natalie? >> chris, i'd

for more on the rescue, we go to natalie morales live in chile. good morning, natalie. bring us up to speed. >> reporter: good morning to you, willie. i can tell you it has been a very long, a very emotional and an incredibly historic night here as you have been watching along with us. no one here has really gotten any sleep. it is almost impossible to sleep during what is truly this remarkable event now underway. as you mentioned, the seventh miner was just rescued. his name, jose ojeda. jose is a very interesting man. in fact, he was the one that authored that very first note, that letter that was sent up to the surface with that red evening that said, we are fine in our refuge, 33, all of us. he was the real, the first link to the rest of the world alerting everyone that they were all all right and that they were waiting for their rescue. now, we saw from the very beginning of this rescue the first miner to come up was florencio avalos and greeting him at the top, his wife and his seven-year-old son in what was one of the most emotional scenes i have seen. his son wa

thank you, kerry sanders and natalie morales. this is going to be a night to remember for evan watching right here. we will be right back with you down there in a moment. our coverage of the chilean mine rescue continues in just a moment. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. i needed more customers, so i got my nephew to build a website. i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own small-business site with intuit websites. just choose a style that fits your business and customize, publish and get found in three easy steps. sweet. all from just $4.99 a month, get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. >>> american companies help chilean offings in this rescue operation. jeff righten is a senior service technician with schramm and helped drill the rescue holes at the chilean mine. thank you very much, jeff, for joining us. give us a sense of the challenge that led to tonight. how did you get this far? >> caller: a lot of good team

nbc's kerry sanders and natalie morales are at the scene. kerry, we'll begin with you. >> reporter: the rescue of these 33 miners that once seemed impossible is now at hand. in just a short period of time, the men will make their way to the surface, unknown men, who will be greeted as heroes. the road to the mine is now closed, barricades are up. medevac choppers have finished rehearsing their runs to the hospital. and up at the entrance to the escape shaft, the cement where the men will climb out is now dry. again, today, the escape capsule is being tested and so far engineers say every test shows it works without a passenger. now to rescue the 33 miners. >> we are going to start doing this test. first with an empty cage. later, with the first rescue. we'll go down a couple of times with him. and take some measures and then this guy will set down and he will help the first miners to go up. >> reporter: the extraction involves more than 1,000 experts with technologies from more than a dozen nations. the capsule has a live camera pointed towa

nbc natalie morales joins us live with the latest on that. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, tom. i can tell you it has been a very long and vary emotional and historic night here in chile as the miners are being pulled one by one by one in this rescue operation now several hours into it. the first to be pulled out was florencio avalos, a father greeted by his 7-year-old son. he was in tears when his father gave him his big hug. and you can imagine what that hug must have felt like to him. next was mario sepulveda. he actually had a very funny moment because he launched into tears and had all of the rescue team cheering and chanting chi, chi, chi, le, le, le. in fact, he brought back rocks for all of the rescuers. then we had juan illanes, carlos mamani, jimmy sanchez, the youngest of the group. one by one, a historic and incredibly remarkable evening here, the rescue that seemed almost impossible, that seemed like it would never really happen finally under way as family members now are getting that opportunity to be reunited wi

>> and carey sanders and natalie morales who have been there throughout all of this saying that's going to be thenate. movie when they cast the movie it'll be the "33," right? >> exactly. >> easy enough. thank you so much. and you have to wonder when we're going to see about what went on underground. there is a report in british newspaper, for example that they've agreed not to tell a lot about the details about those first 17 days which had to be the harshest of course because they did not know if they were going to be rescued. they only had enough food for two days and we'll see how much of those conversations and those events come to the fore. but think that we'll obviously see many dramatic interpretations because the hollywood agents have been there, the authors have been there who want to officially write their story, and so that is something to watch. our good friend homer, who's been with us on skype throughout evening. homer hickam, since 1951, his dad actually invented this capsule know , an early version of this capsule that is going down into the earth to rescue these guys.

