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CNN NEWSROOM

NTSB Investigating Space Plane Accident; U.S. Marine Reservist Released By Mexico; Chilly Halloween For Many Trick-Or-Treaters; Candidates Make Final Weekend Push; Senator Paul Blasts GOP "Brand"; Future Of Space Exploration After Mishap; Balance Of Power At Stake In Elections; Virgin Galactic Spaceship Crashes During Test Flight; Picking The Pain And Fear Out Of Cancer; A Lot At Stake In Upcoming Midterm Elections; Richard Branson Holds Live Press Conference On Crash

Aired November 1, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here are the top stories we're following in the NEWSROOM. The search for answers under way after a second private space flight ends in disaster, this as we wait for another update from the NTSB about the Virgin space flight accident.

And breaking news on the release of Andrew Tahmooressi from a Mexican jail, just moments ago, new details emerging about the Marines' return.

And the calendar may say November 1st, but several parts of the country are about to be blasted with an early taste of winter. Snow falling as far south as Georgia. And more, guess what, on the way.

Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Developing news on the Virgin Galactic spaceship disaster, the NTSB about to release an update about SpaceshipTwo coming down, this as we understand that Virgin CEO Richard Branson could arrive at any moment at the crash site in California.

The SpaceshipTwo plane fell apart just 2 minutes after Friday's launch over the Mojave Desert. One pilot was killed, the other hospitalized. CNN's Stephanie Elam is near the launch site.

So Stephanie, it's the second private space disaster this week. What are we learning about what happened, any commonalities here?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's very disturbing, obviously, it's a very rough week for space exploration and these private endeavors as well, Fred. What you're seeing here are the challenges of actually trying to get up to space.

What we know about Virgin Galactic, the plan was to take people up 62 miles above earth so that they could feel maybe for 5 or 6 minutes what it's like to be weightless in the lower regions of space before coming back to earth, this whole endeavor now going through a setback.

What we know is that SpaceshipTwo, the one that crashed yesterday, it cost about half a billion dollars to make, just that one vehicle alone. The ship that was bringing it aloft, that was taking it up into the sky, that landed safely.

That called White Knight 2, that part is fine, but this particular spaceship that they lost yesterday, it's a big deal that they lost it, let alone the fact that you've also lost one of the pilots and this other pilot is in serious condition as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And what more do we know about those pilots or when might be learn something, especially since, you know, the CEO Richard Branson will be making his way there momentarily?

ELAM: Right. We are understanding that he may be here imminently if he's not already on the ground here. What we're hoping to learn more about is who these pilots are, how long they've been involved. From what I can gather these pilots have been involved in this type of activity for a while.

The space exploration community seems rather tight knit. It seems like they really do know each other. And here in the Mojave Desert, this is a place where you have a lot of space exploration work. You have a lot of aeronautic work. These people come here, they live out here, there's a community that's really feeling the impact of this loss -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Stephanie Elam, appreciate that. In a few minutes, we'll actually continue this conversation with retired NASA astronaut and shuttle commander captain, Mark Kelly.

All right, there is freedom and a homecoming for a U.S. Marine reservist today. Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi stepped down in his home state of Florida just hours ago after an early morning flight from San Diego.

He was released late last night on psychological grounds after spending seven months in jail for entering the Mexico with guns in his truck. Nick Valencia has been following the story since it broke. So how did all of this unfold?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was months of hard work by the defense team, by his family, and keeping this story in the news. As you mentioned psychological grounds, humanitarian grounds. He was released because he has PTSD and simply put Mexico doesn't have the resources to give PTSD treatment to their prisoners.

Earlier, I spoke to former ambassador, Bill Richardson about the charges that the U.S. Marine reservist was facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER AMBASSADOR (via telephone): I think that was incorrect. He's a good young man. You know, he's a war hero and we have to stand behind them. Maybe a mistake was made on the weapons thing. I think he took a wrong turn coming into Mexico, and maybe because of some confusion or the PTSD, but he's a good, young man. He's served two tours in Afghanistan. He has suffered enough, great family, great mom and dad. You know, let's focus on the positive. So I think the Mexican judge made the right choice. He got all the evidence, he took a long time and he made the final decision that, because of PTSD, on humanitarian grounds he should be released. So it ended well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: The outcome, it was the outcome that the family was hoping for all this time -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: You know, I think the last time you report on this and you were talking to the mother having the conversation with the mother, it didn't seem very hopeful.

