You can also watch online at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. We will take your phone calls and get reactions. Of course, the big story today was the total Solar Eclipse as across the entire continental United States. It was the first such eclipse in 99 years and the first total Solar Eclipse visible in any part of america since 1979. On our facebook page, we want to know what you did earlier today and what you think about the future for the space program. Earlier this afternoon, cspan aired nasa tvs coverage. We will take you back to this afternoon beginning around 1 p. M. Eastern because we ares going to be tracing this eclipse all across the country. Not only does everybody in the country have a great view, but we have some views from the sky, dont we, sean . That is right. Looking up from the ground is how most of us experience the eclipse. Researchers wanted a different perspective, to image the moons shadow. In illinois and across the United States, teams use High Altitude balloons for a unique perspective. They are getting ready to launch a Research Balloon from carbondale, illinois. It is a realtime High Definition video system. Lets check in on the progress of that launch. Suddenly experience it eclipse in 4d, like being on the surface. To actually understand the corona, it is important. All stars have the corona, we corona, it is important. Need to understand why the energy is released in the way it is. We need to go inside the stadium right now, they are about to launch the balloon for the louisiana grant consortium. Go to kevin standing by. You see the balloon, that will let that get safely down to the ground. All the instruments all the instruments, the path is low. Great. Can you hear me ok . Yes. This is kevin, sorry about the mix up, i was too enthralled looking at this fantastic weather balloon that has just launched. You can probably see it behind me. Pandemonium here, good pandemonium, one of the weather balloons has launched and with me is one of the team members, introduce yourself to the entire world. No pressure. Hi, my name is colline, Program Manager for Louisiana Space Grant Consortium based at lsu. To keep a scorecard for people if they are wondering, we talked about the program director, he is your boss . Yes, he is my boss. What exactly is your job entail with the consortium . I manage the program, i write grants and reports and organize students and keep them on track and do communications training. Sounds like you do a lot of outreach, as well. It is in my heart and thrills your heart to see so many young people, you probably did not have to drag these young people kicking and screaming to do this help, did you . No, no, we brought four institutions with us and lsu is the home team and so they were always coming, but we had a competition to figure out which other students we would bring. We brought a team of 46 people. Okay. Right behind you now, i had forgotten, they are launching two balloons, the first balloon, i think we have a video of the first balloon. Right on top of us here. A few more seconds. We are getting ready to launch the second balloon. It launched already, that is another. Okay. The first balloon, colline, that was launched, where is it right now . Maybe 2000 feet, you think . It is, they go up about a thousand feet a minute, so a few thousand, probably been a couple minutes. There it goes, the other one has launched. A big yellow balloon filled with helium. The next time we see this balloon will be down on the ground, it will have wonderful data. Can you tell us about what goes into studying the winds and the weather reports, trying to calculate where this will land so you can quickly retrieve it and get your data. That is a whole other science. Yes, im not an expert on it, i can just tell you we do our predicts, well we started predicts months ago, doing them maybe every week or so and the last few weeks weve been doing predicts every single day, so we have a good idea, we think 36 kilometers, due east, near marion. We will have several chase vehicles staged and ready to go and im not sure if they decided to leave before or after totality, we have local people helping make sure we have access and were hoping it is going to be an easy recovery. Now, will you actually be on the chase team yourself . No, im not on the chase team. I need to do logistics here on the ground. I have been on a chase, it is very exciting. Im sure. Can you tell me about it . Please get a specific as you can. What are some of the most eventful ones . Has the balloon ever come down in in the river. How did you know . You are not kidding . Im not kidding. We had a landing in the pontchartrain river. It is better than landing in the airport, we were afraid that was going to happen. I would rather lay at the airport, the pontchartrain river could damage the instruments. But you are the expert. We would rather not interfere with air traffic control. That is true, landing in the pontchartrain river, the alligators did not make a meal out of your several thousand dollars worth of instruments. We didnt recover it. We have done water recovery, and invested in an inflatable kayak. We are seeing first contact, we have people putting on their glasses, we are seeing the first contact, about four minutes left, how many total Solar Eclipse have you seen, colline . This is my first. I assume you have your glasses. Feel free to put your glasses on. You want a pair . Yes, please. If you dont mind, im going to make sure you look down as much as possible. Right. Okay. My glasses are are your glasses on, too . They are on. Okay. And the sun, we are turning around, would it be okay if i turn my back to the camera to see the sun . Okay, im going to turn my back to the camera. My gosh. There is a small bite starting