natalie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. yes, you said it. many calling it a miracle today. it was a super human effort and it also took the perfect plan. a sense of great pride for a job well done. miion accomplished in just 22 hours and 39 minutes. with more than 800 people working day and night to get all the miners out. the entire operation planned and carried out with the pcision of a moon shot. >> the main objective was accomplished because we had very talented people and very brave people down there. >> it'the second one, we call it fenix 2. >> reporter: one of those talented people is a lead engineer who gave us a first look into the rescue area. this could not fail? >> no,o. we don't have a second shot. >> reporter: the capsule may seem simple, but it was designed not only to transport the miners qukly, but to make them feel at ease. >> the miners said it was very smooth. >> reporter: a nasa team sent 75 features for the design of the capsule. one was making the wheels like racecars, shock absorbent, which was incorporated >> we cann

natalie, thank you so much for joining us. can you tell us what's happening right now? >> reporter: a lot of excitement here, rachel, i can tell you that. the phoenix 2, which is the first of the test capsules to go down just returned from 56 meters, which is about 183 feet or so, if you do the math or rather 65 meters, and that is past the area where they had sealed and cased the mine shaft. the test, the idea was to send it down a little bit beyond that so they could test the capsule to see if the surface area around the rest of the mine shaft was secure enough. so the capsule has returned now to the surface. i have never seen more people closely analyzing a piece of equipment as they are doing now with the phoenix 2 capsule. chile's president also is there. in fact, before that capsule went down, he gave it a good love tap to give it a good send-off, and it looks like it has come up. all appears to be okay upon inspection here, but now the idea is from here what they're going to do is then send it down part of the way once again with a -- with a rescue expert, a mine

they sat angside natalie moerls. what did they say? we'll ask natalie in a moment. >>> america's favorite mom. the passing of a tv icon. barbara billingsley loved and adored as june cleaver. back on her life and legacy with jerry mathers the actor who played her son, joins us live, jerry mathers the actor who played her son, joins us live, october 17th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a sunday morning. i'm lester holt. >> i'm jenna wolfe. safe to say june cleaver was the tv mom for generations of americans. >> since 1957. folks know her as the mom, but for her delightful role in "airplane." remember the stewardess. >> like the carol brady and the claire huxtable of tv moms. >> delightful lady and we feel. we are going to have more coming up. a role model in real life. we'll talk to jerry matters who played beev on the hit show and get his recollections. >> our countdown to the mid term elections. president obama and the first lady campaigned yesterday on the frantic

natalie, we thank you so much for your time. we're going to see much more of that interview tomorrow morning on "today." thank you. >> time now to check the morning's other headlines. for that we're going to go over to melissa francis at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning, lester, jenna, everyone. we begin with the latest in the investigation of the american killed in mexico while jet skiing with his wife. on friday mexican authorities interviewed tiffany hartley for a second time. authorities say she's given them helpful new details about the incident. hartley and her husband david were jet skiing on falcon lake when she says mexican pirates shot him in the neck. his body has not been found. >>> the man who operated the drill to reach the trapped miners in chile returned home saturday to colorado. family and friends greeted jeff hart like a hero. drilling water wells for the u.s. army in afghanistan when he got the call to go to chile. he said this mission was a fairy tale come true. >>> overseas now to central china

morales in chile, natalie? >> we watch each turn of the winch here, how much is riding on that system and i don't think i ever quite understood engineering as i do now. there we go. there we go. >> getting better at it. >> the whole mess already has inspired new reality dating show. look at this. >> 33 rescued miners, 67 angry women with in one house, 80 feet underground. this time, we can't promise they will make it out. miner pad, miner love, major drama. only on oxygen. >> uh-huh. as for david letterman, corner of paired being trapped in mine to riding on a new york city subway. it is not that bad. >>> any way, south park meets the jersey shore and the colorado cartoon was not tooç happy about it. they even brought in osama bin laden and al qaeda to wipe out jersey folks after the town people had problems taking them out, including one of the best known stars of tv's "jersey shore," snooki. >> it's one of them that thing's from jersey, too. >> what is it? >> it's called a snooki. it is very famous. >> so i

nbc natalie gonzalez has the story. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. a very long and very emotional and historic night here in copiapo, chile add the miners are being pulled one by one by one in this rescue operation now, several hours now into it. the first pulled out, after vale gave his father a big hug, you can imagine, and next, a funny moment. he launched into tears and had all of the rescue team chanting add cheering [ speaking in foreign language ] and, in fact, brought back some souvenirs for all the rescuers as he greeted them. gave them each rocks from down below. then the other, the youngest of the group, 19 years old, one by one by one, a historic and incredibly remarkable evening here. the rescue that seem almost impossible. seems like it would never really happen, finally under way as family members now are getting the opportunity to be reunited with their loved ones, giving them hugs, crying those tears. it's been a journey for all -- all of these 33 men, but it seems over the next couple of hours and probably over the next day or two,