VALENCIA: No.

WHITFIELD: It's pretty extraordinary that there would be this turnaround. I mean, had Bill Richardson, Montana Williams, all these people who had been working on this, have they can working on it for a very long time and perhaps the family didn't even know it or did something just occur within the past 30 days or the course of a past few days or weeks that turned things around that allowed Mexico to say there are psychological grounds in which to win his release?

VALENCIA: I mean, this is extraordinary especially when you consider the stance of the Mexican nationalists. They did not want him out. They believed he was there to do something bad, something nefarious.

In recent weeks that we've reported that there were conversations that began at high levels in the Mexican government, in the attorney general's office to find a way for them really, Fred, to save face so that they didn't look like they were caving to pressure from the American side, caving to this very strong pressure from not only the family but others.

The secretary of state mentioning it to his counterpart in Mexico, Secretary of State Kerry, I should say. It happened. It was a surprise to the family. Right now, they're living in the moment. They say Andrew Tahmooressi is living in a moment. He needs treatment.

He is not well. When I talked to him over the course of the last several months, it seemed as though his mental health was deteriorating. Now though he has the resources to try to get better.

WHITFIELD: Extraordinary story. All right, Nick Valencia, thanks so much for bringing it to us. Appreciate it.

All right now to some sad news from Washington State. A third teenager has died after last week's high school shooting north of Seattle. The 14-year-old Shaley Chuckulnaskit was gunned down in her school cafeteria.

Her parents described Shaley as a radiant light in their lives. One other student was killed on the scene and another died Sunday night. Authorities say shooter, Jaylen Fryberg invited his victims to the same lunch table by texting them. He took his own life at school that day.

Heavy rains in Ventura County, California, led to dangerous mud slides earlier this morning. Police evacuated residents from 11 homes as a precaution. A man was briefly trapped in one of the homes, but he was later found safe. There are no reports of any injuries. The same area of the mud slide was burned by a wildfire last year.

All right, it is still fall, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It feels more like winter with snow falling early this morning in the mountains of California and even further south in Georgia, temperatures actually continued to fall.

CNN meteorologist, Jennifer Gray is here with us. See? You're looking like winter. I had to put extra layers on because it does feel like winter. I kind of like it.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We felt like the 20s this morning here in Atlanta. It was very, very chilly. This is Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Look at the snow in the trees. Unfortunately, because most of the trees still have leaves on them, we dealt with a lot of downed trees, but several inches in Gatlinburg fell overnight and into this morning.

Luckily most of that snow is starting to wrap up. We're dealing with very cold rain, though, and it is still very windy. So that wind chill is going to play a factor in today's forecast, 40 degrees in Chicago, 44 in Atlanta.

But when you factor in the wind chill, it feels like 34 degrees right now in Atlanta, feeling like 31 in Chicago. So feeling like the upper 20s still at this hour in Cincinnati. So it is chilly, chilly out there.

Temperatures, high temperatures the next couple of days, we'll slowly be warming. The winds will die down by tomorrow and so it will feel warmer just without those winds. But we'll be back up to 60 degrees in D.C. by Monday.

Temperatures, 66 in Atlanta on Monday as well so all of that snow that fell will quickly be melting over the next 48 hours. Get those snowmen built quick because the snow will be melting.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, I think this is a prelude. This is my prediction, my non-meteorological prediction. This is the prelude to a cold winter.

GRAY: I don't even want to hear it. I don't even want to hear it. I know, but you're probably right.

WHITFIELD: That's what I'm feeling, that's all. All right, thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate it.

