he is trying to persuade political leaders to end the conflict that has gripped the country since gaining independence 12 years ago. forest fires in chile sparked by a devastating heatwave have left at least 13 people dead. hundreds of homes have been damaged. the government has declared a state of emergency in two regions. a usjury has found elon musk not guilty of fraud over a tweet. mr musk was being sued by tesla shareholders who claim they lost billions of dollars after he tweeted he was taking the company back into private ownership. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for the new space race. 50 years ago, astronauts would regularly go to the moon. back then, many thought it wouldn't be long before people lived there.

now, finally, that could be happening. we're notjust settling for doing the same old, same old. we want to push further. and rocket launches are now commonplace, sending up spacecraft for the benefit of life on earth. space is an integral part of society. our way of working only functions with satellites for telecom, for navigation, for earth observation, for weather forecasting, for many things. so we need these satellites for our daily life. the country that first sent a person into space is crashing back to earth because of its war in ukraine. if russia doesn't partner up with another nation or field its own space station, which given the current circumstances and sanctions is quite unlikely, it might not have any crewed space flight. what became a story

of collaboration is now once again one of competition and conflict. china has its own space station. india wants one. and private companies are getting in on the act, too, sending up their own rockets. i'm pallab ghosh, the bbc�*s science correspondent. come with me on a journey into the future of human exploration and the new space race. archive: long before man had mastered the earth, i he lifted up his eyes and began to dream of conquering space. through the centuries, he nursed the dream until today, the dream has substance. man has crossed the threshold, the first great frontier of the universe.

man has entered space. that man was yuri gagarin of the soviet union. he was the first person in space. an achievement that stunned the world and was a huge triumph for the soviets. thousands turned out to moscow's red square to greet their new hero. so obviously a moment of huge pride? a huge moment of national pride, as we can see the crowds here on red square. and obviously, yuri gagarin�*s story also lent itself to this. he was almost the perfect hero. juliana suess is an expert from the think—tank rusi, the royal united services institute. she looks at how international relations shapes space policy.

it was a huge moment, of course. yuri gagarin became the most known person on the planet almost instantly when he completed that flight, when he returned safely down to earth, especially since the us was actually very close to launching their own first human into space just shortly afterwards. so there was a bit of a race, for sure. it was a huge moment in the sense that it was a tremendous achievement that had barely been dreamed about just years beforehand. obviously, we saw the launch of sputnik, the first artificial satellite into space in 1957. so only four years after, there was a tremendous, you know, quick development into launching a satellite, to actually launching a human and returning him safely back down to earth. all eyes were now on a world that lay beyond earth. the soviet union and the united states each wanted to show that they could get to the moon first. it became known as the space race.

russia had put the first person in space. american prestige was taking a beating. and on the ground, us presidentjohn f kennedy was losing the so—called cuban missile crisis. he had threatened the soviets with nuclear war if they went ahead and built a military base right on america's doorstep. in september 1962, president kennedy delivered a speech in houston, texas, designed to rouse spirits and change the dynamic. we choose to go to the moon... applause we choose to go to the moon in this decade | and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. but it wasn't an easy journey. space exploration is expensive and dangerous. there were many

setbacks on the way. in just a few years, in 1969, the world watched in awe as us astronaut neil armstrong set foot on the moon, uttering the immortal words... it's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. they've got the flag up now and you can see the stars and stripes. for that brief moment, the entire world was as one. beautiful, just beautiful. but it was an american flag that was planted on the lunar surface. the underlying tensions were still there. that competition was broken in 1975 when spacecraft from both sides docked high above the earth, a technical and diplomatic triumph.

the hatch opened, there was an historic handshake between a russian cosmonaut and a us astronaut and a new understanding in space that many hoped would change things on the ground. i was a teenager at the time. and, yes, for me, that was that was the herald of all things that were going to create world peace, absolutely. and astronauts and cosmonauts, we've always had this connection and we've worked closely and the scientists will be the same. when you work really closely with a group of people, whatever their nationality, you do learn to trust. i still trust some of those russian people with my life. helen sharman was the uk's first astronaut. she flew with the soviet cosmonauts.

