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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

SpaceX Crew-11 Returning to Earth Early, Crew Member Ill; Two Russians, One American Remain on Board International Space Station; Officers Fire Stun Grenades, Tear Gas Into Protest Crowds in Minneapolis; Iran State Media Says Protester Erfan Soltani Not Sentenced to Death; Iran Airspace Partially Reopens as Trump Weighs Next Moves; Rights Group Says More Than 2,400 Protesters Killed in Crackdown in Iran; Trump to Meet Venezuelan Opposition Leader, Machado; France to Join Other Nations for Joint Exercises on Greenland; U.S. Suspending Immigrant Visa Processing for 75 Countries. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 15, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:42]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to a special expanded edition of THE STORY IS, I'm Elex Michaelson, live in Los Angeles.

And we're still on because of breaking news. The anticipation is building at NASA as the SpaceX Crew-11 is just about 90 minutes away from an expected splashdown. The capsule is returning to Earth early because of a health concern for one of the crew members. NASA says that crew member is stable and well cared for. This video shows the Crew-11 undocking from the International Space Station, which happened about nine hours ago. There are two American astronauts, one Japanese astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut on board the capsule. We're expecting NASA to resume their live feed of Crew-11 in about 15 minutes. We've got plenty of experts here to walk us through every single step of it. We're going to watch this history happen together.

We start things off with CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is live at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, good evening, whatever it might be at this hour, but it will be a long night for space officials from Texas to California as all of these crews prepare here for in the next about hour and 40 minutes away from the expected splashdown of this crew returning from the International Space Center. It's expected to happen around 3:40 Eastern Time, 12:40 Pacific Time.

And we should point out that for people who live along the west coast, around midnight, there's a very good chance that you might see the streak of this crew capsule coming back through the atmosphere and returning back to Earth. The flight path that SpaceX has put out has it coming just down, straight down, essentially the California coastline along the Pacific Ocean. This capsule is expected to land somewhere just off the coast of San Diego.

We've seen this happen several times before. What is different this time it's -- this is actually happening under the cover of darkness. So, changes the dynamic, I think, a little bit for those of us watching it.

But it does take some time once that capsule touches down there in the water, there is a fleet of boats out there in the ocean ready to move in and to extract the crew from that capsule as well.

So, that is a process that has been a well-oiled machine has done -- been done many times, but the commander of the crew, the American astronaut, Mike Fincke said -- wrote a couple of days ago that returning and doing this medical evacuation of the crew was the right call that it needed that the astronaut that needs this medical attention, needs evaluations done here on the ground, that whatever is needed to be done for this astronaut.

The scope and the ability of being able to carry out those medical procedures in the medical capabilities of the International Space Station just wasn't enough, and that because of that, they needed to come back down to Earth.

This crew has spent about 167 days in space, about 30 days. Originally, the mission would have taken them closer to 200 days. But now the process begins getting the next crew up back onto the International Space Station, because right now there are only three astronauts left on board that International Space Station.

But clearly, what is of great concern right here tonight, Elex, is the medical condition of this astronaut, as you've said, NASA officials and space officials saying that this astronaut is in stable condition.

And obviously, we will continue to do that, but it's very likely and very possible that we just never really fully know who and which astronaut is the one affected. There have been other medical incidents on board these missions before, and very oftentimes, it's part of like, you know, standard practice that the medical -- specific medical conditions of these astronauts is kept private.

So, it's very likely we'll never exactly know who was affected, but one of them clearly affected.

And we should also point out that for two of these four astronauts, Elex, this is their first mission, space mission. So, in my years of covering space missions and this sort of thing, I always get a kick out of talking to astronauts about what it is they experienced and what they felt in that weightlessness and then coming back to Earth, they all seem to have a variety of different stories and different ways in which they were affected.

[02:05:08]

So, clearly, that is something that two astronauts on this crew are about to experience for the very first time.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and a couple of them were also supposed to be a part of a spacewalk, which is now not happening because they're having to come back early.

Well, Ed, we are so grateful that you are up early or later, depending on whatever perspective you are, to be with us tonight and to have your wisdom as part of our coverage for the next few hours. We really appreciate it. We will get back to you in a moment.

