading to Russia ahead of President Trump's deadline for Moscow to
make a peace deal with Ukraine.
If it doesn't, the Kremlin could face new U.S. sanctions by late next week. Although Trump says he doesn't know if that will have any effect on the
Russian President. After months of warnings and walk backs, the White House has slapped stinging new tariffs on dozens of trading partners.
Donald Trump's timetable for applying the tariffs has been pushed back to next Thursday because U.S. Custom officials need time to make the changes.
U.S. investors aren't exactly happy about these tariffs. All three U.S. indices fell this morning in trading. This comes just days after the DOW
was on the verge of an all-time record high, U.S. crude.
U.S. crude, rather, has also been on the rise this week, but now investors fear higher tariffs would also mean less demand for oil. Right, governments
around the world are sounding off in response to President Trump's punishing tariffs. For instance, South Africa, which now faces a 15 percent
levy on its export goods.
The country's President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa and U.S. trade relations are complementary in nature, and South African exports do not
pose a threat to U.S. industry. He adds, importantly, South Africa exports to the U.S. contain inputs from the African continent and contribute to
intra-Africa trade.
On the other hand, Pakistan's Prime Minister is thanking Donald Trump for slashing tariffs on its goods from 29 percent to 19 percent that's the
lowest of any South Asian country. And Taiwan faces a 20 percent tariff, but the president there says it's only provisional and could be reduced
after further negotiations.
The U.S. and China have a tariff truce in place until the 12th. Our Marc Stewart takes a look at the talk so far.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the rest of the world grapples with these high and historic tariffs, the trade relationship between the United
States and China is still very much uncertain. Earlier in the week, we saw trade talks with diplomats from both the U.S. and China in Stockholm,
Sweden.
They came to a conclusion, overall, the response was positive, but no agreement, no handshake, so to speak, took place. That according to the
U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent is going to have to come from President Trump. He's going to have to be the one that signs off on an
agreement between the U.S. and China.
This is a tricky relationship, because it doesn't just involve tariffs and trade. It involves other things, such as rare earth minerals, substances
that American companies want to build things like electronics, like lights, electric vehicles, as well as American made computer chips, which China's
high-tech industries certainly want.
And it goes well beyond economics. There's also this issue of ego. Of course, President Donald Trump wants to look strong to China, but Chinese
Leader Xi Jinping also wants to look strong as not to sound like he's being told by the United States as to what he can and cannot do, not giving in to
U.S. demand.
So that too makes this very complicated. China is not necessarily a U.S. ally. There's an adversarial relationship between these two nations, and
that makes things complicated. Perhaps by this weekend, we'll get a better idea, a better indication by the White House as to where things stand
between the U.S. and China. Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
[11:35:00]
ASHER: All right. And today is the final day of three days of hearings into that deadly collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter
over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The collision back in January claimed the lives of 67 people.
During Thursday's testimony, an FAA official confirmed that air traffic controllers never told pilots on the plane that there was a helicopter
nearby. And it was also a testimony about how air traffic controllers struggle to keep up with the volumes of planes taking off and landing at
Reagan National Airport in D.C.
CNN's Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has been tracking what has been coming out of these hearings. Pete, what more can you tell us?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Bombshell after bombshell, Zain, the focus today is really on the collision avoidance technology in that
army Black Hawk helicopter, which is key because we know from previous testimony and the preliminary report from the NTSB that it issued a couple
months after this incident back in March.
That the army pilots would regularly turn off a piece of technology that provided better fidelity to air traffic controllers nearby, better location
reports. That is one problem. We've also heard about the problems with the culture at the army. That army helicopter pilots would regularly fly below
flights descending into land at Reagan National Airport.
On the first day of this unprecedented three days of hearing incredible scope. We heard about problems with the equipment on board the army Black
Hawk helicopter, specifically the altimeters. Those are what show the aircraft's height above the ground. They are pressure sensitive altimeters,
meaning wafers inside the altimeter expand and contract.
It's a mechanical instrument, and the issue that the NTSB found in some testing only a few months after the crash is that many altimeters in
similar Black Hawk helicopters read 80 to 130 feet low. That is critical, because the helicopter could have been higher on the route that goes right
under the approach path there into Reagan National Airport that was in use that fateful night on January 29th.
The other big thing that we heard here is about the air traffic controllers and whether or not they issued a proper alert to that landing American
Eagle Flight operated by PSA airlines. And I want you to listen to this exchange now with NTSB Chair, Jennifer Homendy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, U.S. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD CHAIRWOMAN: Were any traffic advisories or safety alerts issued?