the handshake in orbit led to her mission on the space station mir in 1991. seven years later, the soviets launched the first stage of the international space station. an american module called unity docked onto it, paving the way for a golden era of cooperation between the two superpowers. it was a symbol of what humanity could achieve if nations put aside their differences and work together. the world and space were changing. demand for better communications, environmental monitoring and technology was driving a renewed interest in sending satellites into orbit. space, we're so dependent on it without even noticing it. you know, everyday bank transactions, you know, the gps that you use to check when the next bus is running, those kind of things that we perhaps don't even

notice, but it's there. and lift off. there's lots of money to be made in space now. it's becoming very busy. in 2021, around 5,000 satellites were launched. 20 years ago, it was just 800. more than 70 countries now have space programmes of their own. china has built its own space station. and others like india, south korea, japan and the uae are well advanced in launching rockets of their own. how do you see it developing? josef aschbacher is head of the european space agency and is determined to keep europe in the new space race. he's had a £2 billion increase in funding, despite the financial squeeze facing governments. space is an integral

part of society. 0ur way of working only functions with satellites for telecom, for navigation, for earth observation, for weather forecasting, for many things. so we need the satellites for our daily life. but on the other side, there's also an economic growth sector which is extremely large and space is one of those which is expanding, as everyone knows, very fast and actually much faster now than in the last few decades. so, yes, we cannot lose out. and therefore, we need to really participate strongly in this sector because i want to create opportunities for our companies in our member states to really participate in this and also find new business opportunities, create new services, new information, new technology, which we are developing. and, yes, this is money very well invested. the international space station has been part of that growth in activity. it's a partnership of 15 countries and is seen as a beacon of international

collaboration. but the war in ukraine has damaged that relationship. western nations have stopped working with russia. conflict on earth has led once again to conflict in space. here at an exhibition in paris where countries and companies are selling their experience and hardware, space is big business. they all want to be part of the next big push, but they're concerned about how sanctions against russia might affect them. before the ukraine war, it looked as if there was going to be a new era of collaboration with russia. since then, joint missions have been put on hold or scrapped altogether. but many think that this is just a blip and that the great space—faring nations will once

again come back together. but that blip is significant. planned moon missions between the european space agency and russia involving a series of orbiters and landers have gone, as has a joint mars rover project to search for signs of life on the red planet. is it your hope that collaboration can resume once hostilities end 7 one should never say never, as you would say in the uk. at the moment, it's unthinkable and this is crystal clear. of course, a lot depends on what happens with the war in ukraine. what is the... how it ends, under which conditions, what is the leadership in russia, whether or not european leaders will re—engage with a new russia. the international space station is now the focal point for this renewed tension.

the west has no choice but to continue to collaborate with russia here, because the iss is not owned by any one nation. each depends on the other for it to operate. it was a symbol of peace 20 years ago when its construction began, with the us and the soviet union leading the way. but when it was cut out of space projects with the west, the russians threatened to pull out of the space station, but chose not to go through with it in the end. helen sharman believes that if the ambitious missions to other worlds are to succeed, space agencies will have to come together once again. ultimately, i can see us absolutely collaborating again very openly and fully internationally, is my hope, to go to mars. i mean, that's the dream. in the shorter term future there are other possibilities

too, but i think we're going to have to learn to trust again. so i think there's a lot of groundwork that needs to be rebuilt with the russians. but keeping together with the russians on iss provides us with at least a starting point. in fact, since war broke out, a us rocket sent up a russian cosmonaut to the space station... ..anna kikina, seen here in the middle with long, flowing hair. she was greeted by others on board during a recent crew change. international collaboration continues among the astronauts and cosmonauts. and that cooperation is still continuing on the ground in the very heart of moscow at russian space h0. it was here at star city that britain's second astronaut, tim peake, on the left, trained for his 2016 mission

