1000 many rockets were launched in a tribute to the historic mission. and historic day for europe because of her the german conservative politician ursula from the line has been elected president of the european commission the 1st woman to hold the european union's top job and she wasn't the 1st or 2nd choice among europe's leaders her win tonight suggests that in european politics the 3rd time can be a chore i bring golf in berlin this is the day. and you'll follow that shops to your place to meet. the trust you placed in me. confidence you placed in your up close and have underlined is a christian democrat she is

a genuine european. and it didn't have her do a good job and germany and why should i expect that she will do a good job he has the commissioners present week for her european politics our domestic politics. it was a lot of fun to line his calls a delicacy in germany about terri ministration of office and the defense ministry she wants to build a centralized undemocratic updates a full of government is a. tough. and coming up later tonight we take you to the launch pad where 50 years ago today she a man of these greatest journey began. one

of our. party. and to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a woman whose election victory today wrote history here in europe the german conservative politician ursula fund a lion today became the 1st woman ever to be elected president of the european commission members of the european parliament elected her by a very slim margin it may be hard to believe but fundal ion's candidacy began just 2 weeks ago she emerged only after the 1st 2 candidates failed to secure enough support among parliamentarians so today when parliament voted it sent 2 messages that europe is ready for a woman at the top and that that woman has her work cut out for it she intends to

stay at the top i feel so all notes and i'm overwhelmed and i thank you for the trust you placed in me yet the trust you placed in me is confidence you placed in europe your confidence in the united and a strong europe from east to west from south to north your confidence in a europe that is ready to fight for the future rather than fighting against each other your confidence in a europe that will take the fixed challenges of our times together the task ahead of us humbled me. it's a big responsibility and my work starts now i thing president saucily i think all of the group leaders i thank all the members soft volume and decided to vote for me today but my message to all of you is let us

work together constructively because the endevor is a united a strong euro thank you very much thank you and that was president elect or someone from the alliance speaking there now just moments after the election the w.'s max hoffman he was one of the 1st journalist to speak with the president elect. on the line is with us today and i have a very simple question the start of the interview are you feeling. relieved and happy because it was a tough ride over 13 days now i had to. formulate the guidelines the political guidelines and to convince the parliamentarians this was not a lot of time and i made it and i'm happy right now does the majority bother you that it was only 9 votes ahead majority's majority and 2 weeks ago i didn't have at all a majority of course i understand that because the parliamentarian said we want to

know more of you we want to know what your program is we want to know the details of the topics we're dealing with so it was a tough time a very intensive the most intensive in my political career i've ever had but now i'm happy and you happy with the speech you deliver the feedback you got yes because it showed my conviction and it's worth to fight for this europe and its west to tell the story of our you are united and strong how i see it for the future and so this was a important moment you made a lot of promises today you do realise it will be very tough to keep all of those right but it's right it's not promises it's politics and policy would want to bring forward if we're talking about the climate neutral continent in 2050 it's necessary that we act we have to take bold action to achieve those goals and we needed for our planet and for life so these all these topics are extremely important and we

have to be ambitious and what would you say of all those topics you talked about which is your absolute top priority i think top priority is. the climate neutrality 2050 with a goal for 2030 and digitalization those are the 2 biggest concerns all opportunities. we have to tackle you're going to work with a divided parliament where it's harder than ever to get a majority and also you could say with a divided council because you have a rift between eastern europe and the other european countries for example on migration how will you handle this i think we absolutely have to overcome the division of east and west between east and west i know that people in the east i'm come to central european countries often think they are not accepted as they should be and as i have been working as a defense minister very much in those countries i have

a lot of friends and they trust me so i know how to work together that we can improve the relationship and there is a division between north and south has to do with questions of competitiveness and flexibility and we have to solve that too why that because europe has to be united there are many many big questions we have to tackle and europe has to play a role and we only can do that when we are united ok so what are you doing over the summer. i'll spend it in process of getting my cabinet that the commission is on board and to work on my work programme that i have to lay down and lay out in october was 11 and the president elect's of the european commission thank you very much for talking to us. and that was myself and there speaking with the president elect or slush fund all right to talk about this what we call fast track politics here in europe i'm joined here at the big table by melissa berlin correspondent

with the new york times and to her right you know we use very little correspondents i mean young it's good to have both of you here melissa you spoke with ursula from the lion what 2 times at least you can or viewed or did you ever get the impression that she wanted the top executive job in the european union no not at all i think there was a point when maybe she wanted to become chancellor but the. it was also quite a while ago now the 1st time i spoke to it was 29 or 2010 it was quite a while ago she was just the family minister and her focus was really just getting to know berlin at that point that i spoke to her again 2017 it was right before some of the real haggling was going on with nato she was heading to what no she'd just been back from washington but she was heading into a summit with the americans and at that point again her focus was really just on what her job was i think that's kind of how she functions she just goes at what what's in front of her and there was

a time as you said when there was talk about her maybe being the next german chancellor simon the german chancellor angela merkel made sure that didn't happen but i'm going to medical would you say did she have a hand in what we just saw today in the european parliament with underlying being elected i think for sure i mean clearly the european union have a huge problem they couldn't get either of these 2 lead candidates from the team big parties that did well in the recent european election you know it could get the backing of the pollen that for them so they had to find somebody else and of course from a conservative perspective mangum it was perspective it had to be a conservative she had to do some backroom dealing with a man with 2 weeks ago her name was not being thrown out all right that's right a fast campaign though and said it was self you know 2 weeks ago she had she wasn't even thinking about it she had to get to brussels and get everyone to know her and absolutely she's she's going to medicals candidate a very good friends a good they've been allies as christian democrats for a long time she'll have

