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CARL AZUZ: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz.
It's great to have you watching this Tuesday.
We have an update on a 21st century space race coming
up in just a couple of minutes.
First though, family members, politicians, historians
and civil rights advocates are paying tribute to Colin Powell,
an American military and political leader who
passed away Monday at age 84.
Powell had an extraordinary resume dating all the way back
to his work in the Reserve Officers Training Corps
while he was in college.
At that time, Powell attained the ROTC's highest rank
and he continued to advance his military career from there.
Powell served in combat during the Vietnam War
and became a four star general in the US army.
During the presidency of Ronald Reagan,
Powell became America's first Black
National Security Advisor.
Under President George H.W. Bush,
Powell became the first African-American chairman
of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country's highest
ranking military officer.
And in the administration of President George W. Bush,
Powell became America's first Black Secretary of State.
In a statement on Monday, former President Bush
called Powell a great public servant,
saying he was such a favorite of US leaders
that he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
twice.
One regret Powell said he had came after a speech
he gave at the United Nations in 2003.
In his address, Secretary Powell warned that the nation of Iraq
was hiding biological weapons, something inspectors never
found afterward during the US led war with the Middle Eastern
country.
Powell called the speech a blot on his record.
He worked as a speaker, an author and an advisor
at a venture capital firm after serving
in the federal government.
Powell's family says he died from complications
from COVID-19, though he had been fully
vaccinated against the disease.
Up next, 183 days in space.
That's how long three crew members from China
will be in orbit working on their country's
new Space Station.
Taking spacewalks, testing out the facility's technology,
that's part of their mission.
It's the second time a crew has been sent up here
to work on the orbiting lab.
China hopes to have it fully built and operating
by next December.
The country has scheduled six missions after this one
to help make that happen.
China's space program is overseen
by the nation's military, according to a US
national security researcher.
That's one reason why the US Congress
has prevented NASA from cooperating
with China in space.
But the communist countries program
is advancing rapidly, contributing
to what some call a new space race in the 21st century.
DAVID CULVER: 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor William Shatner
blasted into space, becoming the oldest
man to reach such heights amid great fanfare in the US.
WILLIAM SHATNER: Oh, wow.
DAVID CULVER: Thousands of miles away here in the Gobi Desert,
China's latest space mission won't set any records,
but it is a major step forward in this country's
fast growing and increasingly ambitious space program.
CNN gaining rare access to the Xichang Twin Satellite Launch
Center in Northwestern China.
Shenzhou 13, carrying three Chinese astronauts
to the country's soon to be completed Space Station called
Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace.
China has touted their Space Station
as next generation, an alternative
to the International Space Station.
But the 15 country ISS has already been occupied
for more than 20 years.
The US passed a law barring China
from participating, leading some experts to question--
DAVID BURBACH: If we had brought China in
to work with us on ISS, would China have felt as compelled
to develop their own fully independent program
as rapidly as they have?
- What do I do?
DAVID CULVER: It's Hollywood's portrayal coming to reality--
Sandra Bullock's character in "Gravity"
saved by a Chinese Space Station on her way back to Earth.
Wang Yaping told us in 2015, it is her favorite film.
She is one of three Chinese astronauts on this mission.
The crew also includes a newcomer
to space travel, 41-year-old Ye Guangfu,
who took part in cave training with astronauts
from five countries in 2016.
YE GUANGFU: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: I hope one day I can
fly with other international astronauts in space
and welcome them to visit China's Space Station.
DAVID CULVER: But Western astronauts
will need to study up first.
These operation interfaces are in Chinese and China's state
media reports that European astronauts are already
taking language courses so they can visit
the Chinese Space Station.
Despite a late start in the space race,
China is rapidly catching up.
It has returned samples from the moon and, like the US,
put a Rover on Mars, all within the last year.
It's also got big plans for commercial ventures
and for deep space exploration, including to build
a base on the moon with Russia and send
humans to Mars in the 2030's.