to the space station. star city is a sort of international hub for space flight, right? it's where a lot of the astronauts go for training, and it really is, you know, the place that brings it all together. this would still be happening, so astronauts and cosmonauts in training haven't been recalled despite the war. russia's soyuz rocket is a reliable workhorse of the space age. it was a taxi service that took astronauts to the iss when safety concerns grounded america's shuttle. but the russian technology is old and now is of less use to its former international partners. so once the space station is decommissioned, could russia, the first nation into space, be the first one out? if the russians haven't figured out an alternative by then, and obviously we know that especially european and american space agencies are looking towards the potential of commercial space stations, if russia doesn't partner

up with another nation or field its own space station, which, given the current circumstances and sanctions, is quite unlikely, it might not have any crewed space flight. and there's no shortage of others to fill russia's place. china's space programme is advancing... ..and pretty much to schedule too. in the last ten years, it's launched more than 200 rockets. and like the west, china's satellites are both vital for everyday communications and military purposes. its technical achievements bring with it much sought after international prestige. its new space station, called tiangong, is now occupied. china has invited other nations on board and made a call for proposals for scientific experiments mirroring and rivalling the west's international space station. and its ambitions

don't end there. like america, china also has plans to put an astronaut on the moon. so is this the new space race? i think the context is slightly different this time around. 0n the back of the cold war, we saw the space race because in essence, this was about the missiles attached and the rockets attached to this space flight programme. so, you know, every single space launch was also a show of power. now, obviously, we still see soft power playing out in space, and space stations play a huge role in that, too. three, two, one... boosters in ignition. and liftoff of artemis i. we rise together, back to the moon and beyond. currently, america's space spending still dwarfs china's. nasa's latest mission, artemis, has begun and is ambitious. it's a long—term commitment. the eventual aim is to have a human outpost on the moon by 2030. and it comes at

a colossal price... $93 billion, with the american taxpayer footing the bill. the budget of nasa is increasing every year by 6%, 7%, 8%. if i take china, the missions to the moon, the missions to mars, the human space flight capability, satellites and earth observation and telecommunication and navigation, it's enormous. and i'm pretty sure that the growth rate of the chinese space budget is much higher than that of nasa or esa. so as china grows as a space power, could russia work with them? so it almost seems the natural step that after the iss cooperation will end, which it definitely will after 2030 because the space station will be decommissioned, that russia would turn to china because it's already working with china on a couple of other missions. that being said, i don't think china would be the preferred partner and i think vice versa, i'm not sure russia would be the preferred

partner for china either. china has already launched tiangong, its current space station. it's currently building it, it's currently fully developing it, in which case russia would join this partnership on a new space station as a junior partner whereas as part of the iss, russia was very much an equal partner to nasa, to jaxa, the japanese space agency, and esa. erm, but with china, that wouldn't happen. it's an expensive business. no one country can do it alone. new partnerships are being forged... ..notably with the new brash billionaires on the block. elon musk and his company, spacex, is already taking passengers into orbit. and now his sights are set on building rockets to go to mars. and not to be outdone, amazon's jeff bezos wants to build a commercial orbiting station. he even paid for the actor who

played star trek�*s captain kirk to boldly go where he's always wanted to go before. what you have given me... ..is the most profound experience i can imagine. i'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. i just... it's extraordinary. it's going to be that commercialisation and it's going to be that that brings companies together worldwide. and then we really won't care where those companies are registered. what matters is that we're doing stuff together and we're doing stuff for the benefit of the rest of the world. space is opening up, a place for everyone. the europeans and americans are choosing their future astronauts from all walks of life, more women and diverse ethnic backgrounds

and those with disabilities. with so many satellites in orbit, space is now a much more crowded place. these days, it's as much about business as it is exploration. yet the set of international laws governing all this hasn't been updated for more than 50 years, signed during those early days of conflict. archive: the foreign minister presided at the signing - of the treaty banning nuclear weapons from outer space. he pledged britain's wholehearted support. without such a treaty, life on earth would be under continual threat, a nightmare existence. so far, 31 nations have joined in the treaty. between west and east, this is the best cooperation for a long time. there currently isn't really a functioning rule set for how to behave in space. the outer space treaty from 1967 is still the main

