variant. also this morning the white house announcing that president biden is reversing course will be lifting covid travel restrictions on southern african countries. controversial implications and the number of cases is staggering in some places in the united states. infections from the new strain have quickly surpassed last summer's delta surge. the daily average of new cases is now surging over 182,000. health officials honestly unclear on where the peak is going to be. let's start with cnn's pete muntean live at reagan national airport for us. pete, what is happening with these flights? >> reporter: kate, 500 flight cancellations in the united states alone, and airlines say as these omicron cases start to surge, their staffing levels went down, which led to them cancelling these flights. from flight aware, about 170 cancellations at unaied alone, 140 at delta air lines. last night we obtained a memo from you nighted to its staff saying this was impacting flight crews and those responsible for the operation of the airline. in a statement they say, "we've unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are already notifying customers in advance of coming to the airport." it also says they're sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible to get them on their way for the holidays. this comes as we've seen long lines at airports across the country. yesterday the tsa screened 2.19 million people at airports nationwide, the highest number we've seen during this holiday travel period, a week-long streak of numbers at or near 2 million people each day, and we have not seen the end of it just yet. the tsa says it will screen another 20 million people between now and january 3rd, when everybody comes home all at once. by the way, airlines are pushing the cdc to reduce the isolation period for its workers who experience a breakthrough coronavirus case. right now the isolation period is set at ten days. airlines want it to be down to five days to keep more workers on the job. they say that will avoid more issues like the one we have seen just now and also issues like we saw during the fall when airlines had to cancel thousands of flights, kates. >> you see those issues snowballing as the variant spreads. thanks, pete. also at this hour, the white house reversing course. president biden says he plans to lift covid travel restrictions imposed on african nations. let's get over to the white house. joe johns is standing by. what is the white house saying? >> reporter: the white house always said this was a temporary measure, and now they say the cdc has made progress in understanding the omicron variant. also they say there's more confidence that vaccines do work, especially when people go ahead and get the booster shot. so given all of that, the white house has a bit more confidence to say they're going to lift these travel restrictions that went into effect in late november on eight african countries including botswana and south africa that's going to go into effect on december 31st at just about midnight, just about midnight of december 31st. the other thing i think is important to say as well is these restrictions were controversial and did create just a bit of international upset as you know, kate. there were concerns about the fact that the african countries have been very transparent about their problems with this latest variant and they felt as though they were being penalized for it. back to you. >> good to see you, joe. thank you for that. joining me for more is cnn medical analyst dr. leana wen. thanks for coming in today. what's your reaction to president biden lifting travel restrictions as joe laid out? >> i'm really glad that president biden has lifted these travel restrictions. i was one of the people actually in support of these restrictions in the first place because they were always meant to be temporary, really short period of time, so that it buys the u.s. time to find out more about omicron and so that we're able to implement measures like encouraging people to gets vaccinated and boosted. now omicron is in all 50 states, in d.c. and puerto rico. it is the dominant strain of the u.s. we have more omicron in the u.s. than these eight african countries do. so it only makes sense for these restrictions to be lifted now. >> the cdc's big ointment about cutting quarantine time for health care workers who test positive from ten to seven days. we know airlines, as pete muntean said, are also asking for that same change, even down to five days for their employees. what do you think of that? >> i think it's really important for us to do this because at this point we're facing a potential collapse of our essential infrastructure. this is the reason why for health care workers it's so important that we preserve the ability of our hospitals to function but also transit and grocery stores coming into this holiday season and so many other essential workplaces may have a critical shortage of workers. so i do think that a test to return to policy is what should be implemented at this point. even after five days, if you test negative, why not be able to come back to work? by the way, we also should distinguish between isolation and quarantine. so isolation is if you test positive, you should be isolated. but right now if you're vaccinated and you're expoegszed to somebody with covid, you actually do not need to quarantine. you can still be going to work, and workplaces that have not changed their policies to reflect the cdc guidance should do so. if you're vaccinated and exposed but don't have covid, you can still be going to