Underscores their unfairness. If there was any case for such action after the capitol riots when trump was said to be encouraging violent extremism, it vanished during his six months out of office. Legally it will be hard for trump to prove that private Companies Cant set their own rules but politically its indefenseable and the most appalling part is most of the Mainstream Media, the supposed champions of Free Speech are fine with the digital cancellation of trump because hes trump. They keep talking about Donald Trump all the time including on Social Media but are pleased that his mega phone continues to be confiscated. Im Howard Kurtz and this is media buzz. Howie the 4th Of July of a time for patriotism but in our Media Culture its a time for high decibel arguments over patriotism especially over the founding fathers and Declaration Of Independence which included no rights for Enslaved Black People but after the Civil War should that mar americas image today. Listen to npr. The declaration is a document with flaws and deeply engrained hypocrisies. It also laid the foundation for our collective aspirations, our hopes for what this country could be. Howie The Fork Times says the flag may no the New York times says the flag may no longer be a symbol of unity. Supporters of Donald Trump have embraced the flag so Officer Mut many liberals worry that the left has all but ceded the national emblem to the right which is drawing sharp complaints from media conservatives. If you wanted to be accept inned the entertainment industry, media and academia, you have to draft this country. How deranged, how crazy have we gotten over our national politics that if you see someone flying an American Flag, you run the other direction because you assume you dont agree on politics. I know that theres a history in this country of certain groups using the flag, the American Flag to intimidate marginalized groups and people of color. Howie joining us to analyze the coverage in New York, will cain, cohost of fox Friends Weekend in, los angeles, leslie marshall, Radio Host and Fox News contributor. Will, what a do you make of some Media Organizations turning the July 4th celebrations into attacks on america and what npr calls flaws and hypocrisy. Its tragic for the future of the country. The American Flag is a symbol of principles and aspiration thats we live up to the principles but the principles remain the same, they remain pure and aspirational. If the media and the left decide those symbols no longer represent them and their ideology, that will be to their own impending doom because i have to believe, howard, this Media Narrative that you laid out, whatever kind of radicalism we see in academia or Social Media, it is not representative of this country and i think the majority of those on the left so if they adopt that radical position it will be to their own doom. Howie leslie, what do you make of the fact that look, no men are debating that all men who are created equal in 1776 did not include black slaves but shouldnt we celebrate the Progress America has made since then . Its interesting because in 1943 there was a case before the Supreme Court and it was the Virginia Board of education versus barnett. Again, 1989, there was another case out of texas regarding flag burning. So the Flag And Patriotism have been in question not just in present day. What i think is wonderful about our country, howie, and what i think people have the freedom to do is to view and to feel about the flag, about the symbol, about symbolism in general and patriotism and how you define that individually and uniquely. I dont think its doom for a certain group of people to say, hey, this makes me feel uncomfortable and i dont think because the flag makes somebody feel uncomfortable that they cant and dont see the progress the nation has made in certain areas, despite perhaps one congressional members comments. Howie i get that we have to grapple with the awful legacy of slavery. But we live in a country where Kamala Harris is Vice President , where Barack Obama was elected president twice, where congress passed a juneteenth holiday. Shouldnt the Media Report a more balanced picture . Yes. And that progress is undeniable that you laid out. To leslies point, i would say that No One is questioning your right to disrespect the flag. You have the right. The question is, are you right to do so. Im suggesting you are wrong to desecrate the principles the symbols stand for. If you no longer stand by them, if the left doesnt believe in the principles and the founding of the united states of america, well and i dont mean this to be jingolistic, but you can find the door. You dont want to be like a wife who says to her husband i love you but i want to change everything about you. I would ask Leslie Or Anybody on the left at this point, do you no longer believe in the unifying and foundsal principles. The flag is a symbol for the principles. The question becomes do you not believe in what we founded upon. Howie leslie, ill let you respond to that. People have the right to descend dash dissent, but to some extent its about the tone on the nations birthday. Listen to wills tone. All of us on the left dont speak with one right, nor do all on the right. Nor do all americans. It causes division. Were not unified under one message as a party, the democratic party. Were not unified as a nation with one message. Im from massachusetts, 20 minutes from plymouth rock. My real last name you can find on the may flour mayflower. I dont love what happens when we hit the shores, that many of us have hello. We got you. I think ive been i think you guys can see me but i think i got disconnectedded somehow we. Howie we can hear you fine. Let me pick be it up with will. Let me mention that