NICK FULLER, FAA ACTING DEPUTY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF OPERATIONS: No safety alerts.
HOMENDY: Should the local controller have let the PSA crew know that there was a helicopter there?
FULLER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: So, no probable cause will come out of this, even though so much has been laid out like you just heard. This is all about getting the facts
out in the open. We're essentially at the six-month mark since this crash. In six months, that's when NTSB Chair, Jennifer Homendy, says she intends
to have a final report and a finding of probable cause published for this that will be the one-year mark since this horrible crash, the worst
involving a U.S. commercial airliner in more than 20 years, Zain.
ASHER: All right, CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean, thank you so much. Right up next, on "One World", we got out of this, we go out of this
world. Literally, we are just minutes away until four astronauts are launched into the sky for a trip the International Space Station. We'll
bring it to you live when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
ASHER: Right, we are just minutes away actually from a really, really special sight to see. NASA is about to launch a 4-person crew to the
International Space Station. Yesterday's launch was scrubbed at the last minute. You were on air when that happened because of bad weather.
The crew is made up of two American astronauts, as well as one from the Japanese Space Agency and a Russian cosmonaut as well. The plan is for them
to spend six to eight months in space on board the International Space Station. Joining us live now to help us, guide us through this launch is
Keith Cowing.
He is the Editor of NASAWatch, and has done much of the training an actual astronaut does before going up into space, which I'm going to ask you about
in just a moment. But you know, it was really exciting yesterday we were on air as well, doing this pretty much the same thing, interviewing someone as
we were about to watch the launch.
And then it was scrubbed at the very last second, as I'm sure, you know, because of that storm cell in the area that stopped the countdown with
just, I think it was just literally one minute to go when it stopped. But, you know, obviously this is really exciting, especially people like
yourself, who sort of live and breathe this stuff.
Just walk us through when these astronauts, these four astronauts, get to the International Space Station. Just walk us through what kind of
experiments, this sort of research, they going to be doing up there?
KEITH COWING, EDITOR OF NASAWATCH.COM: Well, good to be with you. We may have a repeat. The clouds are doing some strange things right now, and they
may or may not have weather, but it's Florida. Things change fast. So, we may see at the last minute they just go.
So we may be, who knows. But anyways, to your question right now, they're, you know, you see a camera shot. They're sitting on their backs waiting to
go. And that's a lot of my friends tell me space flight is like, you know, waiting, waiting and waiting, and then you go. Tripping to orbit is pretty
quick, nine minutes, and once they get up to the space station, they'll spend a day or two acclimating to being weightless.
Some of them will get sick, some won't, and then within three or four days. They'll sit and settle into a routine where they're doing a variety of
science experiments that will pretty much be like a full-time job, with a day or two off every now and then. So, it's lot of training, a lot of to do
tasks and stuff like that. But they have windows on the space station.
ASHER: Yes.
COWING: So, every chance they get, they got to look out those windows.
ASHER: And those sites are really something to see. I mean, what a -- I mean, breathless, breathtaking, rather view that you can see up there. But
just in time, you said that this launch could actually get scrapped again. I mean, obviously I'm looking -- we're looking at live pictures now,
yesterday, the weather was atrocious.
There was this really dark, ominous cloud, and I don't see that this time around. But just walk us through why you think it's likely that this could
actually get --
COWING: Well, if you look at the picture, it's dark. It's not necessarily the dark clouds. It's them moving, and the rockets going to go up through
different layers of wind, and they want to be sure that it's not too windy. So that was sort of what they were talking about before.
But again, I've been there where, literally the last shuttle launch they were not going to go, then they went, and other times, because the weather
just changes, just like that. So, we may see a launch in a few seconds or not. We'll find out.
ASHER: And so just, I mean, what is that like? I mean, I'm hearing from my producers in my ear that it is likely -- it is highly likely, that this
actually will take off this time, but if it doesn't, I mean, what is that like for the astronauts for twice in a row, you're sitting there, you are
waiting to go to the International Space Station.
You're waiting to go into space and for it to get scrubbed at the last second, if it ends up. Actually, let's listen to the countdown, and I'll
come back to you, Keith, one second.
COWING: OK.
[11:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: T minus, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 mission. Mission, full power and lift off. Go confident, go -- go Crew-11.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together, we rise as NASA SpaceX Crew-11, heads up to the international space vehicles pitching down range. 1.7 million pounds --
nominal -- propelling Falcon nine, as the vehicle pitching down range and making its way up the East Coast, and will soon join expedition 73 aboard
the orbiting laboratory. So far getting good call outs on that first stage performance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are now T plus 35 seconds into the Crew-11 mission onboard dragon and Falcon 9. The Falcon 9 entrance --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: I mean, that is really spectacular, right, Keith, to watch that live. I mean --
COWING: -- centrifuge training --
ASHER: Say that again. I can't hear you. Say that again.