work as long as you're wearing a mask. >> i probably misspoke because i often mix up and interchange isolation and quarantine. as we are learning with covid, they denote two different things. on the israeli plan to gave fourth vaccine dose to certain groups, i was interested to hear what dr. anthony fauci had to say about that in a radio interview. let me play this for you. >> if the protection is much more durable than the two-dose, nonboosted group, and we may go a significant period of time without requiring a fourth dose. so i do think it's premature, at least on the part of the united states, to be talking about a fourth dose. >> you know, moderna's chief medical officer was on with wolf yesterday, and he seemed to agree with what fauci is saying. what do you think of a fourth dose? >> yeah, i agree with dr. fauci that it's premature at this time for us in the u.s., especially because we have such a substantial proportion of the population that still hasn't received their third dose of the booster, which really is essential at this time. we have many nursing home residents, for example, people who are extremely medically vulnerable who still have not gotten their third booster dose. this may turn out to be a three-dose vaccine. we don't know yet. israel is considering getting a fourth dose and we'll have more information because israel goes ahead with this, they'll have data we can learn from. >> a lot of people see good news, i guess, we can call it and what we have heard coming from south africa and the uk in these two studies, finding a rise in omicron cases has not been followed by a spike in severe illness. but i want to play for you what dr. peter hotez told me about this because he has a different take on this. >> a lot of the omicron cases both in south africa and the uk were actually omicron reinfections following a delta infection and that may have had some mitigating effect and give the appearance their epidemic was associated with milder disease. we're in a different situation in the u.s. in that our delta wave was relatively confined geographically to most of the southern united states and over a defined period of time over the summer into the early fall. >> africa's cdc chief essentially said the same, cautioning everyone ens g extrapolating from south africa's experience even to extending that to the continent and everywhere else with omicron. what do you think of that? because do you think people are, i don't know, getsing a head of themselves, maybe hopefully getting ahead of themselves, right? >> right now, the issue we're facing is that omicron is everywhere. i mean, if you're getting on a plane, you will be exposed to omicron because omicron is going to be on that plane. but that doesn't mean you shouldn't travel. it doesn't mean we shouldn't gather with our friends. it means we are probably all going to be exposed to omicron just because of how contagious it is. but i think on the bright side, it does look like not only from south africa but also from the uk, from denmark, norway, they've had a huge spike in cases but have not had that spike in deaths. the u.s. may be different from all these places for a number of reasons -- our vaccination rates are not as high as the uk, south africa's population is much younger than ours, the median age ten years younger than the u.s., so there may be a number of factors confounding. but i also think at this point there's no way for us to rein in the number of new infections due to omicron. the best thing we can do is protect the most vulnerable who are most likely to get ill and also the unvaccinated i worry about. i think that whatever mitigation measures we apply at this point, it will be really difficult to rein in the very large spike in cases we're seeing of omicron because ill's all over the united states. >> that kind of leads me to this because some of what is confusing abwhere we're at in the pandemic is this different application of responses, like the different application of rules and mitigation efforts when it comes to, like, the safety of life events. like, for example, i was just seeing that the sundance film festival announced i v it's still on. they'll be requiring booster shots to attend. but the band fish just canceled and postponed their big new year's eve shows in new york even though vaccines are required to attend. what should be the deciding factors for whether or not we can have big events like this now in this pandemic? what do you think? >> it's a really difficult question. i think looking at infection numbers alone is not going to cut it because with omicron, we're seeing so many people get infected, and life has to move on. our economy has to keep on going. i think looking at hospitalizations would be a good way to go because we definitely don't want our health care system to be overwhelmed, but i also believe overall it's time for us to live with covid, and part of that is recognizing that all of us at some point may get it, but there are ways for us to reduce the likelihood of severe illness and we can protect the most vulnerable including with things like testing. so i think we are all living in this reality now where restricting the vaccinated is just not going to do that much as in even if we put a lot more restrictions on, i think the amount of gain you get in terms of reducing infections isn't that great because of how contagious omicron is. if that's the case, let's move on. let the vaccinated go about their lives, make decisions that are appropriate for their individual circumstances while at the same time trying to reduce the burden and the strain on our health care systems. >> good to see you, dr. wen. thank you. >> thank you, kate. happy holidays. >> you too. thank you. coming up for us, the covid surge in new york city forcing changes to the times square new year's eve celebration for the second year in a row. what is it going to look like? that's next. ♪ ♪ hey lexus... play holiday music! ♪ ♪ we've been waiting all year to come together... have a happy and safe holiday season from lexus. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the first approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. this is what it's like to have a comprehensive wealth plan with tax-smart investing strategies designed to help you keep more of what you earn. and set aside more for things like healthcare, or whatever comes down the road. this is "the planning effect" from fidelity. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. women are living longer than ever before with kisqali when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. avoid grapefruit during treatment. ask your doctor about living longer with kisqali. throughout history i've observed markets shaped by the intentional and unforeseeable. for investors who can navigate this landscape, leveraging gold, a strategic and sustainable asset... the path is gilded with the potential for rich returns. nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. we're going to take you live to washington, d.c., where the first lady is continuing with her tradition of celebrating the holidays at children's national hospital there. and a surprise guest as you can see joining the first lady this time around. president biden joining and meeting -- i want to listen in for a second if we can hear this, guys. >> that's beautiful. what are you going to fill the bags with, do you know? >> so sweet. the kids meeting with the president and the first lady, spending -- they're celebrating the holiday with them as the first lady does on most holidays, to go visit the children and the staff and the leadership and all of the hardworking health care workers at children's national in d.c. of course, these children too ill to go home and spend holidays with their families at home. but it is a beautiful tradition to see the president and the first lady there at children's national. we'll see if the president makes any formal remarks and turn those around for you. just another part of the holiday season to remember those what we should remember most. i want to turn now though to this. the omicron surge is forcing some changes to new york city's famous new year's eve celebration. for the second year in a row, the party in times square will have limited capacity instead of the anticipated 58,000 revelers, only 15,000 allowed to watch the ball drop in person. anyone attending will have to show proof of vaccination and wear masks as they ring in 2022. joining me for more is tom harris, the head of the times square alliance, which helps organize and promote this annual tradition. thank you, tom, for being here. i appreciate it. >> thank you very much for having me. we're so excited to welcome revellers back to times square this year. for us, it wasn't if we did this, it was how we did it safely. so important to show the world that new york city has found ways to forge ahead in a safe, responsible manner and welcome -- >> so what will it look like? >> so it's going to look, to those watching from home, if they're going to watch anderson and andy on cnn or one of the other networks or on our free tsq.org app, it will look very much like prior years. the crowds just will be less dense. they will be fully vaccinated. we're mandating they wear masks. around we're going to welcome revelers into the viewing pens later in the day to reduce the time that they're in the pens. but that's not times square. i'm sorry too square will be open throughout the day, just the revelers who are in the viewing pens will be allowed in after 3:00 in the afternoon. >> this isn't an easy decision for any mayor or city to make. what all went into the decision? there was a big question, everyone at least, you know, publicly wondering if it was going to have to be canceled all together because of the fear of omicron. what went into this decision? >> so, i want to actually thank cnn and your medical expert, dr. leana wen, who sort of said it's an outdoor event, we're requiring proof of vaccinations, and we have to find ways to do things that are fun in a safe and responsible manner. i think she said you can't cancel everything. so like i said, for us, it was how we do it safely, not if we did it, and we're encouraged that we'll have 100 times more people in times square this year than we did last year. >> you'll take progress where you can get it. that's for sure. >> yes. >> i also agree with you, dr. wen is fantastic. i appreciate that. before the decision was announced, i spoke with new york city city councilman mark levine, and he raised some concerns about the event. i want to play this for you. >> yes, you have preparties and afterparties and all the socializing that happens around times square. i don't think this is a safe time to do it, as sad as that is, because we desperately want opportunity to celebrate. >> for sure. he does raise a good point. it's not just about the ball drop, of course, right. it is all about all of the partying around it. how do you factor that in? >> so, i certainly respect his opinion and just know that even if we didn't do the event, those parties would likely happen throughout the city. each day we welcome 275,000 people to times square. we