zavion say their numbers are barely a 5th of what they were before, the 2003 invasion because of iraq security and there's being a close religion. one can only be born into the faith in marrying into their religion is forbidden, and the population has dwindled. even further because thousands have taken refuge elsewhere for safety. ah. ready she hello, i'm barbara sarah in london. these are the top stories on al jazeera. the u. k government's health security agency says people with on the chron are 50 to 70 percent, less likely to be admitted the hospital than with delta. but the agency has warned the protection from a booster vaccine may begin to wayne after just 10 weeks. the u. k reported nearly

820000 cove in 19 cases on thursday. just a day after recording more than a 100000 for the 1st time need barker reports. health services across europe on a war footing. taking the fight to omicron by giving boost to vaccinations to hundreds of thousands of people a day. the variance fueling a new wave of infections across europe. in the french capital, long queues formed outside pharmacies and coven testing centers in the run up to the christmas holidays. elsewhere, french police increased their checks on people's health passes, allowing for now at least the cities restaurants to remain open. president manuel micron took to instagram to urge people to avoid spreading the virus from you on time you miss this year. once again because of the virus, i asked you to have a lot of vigilance. this means continuing the protections against viruses, you know, smart as regularly washing hands, respecting this and saying,

ventilating grooms regularly with fresh air in isolating and testing ourselves. as soon as we have symptoms more epistle, newsome, buquet, health security agencies, the latest body to crunch real world data on the severity of the disease. concluding that someone with omicron is as much as 70 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital. but because the transmits ability of our microns very high infections could rock it to the point, large numbers may still end up in hospital. we do know with only crime that it does a spread a lot more quickly as a lot more infectious than delta. so any advantage gained from reduce risk of hospitalization needs to be set against that. and we know, for example, if her, if earth's much smaller percentage of people are at the risk of hospitalization, is that a smaller percentage of a much larger number? there could be still significant hospitalization. our best way to, to deal with this, the best way to protect ourselves is through vaccinations and in particular the

booster program. it is now even more important to come forward and to get boosted. the analysis also concluded that 2 doses of a covert vaccine are not enough to offer strong protection against omicron. a boosters vital and reducing symptomatic infection and serious illness. although data suggests protection starts to wayne after just 10 weeks. 3 jobs also don't stop people from contracting and spreading the disease at an alarming rate. despite no new official coping restrictions in england, london's christmas markets a quiet footfall as down hawkish, british government ministers want clear cut evidence of a risk to the national health service before backing any new restrictions. evidence that may take days to become clear in the hospital data. what happens in the british capital, where omicron cases are at their highest, will sound the alarm for the rest of the country. and given the numbers here,

the rest of europe to the volcano, al jazeera london, former u. s. police officer, kim potter has been found guilty of 1st and 2nd degree manslaughter. for the killing of dante right, he was shot and killed during the least traffic stop. last year, potter says that she thought she was discharging her taser when she discharged her gun in the matter of state, minnesota versus kimberly potter. we the jury on the charge of manslaughter in the 1st degree while committing. unless jan leaner on our about of april 11, 2021 and had have been county state of minnesota, find the defendant guilty. russian president vladimir putin has told you on the list see views nato's expand expansion in the eastern europe is unacceptable. and that it's impossible to have good relations with the current ukrainian government.

those are the top stories the al jazeera correspondence is next by ah ah ah, my lowering the modem with just 60 years after the wright brothers man in the i, scientists and engineers were grappling with the next major challenge, putting a man in space and keeping him alive that as an engineering challenge,

it was the most extreme imaginable destination. a rocket and the most complicated piece of personal protection equipment man has ever known a space suit. for the american side of the space race. the design challenge was handed to a small team inside nasa, approved system of the leader of that team was matthew red, knocked ski mad russian, an eccentric 2nd generation jewish immigrant with a can do attitude and a broad boston accent. he was also my grandfather. i barely knew him. he died when i was just 3 years old. apollo 11 was his try a more all program and the perfectly designed space suits the man flew in where his legacy. i've always been fascinated by space, and i've often wondered how he did it. for me. the story of the space race isn't

just about the men who risk their lives to traveling the unknown. but the ones who held those lives in their hands. i grew up in hartford sher, england, a world away from america in the space race. i'm at my parents house to ask my dad hugh members about grandpa. looking at our old photographs and watching and ask the film, i realized how little i really know about my grandfather. grandfather and his colleagues worked on the space suits they designing space suits. that became the the centerpiece of what the astronauts wore. a new mercury gemini and the apollo program that neil armstrong buzz aldrin and all the astronauts who followed them who walked on the moon. i never really quite realized,