But first, I want to bring in our panel tonight, and what a panel we have. Laurie Leshin is a professor of space futures at ASU, former director of JPL, and Garrett Reisman is professor at USC, former NASA astronaut who has been up in the ISS many times and has come back to Earth. So, let's start right now with sort of what is happening as we speak.

GARRETT REISMAN, PROFESSOR OF ASTRONAUTICAL ENGINEERING, USC: So, right about now, let's see. So, they're about an hour and a half away from splashdown, so that means they're about a half an hour away from the deorbit burn. So, there's still not a whole lot going on. To be honest, they're sitting around. They might be listening to some tunes. Really things start picking up when you get to that deorbit burn, when you go within about five or 10 minutes, then you start really paying attention.

And then, you slow down just a little bit, and that's all it takes. And then you're coming through the atmosphere.

MICHAELSON: It's pretty amazing, if you think about all the missions that have been up there that some of these has never happened before.

LAURIE LESHIN, PROFESSOR OF SPACE FUTURES, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: It's true. It is amazing. It's great to be here with you, Elex on a night that we're all really hoping for great, uneventful reentry and splashdown by the Crew-11 crew.

And it is amazing that in 25 years, a continuous crew on the International Space Station, we've never had a medical emergency that's required an early departure of a crew. They've done some modeling and calculations about how likely it is, how often this should happen, and the NASA doctors say maybe once every three years they might have expected it, and it's once in a quarter century.

MICHAELSON: Well, and you think about you guys go through so much screening before you get up there, which is part of the reason some of this probably has been avoided over the years.

But as we think about the future of space flight, it's going to look different, and that screening might be different.

REISMAN: That's true. So, even -- and even with all that screening, we're still having this happen, and we had some close calls where we almost had to bring -- to bring people home earlier. We had a case where an astronaut got a thrombosis, a blood clot inside the jugular, that was very serious. So, you know, still you're talking about human biology, and you can't

control everything. You're going to get surprises. And it is remarkable we haven't.

But one of the reasons it's been so safe so far is that they do watch us very carefully, when they -- when we go down to get interviewed to be an astronaut, you spend most of your time taking medical tests, and you know, they poke and prod way more than I would have liked to be perfectly honest with you.

But they look for everything, because they know the impact of something like this, and they want to minimize the chance of that happening.

In the future, when we're talking about commercial space stations that will replace the ISS, you might not have that level of in depth screening. So, we have to be prepared for this.

And if you're going back to the moon, or certainly if you're going to Mars, as Laurie will tell you, you can't just hop in the dragon to come home.

MICHAELSON: Yes. I mean, at JPL, you guys have looked at so much of this sort of Mars forward thinking, something Elon Musk has looked a lot at it SpaceX as well. And you can't come back very easily, right? You can't hop on a jet bank.

LESHIN: You literally have to wait till the planets are aligned, right? It's just the way that goes. And even with advanced technologies like nuclear propulsion that haven't been invented yet, that will much shorten the Earth to Mars transit time, will make it only three months instead of six to nine months, perhaps, even there, it's going to be really tough. And so, they're going to have to have even more medical capability than we have on the --

MICHAELSON: So, that means you bring a doctor with you on the crew, and you've got to have stuff that the doctor can use, right?

LESHIN: You have to have the stuff, and you have to have very well- trained astronauts. I think a doctor is probably a good idea, maybe not an absolute requirement.

We also have lots of great doctors on the ground. Garrett can tell you how many medical docs are looking after them when they're up in space. They get the best medical advice they can get.

But you know, depending on the nature of the emergency, it's just you can't bring absolutely every piece of medical equipment with you. So, it's a risky business.

MICHAELSON: Because you guys are so prodded before you ever get up there. Because this is taxpayer funded, because so much of this is on video. Do you think it's really likely that this actually remains a secret in terms of who and what in terms of this medical condition now?

[02:10:00]

REISMAN: Oh, I'm going to find out. I know -- I know Mike Fincke pretty well.

So, you know, it all depends on the individual. So, if they want to keep it private, they have the right to do that. If they want to talk about it and they feel like educating people and telling the story will help. They might choose to make that decision, but it's really that individual's decision.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and so I know you've got to go after this. So, what's the big thing that we should be looking forward to in the next few hours that you're looking for?