don't know if they're vaccinated. they're not mandated to wear a mask. so us doing this event and controlling access to those viewing areas i believe creates a safer environment for people in times square. and once we get to capacity, we'll just encourage them to watch the event from the safety and comfort of their home, either watch anderson and andy or our free webcast at tsq.org. >> if people are planning to come down to see the ball drop, what do they need to know? what do they need to plan of for? >> they should certainly have a mask, proof of vaccination and photo i.d. readily available. they will go to one of the entry points to times square on 6th or 8th avenue. they will first -- they will have a vaccination check and then they will be screened by the police department, and then welcomed into the viewing area to watch the greatest show in the world in times square as we welcome in 2022. >> and wish for a sweeter 2022 for sure. thank you so much for coming on. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you very much. so, for much of the country, this christmas eve is bringing in some surprising winter weather. all along the west coast, rain and snow are impacting holiday travel. flashflood threats in california and historic snowfall in nevada. meanwhile, in the southeast, several states are looking at potentially record-breaking heat waves. cnn meteorologist chad myers is tracking all of this for us. i don't know how you keep track of it all, actually, chad. look, we're all looking far white christmas somewhere, but there is some serious weather out there. what's going on? >> right. there really is, kate. as desperate as california and oregon and parts of washington are for rainfall and snowfall, really double need to come tonight and tomorrow, but it is. it's on its way and there will be places in the sierra nevada as you said, there will be ten feet of new snow on the ground by the time tomorrow night's snowfall finally ends. that will make travel difficult. we're seeing rain and snow, snow into seattle, not all the way down to the street, but we'll see snow to maybe 300 feet above sea level. that could be an inch or two. technically, you have to have an inch on the ground to be a white christmas. if you see snowflakes in the air as a kid, it's magical. you get that on christmas day, you'll take it. in the south, rain to phoenix, baja, california, rain into very dry san diego they'll take the rainfall there. we will see winter storm watches in the elevations, above about 2,000, 3,000 feet. this is called an atmospheric river. we also -- we used to call it kind of in just jest, the pineapple express. now we don't have to get this pineapple express from hawaii. we know they can come from other places. it is a stream of moisture in the jet stream putting down all of this rainfall, up to 7 inches of rainfall in some of these areas. we're worried about the burn scar areas really. here comes the rain into new york city for tomorrow, ice and snow into parts of new england, but really this is going to be a warm weather event, even cleveland will be like 54. growing up in buffalo, new york, never the 50s on christmas day. kate? >> no kidding. indiana, lake-effect snow is everything we would see in christmas. good to see you, chad. thank you. coming up for us, donald trump's final chance to keep his records secret from the january 6th committee. way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the first approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. ♪ i'm a reporter for the new york times. if you just hold it like this. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ hi. so you're the scientist here. does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? it's true jen. this prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. impressive. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ new daily moisture for face. mom, hurry! our show's gonna start soon! i promised i wouldn't miss the show and mommy always keeps her promises. oh, no! seriously? hmm! it's not the same if she's not here. oh. -what the. oh my goodness! i don't suppose you can sing, can you? ♪ the snow's comin' down ♪ -mommy? ♪ i'm watching it fall ♪ watch the full story at www.xfinity.com/sing2 pushing back on donald trump, the january 6th committee now asking the supreme court to speed up its decision on whether they'll consider donald trump's appeal attempting to keep his white house records out of their hands. trump filed the appeal to the high court yesterday, only after he's already lost this fight in two lower courts. let's get over to cnn's caitlin poe lantz for more. what is the house committee asking for? >> reporter: they are trying to get access to documents that are still secret. the committee can't look at these documents right now, they can't ask witnesses about them, and it's more than 700 pages of records, things the committee believes would be key to their understanding of january 6th, what happened that day, especially around donald trump in the west wing, what his advisers were saying and doing. those things are like activity logs, call logs, schedules from the white house. this is what the committee can't see, drafts of speeches, notes on talking points that were being given and diskugsz eddisk the president, and think they pages of handwritten notes from trump's chief of staff, mark meadows. meadows was talking about the possibility of disrupting the electoral college certification in congress. those are key documents they're looking for. but this case is also a clash over timing in court. this case has moved