natalie morales joins me live now. here comes the 21st miner, yonni barrios. >> we know a lot about him. >> drama. go ahead. tell us about him. >> yeah. i was going to say, this is probably one of the most watched and probably one of the most interesting rescues here. number 21, yonni barrios. he is the doctor. he has performed the very important role down in the mine as being the one who is a paramedic, a trained paramedic. he's assisted in monitoring all of the vital stats of the miners down below. but i think what a lot of people are very focused on is who is there to greet him at the mine shaft. and -- because he is the one who has the wife and the mistress. now, he's been -- he was married -- or is married to the wife for 28 years, maria. but he also has a mistress of ten years. and they discovered this relationship while they were here keeping vigil at camp hope. and we are told that the wife is actually boycotting this rescue. she is not going to be there to greet him. perhaps understandably because as it turns

natalie morales, nbc news, chile. >> and about all the millions worldwide who have watched this drama, hoping this ends as well as it has gone so far, we'll have a report on that a bit later on in this broadcast. >>> back in this country, all 50 state attorneys general announced today they have launched a big joint investigation into the foreclosure fiasco that has led several of the nation's biggest banks to stop foreclosure evictions and sales and has put a big clout over the real estate market already hurting. the group did not call for a nationwide foreclosure freeze, but ohio's attorney general said the probe is just getting started and they will go wherever it takes them. >>> now we turn to politics. sharron angle, the republican who is challenging the senate majority leader harry reid for his seat in the senate from nevada, raised an awe-inspiring $14 million in the third quarter of this year, shattering the record for a republican in that state and bringing her almost even with reid in the money race at least. the polls are showing a close race between reid and angle, who have

following all of this throughout has been kerry sanders and natalie morales. they've been on the ground all night long. kerry, i know you've got your stopwatch going, should only be a few minutes before we see that capsule down there. >> exactly. should only be a few more minutes, but were we just watching -- >> and we were just seeing the miners in their boxer shorts, i believe. all of them gearing up for their moment. >> they did lose about 20 pounds. maybe they're showing off their newly toned physiques. >> exactly. if you've got abs of steel, i guess you can show them. >> 2 hours, 19 minutes, 4 seconds since first launch of the phoenix began. we should be seeing it arrive here shortly. you can see the light on one of the miner's helmets going up and down against the wall there. i think people are surprised at the size of the area where these men have been holed up down there. a large area, ability to drive trucks up and down, so they front end loaders and they were using that to remove some of the debris as it comes in. those drills require water, so there

tonight, from the scene, our own natalie morales has their story. >>eporter: a hug probably never felt so good. it was so beautiful, like a rebirth says this woman. she never stopped worrying about her father, mario goz, the ninth miner brought to the surface. her mother greeted him with a long-awaited kiss. the family reunions are sweet, but short, as the rescued miners are taken for medical evaluations. the women who have kept vigil here joined in the celebration with their neighbors in this now close knit community. they arrived here as strangers more than two months ago, but will leave as something closer to family. "we are one family here at camp hope. i've never seen anything like it," says this woman. when it was her family's turn to see her brother come out of the capsule, pure joy. this has become a home away from home for many of the families and many of the women y they're not leaving here until every last one of the 33 miners is out. for this family, waiting for their three miners, all cousins, toe rescued, this ordeal has meant a new be

a little earlier i was on the air with kerry sanders and natalie morales who have been there for many of the days and weeks leading up to this remarkable achievement. this was a little bit of what happened and their conversation after the rescue of the first miner going into the rescue of the second miner, mario sepulveda. take a look. >> we saw mario sepulveda, the second miner come out, he dropped the bag on the ground and started giving out rocks just like this. it was a moment that really captured the nation here because they all know how much this rock means to the country. it's not just a way of life for these men, and a very good way of life, but it is the primary industry here in chile. chile, actually a lot of people don't know this, it's one of the -- i believe, the third or fourth wealthiest latin south american countries. >> it's funny. where we are in the desert, you wouldn't come here but for the mining. there is very little that would draw you here. in fact, i think it's the lonely planet guide book talking about the copiapo guide book saying, there's no reason to come