REISMAN: Well, just that everything goes nominally, like we like to say, during the entry and splashdown, so that the first that the deorbit burn goes off, and that's nominal, and it puts them right in the right position at the right speed. At the end of that deorbit burn to come home, and then that the trunk separates. And that's also kind of a risky thing. The nose cone closes, so all this mechanical stuff has to happen properly to safely come home.

And then, the safe transition through the violent heat of reentry and the Gs (ph), the parachute deploy, and finally, the splashdown and the recovery. That's a lot.

MICHAELSON: It's a lot to watch, and we'll be watching it all happen live. Thank you for being with us the last few hours. Thank you for your service to our country.

Laura, you're hanging out with us for the next few nights.

LESHIN: I'm with you.

MICHAELSON: Next few hours.

LESHIN: Wait a minute.

MICHAELSON: Hopefully it's not the next few nights. We'll get some coffee or something. Thank you so much. We appreciate it, more on this to come.

But we want to sneak in some other news now, and a big story happening in Minneapolis, where federal agents deployed tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls to disperse protesters following another officer involved shooting in that city.

Minneapolis officials told protesters to go home on Wednesday night amid clashes with law enforcement. Demonstrators gathered near the scene of Wednesday's shooting. Parliament Homeland Security says a Federal officer shot a person in the leg after that person allegedly resisted arrest and then assaulted the officer.

The city is on edge from the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal immigration agent one week ago. Minneapolis mayor says the presence of federal agents in the city is unsustainable. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, POLICE CHIEF: I have faith that the investigators are involved will follow every lead in this case and ensure it is -- it is completed to its logical conclusion.

JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR: This is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in, and at the same time, we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: CNN's Whitney Wild was struck by tear gas as she reported from the scene of one of those protests. I spoke with her a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, now the scene is very calm. We've seen most of the law enforcement leave the area. We're right at Lyndale in 22nd in Minneapolis, and I think we'll take you on a walk down the street here, so you can see.

Earlier, this was really busy. There was a lot of at least vehicle traffic. We saw lots of protesters here, and I like to walk to the end of this block here, Elex, because it was at this general area where earlier we saw multiple tear gas canisters thrown at protesters.

At one point, the smoke became so thick that we actually got separated as a team, and there were tear gas canisters detonating all around us. One hit me, hit my foot, hit my side, one went off right beneath photographer Jonathan Sheer's face, and he was coated in that tear gas liquid here.

And so, now, I just -- I want to come to the end of the street here, Elex, because I want to see what this scene looks like now, because it was quite chaotic earlier, and what you're seeing is fireworks apparently here. That looks like civilian fireworks. I don't see any law enforcement here now, but earlier, it was actually hard to tell what was a firecracker, what was (INAUDIBLE), what was the tear gas canister? Because it was so dark, so smoky, and all you'd see were, as you just saw, like bursts of -- bursts of what looked like a firework actually in the air. And then we would later find out that it was tear gas.

The area had been completely coated in tear gas, and now you're still seeing -- sorry, it's pretty slippery. You're still seeing some crowds here. I think, can we -- do you want to walk a little closer? OK.

Well, hold on, there's a lot of vehicle traffic, so we'll walk a little closer now, still pretty busy. OK, that was a flash bang, I think. Hold on, what was -- or maybe that was a firework. I can't tell.

Elex, it was -- you know, there were dozens and dozens of protesters out here who were really close to law enforcement. They were right up on them screaming in their face. This is a city that has been on edge since the shooting of Renee Good. That was one week ago. This is going to do nothing to calm things down. This is again a city that is already on edge, protesters very angry, and now we're seeing more protesters here, still in the heart of Minneapolis

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:15:17]

MICHAELSON: Whitney Wild here on THE STORY IS a few hours ago. CNN has been speaking with Minneapolis residents. Here's how one woman described the fear and uncertainty she feels amid the recent events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERLA, PROTESTER: From my house, like where I live in my apartment, they come in without warrants, without official anything. They just come in and barge into people's houses, gun -- armed up with no one being spoke to or anything. Masked up. This is kidnapping and everything above. That is not OK.

