Transcripts For BBCNEWS Beyond 100 Days 20240714

Democrats prepare a resolution condemning Donald Trumps racist attacks of four members of congress. Republicans will have to decide how to vote. Also on the programme germanys defence minister, ursula von der leyen has been confirmed as the new European Commission president. And the medical team from great ormond street hospital in london who have separated, with some extraordinary skill, the conjoined twins marwa and safa, we will speak to one of the surgeons. Hello and welcome. Im katty kay in washington, and Christian Fraser is in london. On this day 50 years ago, three men got into a rocket with no idea if they would ever return to earth. Neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and Michael Collins were the trio tasked with humanitys inaugural flight to the moon. They were americans, but the whole world watched with amazement. Five, four, three, two, one, zero, all engines running, liftoff, we have a liftoff, 33 minutes past the hour, left off of apollo 11 four days after liftoff, and 240,000 miles later, the eagle begins its descent to the moon. But then, an alarm sounds, and with just minutes to go until the landing, the computer crashes. Neil armstrong has to take Manual Control to land the space craft safely. And then those famous words. Thats one small step for man. 0ne giant leap for mankind. Half a century on, the Apollo Programme is probably still humankinds single greatest technological achievement. Jane obrien is at the Kennedy Space center at cape canaveral, where the historic launch took place. We have been talking about the astronauts, but really, anyway, the hero of the day is the Space Shuttle itself, isnt it . I am so glad you said that, because it is all about the saturn v rocket, one of which is right behind me, this is the closest i have ever been to something this big that flies through the air, and as you can see, it is vast, actually taller than the statue of liberty. When it is full of fuel, it weighs 8. 2 million pounds, and a top speed it flies at seven miles per second. Now, if that doesnt blow your mind, look at this over there, United States logo is on the capsule, the module that the astronauts sat on when the powerful rocket was blasting off from the earth. When you hear Michael Conlan say that, you hear Michael Conlan say that, you know, he was slightly worried about the second stage detachment, you can see why. That is tiny, they we re you can see why. That is tiny, they were so vulnerable, it was so fragile, the bravery of those men blows my mind, what must it have been like . And i was listening today to Michael Collins, who said it was like a nervous novice driving a heavy goods vehicle down a narrow alley, at every stage in this journey, something could have gone wrong. Well, absolutely, because of because this was by definition the first time that anyone had tried to put men on the moon, and i have also been talking to people who witnessed it. They have come back here today, some of them, to relive that moment 50 yea rs some of them, to relive that moment 50 years ago. The closest they could get was three and a half miles away, because although it was most dangerous on board, you couldnt get any closer because the shock wave of the engines going off would have killed you. Most people who witnessed the take off were three and a half miles back from the launch site, it was only engineers and essential staff, presumably protective clothing, who were allowed that close. What a day to be here, where it actually happened, 50 yea rs here, where it actually happened, 50 years ago. 0k, jane obrien in cape canaveral, pretty good day to be there one of the surviving crew members, Michael Collins, said his mission was one of the most significant moments of the 20th century. As you ascend very slowly and majestically, inside it is a different situation, you are figgfing different situation, you are jiggling left and right, and you are not quite sure whether they are as big or small as they should be, or how much closer they are going to put you to the umbilical tower, which you very much do not want to hit right at that moment. So it is a totally different feeling at liftoff, a nervous novice driving a wider vehicle down a narrow alley. There is that great quote, fantastic. In washington, the us Vice President mike pence unveiled to the world today Neil Armstrongs space suit. It hasnt been seen publically for 13 years. The fragile suit has been carefully restored at the cost of thousands of dollars, paid for through public donations. Its now on display on a mannequin at Washingtons National air and space museum, in a state of the art display case to protect it. One man that knows a fair deal about that suit, among many other things, is Douglas Brinkley, historian and the author of the book american moonshot John F Kennedy and the great space race. He joins us now from austin. Douglas, thank you forjoining us. I guess 110w douglas, thank you forjoining us. I guess now it seems inevitable that the mission took place and succeeded, but ifjohn if kennedy hadnt decided to make space an integral part of his battle in the cold war, would americans have gone to the moon . No, without jfk there would have been no going to the moon, at least not in 1969, he spent the whole thing up, a 25 billion apollo project which had bipartisan support. Today that would be around 170 billion to go to the moon, and john if kennedy was a great spokesperson, he would go all over and talk about choosing to go to the 111001 and talk about choosing to go to the moon not because it is easy but because it is hard, and there were mercury astronauts before apollo, and there were six Space Missions during kennedys presidency, and all six were successful, john glenn being the great hero of those. And why, given what was going on down here on earth, in terms of the cold warand a here on earth, in terms of the cold war and a division of powers around the world, what was it about getting a man on the moon that made him so convinced that it was a way to show americas pre eminence in the cold war . Kennedys big thing was, how do we leapfrog the soviets with technology . The United States and Great Britain were caught off guard at