really, really quickly as far as cases like these go. the house select committee wants that to happen because there's about ten months until there's an election where the house could change hands. the committee investigation could shut down. and so far judges have recognized that need to move fast. now, at this point in time, trump has lost but still has control, still has secrecy of the documents, and he's told the court that the documents should stay private while they are weighing bigger issues of the legal questions about the presidency. so he said in his filing the limited interest the committee may have in immediately obtaining the request of records pales in comparison to president trump's interest in securing judicial review before he suffering irreparable harm. we don't know if the justices will do that, if they'll take their time in the way that donald trump wants them to, but it is in their hands now. >> thank you so much for that. speaking of donald trump and speaking like donald trump, voters in france will soon decide who will be their next president, and one candidate is drawing very clear comparisons to former president trump. cnn has more on the right-wing tv personality turned presidential hopeful. >> reporter: the political force shaking up france's presidential campaign. anti-immigration, anti-islam ideologue delivering his first official speech as a candidate. >> translator: obviously, i'm not a racist. you're not a racist. all you want is to defend your country, our homeland, the heritage of our ancestors. >> reporter: promised zero immigration. this is the reaction we've been getting. moments later, his campaign marred by violence. this is how his supporters responded to an anti-racism protest. convicted twice, found guilty of religious and racial hatred and fined. zemour has drawn comparisons to another fire-breathing populace. >> they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. >> translator: they're thieves, assassins, rapists. that's all they are. >> they can try to steal the election from us. >> translator: don't let them steal the election from you. >> reporter: zemour and trump, the parallels, however imprecise, are hard to miss. political outsiders who capitalized on their tv fame to launch an unlikely presidential bid, the promise -- >> we will make america great again. >> reporter: -- bring the country back to an imagined former glory. >> translator: the france of tnapoleon and charles de gaulle. >> reporter: he draws inspiration from donald trump, explains his biographer. he loved that trump never backed down. whenever he was asked, he would respond, build the wall. that's how zemour wants to run, he says. so zemour, the french trump? almost. the former tv personality still a long shot candidate is one part trump, one part tucker carlson. >> how precisely is diversity or strength? he's not from this country in that sense. >> reporter: zemour, the now expn journalist, is a facsimile of the fox news star, same debating styles, same cable used platform, say enviable b ratings, and the same obsession with culture wars. >> translator: we must choose names from the calendar, the names of christian saints. >> your mother was wrong. >> reporter: and like carlson, zemour never had interest in running for office. until he did. cnn, paris. >> thank you for that. still ahead for us, one of nasa's grandest missions in years and it's coming just in time for christmas. what the james webb telescope may teach all of us about the origins of the universe. ♪ ♪ (man) still asleep. (woman vo) so, where to next? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. ♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. ♪ be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. [upbeat acoustic music throughout] this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ ♪“i got you babe” by etta james♪ ♪ get groceries, gifts, & more fast and easy. so last minute guests are the only thing you'll be waiting on. ♪ joy. fully. ♪ these are the faces of listerine. the face of millions of germs zapped in seconds. the face of clean. the face of whoa! some are of intensity, others joy. all are of... various: ahhh... listerine. feel the whoa! tomorrow nasa is getting a christmas gift decades in the making. they're ready to launch the james webb telescope into space. not just the biggest and most powerful nasa has ever constructed, it could answer some of the biggest questions we have about our universe and how it began. cnn's kristin fisher is here with more on this. no small feat. just answer the questions of the universe. everything about this is fascinating. what is going to happen tomorrow? >> kate, this launch is about as high-stakes as it gets for nasa. if heaven forbid something goes wrong tomorrow, that is more than two decades, $10 billion down the drain just like that. it would be a huge embarrassment for nasa and a massive blow to astronomers all over the world. if i would goes well and nasa believes it will, this telescope could truly transform our understanding of the universe and can answer questions like where did that very first light in the cosmos come from and are we alone in the universe? here's nasa administrator bill nelson on our air just this morning. >> it's 100 times more powerful than the hubble space telescope. it's brought all of this revelation. yes, it's a time machine. it looks back and captures the light shortly after the big bang, and that's over 13 billion years ago that that light in the formation of the first galaxy has been traveling to us. >> so you hear senator nelson talking about how the webb