All right, a woman in Portland, Oregon, who traveled from Liberia is now hospitalized and quarantined. She had been self-monitoring for symptoms and discovered she had a fever Friday morning. According to our affiliate, KOIN, she is 21 years old, moved from Liberia to Portland on Tuesday. Oregon health officials say she did not have any known exposure to Ebola while overseas.

Meantime in Maine a nurse who had treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and refused to quarantine herself in the U.S. has reached a deal with a judge. He ruled, the judge, that Kaci Hickox does not need to quarantine herself as long as she submits to direct active monitoring. She must let officials know if she wants to travel or shows any symptoms.

And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul under fire for attacking the GOP so is the senator still defending those comments? We find out next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, breaking news, we want to take you straight to the Mojave Desert, an NTSB press conference underway about that space ship crash. Let's listen in.

CHRISTOPHER HART, ACTING CHAIRMAN, NTSB: -- exactly when and where that first press conference today will occur. So having just arrived this morning, we don't have any substantive information yet. But if you have question, I'd be happy to take them. Again, thank you for coming to cover this event.

The question is, how different is this investigation from the typical investigation that the NTSB does? This has many similarities and differences. It has some of both for us.

Some of the differences is that this was a space launch vehicle and this would be the -- we participated in the launches of the "Challenger" and the "Columbia," but this will be the first time we have been in the lead of a space launch that involved persons on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a black box in this vehicle?

HART: The question is, is there a black box in this vehicle. I'm not sure of the answer to that yet. We'll find out today. Any further questions?

The question was, is the altitude of the mishap? I don't know that kind of information yet. We'll find that out very quickly because this was a -- this was a test flight and test flights are typically very well documented in terms of data and we may get some video feed.

We may have lots of evidence that will help us with the investigative process and we appreciate that. That will make our job simpler and make it able to find out not only what happened, but also more importantly why it happened. So we can make recommendations to try to prevent it from happening again.

The question is, do we have any telemetry, and we'll find that out today. Do not know the answer to that. One more question then we have to move on. How big is the team? I believe we have somewhere between 13 and 15 investigators.

And the question is, is this a standard size? The size depends on the complexity of the mission and because this has some new aspects for us, we wanted to make sure we covered all the basis. Thank you very much for coming. We'll have our press conference this afternoon. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, you're listening there to Christopher Hart, acting chair of the NTSB right there at the site or near the site of where this spaceship, the world's first spaceship designed for tourists exploding in midair and then plummeting to the earth in the Mojave Desert.

You heard from Hart there saying there are a whole lot of unanswered questions. This is the first time they've actually ever had to investigate a space launch accident with people on board. One pilot dying and the other was able to parachute, but is still being hospitalized.

You're hearing from Hart there who says it's unclear if there was a black becomes on this flight. Unclear what kind of altitude it had reached. Because this is a test flight, it's very unusual circumstances but at the same time, he says often test flights have a whole lot of documentation, but they still have yet to pore through. So of course, we'll get more information as we get it with that investigation under way.

All right, now, several big names hitting the campaign trail today in the final push for the 2014 midterm elections, which are just now three days away, Chris Christie, Bill and Hillary Clinton and even President Obama stumping today.

Our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, is following all of the races. So Candy, what are we expecting to see come Tuesday night especially as a result of the big guns so to speak that are stumping on the trail?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big guns are not trying to change minds at this point. They're trying to drive up votes. That's what that's about, bring out your biggest names, get people all excited, say, bring your friends, and bring your neighbors.

You see the president was out there earlier this week so that's about turnout because every single election it is a truism that the -- it will come down to who shows up to vote. There was that.

I think otherwise the broad outline are certainly what we've been talking about, you will see a more Republican Capitol Hill both on the House side and the Senate side, probably more Democratic governorships, the Democrats stand that's sort of their bright spot.

The question though is really in the numbers and in the margins, how many seats in the Senate and how many in the House, by the way, because John Boehner may pick up an even bigger majority than he has now on the House side.

The question is he's had a hard time with the majority he's got now. Will it be an easier job or tougher job depending on who he picks up?