the soviet union had the atomic bomb in1949, and at the soviet union had the atomic bomb in 1949, and the hydrogen bomb, that russia had the worlds first icbm missile, and they put the first satellite up into space with sputnik, and then they put the first creature in space with a dog, then the first human with yuri gargarin, and the United States felt like they we re and the United States felt like they were losing the space race, so kennedy said lets leapfrog them, we can do satellite to satellite, astronaut to cosmonaut, but lets go big and aim for the moon, and when he made that famous address in 1961, he made that famous address in 1961, he shocked everybody. His own father called the white house, where is jack . Gosh, i knew he would do something reckless and idiotic like this people at nasa said there was 110 this people at nasa said there was no technology to go to the moon why has the president of the United States put that much credence and credibility on a moonshot . But kennedy was a visionary, science was popular, he thought it would lift the american spirit, and even after John F Kennedy was murdered in dallas in november 1963, the us funded apollo as a sort of a legacy to him, and you willjust broadcasting from the Kennedy Space ce ntre broadcasting from the Kennedy Space centre in florida. I know you have spoken to many of the people involved, what was it like any firing room . Involved, what was it like any firing room . There involved, what was it like any firing room . There had been apollo nine, apollo ten, which had been around the room, but with a confident they could land someone on the surface . They were not absolutely confident. Apollo 1 was a disaster in 1967, when we lost three astronauts, and the head of nasa had resigned, and sol astronauts, and the head of nasa had resigned, and so i interviewed Neil Armstrong for my book before he died, and he said they probably had a 5050 died, and he said they probably had a 50 50 chance of success, 50 years ago. Now, idont a 50 50 chance of success, 50 years ago. Now, i dont mean that they would have died, but this would have worked. If it was one manoeuvre wrong, one second wrong, things could have gone sideways. It is one of the miracles of modern times that apollo 11 worked largely without a hitch. Douglas brinkley, lovely to get your thoughts and look back on the event, thank you very much for being with us. I was thinking, katty, when i look back in 500 yea rs katty, when i look back in 500 years time, the luna walk might not seem that impressive, they may have started to go further beyond to mars and goodness knows what, but it is very likely that this moment will be seen as the most significant event of the 20th century. I wonder whether you could do it again right now, the amount of money they piled into it at that time. It has been interesting to hear buzz aldrin saying, over the last years, we have taken 50 saying, over the last years, we have ta ken 50 years saying, over the last years, we have taken 50 years and havent done it again, and he is angered by the fa ct, again, and he is angered by the fact, given we have advanced so far in technology, you might think it is possible, but we heard Douglas Brinkley say this was a massive federal expenditure, the us Congress Opening its purse strings, and it is very ha rd to opening its purse strings, and it is very hard to see that happening again, maybe because there is no common enemy and we are not in the middle of the cold war, because they rays there is reluctance to feel like government should spend on big projects like that. It is the chinese who are landing on the far side of the moon, which has not been done before with a probe. It is not happening at the us federal level, andi happening at the us federal level, and i think that is a reflection of the attitude of the country at the moment. It is extraordinary to think, when they started in 1960, they had no knowledge at all. We know so much now, but they didnt know so much now, but they didnt know if they could land on the surface, whether the craft would sink, whether the dust would explode, they didnt even know whether it was carrying pathogens, they stuck the astronauts in a room with white mice when they got back to earth, just in case there was something wrong with the moon dust. It seems extraordinary that they have not done it since, but there we are. We know so much, but we havent been back to the moon. Crashing back to the earth now, im afraid. Donald trump has renewed his attack on four democratic congresswomen from minority backgrounds. As democrats prepare to vote on a resolution condemning the president , he has been fanning the controversy, tweeting about it no less than seven times today. Those tweets were not racist. I dont have a racist bone in my body the so called vote to be taken is a democrat con game. Republicans should not show weakness and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the democrat congresswomen, who i truly believe, based on their actions, hate our country. Get a list of the horrible things they have said. 0mar is polling at 8 , cortez at 21 . Nancy pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the democrat party. See you in 2020 he had this to say a short time ago. When people speak so badly about our country, when people speak so horribly, i have a lift of things, im not going to bore you with it, but i have a list of things said by the congresswomen that is so bad, so horrible that i almost dont want to read it. It is my opinion they hate out read it. It is my opinion they hate our country. And that is not good, it is not acceptable. Were joined now by our north america correspondent nick bryant. Thank you forjoining us, it seems the key phrase to understand the motivation of all of this for donald trump ina motivation of all of this for donald trump in a tweet is that phrase, see you in 2020, is this all an Election Strategy for him . His tweet attacks are a matter of political calculation, no question at all. He is trying to map out the battle lines ahead of next years president ial election, and i did say he is pretty happy right now with how the politics of this racial row are turning out and playing out, because what he wants to do is