the author of the New York times story told cnn she was just reporting on the flag becoming a divisive symbol, she was not advocating. I want to look at two members of congress that have been attacked by the other side. One of them is republican congressman paul gossar, a Libel Pundits are piling on him for associated with white nationalists. New york times headline, far right extremist finds an ally in arizona congressman. Do these kind of Media Attacks work. Work to do what . To paint the right in league with the white supremacist. The individual member of congress can be based upon his individual choices and actions and should not associate with someone who does not represent his views. If he does represent his views he should be held to account to explain. Like i held leslie to explain whether those principles he agrees with. Howie leslie, who can now hear me again, which is great, suddenly conservative pundits are piling on Congresswoman Cori Bush for this tweet about July 4th. The freedom theyre referring to is for white people, the land is stolen land and black people still arent free. I dont get the still arent free part. Does the Media Assault from the right help to discredit her . Is it fair . Well, i think its fair for her to say how she feels. Im a white woman. Im not going to tell a person of color, an africanamerican woman, elected official, how to feel. Some would say youre elected to congress, that wasnt possible. We no history and at the time of independence africanamericans werent free. I want to say one thing. I know i was cut off. Will, ive got to say, im not an elected official. And to put even my name in the same sentence with gosner it blows my mind, especially as somebody of Jewish Ancestry while this guy is hanging out with a holocaust denier. Howie i dont think will was you attempting to do that at all. I want talk about former President Trump who held a News Conference this week. Heres what he said about January 6th. That was an unfortunate event. I say, though, however, people are being treated unbelievably unfairly when you look at people in Prison And Nothing happens to antifa and they burn down cities and kill people. There were no guns in the capitol. Howie will, for the former president to refer to the riot at the capitol as an unfortunate event i think is going further than some on the right, who try to say nothing really happened there, it was no big deal. But trump pivoted to people were treated unfairly and bringing up antifa. Your thoughts. I think you have to talk about January 6th in a very responsible way. You cant diminish it. I think it was definitely a riot but i think that its been overstated the events of January 6th. No one has been charged with insurrection. 500 plus people have been arrested, some of them by the way who have genuine questions and should be answered about what is due process. They they are being held to this day, and i talked about that on Fox News prime time. If you only engage in Rhetoric And Hyperbole in describing the events you set aside principles and journalistic ethics and questions about what happened that day. Theres a lot of questions that are not being asked about January 6th. I think we should be more responsible about how we talk about that day. Howie last hour, the former president told Maria Bartiromo we won this election in a landslide. He continues to say that. What do you make of him describing January 6th as an unfortunate event which is phraseology that i havent heard him use before. Its a step in the right direction but sadly it is the Big Lie that he keeps perpetrating that he wont let go that fans the flames of January 6th. He had the ability as president to stop it. I feel that he is, even in his own party, even Mitch Mcconnell felt he was responsible with some of the words he said. Im not hearing responsibility from the former president and im not hearing the severity of what happened or what could of have happened. When you watch the footage, its horrific, not only what happened with the Police Officers but things we heard about the risk to the lives of people like nancy pelosi, former Vice President mike pence, aoc. Howie it was a traumatic event for our country. Theres a lot more to say about this. When we come back, how The Press is covering Donald Trumps lawsuit against Facebook And Twitter which he says are in cahoots with the Mainstream Media. This may look like a regular movie night. But if youre a kid with diabetes, its more. Its the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. This isnt just a walk up the stairs. When you have an irregular heartbeat, its more. Its dignity. The freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. Howie more than six months after twitter, facebook and googles youtube banned Donald Trump in the wake of the capitol riots hes fighting back with lawsuits against these Big Tech companies. Social media has given extraordinary power to a group of Big Tech Giants that are working with government, the Mainstream Media, and a large segment of a political party to silence and suppress the views of the american people. Our case will prove this censorship is unlawful, its unconstitutional and completely unamerican. Its Anil Liss in won an alice in wonder land lawsuit,. They ripped this Guys Vocl cords out of his throat at a critical time in our nations history. The point is that the president is trying to do something to correct an injustice for the american people. Howie all right. Will cain, does Donald Trump who had been saying he didnt care about being off twitter, he was going to start his own Social Media platform, does he have a case about unfair treatment by Facebook And Twitter, and also does he have a legal case. I listened at the top of the show. I think you got it just