WHITFIELD: All right, and so we've also seen a lot of potential 2016 contenders stumping for other members of their party this midterm. We've seen some of the examples already. One of the big names being tossed around as a potential candidate is Kennedy -- Kentucky, rather, Senator Rand Paul.

You recently sat down with the senator and asked him about the stark division in this country and what it means for the midterms. This is a little bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: What does it say about Republicans? Because a lot of these races, about ten of them, are still pretty darn close, which means that those Democrats have been able to survive in the worst of environments?

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Well, I think it shows that our country is pretty evenly divided. It tilts a little bit one way and the other way, but I think when you have a president and then you have Hillary Clinton saying the same thing, saying that businesses don't create jobs, a lot of Americans are scratching their heads and saying, who do these people create jobs if businesses don't?

Do they thing that government creates jobs and that's how America became great? I think there's a philosophical debate in this country. A lot of people find themselves saying if we don't understand that businesses create jobs.

And we don't understand that we want American businesses and money to come home and do something constructive, maybe we need new leadership in the country. So I think people are ready for new leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And so Candy, you know, he certainly is less than reticent about being critical not just about Democrats, but even being critical about the GOP brand, is he getting any pushback from that. Is he receiving criticism for his criticism or is he standing his ground on that?

CROWLEY: Sure. He famously said the GOP brand sucks. Now in nicer words and in more diplomatic language, if you look at the Republican report after the last presidential election, how are we going to change the party, they're saying the same things that Rand Paul is saying, which is we need to grow the base.

The country is getting less Republican in the kind of population sense, it is less white. You know, it is less male. What we're seeing here is the rise of minorities. We're headed toward a majority/minority country.

What Rand Paul is saying, look, we have to reach out and broaden our base here or this party is headed for extinction. He said it in quite colorful language and people wouldn't quite say that. Notice that he talked about the brand more than the policy. I did ask him about that as well, so --

WHITFIELD: And what's the difference?

CROWLEY: Well, a brand, he uses Domino's Pizza to say, you know, Domino's Pizza says our crust sucks. What Rand Paul is saying is that Republicans aren't doing a good enough job selling their policy. So the question is, is it about the policies or is it that Republicans haven't gone in to these neighborhoods, haven't really reached out to Hispanics, to women, to African-Americans? Is it that they haven't reached out? Is it the way they're doing it or is it what they're selling? That's the key question.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, Candy Crowley, appreciate it. Always good to see you.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: And of course, be sure to tune in to CNN election night coverage starting Tuesday evening 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

And straight ahead an update from the ntsb about the deadly spaceship accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Just moments ago, we got an update on the investigation into that failed space flight in California. The NTSB saying unclear whether there's a black box on board that flight. It's unclear what kind of logging may have taken place. However, they say on test flights usually they're extensively however there are something like 13 investigators on the case investigating.

One pilot is dead, the other still being hospitalized. The NTSB is looking into why a Virgin Galactic spaceship fell apart after launching over the Mojave Desert. That's what you're seeing over there on the screen. On the left is accident that actually happened.

On Tuesday, an unmanned rocket exploded just after takeoff off the coast of Virginia. It's the second incident to impact the commercial space industry this week.

As NASA put it, the pain of tragedies like this is felt by all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploration. Retired NASA astronaut and shuttle commander, Captain Mark Kelly, is one of those people. He's joining me now. Good to see you.

So Mark, what do you think this will do to the overall ambitions of the commercial flight space industry?

CAPTAIN MARK KELLY, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT AND SHUTTLE COMMANDER: Well, overall and over a long period of time, I don't think either of these accidents will have a long-term negative effect. These things are to be expected.

Flying in space is a difficult thing to do, whether it's cargo to the space station or flying potential tourists to, you know, to these kind of altitudes, about 60 miles in a suborbital flight. You would have to expect that there would be accidents.

WHITFIELD: This should not discourage those who are passionate or excited about exploration whether it be in a privatized way or not. You say there are likely to be accidents maybe of this caliber?