make those non white congresswomen the face of the modern day democratic party. He wants their leadership to rally around those women, so he creates an enemy ahead of next year. Now, rice has always been at the heart of donald trump us political Business Model, he made his political name through both arisen, claiming falsely that barack 0bama was not born in the United States of america. He opened his 2016 campaign with an attack on mexican immigrants, and that is what he is doing now, putting rice at the heart of the campaign and returning to a political Business Model that worked la st political Business Model that worked last time and one he thinks will work this time too. There will be a vote in the house of representatives, nancy pelosi trying to get the republicans to put on record for perpetuity how they view Donald Trumps tweets. Yeah, and it is worth saying that more than a dozen republicans have come out and criticised donald trump, not least tim scotty, an African American senator from south carolina, the only African American republican senator. But crucially the Republican Leadership has not criticised donald trump, indeed many in the Republican Leadership have actually backed him up. And that shows how in lockstep the Republican Leadership is with donald trump. A few years ago lindsey graham, the other senator from south carolina, the great friend ofjohn mccain, was criticising donald trump when he ran against him in 2016, but he has been one of the biggest offenders of donald trump during this period. It just shows how he is making People Choose sides, and that is one of the aspects of this whole row. Nick bryant, thank you very much for being with us. Ursula von der leyen has been narrowly confirmed by the European Parliament as the next president of the European Commission. The vote will make von der leyen the first woman appointed to the eus top role. In a last ditch bid for the support of meps, mrs von der leyen pledged a green new dealfor europe and to further extend the uks departure from the eu if necessary. Lets speak now to damian grammaticas, the bbcs europe correspondent, who joins us from strasbourg. She spoke to lawmakers just a few moments ago. They trust you placed in me is confidence you placed in europe. Your confidence in a united and strong europe, from east to west, from south to north. Lets speak to west, from south to north. Lets speakto damian west, from south to north. Lets speak to damian grammaticas, the bbc europe correspondent is in strasbourg, where the vote took place. A secret ballot, not an easy one to predict, and there were fears that she wouldnt get a majority. No, and as we saw there, she just scraped past that 50 level that she had to pass, she got 52 of the vote, but of the 750 Member Chamber right here, over 300 voted against her. That, ithink, is going right here, over 300 voted against her. That, i think, is going to be a source of difficulty for ursula von der leyen. European leaders will be breathing a real sigh of relief now, christian, because they were not certain she would get through, and they had struggled to come up with her name as a package of topjobs. She is there, but the question will be, how she had to rely on bouts that she would rather not do . So there we are talking eurosceptic right wing meps, she was trying to appeal to the pro eu left parties, but she might not have got those votes, it might have been others that got it through. Damian grammaticas in strasbourg, thank you very much. An awful lot she will have to deal with when she takes over on november the 1st, in theory brexit will have taken place by then. Scotland has overtaken america as the worst place in the world for Drug Overdoses. As percentage of the population more people die from drugs in scotland than in the us or in any other european country. There were 1187 drug related deaths in scotland last year. The death rate is nearly three times that of the uk as a whole and a 27 increase on last year. And it seems that the effort being made to tackle the problem might in the end be making things worse. Methadone, the heroin substitute prescribed by the nhs to help heroin users, caused more deaths than the drug it is meant to replace and contributed to nearly half of those recorded drug deaths. Just before we came on air, we spoke to professor catriona matheson, the chair of the scottish drug deaths taskforce. What is it that is killing so many people in scotland . Well, when we look at the drugs that are being taken and the nature of drug use in scotland, there is a pattern of drug use which we describe as poly drug use, basically taking more than one substance, so we may have an opiate like heroin, but also being used with other drugs, such as diazepam, and also cocaine is featuring more, which is a stimulant, so a stimulant along with sedative drugs really does. So like a cocktail of drugs. It is the sheer scale of the problem and the fact that things are getting worse that is the concern, so what kind of solutions are you in favour of to tackle the problem . So we have to get more people into treatment, in scotland we dont have enough. We only have about 40 of drug users in treatment, and that is too low, so we in treatment, and that is too low, so we need to get Treatment Services so so we need to get Treatment Services so that they are easier to access and people can you know, they are more appropriate for the natures of drug use. That is one aspect. The other aspect is around stigma of drug use, and people who have maybe they are long term drug users, and they are long term drug users, and they have multiple health problems, they have multiple health problems, they feel stigmatised about going for medical help, and a third point is to look at diverting people away from criminaljustice. So people talk about decriminalisation, but alsojust diversion so talk about decriminalisation, but also just diversion so that people are diverted into treatment, rather than going to prison, or education and support programmes rather than prison. Professor matheson, the big drug academic in the United States with opioids began in the 2000s with prescription drugs like 0xycontin, and it looks like the figures in scotla nd and it looks like the figures in scotland have spiked much more recently, between 2017 and 2018 deaths rising by almost a third, do you know what triggered this spike in the last few years . We think there are a number of things at play, and that is more research to be done to disentangle some of it, but what we think is at play is partly what we call an ageing cohort, so people who started drug use in the 19805 and early 19905 who are reaching an age now where they are reaching an age now where they are ageing prematurely but still u5ing are ageing prematurely but still using drugs in the way we have already described, using multiple drug5. We are seeing increa5e5 already described, using multiple drug5. We are seeing increases in what we call 5treet valium, which is a type of benzodiazepine. There is one which is featuring which is an illegal sedative, which looks like it has been particularly problematic. 