From launching billionaires to cosmic explorations,
the US is still leading, with plenty of headline grabbing
launches and a long history of success,
putting 12 men on the moon.
But the more pressing challenge, prioritizing
the multi billions in funding needed for the US
to hold on to that lead.
Some experts believe the added competition from China
might fuel more innovation.
DAVID BURBACH: If you're somebody
who wants to see humans land on Mars and more scientific probes
throughout the solar system, geopolitical competition
is probably not the worst thing in the world.
DAVID CULVER: Well, Captain Kirk is helping capture the US
imaginations to propel the US forward
in this tightening space race.
China's three astronauts, now embarking on a six month
mission, the country's longest yet to secure their footing out
of this world.
David Culver, CNN, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China.
[upbeat music]
- 10 Second Trivia.
Which of these inventions came first?
Electric vacuum cleaner, electronic calculator, enclosed
shopping mall or electric car?
[beeping]
- Believe it or not, the electric car
was the first of these inventions
and hit the road in the 1890's.
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CARL AZUZ: Up next, a new example of what
could become an air taxi of the future.
It's not a helicopter, it's not a plane
and it's also not a drone.
This would have a pilot, but it is
another entry into the increasingly crowded
field of potential air taxis.
Joby Aviation's eVTOL has a range of up to 150 miles
on a single battery charge.
That's about half the distance of many gas
powered helicopters.
It has a lot of competition from other electric aerial vehicle
startups and none of them have approval from the US government
to fly commercial passengers yet,
but the eVTOL has some pretty unique features.
PAUL SCIARRA: So I think what travel
is going to look like in the future is one that's
increasingly multi-modal.
It's really about putting people in the right vehicle
for the trip that they want to take.
- It may not look like your typical helicopter or plane,
but out here in the middle of the desert,
Joby Aviation, a California based eVTOL company,
says it's on the brink of making electric aircraft
for commercial passengers a reality.
eVTOL stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing,
meaning the aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter,
but also fly like a plane.
PAUL SCIARRA: So the Joby aircraft
does everything that a helicopter does
with none of the downsides.
So it's significantly safer, significantly faster
and significantly quieter than the helicopters
that are out there today.
Something that can be a brand new mode
of transportation that's usable by folks every day.
- Joby says its aircraft can travel
up to 150 miles on a single charge
at a max speed of 200 miles per hour.
While other electric vehicles today aim to be autonomous,
Joby's aircraft will allow space for four
passengers and one pilot.
- New York's famous skyline unrolls beneath
its rotors after which it's--
- Flying to get places faster and skip the traffic
isn't a new concept, but Joby thinks
its vehicles will improve upon traditional helicopters.
The company says, a streamlined design
means there's less maintenance and electric batteries not only
lower carbon emissions, they reduce energy
costs and noise pollution.
PAUL SCIARRA: I think this service really allows people
to rethink the way that we've thought about transportation,
which has generally been thought about two dimensions
and really bring that to three dimensions.
- In 2020 Joby received the first ever Air Worthiness
Certification for an eVTOL aircraft from the US Air Force
and says it plans to offer commercial flights in 2024.
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CARL AZUZ: It's hard to wrap your little pumpkin
head around this.
If you take pumpkin carving seriously,
and I mean so much so that you can't stop it one Jack o'
lantern, check out the great Jack
o' lantern blaze in New York.
It features 7,000 illuminated gourds to depict everything
from this to this, and this.
A team of professional artists and more than 1,000 volunteers
worked together to create this spectacle.
It takes about an hour to see it all.
Oh my "gourdness," what a "vine" way to carve a tourist
attraction out of fruit.
They make it look easy as pie, like all you "seed" to know
is how to scare up a palpable pumpkin.
But most of us couldn't hold a candle
to the "extra-gourdinary" efforts
of professional carvists.
"Orange" you glad we planted that in today's show?
I'm "Carve-rl" Azuz.
Today, we are going to recognize the Patriots
of Northside High School.
Thank you for watching from Columbus,
Georgia and for subscribing and leaving
a comment at youtube.com/CNN10.
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