KELLY: Yes, I don't think it should discourage anybody for the future, you know, of this industry. Obviously, with Virgin Galactic, with this accident, they're going to have to regroup and do a thorough investigation.

It's great that they have the NTSB involved in this. You mentioned the data recorders earlier. I imagine there's some kind of data being recorded on board and probably not your typical black box, there will be telemetry to help understand the cause of this accident.

WHITFIELD: Is it your understanding that there are a lot of former NASA folks that are devoted is and involved in this project and are you able to tell me the level of expertise that goes into this kind of team to get this type of space flight in the air?

KELLY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, one individual, a guy named Mike Moses used to be on my last shuttle flight as the commander of the final flight of space shuttle "Endeavour." Mike Moses was basically the operations guy, the guy that ran the entire team.

And this is a huge team of thousands of people to get the space shuttle ready for launch, to get it launched into space. He's now the head of operations for Virgin Galactic.

They also have a former space shuttle commander as one of the pilots at Virgin Galactic. So they have great expertise there. They have the right people involved, but like I said earlier, this stuff is not easy.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and so given that there's so many former NASA people involved in this venture, there's a lot at stake, is there not? I mean in terms of why they want it to succeed or is there a feeling with this kind of exploration it might inspire or revitalize NASA as we once knew?

KELLY: Well, this is different than what NASA does. You know, with the space shuttle, we go to orbital velocity 17,500 miles an hour. We bring cargo up to the International Space Station. Now we retired the space shuttle.

Companies like Spacex, Boeing will hopefully be delivering people up to ISS here in the next couple of years. What Richard is attempting to do is a little bit different. This is suborbital flight. It's not as fast as you need to go in the space shuttle.

There are other challenges. He wants to turn this vehicle around very quickly and fly it again in order to fly upwards of hundreds of customers each year.

It's not necessarily the best comparison, but they're both difficult and challenging things to do. And they've got some work to do, but they do have the expertise there to figure this out and move it ahead.

WHITFIELD: And so paying customers are expected to be on spaceships as early as next year with these kinds of accidents this week, do you believe that will likely set that back or, you know, could they still move forward as planned?

KELLY: Well, with Orbital Sciences, they're delivering cargo to the space station. They have no future plans to be flying people. Virgin Galactic, on the other hand, Richard had, you know, the company's plan and his plan was to be flying paying customers and he would be on the first flight here sometime within the next year.

Now it depends on what was the cause of this accident. You know, people are talking about, you know, the change in fuel from that rubberized solid fuel to this plastic, you know, mixture, and that change could be the cause of the accident. It might be something totally different.

We don't know. When we eventually figure out -- when they figure out what the cause of the accident is, it could be an easy fix. It could be something that requires an extensive redesign. That would certainly delay the first flight with passengers.

WHITFIELD: Sounds like you're fairly excited about this type of exploration. Do you fully endorse it? Do you like the idea?

KELLY: You know, I do, I do now. When I was at NASA, I was a little bit skeptical whether a company like Spacex could deliver cargo to the space station. It's a difficult thing to do. They've proven they can do that.

I mean, what Richard is trying to do here in getting hundreds of people into space. It kind of reminds me of what happened in aviation in the 1920s and '30s when it became commercialized and companies were trying to make a profit is where it really took off.

So this could be -- this commercialization of space could be the beginning of something great for this country. Maybe in our lifetimes, instead of traveling from, you know, L.A. to say London in, you know, ten hours, maybe we'd be able to do it as fast as you can do it in the space shuttle, which is about 35, 40 minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Captain Mark Kelly, always good to see you. Thank you very much for your expertise. Appreciate that. Of course, this Virgin Galactic, the founder of this company, Richard Branson, is expected to take to the microphones there. When he does, we'll take that live.

But first today's CNN hero, he helped children kick the pain and fear out of cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I really hate when it hurts. It's a really sharp pain. I get all teary. The shots really scared me a lot and they still scare me now. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When children get a diagnosis like cancer or any major disease, they lose any sense of feeling that they're controlling their lives. They're prodded and poked and touched and they're often so afraid. Our daughter is Sara Bassio who was diagnosed with leukemia. She was such an incredible little soul who taught me about the power that's inside of ourselves. Are you ready?

