How many times have you seen them live? This will be my sixth time. 6? Wow. Yeah.

Bryce Lovaland is a big fan of the indie rock band, Vampire Weekend. So am I, for that matter, but I realize this isn't about me. Anyway, when the 26-year-old learned that the band was planning to celebrate the release of their new album with a special outdoor show in Austin, Texas, during a solar eclipse, she knew she had to be there.

I I live in Oklahoma City, and it's not that far away from me. And so the moment I saw it, I was like, I think I can go.

Bryce says two tickets ran her about 200 bucks, and she had some airline miles to use. So first thing tomorrow morning, Bryce and her boyfriend are heading to Texas.

Our flight lands in Austin at 9:00. And even though the show starts at noon, I didn't realize the threat of potentially being late or the travel situation.

Because traffic could be bad.

Yeah, and so now I'm nervous about that.

Now, 12:00 PM on a Monday is definitely not a normal time for a vampire weekend show. Because of all the hype around the Eclipse, I don't blame Bryce for being a little on edge about her travel plans.

More than a million people are expected to come to Texas and witness the total solo eclipse, bringing with them more than a billion dollars to our economy.

That's a lot of money. Some counties and cities have already declared states of emergency ahead of all the traffic. There's also the chance of bad weather ruining people's view. But Bryce is a lot of people I've heard about who are planning to travel for the eclipse. They're coming for the experience and for the memories.

It's going to be so crazy. I really don't know what to expect, but I'm glad I get to be there. I feel like it'll be a really memorable thing to happen in my life.

Now, if you hear a story like that and are still wondering just what all this Eclipse hype is about, I get it, but I think we can help. My guest this week is CNN's Space and Defense Correspondent, Kristen Fisher. We're going to break down what you should know for the big event, no dumb questions here, and whether an Eclipse can bring this divided country together, even if it's just for one afternoon. From CNN, this is one thing. I'm David Ryan.

Hello, Kristen.

Hello.

So you cover a space for CNN. My space knowledge is somewhat limited to the movies I watch, and I don't think Alien or The Martian is fully approved in terms of the space specifications. I thought you would be the perfect person to come and explain what we are going to see with this eclipse tomorrow. Do you accept this challenge?

I accept the challenge.

Okay. First of all, the most basic question possible, what is an eclipse?

An eclipse happens, a total solar eclipse happens when the moon comes in between the sun and the Earth, and it aligns so perfectly that the moon completely blocks out the sun, except for that little tiny ring of fire around the sun. I've never seen a total eclipse. I've only seen a partial eclipse. Really? Yes. This would be my first one. I am praying for no cloud cover. But what I am told is that the difference between a partial eclipse and a total eclipse is, pun intended, night and day. It's going to get dark, right? It is It's going to get so dark that in a matter of seconds, you can see the stars outside, you can see planets, sometimes even satellites, nocturnal animals come out, streetlights often come on, those automatic street lights. But apparently, it's a completely dramatic change, pitch black. And so total solar eclipse. That's why it's so important to be in that all-important path of totality, because If you're even just a teeny bit outside of it, you're not going to get that effect.

Right. I was going to ask how much of the country is going to be able to get this full impact?

A pretty wide swath, so to speak. Starts in Mexico, goes all the way up to Maine. It's a Much wider. It's about 115 miles wide, the path of totality itself. So you're talking at least 30 million people are within that path. But as you know, the big question is, can these people just walk outside and look up and see it, or is the cloud cover going to be too intense? I'll tell you this. My dad, who is an astronaut, 78 years old, he has been wanting to see a total solar eclipse his entire life. He's gone to two, made full trips out of it, paid tons of money, did it, and he hasn't seen one. He's hoping for this one, but cloud cover is not looking to cooperate either. So it's tough. It's a real emotional event for people who've invested a lot and don't get to see it.

Yeah. So if it is cloudy, it's just going to look like a cloudy day out there, basically?

You're not going to see anything. I mean, depending on the thickness of the cloud cover. I mean, if there's just a little bit, yeah, you can see it. But if it's low, heavy clouds, that's pretty much a washout.

So here's a question I think I probably know the answer to, but can I stare right at it?

I mean, look, President Donald Trump did, right? He sure did. His eyesight is fine. Remember what he did back in 2017? I mean, that is seared into my brain as what not to do. But you can imagine. I think that's why it really is so important. If you have kids and you want to take them to see the Eclipse with you, you have to really burn it into their brain that if you look at this without your really cool-looking Eclipse glasses, you could seriously damage your eyes. So you got to wear those glasses unless during the moment of totality, during those roughly four minutes when the sun is completely blacked out, you can take off your glasses and just look at it. But any other time, you got to wear them.