natalie morales, nbc news, copiopo, chile. >> that's our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being here with us as we begin a new week. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> we have breaking news out of the south bay tonight, look that the backup the reason for that backup, tanker carrying 43,000 gallons of wax which overturned on southbound 101 near morgan hill. you can see you are looking at a live picture, our chopper scans over that traffic, you haven't even been able to see the tanker yet. crews are dealing with that right now. the tanker overturned around

natalie has to get to second grade. laura has to get to work. and jay -- >> did you take your pills? >> reporter: at 53, jay has to live with alzheimer's. jay jones is one of 500,000 americans living with early-onset alzheimer's disease, when the disease strikes before the age of 65. >> for me, it's like seeing my husband, someone that i love, and he's in quicksand. and i can see the fear in his eyes. i can't reach him. i can't get there. >> reporter: laura holds down a part time job making one-fifth of what jay did and she tries to help natalie who had to change schools when jay lost his job. >> bye. i love you. have a good day. she is -- she's so mad about changing schools, it's unbelievable. >> reporter: but laura just refuses to look ahead. >> all it does is make me weak. and i can't afford to be weak at any moment in the day. not one moment. i don't live in fear. it's a waste of time. >> reporter: and time is so precious, for every family touched by alzheimer's. >> she would say i had ten -- jay, peggy lou, jimmy, john, ricky, larry, marybe

let's get the scoop from natalie thomas. natalie, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> i really want to see "social network." is there any competition? >> not really. it's expected to do huge numbers. it's huge commentary on our society and social networking. you know, as it is. so i think really it's going to stand alone at the box office. >> it is amazing, and when you tie it into mark zuckerberg giving that money to schools. what is "let me in." >> yes. that's a scary movie. and "case 39", interestly is with bradley cooper and renee zellweger and was made in 2006 and shelved. it doesn't bode well for movies when that happens. they are rereleasing it to the attention that this relationship is getting. it's a horror film. i don't think anything stands a chance. >> they're trying to get the alternative crowd prehalloween. >>> the topic two, snooki's brawl. i missed it. but it's everywhere. >> never a dull moment with the jersey shore or snooki. angelina and snooki got into a fight. as they have before in previous episodes

nbc's natalie nmorales joins us live. you appears on a talk show last night. the guys are expressing concern about wanting to get privacy back. >> reporter: yeah, they absolutely are. everywhere they go, there's a crush of media and so they did express that, you know, this is a life -- their lives have been forever changed and they do want to get back to having a more normal life, a more normal routine, but as you know that seems impossible now. but i appears with the show on them last night, like the jay leno meets oprah, and it was interesting because it was probably the most revealing inter-vietnam view that they've all done. five miners on the panel and for the first time you know, though they have this pack not to talk about the difficult moments they did start to shed some light on what they were going through. one of the miners said that he actually saw himself dying, that was his darkest moment. they talked about drinking oil-taints water, that was all they had in the first 17 days was the water from the tanks of the machines that were with them. they

natalie morales is live in chile above the mine. natalie? >> reporter: good afternoon. i think the headline today is really that this rescue is imminent. they're saying it could happen possibly beginning midnight tuesday overnight into wednesday. it's going to be about a day and a half long. they're expecting about 30 hours or more to get all of the 33 miners out. but the real headline is the time frame that we're expecting. now a lot of work in place today earlier this morning they just finished encasing the top casing the top part of the shaft down to the miners to make sure that the rock in the area is stabilized. actually now already conducting test runs as of early this morning at 5:00 a.m., they sent down the phoenix one capsule, one of the two capsules being lowered into the ground to rescue miners that went in for a test run already. we're told it got to about 40 feet of theç miners. they told us they didn't let it go all the way because they didn't want any of the miners to get too excited and jump in and start making their way up but they said so far that te