Begin. After our daughter passed away, I started a program that provides classes to children who are sick, to teach them the martial arts, to make them feel powerful. Every single type of martial arts uses the breath to take control.

I'm a black belt in choikwando. Hold it, then release. We use the martial arts as a platform for meditation, to allow children to gain these tools. You're totally in control. To really face down so much of the fear, the anger that accompanies pain. Breathe in. You can see that light on their face. I feel like their souls are shining. You did it.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I do have the power to make the pain go away, and nothing's impossible, nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, live pictures out of the Mojave Desert. They're getting the microphones all prepped and ready to go where Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson is expected to speak at any moment now about the accident involving his space flight yesterday. When that happens we'll take it live as soon as he starts talking.

Meantime, here's a look at some of the other top stories we're following. A U.S. Marine reservist is free and back with his family today after seven months in a Mexican prison.

Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi was released late last night. He was arrested in March after crossing the border with three guns in his truck. Now he is back in his home state of Florida and last hour, family spokesman, Jonathan Franks, said, the family is relishing some private time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN FRANKS, TAHMOORESSI FAMILY SPOKESMAN: They're now together as a family. At the appropriate time and place, he will speak for himself. And I don't want to -- I think there have been far too much projecting opinions and whether you want to call it ideological predispositions upon him. And he's perfectly capable of speaking for himself. After he has some time, I think he will speak for himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Sergeant Tahmooressi was released on psychological grounds according to Mexican court documents. The Afghanistan war veteran is said to be suffering from PTSD. Now just three days before Americans head to the polls to cast their ballots in the midterm elections and a lot is at stake. Here now is CNN's Tom Foreman.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are three key things we're watching in this midterm and the first is right here in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats have been in charge. We're showing them here in blue along with the two independents caucus with them in purple.

The Republicans are expected to gain some seats here. The Democrats are expected to lose some, but control of this chamber is going to come down to nine or ten very close races and the Democrats have to win six or more of them if they want to remain in power here.

On the other side of the rotunda, the second thing we're looking at, which is the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republicans have had the majority here. That is not expected to change. The question is will they lose some seats or, more likely, will they pick up some, and if so, how?

If they do it with Tea Party help, that could set up divisions within the Republican Party that the Democrats might be able to exploit even from their minority position, which brings us to the third thing we're looking at which is the White House reaction to all of this.

If the president comes out swinging over a big loss and he completely alienates the Republicans, they have a perfect excuse then to say we're going to make you the lamest of lame duck presidents with control of both chambers.

If, however, he's too conciliatory toward the Republicans, he could dispirit his own party and that could make it very tough for any other Democrat who wants to win the White House in 2016.

WHITFIELD: All right, back to politics in a moment. Right now to the Mojave Desert, you see right there the introduction of the Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson.

He's to speak momentarily about the accident involving what would be the first spaceship designed for tourists exploding in midair yesterday right there and then plummeting into the Mojave. A pilot was killed. Another parachuted. Let's now listen in to Richard Branson.

RICHARD BRANSON, CEO, VIRGIN GALACTIC: Thank you very much for coming. This is obviously a very tough time for everybody who works at Virgin Galactic, who works for this spaceship company and who works for scale composites. Most importantly our thoughts remain with the families of the brave scale pilots and all who have been affected by this tragedy.

We are determined to find out what went wrong and are working with the authorities to get that information. It is too early for me to add any details of the investigation at this stage. We've always known that commercial space travel is an incredibly hard project. We've been undertaking a comprehensive testing program for many years and safety has always been our number one priority. This is the biggest test program ever carried out in commercial aviation history to ensure that this never happens to the public.

The bravery of test pilots cannot be overstated. Nobody underestimates the risks involved in space travel. Commander Chris Hatfield is amongst those who sent moving notes of support in which he highlighted the nature of space projects.