right. I dont know about the legal prospects of the suited filed but i think any american can look at this and say something is not right. Something is not right in american culture, much less in Big Tech. Where even a sitting president , much less a former president can be banned from the biggest technological platforms in the country. Its certainly not in the spirit of Free Speech. I dont care if its a private company. Thats not The Point. They control the public sphere. When you see not just this issue, but the origins of covid19, therapeutics on dealing with covid19, the hunter biden story, The Truth is not allowed to be discussed and increasingly, alarmingly increased frequency and if Donald Trump continues to expose and tear that down, great. Hes proven to be a very effective Wrecking Ball that exposes the rot in american culture. Howie trump told Maria Bartiromo that twitter allows dictators around the globe on but not him. You can weigh in on the legal Arresting Ament if you like. Does this show the liberal bias of the likes of Facebook And Twitter . Well, first of all, howie, and i said this before, theyre a company. And the former president also said its unamerican. Right. What theyre doing to him. And its actually very american. Its called capitalism. Because make no mistake, if these companies could make more money having him on, they would do it. You have to remember these platforms are not national. Theyre international. As you just mentioned. People that are on their platform from around the world, not just the united states. We dont live in this micro come here. Constitutionally, its very clear, theyre a private company, Free Speech does not apply to them. Hell lose the lawsuit. Im old enough to remember if you dont like the company, you can go somewhere else, two, just get out of all the platforms, all together, three, start your own, thats what they did with parler. Again, Twitter And Facebook if Donald Trump helped them, he would be on there. So its not just about their political bent. And i would imagine there are people working at those companies that are both Democrat And Republican like most companies throughout the world in most areas of this. Howie The Point is that Twitter And Facebook have become so powerful, i use the phrase public square, its not realistic to go out and pitch your own tent. But also, in his News Conference the former president said the Mainstream Media are working with Zuckerberg And Dorsey and their companies to silence him and im not sure i understand that complicity, will. I would say, first of all, to leslies point, and you touched on this, howard, its not so easy to say if you dont like it, start your own. You brought up parler. Parlers was kicked off Amazon Weber services. Its not like were dealing with a completely free environment to innovate and compete as you want. What were dealing is almost antitrust Monopoly Corporations who have control if not the legality of Free Speech, the culture of Free Speech in this country. Its not just the constitutional right to Free Speech but the culture of it. This is whats being lost as much as any constitutional principle. The idea that you and i can sit here and share an exchange of ideas and should, thats being lost. Howie leslie, there is a vigorous debate on The Hill about whether the companies should continue to get legal immunity, the socalled Section 230 that trump tried to eliminate. At the same time, its what theyre doing censorship, since its not an arm of the government and the question here is, does the first amendment apply to these private outfits . It doesnt. The constitution is very clear. Unless somebody wants to amend the constitution, which we all know is extremely difficult, although its been done 27 times, look, there are going to be arguments and if youre going to put it forth, whether in a courtroom or the court of public opinion, people will say if the its hurting, why are republicans, governors in the state, why are republicans the majority in certain state legislatures, how did Donald Trump win in not the last election, the election prior. The list goes on. So where is people might say you may perceive this as being against conservatives but at the same time the proof is in the details and are those elections based on those. Howie its not like if you dont like a Hamburger Company you did buy somebody elses ham bergeres. Theyve hamburgers, theyve become that dominant. Espn benches a Star Host over racially charged comments over legally video. Are the media unfairly dunking on her . I dont just play someone brainy on tv im an actual neuroscientist. 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Howie you are looking at a live picture of the Virgin Galactic aircraft which is about in the process of separating, this is part of the final stage of this relatively brief flight into the edge of outer space. And were going to keep an eye on that and well cop back to it come back to it shortly. Espn host Rachel Nichols has had a rough time since the New York times obtained audio of a private conversation where we explained about the Sports Network giving a coveted assignment to a black colleague, Maria Taylor. I wish her all the success in the world. She covers football, she covers basketball. [ indiscernible ]. Go for it. Howie once this exploded in The Press, nichols who has tried repeatedly to personally apologize to taylor was painted as the villain around this Week Espn booted nichols from the premier event, the nba finals. Joining us from dallas, steve krakauer. This may seem like inside Baseball Or Basketball but is what nichols said in the private conversation enough to warrant her being bounced by her network from the nba finals. No, its totally incongruous. Its about the state of espn and the