0k, thank you very much for joining problematic. 0k, thank you very much forjoining us. There was figures from scotland amazing, i think a lot of people will be surprised, we focus so much on the drug epidemic in the United States, but look at these numbers, back in 2018 the number of people in america, 217 dying by Drug Overdose per million of the population, this is where scotla nd of the population, this is where scotland has lea pfrogged of the population, this is where scotland has leapfrogged United States. Ceremony. And are so many of those dying at him from preventable overdoses as well, there has been a move in scotland to set up medically supervised drug consumption rooms, but it has been blocked by the home 0ffice, but it has been blocked by the home office, who are in charge of legislation, and it would be a breach of the drug misuse act for doctors and nurses to get involved in administering drugs, but it might be the solution to some of these deaths if it can be done safely. Anyway, that is one part of the debate. Lets look at some of the days other news. The Budget Airline ryanair says itll have to cut the number of flights itll operate next summer because of delays in the delivery of new boeing 737 max planes it has ordered. The airline said it could be as late as december before regulators clear the aircraft to return to the skies after two fatal crashes. A street in wales has been named the steepest in the world following a campaign by locals. Ffordd pen llech in the seaside town of harlech, north wales, has been officially recorded of being at a gradient of 37 2 steeper than the previous record holder in new zealand. And there was me thinking it was San Francisco all along Spanish Police say theyve arrested a man at barcelona airport who had hidden half a kilo of cocaine under his wig. Customs officers noticed that the colombian was wearing a disproportionately large hairpiece under his hat. It was a routine trip forjoe gomez, heading out to the San Francisco bay area for a fishing trip with a boat full of customers. Armed with a salmon carcass as bait, hours pass as the group hope for a catch. Then he feels a tug at the line. Great, weve got something, joe thinks. He then tries to reel out the fish and fails. This continues for the best part of an hour, as their boat is dragged about while on a light anchor until their catch surfaces. That is a great white its a great white shark, between six and eight feet long. What do with that . you dont bring it onto your boat. The Group Release the great white back into the water and return home a little stunned at the days events. And not much of the salmon left, you can see dont go out with a salmon carcass , can see dont go out with a salmon carcass, what big bite, big fish, thatis carcass, what big bite, big fish, that is what happens can we see it again, your little fish . It was this big of course it was and it actually was. This is beyond 100 days from the bbc. Coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news, the number of drugs related deaths in scotland reaches record levels, triple the rate of the rest of the uk, and the highest in europe. And we will speak to the commentator asking for barack 0bama to intervene in the row over donald trump us tweets. And on the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 launch, well speak to a former International Space station commander and ask if we should have accomplished more in that time. Thats still to come. Good evening. The best of the sunshine today lifted temperatures to 27 degrees, but not all of us had brilliant blue skies like this. This was the scene in llandudno earlier on, but there was a lot more cloud in other places. That was how it looked in argyll and bute. You can see from the earlier satellite picture some speckled clouds. We did have one or two showers during the day and then behind me here a more continuous area of cloud. And this is going to bring us some wet weather as we head on into tomorrow. Still some clear skies around, though, at the moments, and as we head through this evening still a chance to see that partial Lunar Eclipse look towards the southeastern sky. And we keep hold of some clear spells as we head deeper into the night, but through the small hours we will see quite a lot of cloud in the north, north west of scotland, some outbreaks of rain arriving here by the end of the night, the winds starting to pick up as well. Temperatures overnight generally between 11 and 14 degrees. So we go on into tomorrow, and this frontal system is going to bring some soggy weather for some of us, arriving in Northern Ireland through the first part of the morning, so pretty disappointing wednesday morning commute in belfast. Big puddles, surface water and spray on the roads, that heavy rain getting into western parts of scotland, there could be the odd flash of lightning, the odd rumble of thunder, some damp weather extending across the irish sea into western fringes of england and wales, so by the middle of the afternoon much of scotland will be seeing outbreaks of rain, some brisk southerly winds in association with that frontal system, something drier and potentially brighter for parts of aberdeenshire. Rain at the same Time Beginning to pull away from the western side of Northern Ireland as it extends across towards merseyside, northwest england, wales, the