WILD: What does it feel like, you know, when you wake up in the morning? Are you scared? Are you anxious?

PERLA: I am very scared. I'm worried that I'm not even able to go to school and feel safe. And just walking outside my building or even walking outside my front door before heading outside the building is very scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Whitney Wild We are keeping an eye on the SpaceX Dragon capsule. It is now hurdling towards Earth. We are about to get the live feed from NASA. We're going to get our first live pictures in a few hours when we come back, stay with us.

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[02:20:53]

MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching this extended edition of THE STORY IS tonight. THE STORY IS in space. Four crew members aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule are soon going to be reentering the Earth's atmosphere. NASA just began its live feed. That's what we're looking at now, which includes photo of the astronauts that are coming back.

Their spacecraft expected to splash down off the California coast next hour. It's an unprecedented move where the crew had to leave the International Space Station early because one of the astronauts has a medical issue. We don't know what that issue is. The crew member is said to be in stable condition.

We want to take a live picture from right outside our building. We've actually turned our roof camera West, because we expect to see from that vantage point and from vantage points all over Southern California. The capsule flying through the air. It's going to be a sonic boom in this area as well.

So, if you are watching in the Southern California region, we're talking mostly like Santa Barbara to about Long Beach or so. Look West, about an hour from now, if you've got a rooftop or want to go outside, you may be able to see this thing for yourself.

Cady Coleman is a retired NASA astronaut, author of the new book Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder and Making Change. She is very well dressed. Live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Thanks for staying up late with us.

CADY COLEMAN, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Just happy to be here. Excited about tonight.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Thank you for your service to our country as well.

Talk about sort of what's happening now and what we expect for these astronauts, what's like to be in a capsule when it's coming back?

COLEMAN: A little bit bittersweet. I think it's hard to leave a place where I just remember when I was there, you felt like every single data point that you took on every experiment and everything that you figured out in terms of lessons learned for future missions was, I mean, just so vital. And I think that mission really sustains us.

And it's a little bit bittersweet to be coming home, but when it's time, it's time. And even early this, you know, it's time for this crew.

Right now, they're about, I think, 18 minutes away from the deorbit burn. And so, I think they're very focused on, you know, they're all suited up, and they're just focused on understanding and where they're -- where they're looking for all the different parameters to make sure that deorbit burn goes correctly, because that is the slowing down to start getting them home.

MICHAELSON: I mean, when you're coming into the orbit, is it -- I mean, you hit Gs, what's that feel like? Is it loud? Are you all talking to each other? What's, what's that experience like?

COLEMAN: Well, it's a little bit different in the -- it's a little bit different in the SpaceX, which I've been in the Russian Soyuz. That's how I launched and also landed from the space station.

And so, talking to friends who've been on SpaceX, when they do that deorbit burn, they have many smaller engines. And so, the deorbit burn is longer. It'll be -- you know, I don't know the exact time tonight, but something in the order of more than 10 minutes.

And so, these engines are firing short pulses because they're smaller, and they're firing, firing, firing, and they make a very percussive noise, and it cause -- because they give just a little bit of a slowing down. You don't really hear, feel like you're slowing down, but you just hear that, that sort of noise, and I guess it's pretty funny for the crew to kind of shout and tell jokes during that time. But it's not until you hit entry interface, you're actually entering

the atmosphere, and that's when you're going to feel about 4.5 Gs, and it's going to come up pretty quickly and then go away quickly as well.

But everyone's been in space for several months, and so they're deconditioned, and 4.5 Gs can easily feel like, more like eight. And so, you're like, suddenly, just, it's right from your, sort of your chest to your back.

And so, it's not all that uncomfortable. It's sort of like having a gorilla set on your chest, which I don't really know what that feels like. That's probably the biggest sensation.

[02:25:12]

MICHAELSON: I was going to say, we missed the lead. Talking about the gorilla.

And so -- and by the way, I love these shots that we were just showing of your hair in space. I mean, what's it -- what's it like being an ISS and looking back at the earth and how that sort of changes your perspective about life and our place in the universe?