actually, i always thought that, oh, it was. it was just a very small part in this big machine. and actually i realized not who's actually got a big part in the big machine. i think he and a lot of people were big parts in that machine. i think there were a lot of people who took the goals that were given them and they just went on the chieftain. why did he say when we were born? i see, i don't know, was he a nice compa? yeah. 20 com. yeah, you didn't. you didn't see a lot of him because he lived in texas and we were here already by the time you were born. i was he please. this is this, i'm sancho probably. oh yeah. he loved left all of you and like to talk about it. what is it by now to come? allison little the pitches in me getting on the counter, the nation. i'm now it, it feels great it's, it's really interesting to reevaluate a little bit and to remember the terrific person that your grandfather wise. my dad

was he was, he was a, he was a real character. and i think about him what i always have. and it's interesting when your parents have been gone for, for a while, you know, what do you think about? and they're still there in the rear and you can hear them anything on it. my think about that even a fountain, not doing a film. now this is great. i think it's i think it's a chance for you to discover who your grandfather was and it's, it's for you to get to know my dad in a way that may be the start. i mean, we have a few pictures. you know, you're going to go often talk to people who knew him and worked with them. and i think that's just terrific. i'm really glad my grandfather's fascination was safety fighting and subsequently space seats began during world war 2 not read

enough. sky was stationed at 3rd lie bedfordshire in england. in the 3 or 6 bombardment, greek as a navigator in the b 17 flying fortress. left now is a small museum, overrated by ralph franklin on the outskirts of the old airfield. ah, i've come here with my dad because we both want to hear my grandfather's combat story. i think that some of the equipment used in the u. s. air force at that time may have influenced grampa when he subsequently designed the astronaut clothing and equipment. ralph has a good collection of that old air force equipment hair during his time at nasa. grandpa designed the astronauts communications helmet, affectionate, known as the snoopy cap. it's easy to see how the influence with that came from the 8 is flying helmet. i always had her like this,

my only when you will fly and it was easier to have the of hedge said the, her face in the helmets over at all a complete fixture. and that was what i often well parentally. and when grandpa was working on the gemini projects, they were the national cap complaint icons, device is kept slipping. and so grandpa said to somebody, oh, just and get an 88 has cap and they can wear that underneath their helmets, and that will keep the commas device in place. maybe we attached that device to the hat and i hadn't really realized that it was so literally exactly like that. like he wasn't just like, oh let's get this hat that i remember from the war and see if we can put together he let she was. oh, what is do what i did during the war that make sense? and as that's really cool, well also shows me a heated suit that the 8 is war to keep warm when they flew at high altitude. right, well, this is a heated suit. i commonly known as the blue bunny obviously because it's blue i

suppose ward bonnie other low. um you can see it with all the heating out him on this ron in through it. i'm surprised how much it looks like something worn by nasa astronaut. this looks just like a cooling suit. you were underneath your, your space suit. so you say, okay, how we can manage to keep the actual cool when they're wearing this matter through that weighs more than 2 men. you just put them in a suit that has watering through it. and so again, like with the snoopy cap, you can see really clearly that this is something that he would have been it not even slide by. so it's an obvious, again, it's an obvious answer to problem during the war. grandpa is a navigator in a b 17 called the cost of the own brianca. but i've never been able to picture him in action. so this is really interesting because this is actually inside of a b 17, this picture here. and it's really,

i like it because it's the 1st chance i've had to understand what it would have looked like inside one. so where's that, where's the pilot and packed here. okay. this is where that is. we're looking from the back, down to the friend. what kind of temperatures would have actually been inside the aircraft to mean that you'd have to weigh jacket? mom, this is wendy. i need you to turn on jackets because the american bombing was done from greater heights. that was the idea of it. dad asks rouse if there's any record of when grandpa is shut down in 1943. say, i say this is going 1st over germany, and you may find that in here. and matthew, i read off ski, page $289.00. ah . on november 21st lieutenant ed, we turned off flir through house with amber jago,