odd spot of rain into the West Midlands and the south eest. Further east, high cloud tending to roll across the skies as sunshine turning increasingly hazy. It will be another warm day, but that warmth will be swept away to some extent anyway on thursday, as the last remnants of our frontal system clear eastwards. Were then left with a mix of sunshine and showers, and really heavy showers across the north of the uk and a cooler feel for all of us. Then we head on into friday. Here comes another area of low pressure another frontal system. This will bring another dollop of rain, even down to the south, where it has been pretty dry lately, brisk winds as well for the weekend, unsettled with some outbreaks of rain at times, but not all the time. Youre watching beyond 100 days with katty kay in washington and Christian Fraser in london. Our top stories. Its 50 years to the day since the apollo 11 trio of astronauts blasted off into history. We crew fell the weight of the world on our shoulders, we knew everyone would be looking at us, friend orfoe. President trump lashes out again at minority lawmakers as the house prepares to condemn his racist tweets. Also on the programme. Can facebook be trusted to run a cryptocurrency . Libra is scheduled for roll out in 2020 but the Company Faces an uphill battle in congress. And meet cookie the penguin, who loves a good tickle. In washington in a few hours time the house of representatives will vote on a formal resolution condemning president trumps racist tweets about four democratic congresswomen. The House Speaker nancy pelosi will force republicans to go on the record as either condemning or condoning the president s behaviour. It is the moment say democrats for people speak out, maybe even a time for former president s to speak out. In todays Washington Post National Political correspondent Karen Tumulty writes an open letter to president barack 0bama and in it she says this, for trump, racism is not a moral failing; it is a political tactic. None of us can really claim to understand what is in his heart, but the cynicism of his actions is apparent, and it must be exposed for what it is. She calls on the former president to break with tradition and denounce the current occupant of the white house. Karen tumultyjoins us now from theWashington Post newsroom. What can president 0bama in your mind achieve by denouncing donald trump at this moment . mind achieve by denouncing donald trump at this moment . I do not even necessarily think that denouncing donald trump is exactly what needs to be done. For one thing barack 0bama holds a special place in our history and he also has a particular history and he also has a particular history with donald trump. The kind of racism that we have seen from the current president had a gateway drug and that was the fact that donald trump rose to prominence in conservative politics by spreading the lie that barack 0bama had not been born in this country. So many of the other races things that he has done since then all grow from that original sin and so there is the personal history that barack 0bama has with this kind of tactic. But beyond that what i think is even more important is that barack 0bama isa more important is that barack 0bama is a reminder of how this country was able to feel 11 summers ago as it stood on the verge of electing its first African American president. People had their political differences, many people disagreed with him but people really did feel that this country was looking forward and putting the sins of its past behind it. And it would be wonderful if president 0bama could once again kind of step into this moment and remind us of what we believe that we were capable ofjust barely over a decade ago. But there are so many transgressions that president 0bama could have weighed in on and clearly he is sticking to the long observed convention that you do not criticise your successor. He is doing that and that is a norm that most former president s have followed, i personally would like to see a joint statement from barack 0bama and george bush, former president carter has certainly spoken up. But this president , donald trump, has so shattered so many of the norms that we have taken for granted that i think at this point the moment itself is so extraordinary that it calls for the kind of leadership that the men who have run this country in the past ten show at this moment. Both as leaders and also as moral lodestar is, the keepers of their own legacies. Have you been surprised by the degree to which republicans perhaps not those elected to the moment because they seem to be afraid of donald trump and the impact he might have on their electoral prospects, but republican figures outside, people likejeb bush, the bush family, are you surprised some of them have not weighed in more forcefully on this occasion . I think at this point the Republican Party has become so much the party of donald trump, im sure they wondered themselves what difference it would make. The people who have spoken up against donald trump even revered figures likejohn mccain, they have found themselves attacked for that and theyve had their own patriotism, their own american is attacked for that. The Republican Party right now is just a wholly owned subsidiary of donald trump and his worldview. Thank you very much forjoining us. And there was another member of the trump administration, canyon, conway, speaking just a couple of hours ago. Just worth playing what she said because this idea of ethnicity and race and where people come from seems to be something that the white house wants to talk about at the moment quite a bit. What is your ethnicity . Why is that relevant . I am asking a question. Not sure how thatis am asking a question. Not sure how that is relevant but the journalist that is relevant but the journalist that was asked that question is Alan Feinberg who is jewish. That was asked that question is Alan Feinberg who isjewish. Why would you ask a question like that . I do not know what she was trying to get from that, maybe just trying to say it is ok to ask everyone what their ethnicity is. As karen suggested this was a departure for the norm and it was quite shocking to hear that question being asked