And these glasses, they have to be Eclipse glasses. Like my sunglasses won't cut it.

Not going to cut it. They've got to be certified Eclipse glasses. And this year, there's actually some counterfeits that have hit the market. So you got to buy from a reputable seller. And the big test is you want to hold them up. If you're inside and you hold them up and you look at a light, if you can see any light whatsoever, those are not Eclipse glasses.

Beyond it being something cool to look at and just a moment to experience, are there wider implications up in space or here on the ground? How big of a deal is this?

From a scientific standpoint, astrophysicists, in particular, use a solar eclipse to study the sun, the sun's corona. And one of the neat things about this eclipse is the fact that it is coinciding with a particularly active period, a peak cycle of activity on the sun. So it's really going to allow astrophysicists to study some of those coronal mass ejections and solar flares that you can really only see when the moon is blocking out the sun. But I think it's one of those rare moments where people can come together and marvel at the power of Mother Nature when it's not doing something destructive, like a tornado or tsunami. It's just doing something really cool. One of the things I love about it is that this is something that humans have been experiencing since the dawn of humanity, right? And wondering, what in the world is this?

I can't imagine I'm not sure what it was like for those first people that saw this happening. They must have thought like they were being sent straight to hell or something.

Right. Well, so I actually just interviewed some folks from the Navajo Nation. I guess, what do the Navajo people believe is happening with the sun and the moon and the Earth during an eclipse?

It's a time when the moon and the sun, that there's different stories. They come back together to meet each other.

They describe it, a total solar eclipse, as a moment of intimate relations between the sun and the moon.

The sun is pretty much like a male, and the moon is like a female.

It's a moment when they become perfectly aligned, so to speak. One goes inside the other, and they actually like to give the sun and the moon their privacy while they have this perfect alignment. And so that's why in Navajo culture, they all go inside and meditate and pray and have moments of real introspection.

During the eclipse, we have to get back into our dwelling, close the curtains, make it really quiet. Everybody has their place. During this time, we cannot eat, we cannot sleep, we cannot drink water.

They stop everything. No schools, nothing. They just want people to observe the intimate relations and the spirituality of the moment.

But this is what I wanted to ask because you cover space and space travel, space exploration. And whenever I hear about something that can bring the country together in these divided times, standing arm and arm, my eyes roll pretty hard. Like, I work in news.

Yeah.

But- The year was 1969. It was a year when the world was riveted with a sight of a man taking a walk, a walk that left the first footprints on the moon.

I have been told for years that during the '60s and '70s, space travel did bring people together. Reaction on Earth was overwhelming. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one. Now, I realize there may be some revisionist history in that retelling. That was a pretty turbulent time for our country. But in 2024, is space and the Cosmos capable of bringing us together?

In a way that is meaningful beyond a few hours on a Monday afternoon?

I mean, I sure think so because... I mean, look, I used to cover politics and was a jaded skeptic like yourself. Then I jumped to the space beat, and that's the thing I love about it the is that it fills me with a real hope for humanity. Everybody that I've talked to who has seen a total solar eclipse says it's a life-changing moment. It's one of those moments, maybe not life-changing, but it's a moment that's seared into your consciousness, something you never forget. And it really bonds you with the people that you experience it with. And I also think it has the ability to put humans in their place in terms of their level of importance in the Cosmos, which in this day and age, I don't think is too bad of a thing.

Wait, I wanted to ask about your dad. So he's an astronaut. Yeah. Has he been to space?

Yeah, he went to space in the 1980s on a space shuttle, and he cares about space.

So he's literally been to space, but he still wants to see this total solar eclipse. Wouldn't that be a little low rent compared to what he saw out there?

He's desperate to see a total solar eclipse. He has been planned spending this trip for over two years now. He's had flights, rental car, hotels, booked, begging me and my whole family to come because I think there's something about that moment when day turns to night like that, that even he, somebody who has seen our planet from space, it's one of the unique things in life that he has always wanted to experience and he hasn't had a chance to. So at 78, he's like, This is it.

Well, I hope he gets to, and I hope you have a good view as well. Kristen, thank you.

Of course. Thanks.

One Thing is a production of CNN Audio.

This episode was produced by Paulo Ortiz and me, David Reind.

Our senior producer is Fez Jamil. Our supervising producer is Greg Peppers. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dizula is our technical director, and Steve Ligtai is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manisari, Robert Mathers, John Dianora, Lenny Steinhart, Jamis Andres, Nicole Pessereau, and Lisa Namarau. Special thanks to Ross Levet and Katie Hinman. Just a reminder, you can check out coverage of The Eclipse on CNN and cnen. Com tomorrow afternoon, and we will be back next week.

Talk to you then.