with knocked out a formation when 2 rounds. aflac. if i do them that way, once you fall back out of formation, you're an easy target. we had a fall back out of formation because they had hit an engine and when they hit an engine, it was then bought an edge and it hit me. wounding 1st. lieutenant matthew, i read na ski the navigator there we are. very. are the tail gunner failed out? everybody bailed ali listed men bailed out of the pilot, and the co pilot stayed holding the plate plane level. i was hit in the plane and these same explosions also said the member to engine on fire, severed the throttle linkage to number one, engine via plane logic to engines ultimately and the 3rd engine. finally, they got a great big piece of flack that went into my back ah,

right through the armored suit that i was wearing. i had to i'm, it's which one that i laid on the floor and another one that was that was sitting in wearing. but i went right through. it didn't make any difference than another verse to the right side of this for 23rd plain and 2nd, lieutenant marvin and trevor co pilot is badly needed in his right leg. while they were having a very bad day and our laid me out flat. i was laying there and it, and it opened my parish. my parents was laying there in inside. so the bama dia gave me his parachute and me to a, a static line right next to me and threw me out. and other members of the crew who bailed out were 1st. lieutenant douglas mcknight was received to metal saving money,

saving my dad got him out. he was the bombardier and sam polk lazy faltered, come. he came down from a very high altitude because it's, it deployed very quickly and it took a long time to get down. it's but it was wonderful was so quiet. and then i heard a dog barking. i heard a bell ringing from a church. and then i landed in the trees in a whisper. wonderful landing you could ever get. i landed in the parachute kind of landed over the top of the trees and i plunged down. never hit the ground just a couple of feet from the ground hanging there at british parachute on, which was you just turn turner thing and hit it and you fall out of it. and i was pretty much paralyzed due to my wounds. i was hit apparently by machine dental as well as in the year cuz i got 3 machine gun bullets in addition in me when i, when i parachute and my boots fell off, my vest fell off mice escape fit,

kit fell off everything. the only that worked was it was the parachute. thank god, but nothing works. that's how i became interested in working with safety equipment . nothing worked. wow. well, i'm glad i saw the book now. it's terrific to get to one of my young lady now makes me feel humble. when i was, when i was 19 years old, i wasn't doing anything like this ah. in the united states, the calling foundation has offered me the chance to put myself in grandpa speak and take my own ride in a 17. despite my fear of heights, it's an unmistakable opportunity. climbing up into the b 17. i'm surprised how craft it is. one called is creating now or it may look

imposing from the outside, but it's actually crowded and very functional on the inside. the 1st time i get to see what the painting in the museum is like in real life. i can see the bumper days position. and so now the gauge is table where my grandfather would have sat and when he was injured i'm sitting here with the radio operator would have sat out there. you've got where the pilot and the co pilots would have been. and be great because you can actually this is open up here and it goes it, i think over a 100 miles an hour. so here we go. here we go with that mcneal. i think the

weight, i think

it's a windy day and after the flights i'm told this made our trip unusually bumpy. similar how doesn't flag during the fall with really cool, but i feel like i'm not going to pair up but i feel thing grandpa is experience of being shut down in spite his passion for safety, clothing and ultimately led to a career at nasa. well, over the 4th 1957 russia successfully launch sputnik won the world's fast artificial satellites. this act marked the starting to space race. a battle for

supremacy of space between the us and russia. america responded with the mercury project soccer, making allen shepherd the 1st american space in 1900. $61.00 followed by john glenn, less than a year later or in 1962 president john f. kennedy declared, the country would go one step further by putting him out on the moon and returning him safely. and all by the end of the day. we choose to go to the mall and esther kate and do the other thing. not because they are easy, but because they are hard because that gold will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and scales. because that challenge is wong, that we're willing to accept one, we are willing to both born and one when you plan to win, and the other still ah, kennedy's famous rallying call to beat russia to the moon,

galvanized thousands of american engineers is developing new technologies, including the space suit the smithsonian's national air and space museum in washington dc, is the perfect place to get the big picture of how the space it was developed. these basic spaces, good ones, bigger gara and glen war. basically had the same function. they were there to keep erin in case of emergency on to keep particles out and to protect against any sort of radiation that those high levels of altitude space suits are not very comfortable things to where they're peer heavy, they're awkward, they're bulky. ah, they're constraining. and getting those everything right for the astronaut is very important. so. so you've heard of my grandfather? yes. yes. and i've seen his signature on, on documents and materials love. yes,

