[Ashleigh Banfield, Cnn Anchor:] Thank you so much Carol Costello. Hi everybody and let's start this way. A fireball streak to the sky slams into Russia. More than 1,000 people now reported hurt by the flying glass. The collapsing buildings. Look at the images. Listen to the sound 1,000 people. We're going to take you there for more details. And also now that those 4,000 people are off that disgusting cruise ship, what happens to the ship now. And that Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius accused of murdering his girlfriend in his own home, collapses and sobs in court. We have a lot of news happening on the ground, but the big shock and awe falling from the sky is leading it all. And, of course, I'm talking quite literally here. While you were sleeping this unbelievable scene was unfolding in southern Russia. Close encounters of the third kind, wow. Raining down near the Ural Mountains, that is a meteor breaking up over the earth's atmosphere. It's like a crazy scene from a movie, but it's real. And make no mistake, the scenes and the light, all coming from a meteor as it streaks across the side. The blinding flash, the deafening explosion, caught on tape. Up 1,000 people were hurt because of this meteor. Nearly 300 buildings were reported damaged, including this factory that you're seeing. Glass windows were shattered and blown out. Entire walls collapsed and roofs caved in throughout this region, all of it from a meteor the size of a big kitchen table, but weighing in at about 10 tons. But it tore through the earth's atmosphere at an alarming speed, about 33,000-miles-per-hour. Jim Boulden is standing by with the very latest. And also joining us Democratic Congressman Rush Holt who just so happens to be a rocket scientist, literally, a physicist and rocket scientist and also part of your government. Jim, I want to start with you. We are getting conflicting numbers of the injured and they keep going up. What are you hearing now?
[Jim Boulden, Cnn International Correspondent:] Yeah, they keep going up. The Russian state news agency now says more than 1,000 people injured in some way by this. And to set the scene, you think about it. It's just after breakfast time. People might have been taking their kids to school and you get that bright flash in the sky, and then you have the shock wave. The explosion is what seems to have caused the damage. The shock wave goes off shattering glass, breaking windows, and then you would have some buildings collapsing, as well. And the government says, schools, hospitals, offices have all been affected. And, so, it came from nowhere. People might have been looking at the streak in the sky, might have looked what you see trailing from an airplane, airplane vapor. And then the explosion. One woman said that she thought it was, in fact, a plane crash because of the noise and because of what they saw in the sky. And, so, you have more and more people injured, slightly injured, probably, for most of the people, and no one has yet died as far as we know. But you can imagine the shock of seeing this and then hearing this explosion. And, you know, of course, because most of these asteroids, or, in this case, a meteor or a meteorite, if it lands, is in unpopulated areas or in the ocean and, so, people aren't expecting to see this kind of thing over a well-populated area, Ashleigh.
[Banfield:] Jim, stand by for a moment because I want to just zip over to Capitol Hill, not somewhere I'd normally go for a science story, but the man on the scene is actually not only a congressman, but literally, a rocket scientist. Congressman Rush Holt from New Jersey, the Democrat who happens to truly the title of rocket scientist, a PhD in physics, a former assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics laboratory, arms control expert, as well. So, you're a great source to try to get information on this. First of all, to the staff and the facts as we know them, the scientists are saying that they believe that this is one meteor that broke into fragments, but are you surprised at the incredible images and the damage that's it has rained upon that region?
[Rep. Rush Holt , New Jersey:] No, I'm not surprised, Ashleigh. And there is a public policy side to it, so you're appropriate I mean, you're appropriately coming to Capitol Hill. There is something to talk about here besides the curiosity and the human interest story of injuries and upset there. You know, there are lots of things from space that rain down on earth every day. Most of it is dust. It amounts to tons of material. But when something the size of a foot or a yard or, you know, a meter across, that can carry a lot of energy, as much as a big explosion. In fact, it could be mistaken, in some cases, for a nuclear explosion. So, that's one of the reasons we need to watch these things.
[Banfield:] Which, in fact, I'm glad you mentioned that, Congressman, because I think there was an explosion in 2002 over the Mediterranean when India and Pakistan were really in heated at a heated time in their sort of pre-nuclear battles, so that is a critical issue if those can be mistaken for nuclear attacks. We do have North Korea in a precarious situation, so, logistically speaking, how are governments handling this? I mean, it's fun for us all to cover this, but then you have all of these people injured and you have governments who need to be not only aware of the political implications, but, also, just the natural disaster implications.