Hr Hunger games thats happening there, the reactive nature in huh how things are going on there. Rachel was being critical of espn as a whole for the lack of diversity efforts, they have one seat for a female colleague, a fee nail journalist, its female journalist, its between rachel and maria, this story has no real timely resonance right now. This is a story that is a Hit Piece orchestrated by Maria Taylors camp to impact espn and Rachel Nichols. It hits as nba finals are starting, as Maria Taylors contract is up in several weeks and you get this punishment of Rachel Nichols not for what she said a year ago but for what is a Pr Kind of nightmare for espn. Howie i take your point on the contract. There are reports she was offered a 3 Million deal but we dont know for a fact. I want to clarify. This was orchestrated by Maria Taylors camp but you can draw that inference if you like. The other day, however, this shows how things have goten, Rachel Nichols went on the air on espn and offered this apology. I also dont want to let this Moment Pass without saying how much i respect, how much i value our colleagues here at espn. How deeply, deeply sorry i am for disappointing those i hurt, particularly Maria Taylor. Howie should she have had to you apologize like that when her Colleague Wont Respond to her text and shes trying to say im sorry, it wasnt aimed at you. Will not respond to her text and will not interact with her on the air. It looks like Rachel Nichols is talking to Maria Taylor, its not happening. She refuses to engage with her on the air. Its not an apology based on trying to come to an agreement. Its kind of what you have to do. That happened on monday. On tuesday, the decision was made to take her off of the nba finals. Its not like the Apology Led to a kumbaya moment. It didnt have resonance at all. Howie youre right. She was criticizing Espns Approach to diversity. Maybe the network felt stung and thats the reason for the retaliation im going to call it what it is. Yeah. I think its really just trying to get some Pr Win out of this. Espn did not look good in that piece, i think it was by design, in that New York times article, it was losing the battle on twitter which as we know has so much relevance these days, i think undue relevance for a big organization like espn. You take rachel off the nba finals, you try take some of the heat off it. This may happen a during the nba finals, game 7, Maria Taylors contract is up. I would say its a huge win for Maria Taylor and will probably lead to a contract from espn, looks better than the 3 Million she was offered earlier this year. Howie we shall see. You how we go back to the historic space flight, Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, the founder of the company, onboard. Tell us what were looking at right now. Well, it is a historic moment, thats exactly what youre looking at right now, howie. An incredible moment for not only space, but for Space Tourism, as sir Richard Branson takes this Giant Leap forward for many people who have hopes and dreams to reach the very edges of space. A few moments ago there was a gasp out here and you will hear cheers now, when the rocket decoupled and was released from the plane that took it up to 50,000 feet and that rocket shot straight up in the air and you could see the stream as it went up into the air and its hard not to be excited and hard not to smile when you see something like that. The live feed of what exactly happened didnt go quite as planned. It was hard to kind of see the crew in there once they reached the moment where they were kind of weightless and floating around. We saw a brief moment of that but now we know theyre getting back in their seats and theyre heading back downtoearth so this is one of the most critical moments when we wait and see if it will make a nice, save, smooth landing that we have seen Virgin Galactic do in previous missions to the edges of space here. Howie had thats what i want to ask you about. Thats what everyone here is waiting for. Howie theres enormous public interest, isnt that in part because Richard Branson at the age of 71, the guy who had death defying episodes in the past, hes On Board and its been cast as the Battle Of The Billionaires because nine days from now Jeff Bezos will go up and isnt that whats driving in part the enormous public opinion. The race to space, certainly theres an interest in the Billionaire Race to space. But to tell fro the people who are out tell you from the people out here, we just heard a big boom, we hope its the sonic boom, as they reenter the earths atmosphere. I think its good to see the He Competition between bezos and branson who will take a similar flight nine days from now in west texas. Thats certainly a big part of it. But you need eye balls and you need interest in order to keep this going and if youre wondering, sir Richard Branson has sold 600 tickets to do this experience at a tune of a quarter million dollars a seat. So there is definitely a lot of interest. Someone like me obviously cant afford that. You can tell people want to experience this. Howie maybe theyll let journalists ride along at some point. Bezos told a ticket for 28 Million for a tourist on his. This particular flight, other than the pilots, has virgin employees onboard. But the spacecraft has successfully done this a handful of times. Is there something other than bransons outsized presence and of course were all interested in that, hes a very colorful entrepreneur, that makes this particular flight that were watching now different from the previous event . I think part of it is youve got someone who is a billionaire, who is obviously funding howie let me jump in. Richard branson is talking right now. Were going to listen. Its an experience of