they've told natalie, who is passing it along to me, they have adjusted the plan of who's going to go down and how that's going to work. four rescuers a team of two doctors, two rescuers who go down and after they get there they'll begin to bring the miners. still talking about wednesday, chris. >> one of the things i remember you telling me, it's obviously not a straight shot. the big concern that is there's some little twists in the path down, is that right? >> reporter: yes. i think a lot of us think that because we're using the word shaft it goes straight down but it's not like an elevator shaft. think of a snake that goes a little bit like this and a little bit like that. this capsule has wheels on various portions and shock act so sosh absorbers. it has to make this turn and that turn, wheels will help it negotiate the turns. they say most of the turns are about five degrees. the greatest is no more than ten degrees. the other thing is, they're not sure when the miners get in there and this capsule begins to come up whether the able attached to it whether it's going to cause the

natalie, how many more are going to go home today? >> reporter: they're expecting that pretty much all of them are going to go home today. and remarkably with a clean bill of health. three were released yesterday and doctors say they're doing remarkably well. some had dental problems. one was treated for pneumonia, but otherwise, they're in decent shape. now, this weekend, though, day do want to come back here on sunday. there are plans to hold a special mass here at camp hope and up at the mine, because they, of course, being underground for so long, never really experienced what was happening here around them. this community of their families. this became a home away from home for them. so they have asked, in fact, that they not take down all the tents here, that they keep it the way it is, because they want to see firsthand what this place has become. now, as you mentioned, their lives are extraordinarily different than what they were before. they come out -- they emerge ed from that mine as international heroes, superstars by many

thank you so much, natalie morales. >>> u.s. officials are arranging for the extradition of a new york man arrested in israel on suspicion of murdering his parents. police say he was nabbed after trying to buy an airplane ticket at rael's airport. the 33-year-old man is suspected of stabbing his parents in new york earlier this week. he is not an israeli citizen so it's unclear why heent there. >>> and finally, talk abo bad luck after a nerve-racking experience of taking your driver's test. watch this. a pennsylvania man who had just passed his test crashed into the dmv offices as he was dropping off his test instructor. three people had just minor injuries. and the driver, i think it's safe to say, probably went from pass to fail. i don't know, was he trying to parallel park? i'm not sure. now amy, back to you. >> i am here and i didn't see it. we're al laughing. but not too funny that someone got injured. thank you. let's head over to the other side of the plaza. nbc meteorologis bill karins. there you are. >> did you hear we

>> natalie, thank you so much. and again, compliments of the highest order to you and kerry for just with extraordinary reporting on an extraordinary story. >> thank you. >> thank you. samuel avalos, the latest to emerge from the mine. 43 years old, father of three, have been five months on the job. we now awaiawait carlos buguenoo cob out before the top of the next hour. >>> more details emerging about the growing foreclosure brought in this country and the potentially massive crime that this foreclosure fraud could be covering up inside of our federal government. we talk next to ohio's attorney general, one of the state officials leading the charge to investigate lenders, their practices and their motives. >>> also, losing the left. can president obama win back progressives angry with his actions to on issues ranging from gay rights to the war in afghanistan to health care reform? >>> and of course, more updates from san jose. we are back here on msnbc, right after this. yellowbook has always been good for busine

and, you know what, a big shoutout to natalie. natalie has been doing such beautiful, beautiful coverage. and she -- >> it is impossible to have a dry eye. >> you know what -- >> here is the thing about natalie, we all know her out here, everybody watches her, she's impossibly beautiful anyway, but she's impossibly sweet too. she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life. it takes like two days to get down there, right, and she didn't complain when she got back. last time she said it was unbelievable, the families, she genuinely cares. >> the thing about natalie is she speaks the language so everyone -- she connects. >> she speaks five languages, doesn't she? >> everything. >> she's like a genius too. just not fair. >> here is the thing about this story, though, we were talking about how sometimes people say is a big -- there is so much junk on cable, this is one of those things where you're so glad there is 4-hour covera24-h >> you don't want to miss a second of it. >> everything has been riveting. usually you can

please help them because without them no one could even be vegetarian the sincerely, natalie. >> sometimes desperate for attention but not rebellious. i don't have bad influences and i try hard not to give in to peer pressure but somewhere along the road someone calms long with temptation close to their side and offers me whatever they got, but do i get the power to say no? always sitting blankly at the sky hoping for a miracle to happen, hoping someone will come around to understand. i don't want toys anymore and i don't want it show my baby pictures and if i'm crazy and loud then you're insane and rude and if today is not our day, so be it, there is always tomorrow. thank you. >> ok. the average american dream and dreamer built dreams on shatorde hopes and left off on their own spaceships of life. but the average american laws are in a state of corruption. man is allowed to work -- to go to war and kill other. at age 18 but a man can't buy a drink until age 21. i mean the government has money to pay for wars but not to feed the poor. politicians say more taxes will solve everything -- ev

