such a dramatic moment. rescuer manuel gonzalez going into the rescue shaft. he was the first of six rescuers to descend into that darkness. remember, until that moment the escape capsule had been tested unmanned and never all the way down. the tests had gone well but never any guarantees in any rescue operation, especially ones on this scale. as gonzalez anz the can suls vanish from sight the world waited and what we saw minutes later was truly extraordinary. here s gary tuchman. reporter: 68 days after the collapse of the san jose mine, the beginning of the end of the saga is now clearly in sight. the world gasps in disbelief that the images from more than 2,000 feet underground. it s the first time anyone outside the immediate rescue team has seen live video of the miners. there are cheers and hugs for the first rescuers, manuel
involving people, technology and medical expertise from around the world. [ applause ] down below it might have turned into lord of the flies chaos and instead became the 33-man democracy with miners organizing, choosing leaders, deciding on the honor of who would be the last to leave. while up above the race to save them was on and so was the countdown to rescue. in the hour ahead we ll take you inside that race, moment by moment. the challenges and setbacks. how they were overcome and the mechanical and human ballet that all made it possible, all the elements that led first to images of miners safe underground and then ultimately to the incredible sight of those men emerging one by one from weeks of darkness. we re going to start at the beginning with tom foreman. reporter: august 5th, 2:00 in the afternoon. 2,300 feet underground, a shaft collapses in the san jose copper and gold mine. 33 miners are somewhere behind the rubble. their condition unknown. the chilean presid