He wrote, as a former test pilot, crashes and, sadly, even deaths were frequent. It is a known part of the business, little solace but reality. Pushing the bounds of knowledge and possibility comes with unavoidable risk.

In testing the boundaries of human capabilities and technologies we're standing on the shoulders of giants. Yesterday, we fell short. We'll now comprehensively assess the results of the crash and are determined to learn from this and move forward together as a group of friends and a company.

We've been touched by the overwhelming support coming from not just the space community but the world at large. If I could hug every single person who has sent messages of love, support and understanding over the past day, I would. The space community sticks together.

And there have been touching messages of solidarity from NASA, even from the International Space Station, X Prize, our customers, the media, the Virgin family and many, many thousands of people all over the world inspired by the vision of commercial space travel.

Of all the moving words shared with us, a quote from the Astronaut Lisa Nowak stood out. Of course, risk is part of space flight. We accept some of that to achieve greater goals in exploration and find out more about ourselves and about the universe.

We do understand the risks involved, and we're not going to push on blindly to do so would be an insult to all those affected by this tragedy. We're going to learn from what went wrong, discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forward together.

I truly believe that humanity's greatest achievements come out of our greatest pain. This team is a group of the bravest, the brightest, the most determined and the most resilient of people.

We are determined to honor the bravery of the pilots and the teams here by learning from this tragedy. Only then can we move forward united behind a collective desire to push the boundaries of human endeavor. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it to say that the dream lives on?

BRANSON: It's fair to say that all 400 engineers who work here and I think most people in the world would love to see the dream living on. As I say that we owe it to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong, and once we've found out what went wrong, if we can overcome it, we'll make absolutely certain that the dream lives on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) about not going to make it no matter what to space. What is your response to that?

BRANSON: The NTSB will be doing regular press conferences over the next month. I'm not allowed to comment at any all about any of it. It's the NTSB that will be commenting. And to be honest, I find it slightly irresponsible that people who know nothing about what they're saying can be saying things before the NTSB makes their comments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell us about the pilot who died and what about the survivor?

BRANSON: Somebody later on will give you more details on that. No, the pilot worked for Scale, not for Virgin Galactic. And I've actually -- I never met him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the future --

BRANSON: We would love to finish what we started some years ago and I think pretty well all our astronauts would love us to finish it, would love to go to space. I think millions of people in the world would love one day to have the chance to go to space, and this is the start of a long program.

You know, I've spoken before once we got this program off the ground offering point to point travel. In the early days of aviation there were incidents and then aviation became very safe.

In the days of commercial space travel, there have been incidents then we hoped one day the test pilots would enable people to be able to go to space safely and that's our wish and desire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Richard, what's your message to those who wanted to be on those journeys? What's your message today having seen what they've seen in the last 24 hours?

BRANSON: We've had numerous messages of support from the people who -- the astronauts who signed up to go with us. We even had somebody sign up specifically to become an astronaut yesterday in support of the program. So I think that they've been patient to date. I think most of them will be patient longer. We may lose one or two, but it doesn't look like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir Richard, (inaudible) --

BRANSON: OK. Of course, anybody who ever wants a refund would be able to get a refund. We haven't used the money. We've always decided it's best not to use the money. It just gave us the confidence to do the program knowing that these people were so committed.

I'm afraid, thank you very much for being here, I'm being pulled away to go see the 300, 400 people who work here. But thank you very much for your time. WHITFIELD: All right, Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson. Clearly this is very personal, but he still remains committed. He says the dream, you know, lives on, but he did express an appreciation that the NTSB would be there to try to figure out what happened.

He also underscored that in the early days of aviation there are incidents that happened, certainly the priority number one has always been safety, but they will continue to try to keep this project going.

He says this team of 400 as he just mentioned he wants to go meet with the 400 or so engineers, the team is the group of the bravest and the brightest. He said, quote, "We would love to finish what we started a few years ago."

But at the same time, he understands after a deadly accident like this, one pilot dying, another remaining hospitalized, he would understand for those who paid their money to be among the first of the civilians to fly to space by way of his program, he says certainly they could get a refund if they wanted to.