natalie morales has more on the flawless rescue. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. there's a real sense of peace here at "camp hope," probably the first peace they have felt in the last ten weeks. the families that remain here are starting to pack up, getting ready to go back home and get back to their lives with their loved ones, all 33 miners now safe. mission accomplished, just before 10:00 p.m. local time wednesday, the shift manager, luis urzua was the last man out. even before he knew if they would survive, he helped his men survive the first 17 days on just two days of food. like a good captain, you left last says chile's president. urzua told the president, i'm proud to be chilean. frs captions paid for by >> in the end, the remarkable rescue took less than 24 hours. florencio avalos, the first man out and his 7-year-old son's tears brought the world to tears. and 27-year-old richard villarroel got out just in time, his wife at home having contractions. >>> one miner had his love life played out in the tabloids. yonny barrios was met not by his wife of 28 ye

kind of like your ultrasound with the long nose. >> very nice, natalie. just stand here and take it. you saw it coming? >> i knew it was coming. >> revenge is a dish best served cold. >> like a drive-by there. what was that? i don't understand it. we have nice folks out here. what's your name? >> i'm laurie. >> where are you from? >> pennsylvania. >> having a nice time? >> a great time. >> it is. but more for us in the summertime. let's see what's happening. we will show you wet weather in the northeast as low pressure moves away. finally, nice weather and we have still storms from the southwest where they had tornadoes. four tornadoes in arizona yesterday. they get four for the entire year on average. look for slight risk in four corners area, wet weather in the interior northwest, lots of sunshine from the plains to the gulf coast and ohio, mississippi river valley and >> off to a nice, quiet start this thursday morning. generally a mostly sunny day. much warmer. >>> now, to our fifth annual "read for the record today," where we promote literacy for chi

>> natalie morales and kerry sanders. amazing work you've done tonight in our live coverage of the rescue in chile. one rescue is completed. one under way. 31 more to go. there was a dramatic scene as the first rescuer descended into the mine more than 2,000 feet below the surface, and then tears as the first miner, francisco avalos, arrived in the capsule named the phoenix. here's how the night has unfolded so far. and manuel gonzalez enters the mine. look at that. look at the smile. the hugs. there we go. 33 heroes greeted by the first man they've seen in 69 days arriving from the surface. there we go. there it is. bravo! success! he's made it to the surface. it worked just like they said. it worked. look at that. there we go. wearing the sunglasses to protect his eyes.

all are said to be in relatively good health, thanking god and their country for their rescue, natalie morales watched the whole thing from outside the mine near copiapo. >> reporter: there's a real sense of peace here at camp hope, probably the first peace they've felt in the last ten weeks. the families who remain here are starting to pack up, go back home and get back to their lives with their loved ones, all 33 min miners now safe. mission accomplished. just before 10:00 pm local time wednesday, shift manager luis urzua became the last man out. like a good captain, you left last said chile's president. urzua said to the president, i'm proud to be chilean. in the end, the remarkable rescue of the 33 miners took less than 24 hours. florencio avalos, the first man out. his son's tears brought the world to tears. 23-year-old richard villarroel got out just in time, his wife was having contractions at home. and not met by his wife, but by his mistress. his wife chose not to come to the rescue. known as a doctor, trained emt, he monitored the men's health every day. mario gomez had healt

let's go back to chile and get the very latest from nbc's natalie morales. natalie, thank you for -- well, you're there and we are not and i guess i have to ask you everything you know. >> reporter: well, chris, i got to tell you there is just so much excitement in the air now. it has been 69 days to get to this day and to within the next couple of hours, they are expecting operation sun lorenzo, the name they have given this mission, san lorenzo to begin here. already today, a couple of hours here ago, chile's president, sebastian pineiro visited with the families and he actually told one of the miners' families, the family of florencio alvarez, he would be the first miner to be rescued out of the ground, he is a 31-year-old, has a couple of children, also happens to have a brother who is trapped in the mine as well. we are starting to learn the details of some of those who will be coming out first and also, perhaps the miner who will be coming out last, we understand, is going to be really who has become one of the heroes of all of these 33 heroes, of cour