to a journalist. To the democrats benefit . I think theres a moment of unity and nancy pelosi gets the chance to say we are going to stand together and do something after a summer where they have been pretty divided over load of fishes in the Democratic Caucus for the weather at last i do not know and ironic to hear a press conference last night saying we should not be distracted by donald trump talking about race, we should talk about the issues and policies that Americans Care about but standing there in a press conference talking about that and we have been speaking about this for the past 48 hours. Donald trump clearly feels that this benefits him electorally. I think there is also some perilfor democrats electorally. I think there is also some peril for democrats that he has picked up on on the party being associated with words like socialism, erroneously or not, he manages to do that and perhaps not what they want particularly if they wa nt to what they want particularly if they want to keep on holding the house of representatives. Lets get back to other matters. In 1961 the yearJohn F Kennedy formally announced apollo, nasa spent one Million Dollars on the programme in the first year. Five years later nasa was spending one Million Dollars every three hours. The Apollo Space Programme was as much a Political Risk as it was a technical one and there were plenty of people here in the United States who were opposed to it. The space race had everything to do with the politics of the time. In 1957 the soviet union had sent sputnik into space and in washington alarms bells were ringing. Jfk saw the potential in putting a man on the moon. The complexities of cold war statesmanship reduced to a simple contest. The americans reached their goal, without conquering the moon, or capturing it. They landed and in those four days the world went with them. David sillito has been looking back at how it played here in the uk. Columbia. Here goes the mission with the Television Camera on it. This is the story of what landing on the moon meant to us. Its one small step for man. 0ne giant leap for mankind. Home movies, scrapbooks, photos, a National Memory bank of this, where were you moment . And of the hundreds of contributors we have been speaking to three of them. Im with my parents and all of the schoolchildren of myjunior school. Itsjust myself in the left chair, my dad on the right looking at the television. Youre thinking, ive never been up this late its four oclock at the morning. The children got very bored and they were getting up and running round and then dodging, trying to see, and im getting so frustrated with this, i burst into tears. The mission has gone perfectly so a mid course correction to tomorrow morning. And the bbcs man in the studio was james burke. Filling time without pictures for more than four hours. The atmosphere is quite tense because it was something you got one go at. If you got it wrong you got it completely wrong. We canjust make out the backpack and the visor in front of it. I had horrid dreams the night before that he would be walking down the steps and he would open his mouth and Say Something and i would Say Something on top of it. But perhaps the most important thing was just the sheer spectacle of it, the world was watching this demonstration of science and engineering, and for a generation of young viewers it was inspirational. I knew at that point that that was what i wanted to do, i wanted to be involved in that side of life, those programmes. You can talk to an awful lot of people from my generation and later who were inspired. These are the apollo stories from britains living rooms, an archive of memories, inspiration, and feelings. I just thought it was the start of bases on the moon leading to bases on mars but it turned out to be a bit different to that. And jackie. It inspired me but i was in this situation that the best i could aspire to was to be a clerk typist. 50 years on she is now a professional space artist. I always knew i would be an outsider of science but i was determined, despite that, that id get in there somehow and i did. However, a lot of the tv coverage has been lost, much of the bbc commentary has not survived. Thankfully, one eager 12 year old was recording it at home. And young Philip Longden even added his own moon commentary. Eagle taking off for the moon. David sillito, bbc news. And watching here in the United States was a little eight year old boy called leroy chiao. It so inspired him that in later life he would become a nasa astronaut and an International Space station commander. And he is with us live from houston. Great to have you here. Do you remember that moment watching . Great to have you here. Do you remember that moment watching . |j remember that moment watching . |j remember very clearly. I grew up in california not far from remember very clearly. I grew up in california not farfrom San Francisco and a very warm summer day the day of the landing and we had the day of the landing and we had the old black and White Television set moved outside and had some friends over just watching set moved outside and had some friends overjust watching as the scene unfolded and you heard those famous words that they had landed on the moon. I think that the landing impressed me more than the moonwalk because to me that was the hard part and once they had landed everyone knew they would go outside and walk. But nevertheless watching them walk inspired me and started my dream of wanting to become an astronaut. You have pushed the boundaries ever since, i imagine the astronaut family is quite small and tight knit, did you speak to Neil Armstrong and buzz aldrin before you set off on your voyage . Did not, i did get to neil once briefly in the halls of the Astronaut Office and he was coming in for his annual physical. Normally he kept himself and did not come up to visit but for some reason on that date he was up there and i got to meet him briefly. Buzz aldrin was around much more often and i became friends with him, i have known him now a number of yea rs i have known him now a number of years and it is quite a privilege and honour to meet your own heroes you had when you were a boy and then follow in their footsteps. One of