he sees very one that i think for me it's hard sometimes to understand exactly how you fit into everything. the process of designing the suit is enormously iterative . it started with proposed suit designs and prototype suits that come from private corporations as a bid for a contract with nasa. and they work with with nasa and the crew systems division and the astronauts to decide what's good, what's bad, what has to be fixed and what has to be modified. so there is an ongoing discussion . they have to have a suit that doesn't cost an enormous amount of money on it that satisfies the astronauts because there are going to be the ones working in it. and that also meets the requirements to fit in the spacecraft to work on the operationally and fits the requirements of nasa and the crew systems division. it sounds like also

grandpa would have an actually known a lot of different people if he was mediating between the astronauts. the nasa itself within the contractors. it via the contractor. he's known among the astronauts, he's known among contractors and certainly at nasa who he's very famous and he has a signature and signing off on materials and designed crazy. i love you incredible to hear someone say he was famous. i can't believe that. it's just. yeah. wow, so everything you or your parents told you was true. 0, one story they did tell me unites astronauts, engineers, and contract is a disaster that could have ended the entire space program by on january 27th, 1967. the crew of apollo one, roger chaffee, gus grissom and dead white carrying out routine test with the plug out kind of the rest of the launch. when it went disastrously wrong

everything. when suddenly the control room had one of the crew shouting over the intercom, there was a fire in the capital one and in a pure environment, the course of fire the 3 astronaut were dead within 90 seconds. walter cunningham, lunar module pilot for follow 7 was also a member of the backup crew for paula one he had been in the same space cross just the night before taking process. similar tests to the prime crew was a real shot because we had done the night before, almost the same test. and we were waiting the next day for gus in roger to form it with the plugs out and the has closed. so we are going to fly back together. and by

late afternoon they had been so many delays and little problems in the spacecraft that we finally decided them. about 5 o'clock we were going to take off, we flew back by ourselves. volleyed on the shock we had was when we landed back here at ellington, air force base. and usually we just walk in and change or leave our helmets and drive home. but there was a operations officer, was there meeting us something wrong, went inside and he told us about the fire and the crew died. so it was a shock to us. and so we mainly started trying to find out what had happened. and of course, gone by saying the surviving spouse isn't doing what you do after somebody a friend gets killed by the gus chris,

them and roger chaffey were buried owing to national cemetery. the resting place of the nation's hero body at white family, buried him at west point military academy in new york. ah, i think it's very moving to come face to face with that real grave because it makes them more real obviously to see their names and just to see them along with the other graves of military men. these men died that country in a way that i think we never expected to die. and i was also so hard. they dived on the ground on a daily task that no one expected to be fatal. and i think that probably was hard to their families is that they died in the, in the development stages. they didn't die in face. it was just considered to be

a monday and friday in the space program was suspended for 18 months, while a major investigation looked into what had gone wrong and advised changes to be made. among them, the hatch to the capital was redesigned to make emergency escape much easier, and the air inside it was changed to a less flexible mix of nitrogen and oxygen. the new challenge, grandpa and the crew system team would be to make the whole command module fire proof. crucially, the space was specifically redesigned to be made from non flammable material. the fire was a tiny point in the space program. it brought about the realization, but not just the most obvious, the dangerous scenario needed caution. even a routine test on the launch pad to be fatal after the investigation of the fire clothed all eyes on what new fire pretty soon the apollo astronauts would where and who would create. ah,

the political debate show that challenging the way you think the military advancement going to stop the family ticket? i was under conflict united now people are in a day, apart with me. walk them on hill on out 0. there's a lot more to out of the euro than tv, with our website mobile app, social media and comcast al jazeera digital is a world award winning online content and portal brings do the very best of it. they're trying to frighten the people to leave it to go somewhere else. the truth is nowhere else to go. so if you miss it online to catch up here with me, sandra gatlin on al jazeera, welcome to it won't come foot. so thanks with business class. where your privacy is paramount times your experience.

so sit back, relax in your own private space, and let us take care of everything. cats are a ways the airline you can rely on. ah hello, i'm barbara. so in london, these are the top stories on al jazeera, much the u. k. government's health security agency says people with on the chrome are 50 to 70 percent. less likely to be admitted the hospital than with delta. but the agency has warned, the protection from a booster vaccine may begin to weigh in after 10 weeks. you can reported nearly 820000 coban 1000 cases on thursday,

just the day after recording more than 100000. for the 1st time. we do know we don't recall that it does a spread a lot more quickly so.