COLEMAN: Well, it was wonderful living in space. And a friend of mine Don Pettit (ph) another astronaut. I love what he says, when he says, you know, if I could take my family with me, there'd be no reason to come home.

And I think just the fact that we're weightless, it's not about this floating around. It is about flying everywhere. I'm not that coordinated down here and up there. I mean, I'm a pro, and just a little -- actually, I could take a single hair from my head, push on a railing, and it would push me across the whole space station.

So, it's a magical place to live. And then looking down at the Earth, what really came out to me was that certainly home, you know, Earth, it's bigger than we thought. It includes space. And looking down, I just thought, you know, if only everyone could be -- could understand how connected they could be.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, just when you've been away, what's it like when you get out and then you feel gravity for the first time? What's that experience like?

COLEMAN: Well, your vestibular system, your head, is really not ready for this. And Mariah (ph) talked about how he just pushed with the single hair, and I could move myself. Suddenly, just walking around is like being in the middle of an earthquake and the -- though the world looks like it's going this way and this way, even sitting in the capsule, for me, I landed on land. I looked out, and I expected that I would -- I thought we were tumbling over and over, and looked out, and I saw the grass in this -- in Kazakhstan, just standing straight up. I was like, wow, we're back.

So, it's -- but that actually gets better and better every minute. It is kind of nauseating. We do -- many of us, you know, don't tolerate that all that well, and we've got a lot of great medicine for that too.

And then it gets a little better, maybe a couple weeks after you've been home, if you've been down and tie your shoes, I feel like the whole world is coming with me. So, it reminds you that you've been in a very special place on a special mission.

MICHAELSON: Cady Coleman, what an American hero. Thank you so much for joining us. Love hearing your stories. Thank you so much.

COLEMAN: Thanks for covering tonight.

MICHAELSON: Our best dressed guest by far. Live picture right now. This is the control room that we're looking at in Houston, where they're anxious right now, as this mission is about to come to an end. SpaceX 11 crew minutes away from their deorbit burn. We will show that to you live when we come back, breaking news here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:32:36]

MICHAELSON: The story is in space but coming back to Earth. We're an hour away from SpaceX's splashdown. So, we're looking right here at a live picture of two different mission controls. On the left side of your screen is SpaceX in Hawthorne, here in Southern California.

On the right side of your screen is NASA mission control in Houston, Texas. Both of them working together to monitor this SpaceX capsule as it comes back to Earth with two Americans, a Japanese astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. All this happening because of a medical emergency. We don't know what the emergency is. We don't know which astronaut or cosmonaut has the emergency. We do know that all four are coming back to Earth right now.

With us once again is Laurie Leshin who ran JPL here in Southern California. Laurie, why is it necessary for all four of them to come back? Why couldn't it just be the person with the emergency?

LAURIE LESHIN, PROFESSOR OF SPACE FUTURES, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Right, well it's a great question. It has to do with the way we manage risk on the Space Station. So, we always have the ability to bring down any astronaut that's on the Station. And so if we only brought down one or two astronauts now, we'd be left with too many up there and not enough seats to get them home in case of another emergency.

MICHAELSON: Right.

LESHIN: So they basically, need to bring home a full Dragon capsule and that crew, Crew-11, they stay together. They come home -- they went up together, they're coming home together. And the three that are left will come down in the Soyuz capsule when -- at the end of their mission.

MICHAELSON: When the time is right for them.

LESHIN: Yeah, exactly. MICHAELSON: So we're looking at these control rooms right now.

LESHIN: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: You've been in the mission control --

LESHIN: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: -- in Houston. What's going on behind the scenes there right now?

LESHIN: Well, obviously they're --

MICHAELSON: Or in front of the camera, I should say, (inaudible) behind the scenes.

LESHIN: Yeah. They are monitoring the astronaut -- the vehicle is mostly being monitored by SpaceX, the space vehicle, the Dragon capsule, because it really is a SpaceX mission. It's a commercial mission. But you know that NASA mission control is monitoring everything that's going on and especially with the health and safety of the astronauts, making sure that they're all doing well.

And you know, making sure that everything's happening when it's supposed to be happening and getting ready to welcome these astronauts home.