the british contributors to that report said i thought it was the start of bases on the moon and on mars, but it wasnt. Challenger and columbia came and went and we have not been back, where are we with that and what could we do if we return to the moon . It is true that back then we thought in 20 years time and certainly by 1998 we would have a base on the moon but would also have explored mars and of course that did not come to pass because as we all have come to understand the Apollo Programme was on about the race against the soviet union to show our technology was better and we could go and do this. We spent enormous sums of money at one point, spending somewhere more than 5 of the us budget on the Apollo Programme and without a doubt, but to date, there has been a push to go back to the moon and we need to see the money arriving. There has been a shake up recently at headquarters which frankly has a lot of us scratching our heads a bit but if we do go back to the moon it would be the precursorfor going to mars. The idea is the moon is closer to the cell it is a Perfect Place to develop all the things you need things like habitat, spacesuits, and to train astronauts. You do not necessarily want the first crew going to mars to have no experience in that environment. Maybe it will inspire people, the celebrations today. Thank you for being with us. We have set up a bit of a quiz. That is on the newsround website. You have 60 seconds Nasa Missions are given particular names, what is the name of the Moon Landing Mission . Apollo 11. The name of the rocket launching the astronauts. Saturn five. Are you going tojoin in what was the name of the rocket launching the astronauts in space, with a map one. The first man to walk on the . Neil armstrong. How long did the mission take . Six days for the i thought it was four days. Six days they had to go back again. What year did a man first walked on the moon . 1969. Im giving you all the a nswers 1969. Im giving you all the answers 240,000 miles i think. 1969. Im giving you all the answers 240,000 miles i thinkm has to be more than that. Come on what was the name of the ship that landed on the moon . Eagle. And last one, which us president. President kennedy. Was in office . Nixon. Good job im here we only got one wrong. Not bad. There are few issues that can unite american lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle. Suspicion of facebook is one of them. Earlier today senators from both parties grilled facebooks about its latest venture libra the Digital Currency its planning to unveil in 2020. When facebook announced its new cryptocurrency last month it promised greater access to basic Financial Services for anyone with an internet connection, but since then its plans have drawn intense security from financial regulators and politicians alike. Intense scrutiny, i think that should be. Libras co creator promised the Senate Finance committee that facebook wont launch the currency without a green light first. Lets speak now to dave lee, the bbcs Silicon Valley reporter. We have democrats saying why should anyone trust facebook with their crypto currency and that is a fair point after everything to do with the elections. I think one issue at play is mistrust of crypto currencies in general. Bitcoin of course is for all kinds of illegal activities. Security problems with that. But then for facebook to be doing this adds another layer of complexity, this is a group of senators and indeed much of the population might now looking at facebook and saying clean up your own issues already have before perhaps going on to something that could be very complex and have a load of new risks on top. So the hearing was about facebook answering some of those questions, how it would be regulated, how you protect against fraud and stop it being used for illegal purposes. Today i think was the first step in a long process. With your social media hat on, a different theme about twitter and carrying Donald Trumps tweets, it has come in for criticism because two weeks ago ed told us it was going to leave the tweets of politicians up because theyre releva nt politicians up because theyre relevant in the way to debate but would flag them and it has not flagged these tweets, why not . Would flag them and it has not flagged these tweets, why nowm has not said why not and that is getting many people who observe these policies quite confused. Twitter earlier in the year said that while sometimes statements from World Leaders could be against the policies had they just World Leaders could be against the policies had theyjust been a normal user, they would leave them up because they are relevant to the debate in those countries and globally but then they came up with a system where they said if we will not remove them we will at least add a tag so users could know that they we re a tag so users could know that they were against the policies. This was the first test of that, the president and his tweets at the weekend put the onus on twitter to look at whether that applied to those tweets. The first test of this asi those tweets. The first test of this as i say, twitter decided that was not the case. They have not given explicit reasons for that and so yet again twitter underfire explicit reasons for that and so yet again twitter under fire for inconsistent application of its policies. If they tag them or took them down in any way you could just see the reaction from the white house. As we saw at that summit last week, they would be accused of being liberal meaning. Google this week and eventually twitter, the question as to what extent politicians on the right in america feel that their views are being restricted or hidden by these Big Companies so if twitter had taken that step you are right, they would have come under a lot of scrutiny with accusations that conservative voices are not welcomed by these companies from liberal Silicon Valley and voices on the left are given more freedom. But in this instance, really they cannot please everyone. Thank you very much. Safa and marwa bibi were born joined at the skull never able to see each others faces. There are no official figures for how often this happens, but its thought to occur as rarely as once in ever 2. 