a lifetime. Fa im looking back now im looking down, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful, beautiful thing. Congratulations to our wonderful team at Virgin Galactic, 17 years of hard, Hard Work to get us this far. Howie i didnt realize that we were actually going to be able to hear from mr. Branson in midflight. That is you amazing and also makes my point about it being a bit of a television show. Jeff, lets pick it up, please. Not sure if we still have audio contact. Oh, yeah. Howie, yeah, i think The Point you were making before we heard from Richard Branson is that someone is paying and funding sort of an adventure to space, that hes putting his money where his mouth is and hes actually experiencing it to give the confidence to other people who are wondering if its safe and viable. This would be the first time an owner of a privately run Rocket Company is taking the ride himself. Howie right, to give our viewers an update. The Virgin Galactic flight is at 22,000 feet and descending. Doesnt look like a dramatic descent but obviously its moving very quickly. You have to give credit to the entrepreneurs, bezos wished Branson Lots Of Luck before the launch. They didnt have to do this. Theres a strain of thought i like everybody else are wondering, private companies doing what nasa used to do exclusively, it feels like a new era but is it a diversion for rich people who can afford to buy the tickets, will it be more of a fun thing for people who have a lot of money as opposed to leading to a deeper exploration of space and the planets . I mean, i think if you go back in history and you look at aircraft, commercial aircraft, im sure there were similar conversations about that happening too that is for the rich and the affluent and here we have people now like me, flying for Work Trips to come here to witness this historic moment. So i think tHe Competition is good because it obviously will make the companies better and of course things are expensive when they first start out. An iphone was very expensive when it first starts out but a lot more people have iphones now, same with laptops or any technology. So very historic moment. Its hard to put into words, being out here and hearing the excitement and knowing what could be next for the future. Howie yeah. As somebody who grew up during the u. S. soviet Space Race and the Great American moment in 1969 when man first walked on the moon and all the subsequent apollo flights, im used to the choreography of seeing a Capsule Cep Freight the main craft and separate from the main craft and splash down in water. Maybe you could walk our viewers through how this will make a landing, i think this landing will get more attention than previous ones because of Bransons Presence on the spacecraft. Yeah. So this is its sort of almost two aircraft, if you will. It took off like an airplane would and that Space Rocket Et that ended up going to rocket that ended up going to space was in the middle of a Twin Fuselage airplane. Once it hit the 50,000foot mark, then the rocket was released and took off to space. Now its coming back in and its supposed to kind of be coming into the atmosphere with the underbelly taking the brunt of the gravity and the pull and the burn thats coming in back to the atmosphere and then it will land like a plane or a space shuttle, obviously its much smaller. So its a mixture between a rocket and a an airplane theyre calling it a space plane. Howie theres so many unique things that makes it so fascinating, beyond what you described as the Battle Of The Billionaires. We should point out even though theres been success with this particular spacecraft, this is not without Rifnlgt You talked without risk. You talked about somebody putting their billions of dollars where their mouth is. This is not a routine thing yet. They had to feel ready to launch. Nasa does not regulate this other than the risk to people on the ground if something were to go wrong, anybody who gets on these spacecraft, whether its branson, bezos or Space Tourists who buy a Ticket Know full well this is not like getting on a Cross Country Flight from New York to la. No, its certainly not but i think what separates Virgin Galactic from some of the other Rocket Companies were hearing about is theyve already taken people on a similar ride and brought them back down. Howie 500 feet. Safely as we await sir Richard Branson landing. Howie were waiting now, 500 feet above the landing zone. Lets be quiet for a moment and watch. Main gear touchdown. And were going to hold it just like this for a minute before bringing the nose down. Theyre already celebrating inside there. And the nose is coming down now. Nose gear touchdown. And braking. Howie well, it looks like a picture perfect landing, a smashing success. Ive been on Plane Landings that were a lot bumpier than that. Its incredible Drone Footage as we come in and there is full stop. Howie the crowd there im sure very happy. Jeff paul. We did get to see that shot of Richard Branson kind of clapping his hands together, knowing that hes just completed this historic flight and just watching those pictures was something when you consider all the technology and the Hard Work and the risks involved and now were looking at the plane having successfully completed its landing. Your thoughts . Yeah, 90 minute flight, a very historic one and hes back down on the ground. Its pretty surreal to think that in an Hour Andahalf an Hour Andahalf ago we watched him get into the Suv And Head out to space and now hes back down on earth in the matter of an Hour Andahalf remarks would be a typical movie. So its incredible just to see this experience, to see the technology, how far its come and as you mentioned, sir Richard Branson has been working on this