telescope is 100 times more powerful than the hubble telescope. so this is essentially like going from the camera quality on an old flip phone to an iphone 13, right? it's just going to be a massive upgrade in terms of the kinds of images and light that this telescope can see. but another big difference, and this is where the webb telescope is at a bit of a disadvantage. remember, the hubble telescope had some issues early on and astronauts had to go and repair it. the webb telescope is going to be so far away that no astronauts can go and fix it. that's why not just the launch tomorrow but the many days afterwards as this telescope sort of unfrls, while nasa and the entire global astronomer community will be watching this really on pins and needles, kate. >> we heard nasa administrators talking about kind of what the mission is. how do you describe what the mission of webb is? >> so, i would say that webb is, as you heard, the largest space telescope that nasa has ever flown. another key thing to remember is that it's also working in a new part of the electromagnetic spectrum. so hubble we'll see infrared, heat radiation. so it will open up with its profound sensitivity a whole new sort of vision or visibility into the universe that we haven't had before. so as you heard, we want to understand how the very first galaxies unfolded in the universe and track how the universe has evolved over time. we also want to be able to understand how stars are born and also, as we've learned more recently in the last two decades, there are lots of stars that have planets. we want to start studying in some detail the atmospheres of those planets so we can start to understand what kind of conditions we need to look for in order to understand planets, if they're inhabitable in the future. >> this is the largest mirror nasa has ever built. we're seeing video of it, and i love the depiction of it in your background as well. you could just reach out and touch it. can you explain why it requires such an enormous mirror? and how do you ensure that you can keep it safe as it is launching into space? >> so, the reason we require a big mirror is because we need more collecting area. the bigger the mirror, the more life you collect with the octobers that you can see. so, that's the first thing. how do we keep it safe during launch? well, on this particular telescope, it's gotten so big now in terms of the requirements astronomers have to do their science that we can't fit these telescopes into a rocket anymore when they're fully unfolded. so for webb, we've actually gone in a very new direction. we are actually folding up the whole package for launch so it will fit in the rocket faring and then at launch we'll unpack the telescope. as you can see from that image in my background, the mirror is not one single mirror. it's 18 segments, all hexagonal and we can fold the edge elements around the side of the telescope and the instrument package so that it fits. so that's a very new approach to d doing this. >> just fascinating. this was first imagined, i was reading, as a successor to hubble in '89. this took thousands of scientists, technicians, engineers, 14 countries, i think i saw, to build this. what does this launch represent? >> so i think this launch remits a lot of things. first of all, it's a technological marvel. we didn't get into it, but this telescope, because it's infrared, has the work of very cold temperatures. so we've had to devise new technologies to keep the telescope and the instrument cold for the duration of the mission. the mission is also a testament to, you know, partnerships, nasa's partnerships with european space agency and the canadian space agency, our partners. finally, it's just a testament to the commitment of all the scientists and engineers and program managers who worked on this program so long to make it a success and have overcome every technical challenge as they've been presented and then worked very hard to diligently test every component of this telescope to make sure it works the way we want it to work when we get on orbit. >> resilience at its best is kind of what the result of the james webb telescope. >> yes. >> real quickly, when are you going to receive the first images back? this is traveling so far. >> so, we actually expect to get the first images about six months after launch. and the reason is, as i said, because this is kind of a transformer telescope, so it takes us a while to unpack the telescope or deploy all the pieces, and then we have to do very minute adjustments to each of the mirrors so that they all behave like a single 6 1/2-meter diameter mirror. that takes about six months in total, and then we'll start to get the first science images. of course the whole package needs to cool down to that very cold minus 400 degrees fahrenheit. >> remarkable. thank you so much for coming in. and good luck tomorrow. >> thank you very much. >> really appreciate it. coming up for us, incredible video. the moment a tsa officer springs into action to save the life of a 2-month-old baby. you won't want to miss this. get $1500 lease cash toward a 2022 rx 350. ♪ ♪ this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to know you have a wealth plan that covers everything that's important to you. this is what it's like to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. making sure you have the right balance of risk and reward. and helping you plan for future generations. this is "the planning effect" from fidelity. deon, hand it over. now how does that make you feel? 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