MICHAELSON: Because NASA doesn't have a way to get people up and back on their own anymore, right?

[02:35:00]

LESHIN: Well, NASA bought the SpaceX flights and we really, and we really -- and I was in on the early days of the commercial crew program.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LESHIN: So I'm very proud that -- to see that we are launching astronauts from U.S. soil again after we retired the space shuttle, which was all the way back in 2011, by the way. And we did go nine years without launching U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil.

And so, to now have SpaceX be so capable to be able to take our astronauts and others to the Station and get them home safely as needed, it's a wonderful capability to have.

MICHAELSON: Right, and Boeing also in that space hasn't had quite as much success.

LESHIN: Right. But again, it's good to have more than one company have that capability, right? You -- like having Lyft and Uber, right?

(LAUGH)

LESHIN: So you have your choice. MICHAELSON: Competition is a good thing?

LESHIN: Yes, competition is good. So we're hoping that Boeing will be back.

MICHAELSON: Because the last time Boeing tried to get people up there, they couldn't get them home. And then SpaceX had to jump in.

LESHIN: Right. I mean, again, if you think about risk-based decision- making that NASA does each and every day, what we did with Boeing was a good example. And we had experts from JPL advising on whether to bring the crew home on the Starliner or not. You can imagine the same kind of conversations have been happening over this past week since this crew emergency.

MICHAELSON: Speaking of conversations, I want to bring into the conversation right now, Sarah Treadwell, who is a NASA Solar System Ambassador, known online as Space Case Sarah. She joins us live from Illinois. Staying up late with us tonight there, thanks so much. Welcome to "The Story Is."

SARAH TREADWELL, SPACE CASE SARAH, NASA SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADOR: Yes, thank you for having me.

MICHAELSON: So, walk us through this historic moment and how rare this whole thing is.

TREADWELL: Yeah, in the 25 years of the Space Station's history, there has not been an emergency. Well, not really an emergency, but an urgent evacuation of any crew so far. So, this is definitely a very big first moment for the Space Station and for space exploration history.

MICHAELSON: What kind of conditions are they expected as they get ready to re-enter? What's this all like?

TREADWELL: From what I have seen from crew interviews and video, it seems like everyone is in stable and good condition. So I don't think anything is going to be too abnormal. My suspicion from what I have seen from different interviews and speculative analysis is that it's probably something that is needing further diagnostic testing, like maybe an MRI or a CT scan from one of the crew members that they need to do back on Earth.

But it's not something that's like so emergency level that it's going to look any different than a normal re-entry. So yeah, it's interesting though.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And because they did have the option of going home right away, they could have left immediately if it was something like an appendix is bursting or something like that.

TREADWELL: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: But they took a week to do it and to get ready. So that tells you it wasn't an imminent danger. How would you rate NASA and SpaceX's handling of this whole thing?

TREADWELL: I think they've done a really good job. I honestly think that this is something that has been on the radar for quite a lot of people so far in terms of, you know, we need to know what we would do in case of an emergency. And this isn't an emergency, but this is definitely something urgent enough that they've taken some proactive steps for us to understand, like moving forward, looking going to the moon and to maybe someday even Mars, what we would do in case of a medical emergency.

And I think that they've done a great job so far in showing that we have plans in place to be proactive, to bring people back or do the right thing in case there is something wrong.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, as somebody who's very, very into this space, what are you most looking for? What should we be focused on in the next hour or so?

TREADWELL: You know, obviously a safe return because that is always the most dangerous part about space travel, is actually coming back to Earth. Our atmosphere is not generous in letting us come back home.

But I think that this is a great learning moment moving forward in, like I said, understanding how are we going to plan to get people permanently on the moon and eventually someday to Mars and what medical and emergency protocols we should have in place for long-term presence in space.

MICHAELSON: Space Case Sarah, whose background looks like it would be the background of Space Case Sarah --

(LAUGH)

MICHAELSON: -- we thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

[02:40:00]

(LAUGH)

TREADWELL: Thank you so much.

MICHAELSON: We're going to sneak in a couple other news stories as we await more live pictures from space. More now on the Breaking News that we're following out of Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Police, federal officers in Minneapolis using tear gas on protesters to try to control the crowds. Clashes erupted after an individual was shot in the leg by a federal law enforcement officer. State officials are trying to tamp down the chaos.

Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota posting in part, "I know you're angry. I'm angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets. Don't give him what he wants."

The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has asked residents to return home and is also asking for peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY, (D-MN) MINNEAPOLIS: People are scared. You know, there's basic rights that you should have to be able to live safely in your neighborhood, to be able to go downstairs and head to the cafe or the flower shop. The people that would normally keep up these shops, American citizens, by the way, many of them, are terrified because American citizens are getting picked up off the street by people in masks.

That's not the way things should be conducted in any city in America. That's not who we are. That's not America. So I'm calling for peace. Everybody has a role in achieving that peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Now to Iran, where the judiciary is disputing claims that a detained protester was due to be executed. According to state media, that protester has not been sentenced to death. 26-year-old was arrested at his home last week in connection with the protests. The U.S. State Department, his family, and human rights groups were warned that he would be executed.

But Iran is now calling that "fabricated news" and says that he's been charged with assembly and collusion and propaganda activities. All this comes after President Trump warned Iran against executing protesters. Then on Wednesday, he claimed that killings would not take place, but did not reveal how he got that information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We've been told that the killing in Iran is stopping. It's stopped. It's stopping. And there's no plan for executions or an execution or executions. So I've been told that at good authority, we'll find out about it. I'm sure if happens, we'll all be very upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, some domestic flights have resumed after the Iranian government temporarily closed down its airspace. It was closed to all air traffic for several hours. It's unclear why exactly. The U.S. and a number of European countries are warning their citizens to get out of the country amid the deadly government crackdown.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has received nearly 400,000 reports of security violations and suspected terrorist activities, leading in some cases to arrests. Now, warning the video we're about to show you is disturbing. It was posted online. It appears to show rows of body bags in Tehran.

The U.S.-based human rights activist news agency estimates more than 2,400 protesters have been killed since the start of that crackdown. But Iran's foreign minister went on Fox News Channel with Bret Baier and said, all this is misinformation.

Earlier, I spoke with an Iran expert at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, and I asked her why the relationship between Iran and the U.S. has been so contentious for so long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALIA DASSA KAYE, SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: I think the hostility has built up. I mean, you're talking about an adversary relationship that has now lasted longer than the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviets. So, we have years and years of grievances against each other. We have a very difficult, I think, mindset in terms of being able to talk to Iranians. We don't have normal diplomatic relations.

We haven't -- we've missed opportunities in the past to try to ratchet down tensions and try to help Iranians improve the situation from within. So I'm not -- I'm sorry to say, but I'm not optimistic. My years of research have led me to be pretty pessimistic, and I think we're going to have to have a very different mindset, very different leaders, both in Iran and in this country, in terms of how we think about this problem to really change moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Dalia Dassa Kaye's book is called "Enduring Hostility." In the coming hours, President Trump will welcome Venezuelan's Opposition Leader, Maria Corina Machado, to the White House. That high-stakes meeting could impact the country's future after the ouster of Nicolas Maduro.

That meeting comes after President Trump surprised many by allowing Maduro's Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, to take control of the country. Trump administration officials are also making good on a plan to tap the country's energy reserves, completing its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million. They say more sales are expected in the near future.

[02:45:00]

Several NATO countries are planning joint exercise with Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland's defense. This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up threats to annex the Arctic territory. Officials from Denmark and Greenland say there is a fundamental disagreement with the Trump administration over the future of that island.

That assessment coming after what's being called a constructive meeting between the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, at the White House on Wednesday. Despite all the differences, they plan to keep talking to try to find a way forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Here, our perspectives continue to differ, I must say. The President has made his view clear, and we have a different position. For us, ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self- determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The U.S. is indefinitely suspending immigrant visa proceedings for more than 75 countries, which include Russia, Somalia, Brazil, Egypt, and Haiti. The U.S. official says the suspension will begin next Wednesday. The pause only applies to immigrant visas, including those seeking employment in the U.S., but does not apply to student and tourist visas. That means those seeking to travel to the U.S. for the World Cup this summer should not be impacted.