5 million births. Most survive barely one day. To save the lives of the two year old sisters has required multiple surgeries, months of hard work, and the expertise of hundreds. Fergus walsh has followed the extraordinary story. Safa and marwa share a single skull. The two year olds have already undergone two complex operations at great ormond street hospital to prepare them for separation. Now finally, that day has come. Two whole brains laid out. Their brains, locked together since birth, eased part. After three major operations the twins are no longerjoined. Were joined now by the neurosurgeon who performed the lifechanging operation 0wase jeelani. Good to have you with us. I read today about how you did this, you separate the brain without separating their heads, doing it internally and at the same time clamping blood vessels. How do you know you are clamping the right ones . Well, we do not know so it is an educated guess based on previous experience and experience of others. We the anatomy, the vascular anatomy in quite some detail and then it is a best guest estimate in terms of what we should do and at what stage we clamp the vessels. The surgical insult is relatively limited and small and the children have a chance to recuperate between the stages. You created a vr model to get as close as you could before the operation to know what she will go into but there was one moment during the surgery we thought that you might lose one or other of the girls . That is correct, the first surgery went to plan and the second was different, we encountered a lot of bleeding and the surgery itself was much longer than we had anticipated and during the surgery one of the twins was quite unstable and we were close to losing her and that was quite a difficult position to be in for the girls and for the tea m to be in for the girls and for the team looking after them. Where are we now without rehabilitation . The separation is done, there are independent girls, clearly they have been through a lot in the past ten months since they came to us but they are making good progress. So they are making good progress. So the helpers in the coming months with intensive rehabilitation progress will continue and hopefully at the end of it we will have independent functioning girls. Just incredible what you have done and many congratulations. We wish you the best with their care into the future. You learn something new on this Programme Every day. Particularly facts about furry animals. Not only does it turn out that penguins love to be tickled. But also that they have one of the strangest laughs in the entire animal kingdom. This is cookie, a little penguin from cincinatti zoo. Take a listen to this clip thats recently resurfaced. Cookie laughs did you know that they could giggle . Cookie was the nickname of one of our directors at school. He likes to be tickled are we after the watershed be tickled are we after the watershed i bet you have a penguin pan. Coming up next on bbc world news ros atkins is here with outside source and for viewers in the uk well have the latest headlines. That is a black and white news show good evening. The best of the sunshine today lifted temperatures to 27 degrees, but not all of us had brilliant blue skies like this. This was the scene in llandudno earlier on, but there was a lot more cloud in other places. That was how it looked in argyll and bute. You can see from the earlier satellite picture some speckled clouds. We did have one or two showers during the day and then behind me here a more continuous area of cloud. And this is going to bring us some wet weather as we head on into tomorrow. Still some clear skies around, though, at the moments, and as we head through this evening still a chance to see that partial Lunar Eclipse look towards the southeastern sky. And we keep hold of some clear spells as we head deeper into the night, but through the small hours we will see quite a lot of cloud in the north, north west of scotland, some outbreaks of rain arriving here by the end of the night the winds starting to pick up as well. Temperatures overnight generally between 11 and 14 degrees. So we go on into tomorrow, and this frontal system is going to bring some soggy weather for some of us, arriving in Northern Ireland through the first part of the morning, so pretty disappointing wednesday morning commute in belfast. Big puddles, surface water and spray on the roads, that heavy rain getting into western parts of scotland, there could be the odd flash of lightning, the odd rumble of thunder, some damp weather extending across the irish sea into western fringes of england and wales, so by the middle of the afternoon much of scotland will be seeing outbreaks of rain, some brisk southerly winds in association with that frontal system, something drier and potentially brighter for parts of aberdeenshire. Rain at the same Time Beginning to pull away from the western side of the country as it extends across towards merseyside, northwest england, wales, the odd spot of rain into the West Midlands and the south eest. Further east, high cloud tending to roll across the skies as sunshine turning increasingly hazy. It will be another warm day, but that warmth will be swept away to some extent anyway on thursday, as the last remnants of our frontal system clear eastwards. Were then left with a mix of sunshine and showers, and really heavy showers across the north of the uk and a cooler feel for all of us. Then we head on into friday. Here comes another area of low pressure another frontal system. This will bring another dollop of rain, even down to the south, where it has been pretty dry lately, brisk winds as well for the weekend, unsettled with some outbreaks of rain at times, but not all the time. This is bbc news. The headlines. 50 years since the launch of the Apollo Mission to the moon a milestone in space exploration. I was always asked wasnt i the loneliest person in the whole lower history of the whole lower solar system when i was by myself in that lower orbit . Germanys ursula von der leyen has been narrowly elected as the first female president of the Eu Commission following a secret ballot among meps. Trump and americas racism row the president escalates his twitter