but it was conquering the soviet union that made the space race such an urgent national priority. in those cold war years, soviet cosmonauts had outpaced american astronauts. the moon mission was also about a global ideological battle. the space race was all about the cold war. the whole reason for the race to the moon was to beat the soviet union and prove that the western capitalist model of government was better than the soviet model. and that was a serious issue in the early ‘60s. but the united states beats the soviet union to the moon in 1969, tremendously undercuts the legitimacy of the soviet union both internally and externally, and i think contributes to the collapse of the soviet union 30 years later. taking the stars and stripes to the moon was, surprisingly, something of an afterthought. it was purchased from a local hardware shop. as you talk to us from the sea of tranquillity... and though the moon mission was launched byjohn f kennedy, it was his one—time rival richard nixon who was president at the time. for every american, this has to be the proudest day of our lives.

the moon landing came at the end of a tumultuous decade. the ‘60s brought the struggle for black equality, the vietnam war, the assassinations of the kennedy brothers and dr martin luther king. here, finally, was a moment that transcended national strife. there's been a wave of space—age nostalgia, marking a glorious, near—hypnotic moment when "america first" had a very different connotation. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. let's return to our top story — the seizure of two tankers by iran in the gulf. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins is here. update us on further events? two developers. the first is that the owners of the glasgow—based tanker say they have heard from the master and actually, that vessel has been released by what the master described as armed guards. they had left the vessel and he had been told

he was free to continue his voyage and he reported all crew safe and well. the foreign secretary has been talking while we have been on air and is on his way into an emergency meeting. he has speaking to mike pompeo, the american secretary of state. he has tried to get hold of the iranian foreign minister, and he said the iranians must expect a robust and considered response, but he ruled out military action unless the crews were freed immediately. and he said this was a significant escalation of the crisis in the gulf. james, many thanks. that's all from us. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm chetan pathak, on the programme tonight heartbreak for rory mcilroy. he misses the cut at the open championship in front of his home crowd in northern

ireland. at the other end of the leaderboard ireland's shane lowry is in scintillating form with his putter and has a share of the lead going into the weekend. and away from the golf, julian allaphillipe extends his lead over geraint thomas at the tour de france after a stunning time trial win on stage 13. hello and welcome to sportsday. let's start in northern ireland and a dramatic day at the open championship. after a terrible opening round rory mcilroy had to play the round of his life to have any chance of making it to the weeken at his home tournament.

and despite a scintillating effort, he fell just short at royal portrush as adam wild reports. we have seen some extraordinary drama here in the day light at the end of the second round here at the 148 open championship and royal port rush. he started the day eight over par, few if any gave him any hope of getting anywhere near that cut mark which came one fifth. he put in a tremendous effort. six under par, the best round of the day, but it was not quite enough, he has missed the cut by a single cut, absolutely agonising for him. and the many fans that lined the court. shane the irishman leads the board, he is up

on eight under par, joining the american who has led overnight carrying the second round. behind them, two big names of english golf breathing down their necks. tommy fleetwood and lee westward and what his story that would be if he could finally when that major championship he has craved for years. it is going to be an intriguing, exciting weekend ahead, even though rory mcilroy and tiger woods are not going to be here, there is plenty still to look forward to the 148 of them championship.” still to look forward to the 148 of them championship. i give it my best shot, yesterday was just one of those days, it was very disappointed by did not let that affect me today i give them my best effort and i did that. but it wasn't quite get enough. but you know, at the end of the day, it has been a wonderful experience to come back and play an open championship and hopefully it's not too long to get the opportunity

again. to an incredibly tense finish to stage 13 of the tour de france next. today's satge was a time trial — well suited to reigning champion geraint thomas — and he'd been expected to close the gap on current leaderjulian alaphilippe. but the frenchman had other ideas in pau, and nick parrott reports. was first awarded at the tour de france hundred years ago today. then, as knowledge angels on the shoulder ofjulian. defending champion thomas was expected to get closer to claiming it on the time travel stop and sometimes on the tour, the unexpected can happen. they were tipped to win the stage, but failed to make it to the finish. with tough mounting claims to come, some would take it easy, but thomas did not hold back. the briton expels a —— excels at time trials. behind

him though he is being urged on by fa ns him though he is being urged on by fans who have not witnessed a french winner of the race and 34 years. helping power into the finish, extending his lead in showing thomas he has a realfight extending his lead in showing thomas he has a real fight on extending his lead in showing thomas he has a realfight on his hands. england's world cup winning cricket captain, eoin morgan, says he's not sure if he'll still be in the role by the time the next tournament comes around in four years. he's been england's limited overs captain since 2015, and has been a key part of the team's transformation in that time. morgan says the world cup win has made him think about his future. ido i do not think i made a good state to make a decision at the moment. the fact that i have another chance to get away from winning the world cup, i have not been able to get into a logical mindset and i asked myself a couple of questions about four years as a big commitments to commit toa four years as a big commitments to commit to a road cup, next year obviously is probably more realistic

target. but even still, i have battled my weight through the sheehs battled my weight through the sheer‘s road cup. it has taken a toll on me mentally and physically so toll on me mentally and physically so when everything calms down a couple of months, come to a decision and at the forefront will be my family and the team. eoin morgan there speaking at the inaugural player auction for the euro t20 slam. to the women's game now and england have a lot to do if they're to have any hope of winning the ashes back. rain stopped play in the second day of their test match at taunton with australia 341 for 5. england trail six points to nil in the multi format series. henry moeran is at taunton for us. this was the day we did not expect to see much play or if any, the fact that we got a full first session, something of a surprise. austria began to dominate, excelling back to back test hundreds for her, england did make the breakthrough eventually, getting a couple of wickets as both perry and haynes departed, but this time lost on the

second day, england still need to ta ke second day, england still need to take 15 wickets in the game and somewhere around the two days that we've got left, score enough runs to beat australia. it is looking increasingly like the ashes is heading back to australia. time for some of the day's other sport stories... algeria have won the africa cup of nations. the goal after just 79 the goal afterjust 79 seconds. despite that deflection, it is only the second time they have won the tournament after a gap of 29 years. threshing them for— no, those the second goal of the night, motherwell dundee night, wins. huddersfield giants beat hull kr 18—12 in the betfred super league. crashing over, they win four points

clear. england may have avoided playing world number ones australia in their netball world cup semifinal — but still face a tough task when they take on new zealand at the liverpool arena tomorrow. just one point separated australia and new zealand in their intense match yesterday. kate grey is there for us. this time tomorrow we'll know if england has made it through to their first ever netball world cup final, they have been fighting in this tournament so far with six wins from six matches and they significantly have two win against south africa yesterday by 11 goals. they were now faced new zealand in the semifinals, we look very much on form at this tournament, they only lost to the defending champions, australia by one goal in the earlier stages, so in the top of the game if they want to make it through to the finals. so let's hear from the new zealand coach and the england coach coach added that semi final