for years and years and finally he gets a chance to experience something that he has invested countless dollars in and now other people soon as they have booked tickets will get to experience something similar. Howie its got to be an absolutely thrilling way to spend some time even though its described as being on the edge of space. Were talking about 50 miles up and of course the effects of gravity and the effects of feeling weightless even though youre not weightless is really something and i think everybody was cheering for branson and that flight and i think there will be a similar reaction when Jeff Bezos goes up in his rocket. Its really something to watch these historic pictures. Jeff paul, appreciate your doing the duty there and keeping us posted. Would you like me to keep going . Okay. Sorry, i thought we were. I was just going to say, just an credible view from space, from the windows, im sure Thats Part of it too, the weightlessness, also the view. Howie and live and in color. In the early days of the apollo program, a lot of it was in black and white. I imagine over the next 24 hours well hear a lot more from Richard Branson about what it was like, his feelings about the successful launch and i think The Press will have a lot to feast on here about is this a kind of a wright Brothers Moment that is going to lead as you were saying earlier to kind of a new era, in which private companies, in which capitalism is going to play a much bigger role and nasa which laid the foundation for this over the decades and is still going to be exploring places like mars, will have some Competition And Competition in america is a good thing. Yeah, well see what happens next and were nine days away from Jeff Bezos doing something similar. Obviously his experience will be a little different, its a fully automated rocket that will land itself back downtoearth and its going to go a little higher and there has been back and forth between Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin about whats considered space. The u. S. Government defines it as 50 miles above. International market, 62 miles above. Most experts say there isnt much of a difference between the 12 miles once youre up that a far. Howie it goes to show you, youve got to win the battle for space and then have you to win the Pr Battle to tout your accomplishments but thats The World We Live In and we also live in a world where billionaires with the right amount of drive, determination, money and of course very talented engineers and scientists, people like that, can make something like this happen. And again, the fact that we watched that very slow, smooth dissent onto a landing made it seem routine. Weve been having very different conversations, there could have been complications, something could have gone wrong, there was a delay, weather related reasons. You cant say anything other than this was a triumph, a success for branson, for virgin atlantic, for america and for those who really care about space exploration. Yeah, and i think the other part of it, if you talked to people who have watched Space Launches in the past, they brought back down the ship that will likely be reused again. Part of it is bringing the Cost Point down, the reusable aspect of this space flight. Howie let me turn we have on the phone john krisidis, Air Gnaw particular engineer who aaeronautic engineer, give us your take on the landing and what was accomplished here today. Its tremendous. This really sets us apart and gives us the ability to have Space Tourism and im ready to go too. I think its an amazing Thank Tg that happened today. Howie youre raising your hand, youre ready to sign up. Im ready to sign up, yes. Howie i hope you have a big bank account, at least initially. Whats a amazing about it, because the thing that strikes me again, i made an earlier reference to the fact that im used to seeing the big Booster Rocket take off from kennedy and then later the splashdown of the cap sewel. I mean, capsule. I mean, here we have a different kind of takeoff, it took off kind of like a regular airplane, and a different kind of landing. Talk a little about that, if you would. Sure, this is more like a space shuttle, that would land like a regular plane. And what sets this apart from what bezos is doing and musk is that this is a plane that the astronauts actually control. Versus an Automatic System where everything is done automatic. When bezos goes up, its going to be fully automatic. Howie why the different approaches . It would seem like fully automatic might be safer. On the other hand, if things go wrong you do want experienced pilots onboard, i would imagine. Right. You hit it right on the head. You do want pilots On Board in Case Something goes wrong. Im an engineer that does automatic controls. Imperfectly content with an Automatic System too as well. Howie you see the Press Gathering you now, maybe some of these folks will come out. In the meantime, if i had asked you fine years ago whether this was five years ago whether this was likely, whether this was feasible and whether this could become routine, what would you have said . I would have given ate a 50 50 honestly. Were here today. Its a great day. Just look forward to the future. Howie so were looking at live pictures of branson and the crew and the employees inside the capsule. They must be breathing a little easier now. You can have all the drawings and Scheme Matt Ex and studies scematies and studies but im sure its a relief to be on the ground. Your projection, you would think that 50 50 odds, underscores that weve been used to a lot of success with the Space Program, with a couple of tragedy as well, thinking of the challenger for one terrible moment during the reagan administration, that this was not a