in the sun. That is gorgeous, isnt it . What are your comments . That is gorgeous, isnt it . Fantastic. The total Solar Eclipse in carbondale, illinois, has begun, small bite taken out by the satellite, the moon. Earlier they were telling people to talk about in one word, describe the eclipse. The word for me is majestic. A lot of times, i dont know about you, if i want to take a break on my computer, i can take these off. I will go to the solar ei think the dynamic observatory that will give videos of the rotating sun. These off. Colline, when i see that giant ball of gas rotating majestic is the word that comes to my mind. Could you agree . I absolutely agree. Its amazing and i think were fortunate to have this opportunity and to be in community with our students and faculty and staff from multiple institutions here at siu. It is extraordinary. It sure is. Thank you for your time. Keep up the great work. Thank you for talking with us. That was colline, with the lsu thank you so much to carbondale. That was amazing. That was great. I love looking at the images, you see Different Things in different parts of the country. Wonderful to share this with all of you. We will have more from carbondale later today. Please stick with us. We have so much coming up. From there and from here and nasa eclipse central at the college of charleston. We await the first glimpse of a total Solar Eclipse, when the movement of our moon completely blocks the view of the sun. We anticipate this aweinspiring, celestial event. Over the next three hours, we will track the Solar Eclipse as it moves across the entire United States from coasttocoast. Observing this incredible event through the eyes of nasa. Hello and welcome. Over the next three hours, we will look through the eyes of nasa and experience todays total Solar Eclipse. [applause] i have a great team on stage. We have a space weather scientist. Next to her is alex young. Over to my right is john the with over to my right is john, who will be taking your questions. Checking the weather conditions across the path of totality. We are coming to you at the college of charleston. Charleston is the last stop of the total Solar Eclipse. Were tracking the eclipse across the entire country to be the best images with the most compelling stories, along college of charleston. Science experts. We have views from brown telescopes, highaltitude balloons, airplanes, and from several nasa space crafts. And yes, and i want you to remember this, we even have live, live, no one else only here, the International Space station. If you want to see the eclipse like never before, stay with us through the eyes of nasa. This is the place to be. Hola. Ok, this is a winwin situation for america. We have a partial eclipse and a total eclipse. Explain the difference. Today, the moon will come across the earth and the sun. North america, Central America and parts of south america are going to see a partial Solar Eclipse. Which means that the moon is going to partially block the sun. It is going to look like the moon took a bite out of the sun. A total eclipse is going to happen in a very narrow path, 70 miles wide, coming from oregon and covering the entire United States and ending in South Carolina. You will see the total Solar Eclipse, meaning the moon will totally block the sun. The stars of the planets will come out. This is the day that we had been waiting for it is here, eclipse central. This is the place to be. We have of nasa tv broadcasts im on the path of totality. People can experience it. We will share information on how to experience it safely. Alex . What is so unique about the Solar Eclipse . The last time we had a total Solar Eclipse in the continental u. S. Was 1918 going coasttocoast, 99 years ago. We are having a total Solar Eclipse covering a huge portion of populated, acceptable land. This is giving us an unprecedented opportunity to study, to look at the impact on the earth. You can see the corona. And give a side effect likely never had before. The last time we have this kind of connection to where we are and who we are with the apollo eight earth ride. That gave us the perspective outside of just the earth. Unprecedented opportunity to study, to look at the impact on the earth. You can see the corona. And give a side effect likely never had before. The last time we have this kind of connection to where we are it showed us that we were a part of something bigger. And that is what this total Solar Eclipse brings to us. It allows us a window into the universe. And this is the most connected, most well observed even that we ever had in terms of a solar in terms of the total Solar Eclipse. The data and the experiences are going to be amazing. Ok, so we are witnessing a historical and monumental celestial event today. Johnny, can you help me out . You never, never looked directly at the sun. You may have seen these eclipse glasses. They are designed with a special filter. Ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun. Now, if you are in the path of totality, there is a short timeframe you can take your glasses off. This is only when the moon completely blocks the sun during totality. Lets watch this video to learn more. [video clip] ok. So, i am fortunate that i have glasses and a lot of people have glasses, but a lot of people dont have glasses. So what are other options . Let me start with you alex. Alex the simplest thing to remember is to use a pinhole viewer. There are a lot of ways to make it or you can take a simple piece of paper, poke a hole in it. To project the circular sun on the ground and then you can see the moon across it. But you can also use something a little more sophisticated if you little more sophisticated if you want. You can actually make a box. Just poke two holes inside of the box. You can project the sun inside the box. Make sure the sun is behind you. It will be an amazing projector. I got to do this because we are on the college of charleston. Make some noise [cheers and applause] that is what im talking about. The social media world is going to break records. Let me talk to my man on the social front. There are millions of people watching the broadcast right now. We will be monitoring the conversation online, taking your questions as a total Solar Eclipse treks across the United States. For updates, be sure to follow nasa facebook, twitter, tumbler, instagram, snapchat, and linkedin. We will be providing live coverage on Facebook Live and on Nasas Facebook page. You can ask your questions and check out their streaming sites like nasas periscope account, twitter, you stream and youtube. And of course, you can watch it online. And we have a special feature on our Facebook Live page, we have a 360 view from South Carolina. You can pan it around your computer and look up to the sky as the moon transits the eclipse. It will feel like you are right here with us in charleston, absent the heat. Finally, share your images with the eclipse with us on our flickr page. Share your images, and we will share them on social media during the broadcast. Remember to ask your questions with the hashtag eclipse 2017. Duane social media will be breaking records. You got to know that one of the most important things here, or today, is the weather. So, sean, you know, i am looking at charleston skies. What is going on around the nation . Sean the weather is the key factor for viewing todays total Solar Eclipse. Interest income it is 86 degrees, but with the humidity, it feels 99. We want to show you a satellite image. This is from the brandnew Weather Satellite that will be latest and greatest detailed imagery. Things are looking really good for the early parts of totality like in oregon and idaho and wyoming. As you get into the middle section of the country, places like nebraska and kansas city, jefferson city, there is cloud cover there that may hinder your ability to view the eclipse. As you get into carbondale, the skies are still pretty good there. Theres a storm system developing to the north and into parts of illinois. Things are looking clear until charleston. There is significant cloud cover, but were keeping our fingers crossed. I do see pockets of blue in there. We will have more later in the broadcast. Duane the moon is already moving across the face of the sun. We are minutes away. Remember, the total Solar Eclipse start in the west coast in oregon. We will be bringing you live images as it occurs. Nasas researcher is standing by at the oregon state fairgrounds. Jesse, give us a status report. Jesse thanks, duane. Totality is almost here. This is so exciting. Just before we get to that, i want to introduce andrea. Hey. Tell us about this really fun and cool viewing event. Andrea we are here with almost 9000 people at the oregon state fairgrounds. We have heard from a nasa astronaut. We had a university professor. Behind us, we at Space Science partners doing educational activities and interacting with the crowd we cannot wait for totality in a few minutes. Jesse thank you so much. I know you have to get going. Joining us to talk to us about the sun and give us more information is nasa lead is a nasa lead scientist from the Research Center. It is almost here. It is almost here. How many eclipses have you seen . I have seen nine eclipses. The other three had inclement weather, so i ended up seeing six. Jesse what can you tell us about the sun that will have our audience understand better . I just want to start by saying that i am in awe at this moment right now. We are buried to close to totality we are very close to totality. That dominates every cubic inch of space in our solar system. If i can get the video, what you will see is that it can be all engulfing. On the edge of the corona that you see is black and a video is because the sun is so intense that it overwhelms the dim brightness of the corona. Even from space, the can absorb the inner part of the corona. Not only that, but the entire solar system, as you can see, lives with this dynamic star. Where is the region conditions are set for supersonic, superhot corona two , of our outstanding questions in physics really. To understand the corona better, nasa is going to be launching a mission next year, or a year from now, how coincidental. It is actually going to get touch the sun. It is going to get closer to any other closer than any other spacecraft has gone before to the sun. To sample the very corona that we will be seeing very soon. Jesse yes, we will. It is almost here. Thank you, thank you for joining us. Thank you for sharing that. Now, we are going to take it back to nasa eclipse central in charleston. Duane just now, we have an exclusive look at the total Solar Eclipse. It is arriving at the United States. It is over the Pacific Ocean and about to reach oregon. This is the celestial event that we have been anticipating for years. We will be looking through the eyes of nasa from the g3 aircraft. Lets take in the views. Wow and now we are looking at the first glimpse of the total eclipse from the ground. Lets see. That is still the g3. There we go. We are taking our first look at the total eclipse on the ground. This is from salem, oregon. Where thousands of people are gathering and experiencing this monumental event a total solar , eclipse. Lets take in the view. That is so pretty thats the g3 there. Duane ok, so. As the sun is appearing again, we can see the diamond ring. It is fantastic. I see provinces, little red pieces of corona sphere from the lower atmosphere. This is amazing. That was pretty cool. It is breathtaking. Even seeing it right now through t