Still ahead, we continue to follow Breaking News, the return of the Crew-11 from the International Space Station. A big milestone moment is about to happen on the other side of this commercial break. We'll see it live next.

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[02:51:31]

MICHAELSON: That's what you were hearing. All right, we're keeping tabs on this SpaceX capsule carrying a four-person crew back to Earth from the International Space Station. This is a live picture right now of the two different control rooms we're watching.

And as we continue now, Laurie Leshin, the former head of JPL, there's a big moment that's happening right now. What is that?

LESHIN: Well, we should be in the deorbit burn right about now.

MICHAELSON: And what does that mean?

LESHIN: So what it means is, the capsule actually points its engines towards where it's going and slows itself down. It's tapping the brakes. And you don't have to tap them very much in order for the gravity of the Earth to start pulling the capsule down into the atmosphere.

MICHAELSON: And so essentially, this is like the greatest mathematicians on the planet have come together and done this problem, this physics problem to figure out what angle, where --

LESHIN: Correct.

MICHAELSON: -- specifically will it be, so that if we enter at this spot, it will end up right where we want it.

LESHIN: That's it.

MICHAELSON: Right. And that's what's happening right now. LESHIN: That's what's happening now. They're burning those engines for just a few minutes and not very much, just so that we can slow the capsule down enough to have it fall back to Earth and land right where we want it, just here off the coast of Southern California.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, not very far from where we're sitting right now.

LESHIN: That's right.

MICHAELSON: Why that spot?

LESHIN: Well, it's close to land, but it allows most of the trajectory to be over the ocean, which is safer. And it's close to where SpaceX's headquarters is here. And so, it's easy to get the ships out there to take care of the folks and get them off the capsule safely.

MICHAELSON: Right, and so -- and all these -- and so what's happening in terms of these two control rooms right now is, they're sort of talking. I mean, is most of this stuff done kind of automated in terms of the deorbit burn?

LESHIN: Pretty automated. It can be entirely automated, but yes.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LESHIN: It's pretty automated. Nobody is joysticking the capsule up there much. It's -- and then what actually happens is, because in this particular capsule, the engines that slow you down are at the top. And so, it's pulsing these engines, and then they've got to close this cover on the top, and then they flip around so the heat shield is facing down, so when they actually come down, so all that's going to happen in the next few minutes.

MICHAELSON: So let's take this picture full if we can. This is a basic look of what they expect the path of this to be.

LESHIN: Right.

MICHAELSON: So the splashdown site, it looks closer to San Diego --

LESHIN: Correct.

MICHAELSON: -- in this particular thing, although Garrett Reisman was with us earlier, said it might be closer to Long Beach.

LESHIN: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: So somewhere kind of --

LESHIN: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: -- in between the two. And then, what happens then?

(LAUGH)

LESHIN: What happens in the splashdown?

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LESHIN: Yeah, so there'll be the ship that actually comes and essentially pulls the capsule out of the water. And then they do, they open the hatch, make sure everything's safe, of course, first, open the hatch, and then one by one, the astronauts will egress or come out of the capsule. And believe me, even on a nominal landing without a medical concern, there's medical doctors there to immediately be examining the astronauts.

Think about it. Even though they're coming home early, they've still been in space for five months.

MICHAELSON: Right.

LESHIN: So coming back down into gravity and going through up to 5Gs force on the re-entry, it's a pretty intense feeling for them. And so they just want to get checked out immediately.

MICHAELSON: So the standard operating procedures, they would be taken back to Houston to be checked out there.

LESHIN: Correct.

[02:55:00]

MICHAELSON: What will be interesting to see is, is this particular astronaut or cosmonaut who's having the medical issue, are they taken to a Southern California hospital so that they can get care more imminently.

LESHIN: Right.

MICHAELSON: We'll be following that and more in our next hour.

LESHIN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: You're staying with us.

LESHIN: I am happy to.

MICHAELSON: This is all supposed to happen within the next hour. We're going to watch it all happen live. Stay with us. We're going to sneak in a commercial break because we've got to make some money because hopefully we blow some of them out in the next hour and we watch all this together. Our special coverage on "The Story Is" continues right after this.

[02:55:30]

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