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Climb scientists are saying we should be prepared for more as climate change continues. kendis and lindsey? stay tuned. we re going to have continued coverage of the virgin galactic space launch. in new mexico the sun coming up, expected to be a beautiful day. it is apparently at this point a go for launch around 10:30 a.m. eastern time. full coverage right here. time full coverage right here today we re counting down to the launch of the vss unity on its first fully crewed test flight to the edge of space later this morning. we have a star-studded cast of astronauts and scientists to ....
So there are still dozens of individuals that must be recovered here from this site as this recovery enters the third week, lyndsay. vaughn hillyard, incredible hearing you describe the trucks on the highway there. vaughn, thank you for your reporting. all right, we re going to get back to our top story, the new space race. we re going to head right now closer to space port america. our tom costello who in essence is in the bubble, as they say. what a beautiful backdrop there in space port, america. tom, of course, is our aviation and transportation correspondent. tom, you just spoke with richard branson some five days ago, highly anticipating this launch. give us a sense of what sort of emotions you get or sense he s going through right now. reporter: first of all, i talked to him on monday. we had an exclusive sit-down interview with him. he was just bursting with excitement and pride as he showed us a firsthand walk about ....
He ll, of course, be in a commercial space ship he hopes will soon carry paying passengers. it was supposed to happen around 9:00 in the morning eastern time. the launch was delayed due to weather. excuse me. gesundheit. amazon founder jeff bezos set for launch nine days from today, bezos sending well wishes on instagram writing, wishing you and the whole team a successful and safe flight. best of luck. msnbc s cal perry is in las cruces, new mexico, near where this is going to launch. give me the lay of the land. this is like the closest major city to the space port america launch location. reporter: i ll give you the lay of the land. that will help me give you the latest reporting. we are team desert. as you said, an hour away from space port, america. we are outside the bubble. ....
Rocket for one minute, carrying it to speeds of 2300 miles an hour, three times the speed of sound to an altitude of about 55 miles above sea level. they will spend about four minutes, maybe five minutes weight less. that plane will turnover onto its front. it will put it in wings hopefully like a shuttlecock and return to earth. the whole thing should take maybe 90 minutes. as you guys said, the launch moved back to 10:30 eastern, 8:30 here in the morning. again, according to our tom costello, they do think this will be the only delay. they do think that we will see this happen this morning, guys. and, cal, at what point will we see that things are actually in play? of course there is a count down, but before that count down takes place, how long beforehand do we see richard branson and the other crew members? reporter: so, that crew should actually get into that craft about an hour before the count down kicks off. so you figure about 9:30 eastern. we ll start to see pictures ....
My colleague has been reporting. sir richard branson said the weather delay, high winds were on the tarmac. they need to get that dual fuselage plane e, as he said it has been married to unity. unity is the one that s going to fire the rocket and go into the pre-orbital space taking branson and his three colleagues. it will take it out of the hangar and get it fueled. they are telling tom costello the delay is over. they don t expect to have any further delays, and they are optimistic that this launch is going to happen this morning. the launch won t actually look like a typical space launch, as our viewers are sort of used to seeing with a rocket. this will be a space plane as you guys have alluded to, eve named after richard branson s mother who passed away recently will carry unity to 50,000 feet. branson, his three colleagues, two individuals have done it before, three have not. that unity will fire a booster ....