nbc's natalie morales is live in chile and has more on this. >> reporter: a miracle at the mine, after 70 days trapped under ground, the first miner emerged. just after midnightocal time wednesday 31-year-old florencio avalos made it to the surface a. the father of two reunited with his family for the first time in two months. not far away floreio's brother watched on tv. the raw emotion is captured by hundreds of reporters surrounding the family. >> it is an unbelievable scene here. it's impossible to have a dry eye as you can see the very first ments, the very first hug, one of e st emotional experiences, seeing lot of reporters here and seeing the grown men out here. reporters covering the story. everybody's crying. one hour later the second miner emerged. mario sepulveda embraced his wife. then an unexpected moment. sepulveda reached inside his bag and pulled out some rock, handling them to his rescuers as souvens. then this miner known as the comedian of the bunch laughed it up with the president of chile sebastian pinero. this happened on august 5. 17 days later a small drill are

natalie bird and steve no. he has been working with us, sylvia yee as well as eric mcdonald and -- from the united way. lisa spinelli from colemand advocates, and they are strong advocates of this. thank you. i am hydra mendosa, the education adviser and a vice president of the board of education. parent of two children in the school district. one is a high schooler. thank you and join me in welcoming gavin newsom. >> thank you for all of your leadership and hard work and taking the time to be here. this is an innovation center. paul the dreamers and the doers, this is a multi-purpose and multi dimensional. faint you. this is good work and you should keep this going, and thank you very much for being here, even if you do not want to be here. you are doing good work. helping us to get to this next level. we're wanting to help and this is what this is all about. this is the time of declining resources. what you do is you have a press conference asking the world to change. and did you say, when i was younger thing

a head swap first you take a head then you put it on another ♪ ♪ body like a kanye west head with a natalie portman body that's a head swap ♪ ♪ first you get two pictures of some famous people then scan the pictures into your computer ♪ ♪ but when you try to open the file it crashes your hard drive so you go to the ♪ ♪ graphics department to see if they can help and you see the graphics guy and he's all bummed out ♪ ♪ you're like what's wrong with you he says this is the worst day of my life ♪ ♪ well, cheer up buddy 'cause it's time to do another head swap so you try to ♪ ♪ act concerned even though it's kind of awkward and you notice a single tear ♪ ♪ running down his cheek tonight is the big office halloween party i got two kit kats ♪ ♪ and a cowboy costume but i just need a partner but no one will go with me he looks you up and down ♪ ♪ and says you'd be perfect you politely decline and then he starts to lose it you know how much halloween ♪ ♪ means to me it reminds me of my childhood when the world was full of wonder ♪ ♪ besides if you don't d

natalie, i understand you got an up close look at the fenix 2 capsule. did you climb in this, or were you observing from the outside? >> reporter: unfortunately it was turned on its side and it weighs like a thousand pounds. so there was no way for me to climb inside. i did ask, though, believe me. it's fascinating, i think, the technology of what went into in effort. it really was a super human effort to really make sure that everything worked smoothly. for that very reason in just 22 hours they had a completely successful operation. it was really remarkable to watch one by one by one as the last miner, luis urzua came out. the celebrations were truly something to behold. it was amazing being here for it. >> the doctors, what are they saying about the men's conditions? are they all in good health? >> reporter: they're -- they're in the hospital still. there's going to be a news conference later on the this evening. about it will individual status. but they say their conditions are normal. when i did the tour of the mine shaft area, i also went into the

thank you so much, natalie. thank you for your reporting throughout. >> sure. >>> a lot of other news today, including if you've ever owned a home, ever hoped to. important new numbers are out this morning that show this past summer was the worst three months for home foreclosures since the housing bubble burst in 2006. more than 200,000, that's up from the year before. now, if the bank is freezing money on those foreclosures, if that drags on for months or more, it could have a severe effect on home sales and prices. we're going to talk about that impact a little later on. >>> meantime, more than 70 people are under arrest after setting up dozens of phony medical clinics from coast to coast in the biggest medicare fraud case ever. prosecutors claim that the crime ring tried to cheat taxpayers out of $163 million and actually collected on more than $35 million by using stolen doctor and patient identities. >>> and to get even bigger, the world's largest retailer is getting smaller. walmart says it's going to ope