COWING: -- ready for it. I'm sorry. It's a kick in the pants. I've done centrifuge training, 3, 4, 5 G's, and just as you're sitting there waiting
for something to happen, it happens. And you just -- you know you're going somewhere.
ASHER: What is the journey like for these four astronauts?
COWING: Right now, they're just sort of like I am or you are. We're sitting here being pushed into their chairs by three or four times their weight,
and they're listening to the chatter from mission control, but it's an automated system. So, they're ready to do something if they have to, but
pretty much, it's just a ride, and you just wait till it's over, and when it's over, suddenly, you'll hear a Bing as the bottom stages drop off.
And we'll see that in about another minute or so, and then the other engines will fire, so you'll get another push, and then that'll go on for a
few minutes, and then that engine will shut off. And then you're in outer space, and you're waiters. Just like that --
ASHER: Just like that. And how long is this journey expected to take until they get the International Space Station?
COWING: It to the station, they'll go later today. They're doing this pretty quick now. They can go up and go around a couple times and dock. So,
their trip up will be kind of short. And then, like I said, before, they'll come in, hug each other, have something to eat. And some people will not
feel well.
Some others will then, after a day or so, they'll get down to work, showing people where things are stored and where what has to go home, and where the
garbage is and all that.
ASHER: What is it like preparing for something like this? I mean, obviously you mentioned that the journey is relatively quick, and you know that what
they explained to us quite succinctly what they're experiencing. I mean, it is literally like sitting in your seat, but there is this massive,
unimaginable force thrusting you up. But how do you prepare for this moment as an astronaut?
COWING: Well, it's training. And again, you mentioned, I've had some of the -- I've had centrifuge training, I've done weightless training, I've been
on expeditions to weird places. I've gotten sick on the I mean, I've done bits and pieces of it, but I've done it with astronaut friends of mine.
Long story short, it's just a lot of training. You just do things over and over again, like the movies. You plan for contingencies, things that go
wrong. What do you do if and so forth, and you kind of hope for a boring day because A nothing's going wrong. And you can look out the window.
ASHER: Who are the astronauts aboard, Crew-11. What can you tell us about them?
COWING: Well, I'll tell you about one in particular, Zena Cardman. She's quite an explorer. She spent time in Antarctica and done some other stuff.
She's an astrobiologist, a biologist who studies life in very extreme locations. And you know, she's 37 and this is her first flight.
She's a commander. You may be looking at one of the first people to go to Mars. She'd be the absolute perfect person to go. So that -- and before
that, Loral O'Hara was there, and Kate Rubins, a lot of these very smart scientists, Kate was the first one to sequence DNA in space.
So that's the sort of stuff you see we're doing up there. But in addition, we have a Japanese crew member and an American and a Russian, they all have
their nation's activities planned out as well. So, it's a patchwork, overlapping and yet individual things. And again, there's a whole list of
scientific things that can be done.
They're never without something to do. But again, they do stop and look out the window.
ASHER: Yes, of course. I mean, who wouldn't look out the window with that kind of magical view? Let's listen in to what's being said here at --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- landing zone one. During this entry burn, Falcon 9 will use its engines to pump the brakes to slow the vehicle down before it
reaches the denser parts of the Earth's atmosphere.
And if you didn't know, Falcon 9 has a complex heat shield that is designed to protect the engines and the vehicle from all that combined thermal and
aerodynamic loading during max entry queue, which is the moment of max stress on the vehicle during entry. And that will be followed by a landing
burn. And this burn will last --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon SpaceX, nominal trajectory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Continuing to hear good --
[11:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A great performance calls continue as we're now five minutes into today's flight, still about 8.5 to go with more than --
ASHER: Keith, for those of us who are novices at this, for those of us who are laymen when it comes to space exploration language, can you just walk
us through what is being said and explained here?
COWING: Well, what they're talking about is the second stage and how the engines firing there. The first stage, which has now been used, is coming
back to Earth. So, it's they're talking about the fins, and there'll be a rocket burn at some point to drop it off. But right now, we're still firing
the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.
And if you're looking at the TV on the right, it's the engine, and then the left, they keep going back and forth. But you'll see this circle like this
with some rods in it. That's the thing is pointing up to the bottom of the spacecraft. So, at some point in the next few minutes, we've got a couple
of minutes left, the second stage will stop firing.