Of course, he is determined, he says, quote/unquote, "to find out what went wrong, but it's too early right now to detail." And you heard from the NTSB earlier as well saying they have heard an awful lot of questions.

They don't know if there was a black box. They are not sure of the altitude, but they do understand that test flights usually have copious notes, great documentation to determine what may have preceded this accident.

We'll stay on this story and we'll have much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

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WHITFIELD: It's a decision Kaci Hickox is calling a victory but the governor of Maine says this is a mistake in his view. Let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland and Richard Herman in New York, criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from Las Vegas.

Good to see you both, gentlemen. So Avery, you first, the state ordered her to limit her movements, not be within 3 feet of anyone in public. The court ruled. So all of this, was it even necessary? Could this decision or, you know, outcome have been determined without the court's involvement?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes. I mean, it was absolutely unnecessary. All the three things that the chief judge decided here, she was doing anyhow. In fact, a reporter said well, now are we going to pass out candy on Halloween? Actually, my question was is anybody going to show up?

But realistically the idea of quarantining her was not supported by the evidence. Everyone knew it. We're seeing a number of governors around the country, Fredricka, ordering quarantines of doctors in hotel rooms and here we have in Kaci Hickox's case, the fact is unless there's clear and convincing evidence, public health can only be protected with evidence, not with fear.

WHITFIELD: And Richard, Nurse Kaci Hickox must have, quote/unquote, "direct active monitoring." But what if she breaks that, then what?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If she breaks that, she's going to get arrested, Fred. But here's the question. These cases are done on a case by case basis, a quick primer on constitutional law, if you are going to limit and restrict someone's individual liberties, the courts do a balancing test and they have to base it on rational information and use the least restrictive means.

Here, as you read the decision by the judge, he basically said, this is out of fear. This is fear mongering. This is bad information, bad facts, and misconceptions. I'm not going to stand by it. I'm going to use the least restrictive means, but you're right, if she violates, she's going to get arrested.

WHITFIELD: Because you're arresting her and there's already this, as you mention, the judge put it, fear or concern about her health and her contact with the public, then you're going to put her in where if you're fearful of her contact with anybody else. So it seems like one problem presents another and another. So then I wonder is this precedent setting at all or influential in any way to other states, Avery, in your view?

FRIEDMAN: I mean, it's a decision, there's no binding authority, but you know what? It's a four-pager, not particularly deep. If another just wants to use it, fine, but it has absolutely no precedential effect.

WHITFIELD: How do you see it, Richard, influential?

HERMAN: I agree with Avery.

WHITFIELD: You're agreeing?

HERMAN: For once he's right, what can I say, Fred. One state decision, each state is different. It's based on a solid foundation. I think it will we followed.

FRIEDMAN: It's a balance, you're exactly right.

WHITFIELD: We're all in agreement that Avery had an incredible weekend last weekend being honored at the U.S. Supreme Court in the great room. And look, we have a picture, Avery.

FRIEDMAN: My goodness.

WHITFIELD: Explain that moment, how important it was for you.

FRIEDMAN: It was, but you know, I look at it as something for all of us. What we've endeavored to do, all three of us in particular, is try to make sure that the law is understandable and clear and a lot of people are affected by that and so I treat the recognition as something that recognizes all that we're trying to do for all of us.

WHITFIELD: You're so modest. An incredible honor that's bestowed on you there at the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, what an incredible honor for all work that you've done over the years in civil rights and those of human rights and you really are incredible. One thing, you were wearing a tux. I'm sorry, Richard, what?

HERMAN: Did Avery get up there and sit in one of the chairs? That's all I want to know.

FRIEDMAN: No!

WHITFIELD: I'm living vicariously through the photograph and the moment.

FRIEDMAN: What a nice thing to say.

WHITFIELD: It's an honor to have you both every weekend, love it. Thanks so much, Richard, Avery. Appreciate it.

Coming up, we go live to the hangar in the Mojave Desert where Richard Branson just spoke. The breaking details straight ahead.

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