rule book about how to behave in space. it doesn't talk about companies, it doesn't talk about billionaires. space is entirely different to what it was like in 1967. the moon and other worlds could be mined for valuable resources. so a new set of rules were proposed by the un in 1979... ..to regulate commercial exploitation. but the us, china and russia have all refused to sign it. we are using the same orbits for our satellites. moon surface. if china, the us, europe and other countries are going to the moon and putting rovers there, they're putting astronauts there, it's one moon surface and we need to find a way to work together to establish rules of engagement, rules for how we work there. this handshake on apollo happened at the time

of the cold war, where tensions were extremely high and the biggest nations at the time were really fighting each other in different ways. and, yes, today we have huge tension, but i do hope that we do find unity and peace in space. there is orange soil. well, don't move it till i see it. - it's now 50 years since astronauts were last on the lunar surface. it's all over. orange! hey, it is! i can see it from here. soon they'll be back in large numbers, and from many different countries. i think maybe salute. this image from the early days of human space flight was seen across a world riven with strife and conflict.

it showed that from space there were no borders, just one beautiful planet. humanity is poised for its next big leap into the cosmos. the question is whether the new space race will be driven by conflict or usher in a new era of peace and collaboration. hello there. a tale of two halves with the weather for this weekend. there's a lot of cloud around today, and that's because we've got a weather front slipping southwards, it's mild air as well. it's mostly cloudy. but tomorrow behind our weather front, it looks as if we'll see a good deal more sunshine. but we do change from this mild air

ahead of that weather front to this colder air coming in behind under a ridge of high pressure. but again, i do think it'll feel decent enough in the sunshine. this is the weather front that's slipping southwards through today. the rain starting to peter out. brighter skies and a few wintry showers following on behind. a little bit of sunshine ahead of it, but more limited. and overnight, the cloud will allow southern areas to just about escape a frost. but under that high pressure further north, temperatures will fall away under the starry skies, and we're looking at a fairly widespread rural frost at the very least. so we start off on a rather chilly note first thing sunday, quite a keen wind coming through the north sea as well for eastern areas, still that brisk—ish wind towards the north and west. but for mostjust a day of dry and bright weather with hazy spells of sunshine for the most part. and temperatures will obviously not be as high as today because they're starting at a lower level, about eight, possibly ten degrees celsius in east anglia. but some pleasant—feeling weather, light winds, if you're out and about.

during the evening and overnight, we do pick up a little bit more cloud ahead of the next weather system in the north and the west. so it won't be quite as cold for the far north west of scotland, northern ireland, the west of northern ireland. but elsewhere, another cold night and this time it will be frosty further south as well, possibly one or two mist and fog patches, because that high pressure's sat with us just slipping away towards the south and allowing more of an atlantic influence, if you like, on monday across parts of scotland and bringing a bit more cloud, perhaps a few spots of rain and drizzle. but eastern scotland, east of northern ireland, much of england wales, after the clearance of any morning fog in england and wales, will have plenty of sunshine, dry and bright as well. light—ish wind. so feeling pleasant enough in that sunshine. but the high pressure stays with us pretty much for the rest of the week. but we will have some strong winds at times and those weather fronts brushing the far north. but as i say, with the high pressure staying firm in the south, at least it looks like very little rain here. some chilly nights with frost and fog, but by day, some good spells of sunshine.

a little bit more unsettled, and windy in the north—west.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories: china has made another attempt to calm the diplomatic dispute over the presence of a chinese surveillance balloon in american airspace. the presence of a surveillance balloon in us airspace is a clear violation of us sovereignty and international law. pope francis continues his visit to south sudan, trying to persuade political leaders to end the conflict that has gripped the country since independence.