Then they'll be like weightless for a moment, and then there'll be a bump as they separate, and then there'll be a separate spacecraft away from the
second stage, and they'll then go on to their destination, which is the space station.
ASHER: Keith, what are the biggest risks, or, you know, challenges, facing the Crew-11 mission from launch to docking to return, and how are those
risks managed?
COWING: Well, launch is pretty much the one that you pay a lot of attention to, whether you're in the spacecraft or you're charge of it, and they seem
to that can be very routine. But you know, we've lost one crew years ago because of an issue on launch, but we also lost another crew on the way
back.
So anytime you leave the Earth or physically come back to the atmosphere, you know you're really on the edge of physics there. Your spacecraft is
designed to do this, but you know you can have something go wrong, and then you know you can have something very bad happen.
But once you're in space, unless you crash a spacecraft into another, which happened with the Russian space station, you're pretty much OK up there,
ASHER: In terms of, you know, young aspiring astronauts, right? Kids who are watching, who are aspiring astronauts watching this unfold. Just
explain what makes this particular mission, this Crew-11 mission, significant, especially for younger generations.
COWING: Well, I'm going to channel my -- I'll be 70 in October. I lived through the whole -- thing as a little boy, and I got sick for some reason.
Every time there was a mission, I said, I don't feel good. So, my parents figured that out. But I would watch these things, and now we're watching a
rock come in and land, as if it's routine, like a jet coming into an airport.
For me, I would be sitting there saying, this looks so cool. How do I get involved? And then you see a lot of videos from space where you have a lot
of very interesting people doing interesting things, talking to students and so forth. And you know, the more visuals you see, the more real this
seems to be in the more diverse the crowd of people up there, whether it's men and women or people from different nations, you feel more inclusive.
It's sort of like how Star Trek was back in the day, when you suddenly saw African, Americans and Russians and aliens all in the same spaceship. You
get an impression that, yeah, I could be one of those people. So that's what I thought back as little boy in the 60s. And I know that's what now
globally. And it's not just Americans, it's the Russians.
ASHER: Absolutely.
COWING: India's going to launch a space station, a rocket with people and space stations countries that are way down the list of, you know, having
minimal income, they're putting satellites up, and their students are motivated by this. So, I've never really heard anybody say that they were
really depressed and turned off by space exploration. This is the --
ASHER: Oh no. And actually, one of the things that we just watched on our screen was a successful landing at the first stage booster there. So that
seems to have gone OK. But you were mentioning future exploration of Mars, for example, coming obviously, a lot later down the road. How does this
mission, or a mission like this, prepare for future deep space missions, do you think?
COWING: Well, practice makes perfect. So, the more you do this, the better. Hopefully you become and we're looking at the screen now we're about to see
the capsule, Dragon capsule, separate from the second stage. So, while we're talking here, the idea of the space station is to have people up
there for long periods of time.
To go to Mars, it's going to take you six to eight or nine months, and it's each way. And so, by being on the space station, if nothing else, you're
sort of flight certifying people to live, be productive, safe, on the trip out and the trip back. And now we see the dragon. If you're watching the
screen, the dragon is separating.
They are now in orbit. Happy's clams. I'm sure there are high fiving at this point. But again, this whole thing is practice for what you'll have to
do when we go to Mars, it'll be more complicated.
[11:55:00]
There'll probably be more spacecraft that you have to dock with, and you'll have to land on Mars. You have to take off again. So again, every time you
practice one of these things in space, you're chalking off another bit of experience that will feed into how we eventually do this.
And again, like I said, Zena Cardman may be one of the people that eventually does that. So, this is her first flight. So, she started getting
up to speed of what it means to actually be in space.
ASHER: Keith standby. Let's listen to this a little bit. We're coming up to the end of the show. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- awaiting your safe return. Godspeed endeavor. Godspeed Crew-11 and thanks for flying SpaceX.
ASHER: Keith, an incredible moment. They thanked the crew, and they thanked them for flying SpaceX. Obviously, this is really key, just the fact that
you have SpaceX is collaboration with NASA here that says a lot about the future of commercial spaceflight, but we are up against the clock. We have
to leave it here. Thank you so much for walking us through.
COWING: OK --
ASHER: That was absolutely incredible to watch live on. I'm sure you're having a field day today watching this.
COWING: Oh yeah.
ASHER: But thank you so much. Keith Cowing of NASAWatch.com we appreciate it. And stay with CNN. I'll have much more "One World" after the break.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Welcome back into the ISS expedition, 73 team, the crew --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