foregone conclusion and that the Risk Factor is still substantially high when youre faulking talking about all the things that have to go right for this to be successful. Exactly. John f. Kennedy said it right. We do this because this is hard. Were building satellites at the University Of Buffalo right now, one of them were about to give to the air force. Its been six years in the making, this is about the size of a shoe box. It takes a lot of work to ensure that the satellites will work safely and obviously when you have humans involved, that goes up by an a order of magnitude. So a lot of planning needs to go in place. This was a short launch but when you launch things into space, you dont get a chance to you only get one chance. So think about flying a car for millions of miles and not being able to youve got to get everything correct and make sure its going to work the first time. Howie im particularly interested in hearing about what youre working on since im a graduate of the State University of New York at buffalo and obviously a lot of private companies, contractors will try to get in on this. Where do you see this going . Do you think it will reach The Point where Space Travel is relatively routine or for now is the most that we can say is that there will be occasional flights with relatively rich people onboard to get the excitement of going 50 miles into the at atmosphere. It will definitely be routine i think in 20 years, just like right now were at the beginning of Air Travel, right. Who would have thought how fast Air Travel would have became routine. Thats whats going on right now. I think within 20 years it will be fairly routine with Space Tourism and hopefully with private companies and billionaires behind this and making the transition from government to more industry and i think theres going to be Space Tourism is going to be big. Maybe some day one of these billionaires will build a Space Station up there and have a permanent presence for tourists to go up there. I think that would be very exciting. Who knows where its going to go right now. Howie let me bring back jeff pulling. The justification for the initial nasa Space Program is it would greatly aid research for things here on earth. Obviously theres natural Drive And Inclination to try to go to the planets, landings on the moon and all of that. I hear less about that now, but perhaps if this does become more frequent, more companies involved, more people experiencing it, there will be some scientific benefits as well . Yes. Well, im thinking more in terms of the moon and asteroids because theres a lot of rare minerals on there, water that we can use, and other things that can be brought back to earth. And help solve some of the problems we currently have on earth. Obviously, were a long ways away from that but i think its something we should be planning for. Howie yeah. Im sure that that will be the case. I guess we at least briefly lost our connection with jeff paul. Let me say a couple things and bring you in, john. That i think there were times during the u. S. Space program when there was a great debate here on earth about was it worth the money. Couldnt we take all these hundreds of millions or billions of dollars and a spend it on needs here at home and people starting with jfk when he launched the Space Race, lbj has been interested in space and every president has argued its worth it, that its man Kinds Destiny to explore and also there would be benefits well beyond the creation of gatorade for people here at home and so i think that the media play a pretty crucial role here, not just in we all get very interested in showing these launches and these landings, but i think it helps Drum Up Public support the more attention we pay to what people like branson and bezos are trying to accomplish. Exactly. And i think thats a very good point. Because when Shuttle Launches became routine, this happened with apollo as well, when it became routine there was less Media Coverage and people didnt tune in as much. I think as more and more of this happens, people are going to become a lot more aware of it. I got into my area, became an Aerospace Engineer because i wanted to be an astronaut. I think the more we do this, the more well get excitement to explore, to get into the Stem Field and i think thats really important. I think a lot of people dont look at that aspect and say do we want to spend more money on education, thats great, but this will do a lot more to inspire kids like Apoll Low did for apollo did for me to get into the Stem Field of Aerospace Engineering. I think its exciting. Howie were looking at footage from earlier this morning of the Virgin Galactic aircraft. If youre just joining us, there you see a shot of the crew inside. This is earlier videotaped footage. Its been a tremendous success. Richard branson at the age of 71 putting this billions of dollars into this and bringing it in for a safe landing after a roughly Hour Andahalf flight. Jeff paul, let me ask you the same question i was just exploring which is how important is the Media Coverage in terms of raising Peoples Awareness of not just the flashy parts of this, branson versus bezos, but the benefits and the allure of what might some day be more routine Space Travel. Obviously, it plays a huge role in bringing whats happening to us and keeping the company honest, to the viewers about whats going on and the challenges they face at this point and what the experience is truly like. I tell you what, there is all sorts of different media here, internationally, probably more international media here than domestic. Youve got local reporters from New Mexico and a hell pa he sew El Paso area, also from london, australia, france, different parts of asia, All Over The World here