[Holt:] Sure. Well, that's why it makes sense to watch these things, and NASA has a near-Earth program. It is, I would argue, underfunded because of what's at stake here both in the sense of preparedness and dealing with injury and upset. But also to deal with international incidents that might occur. You mentioned the 2002 meteorite over the Mediterranean. At the time, the deputy director of space command said that, if this had happened over the subcontinent, it might have been mistaken for a nuclear explosion in this rather belligerent stand-off between India and Pakistan at the time. There's certainly occasions back in the Soviet Union days when the United States and Russia mistook natural occurrences for what might have been belligerent events, and so, you have to watch these things. And the NASA near-Earth program is important for all of those reasons. As you pointed out, as your other guest pointed out, the energy that's contained in just say small rock, you know, a foot across or a couple of feet across, traveling at these velocities, can pack a lot of energy. And, so, when it explodes, it's as if a nuclear explosion went off, obviously, not the radiation and that sort of thing, but the damage could be great.
[Banfield:] Well, Congressman Holt, I appreciate that you scrambled to the Rotunda to speak with us on this. Again, I don't normally go to Capitol Hill with a science crisis like this, but with your academics and your credentials, you were the perfect guest, and I appreciate you bringing your perspective. Also to our Jim Boulden for the reporting. Thank you to both of you. By the way, you two, this is not just luck that we have all those pictures to show while you were talking. They were caught on dash cams. And, according to al Jazeera, about a million Russia drivers have affixed dashboard cameras to get video from their cars for very good reason. They are very concerned about police corruption, and they want to make sure they record their every move in case they end up embroiled in something they prefer not to be. So, there you have it. That's why you have so many images captured, not only of the sonic boom, but then the aftermath and the streak across the sky. So, here, we were talking about the meteor and the meteorites and the fragments, et cetera, there is also another story, space-related, similar, but different, the asteroid. It's the size of the White House, and it is hurdling towards Earth as we speak. Don't freak out. It's not going to hit us. That's what we're told anyway, but here's some animation that will help you understand the significance. This thing is going to be I guess I should call it a "barely miss," a near miss, and when I say near, I mean 17,000 miles away. Sounds like a lot of miles, but space geeks know that that's very close when we're talking about space distance. Here's some perspective for you. You all know that TV and weather satellites are rotating out there. They're floating about the earth. But look at the distance. They are 22,000 miles away, and the asteroid is within that perimeter at 17,200. Our Jason Carroll is monitoring this story, the approaching asteroid, from the American Museum of Natural History. Give us an idea, Jason, of how long until the situation we are currently in becomes something we discuss in the past?
[Jason Carroll, Cnn National Correspondent:] That's a very good question. Well, we're basically looking at 2:24. That is when this particular asteroid, and it's called 2012 DA14, not an very inspiring name for such an incredible object. But at 2:24 p.m. Eastern time that is when the asteroid will be at its closest, and that's about 17 200 miles from the Earth. Again, it sounds like it's far away, but very close when you consider how close the satellites, the weather and communication satellites, are to us. And we should just also point out that scientists tell us that the asteroid will not disrupt and not come in contact with any of those satellites. But it's so incredible when you think about that. At its closest point, if you're living in Indonesia, you will the best vantage point to actually see the actual asteroid. Even though it'll be nighttime there, if you've got a high-powered telescope or even some fairly good binoculars, you should be able to see it, Ashleigh.
[Banfield:] Any potential damage to all the science we have floating that helps us, like all the satellites that bring us our TV, our radar, our I mean, just about everything? Is there potential damage coming to those thing?
[Carroll:] No. Well, here's the way to think about it. No potential damage, this time around, but think about this. It was amateur astronomers who basically discovered this particular asteroid. They just happened to be looking out in the skies and discovered it about a year ago. What you really have to think about is this. If this is to impact the Earth and we discovered it a year ago, we do not currently have the capability to stop something like this from happening in that short period of time. And that's something that has a lot of scientists worried. And, in fact, they've been worried for many years about this particular situation.
[Banfield:] All right, Jason Carroll, as you said, the difficulties pass us by 2:24 Eastern time. That's when our colleague, Brooke Baldwin, will take over, so she's got the breaking news ahead of her. Jason Carroll, live at the Natural History Museum. The asteroid is going to come closest, as we said, at that particular time. That's less than two-and-a-half hours from now, so we're going to listen in to NASA command and we're also going to speak with Edward Lu, who is a former astronaut, and, also, something called a current astronaut and current asteroid hunter. There is such a thing, and we're covering it.