to view this moment and i think share it with viewers who they think have an interest in it and find value in this huge step towards Space Tourism is what theyre calling it and one of the other things i want to point to is you can kind of see the crowd of people who have showed up here, some of them virgin employees, people who have gotten a chance to come here and witness it and theyre all waiting to get a glimpse of Richard Branson and to cheer him back as they get back from space. Howie yeah. You know, Richard Branson has had a career where hes done some wild things, where hes been injured in some of the things that hes attempted to do, Bungie Jumping and other stunts, all of which has made Richard Branson very famous, very rich, but hes also had to run this company. I want to provide some perspective as we continue to look at live pictures of the touchdown site. And that is, you know, its just shy of 120 years ago that the Wright Brothers were able to achieve flight, get an actual now primitive looking aircraft off the air and look at how much has happened, how much the world has changed, how much the world has shrunk because of Airline Travel and of course then the explorations and recently the Unmanned Craft On Mars and the explorations of the moon and all of that. The point is, throughout all of human history, this was unthinkable, this was not possible. Now were looking at something that is all too possible financed by private companies that could have a great future. Yeah. And judging by the looks of it, the atmosphere that someone like Richard Branson brings along with something like this is pure excitement. You know, you can probably hear the music behind me and thats what its sort of been this entire time weve been out here since the early morning hours, around 4 00 a. M. A. Theyve been Pumping Music out here, getting people excited about this, not just for Richard Branson but whats next for the future of space flight, Space Tourism, maybe experiencing the weightlessness. Elon musk has set his sights on going to The Outer Limits of space. Its a huge step. Its an exciting one, even for the people down on the ground, just seeing that trail that the rocket left as it shot up. You can remember where you were at that moment i think for a lot of people who were out here in the New Mexico he desert to witness this moment. Howie thanks very much for your reporting and your insights. We appreciate it. It is exciting, sitting here, its my job as an anchor to help narrate and to provide some Perspective And Information but, you know, just on a basic level and this is going back to the first time that people like john glenn, the future senator went up into space, its exciting. Its rivetting to watch this when you take a second to realize, john, let me get you back, how much of a technological challenge this was. Im sure there were many naysayers saying you will never be able to pull this off but today at least has been a huge success. Yes. I agree with you 100 . Going back to The Point about the international community, i look at space as the unifier for the world. Because we all share space. And the more we cooperate in going into space, hopefully it will be part of the thing that unifies us in the future. So its a great day. And for all the naysayer, ive got to admit i was a little bit in that sense too, but, yeah, i mean theyve all been proven wrong and keep going. Howie on that point, i mean, the original Space Race of the 1960s was born out of a competition between the united states and the soviet union. It was kind of a proxy for the cold war. But then the two countries now with russia ended up cooperating on the international Space Station, china now trying the to become a player in international space as well. But the biggest thing here i think is that private industry, which takes a lot of criticism, has shown that there are visionaries there, there are a lot of companies that have not as well run, and branson who as i said has been controversial, who has been colorful, really gets to do the Victory Lap if i may use that phrase for what he has pulled off. A quick final thought from you, john. Well, competition breeds technology. Right. So competition is good in that sense. It can also have a downside but by and large i think competition is a very good thing and if china were to say were going to mars, what would we do . We would immediately say were going to mars, we want to beat them, right. I think its a good thing in a lot of ways. Howie john, we appreciate you joining us by phone. Thanks very much. And im just going to look at the pictures here now for a moment as we kind of take it all in. I keep trying to reset the scene because the magnitude of what has gone on here today and the possibility of many flights to come, whether its branson, whether its bezos, whether its other companies really could change Space Commerce and the way we think about it. Im he delighted to have had a chance to share this historic moment with all of you. Were coming to The End of peed ya buzz. Thank you for watch media buzz. Thank you for watching. Well be back next sunday. Well pick up the coverage with Fox News on this historic day, successful flight of the Virgin Galactic. Arthel a Historic Step On The Road to private commercial Space Travel, Virgin Galactics ceo Richard Branson and five company employees landing minutes ago after blasting off from New Mexico aboard bransons own rocket plane. The you Crew Briefly leaving the earths atmosphere, Making Branson the first billionaire in space, beating amazon and blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos by nine days. Well low, welcome to hello, welcome to Fox News live. Im Arthel Neville A. Hi, eric. Eric good morning, im eric shawn. Thanks for being with us