a very tight relationship between berlin and brussels it's interesting isn't it the this could be part of the merkel legacy here we're going to have the 1st woman as european commission president and with christine lagarde going to have the 1st woman as head of the european central bank is this what we're seeing tonight part of a miracle legacy to. well i don't know about a coup exactly but i do think tonight is turning out to be the night when angola medical sort of sets some of the cone to those of her legacy i mean you've got this powerful woman who is left on the line in this top. job and we're also seeing tonight replacing her as a defense minister here in berlin another key medical ally so there's a lot of shuffling around talk about that just a 2nd but you and i so i mean we've talked many times about one of the biggest criticisms of the european union and that there being

a different democracy deficit here in that people really don't understand how people get elected there's little transparency me ask you melissa is this something for a global audience is the election of ursula from the line is it going to reinforce that impression that things are opaque and undemocratic in europe within europe sporters that might yes but beyond europe's borders now because the european union it's complicated i've been in berlin since 2005 i followed berlin and there for a bit of brussels i saw now how it all works it is complicated in the united states of america nobody understands how it works it's just somebody gets elected and she was democratically elected there was a vote held she got the majority and she is now the president i think people are going to accept that whether europeans accept that because of the whole system we went through where she was agreed upon in this backroom deal as you were explaining it was all supposed to be transparent this time but they couldn't that transparency

fell short it didn't give them a solution they needed a solution or so from the wind is known as being very pro-american washington. she devil a transatlantic sets and she always has been you know she lived in the united states for 4 years and because she lived there raising our kids there she knows society so she she doesn't view it just in the washington bubble but she she really values i think a lot of. that is the core of american society at the same time as defense minister she's been to washington several times and i remember her telling me you know it was right after trump of been elected things were really tense there was all the shouting over twitter going on about germany needing to raise its defense budget germany saying we're raising it the american saying it's not fast enough and she said i had a wonderful time in washington and you know i just i was speaking to people on both sides of the aisle on capitol hill so i think within those transatlantic circus circles she has prickly strong still can be a circus some days and i think those will benefit her now moving ahead for the

european union summit what about her role now concerning brecht's she has given the british and her campaign you know maybe the option of saving face if they decide to stay in the e.u. well that's right she said to the cheers today in european parliament you know if she's opens of the idea of an extension if there's a good reason they always will put that right the reins of the past to be another referendum or perhaps a general election who knows we're going to find out in a week who says time who the new prime minister in britain will be. you know she's had a baptism of fire today just arriving in the european boma she's already had a savaging from nigel for all the breaks it is there so you know she's she's learning quickly as she goes i think she'll continue the course there's no real negotiating of the of the withdrawal agreement so-called in other words bricks it

remains that festering sore that somehow got to get worked out she was elected today with i think a 9 vote margin of victory that's very very thin does that mean she is starting as the 1st female european commission president as somewhat of a i want to say a lame duck but but it wounded or weakened leader because of that yeah i think within circles in brussels it's. always sat if you're below $400.00 and she was you have the blow it weakens you and certainly it's going to be a challenge absolutely but brussels right now is also europe is divided i mean she's got to try to bring all these diverse camps together. so it really it will be it it'll be a baptism of fire issues that quickly the woman who replaces or is left on the line as defense minister makes surprise medical success as the leader of the cd party and a great crime karen ballard difficult one to say ok we weren't really expecting her

looks like she's going to keep that job as leadership leader of the party so she's going to be a very busy lady interesting point she's on record as saying germany has to step up its military spending you mentioned that key point for donald trump and for other nato allies so watch this space all right so i mean young and elizabeth the new york times both of you thank you very much. we we crew felt the weight of the world on our shoulders and we knew that everyone would be looking at us friend or foe and we wanted to do the best we possibly could put our best foot forward and that required a great deal of work on our part but not too much time left over for any of the things we might have more enjoyed remembering what happened or what began happening 50 years ago today that's right july 16th 1969 these 3 astronauts neil armstrong buzz aldrin and michael collins you just heard

him speaking there they were poised to make history as part of the apollo 11 mission. to strickland today and to watch these images as the 1st manned mission to the moon took to the skies from nasa is china the space center in florida it would take the crew 4 days to reach their lunar destination people who were alive at the time they can remember where they were when it all happened for the united states this footprint which nasa says is still visible today demonstrated a major victory in the space race and in the cold war against the soviet union today those images well they're helping to bring a whole new generation closer to one of the most defining events of the 20th century. for neil armstrong. michael collins. and buzz aldrin it was the mission of their lines the estimated probability for

success was put it only 20 percent by nasa technicians and engineers. and. the launch was followed by multiple complex maneuvers each of which would have disastrous consequences if anything went wrong to get to the moon. heilig mike collins had to ignite an engine to the nearest 2nd and then down the lander ferry and separated from the rocket. charlie duke was one of the team members at the control center he kept in touch with the astronauts on their mission. i think. the ready enthusiasm for space was building but we were behind in the space race with the russians so that motivated the u.s. to commit to it. there was a tense moment 4 days into the mission when armstrong and aldrin flew towards the moon again and again the radio cut out. then the navigation computer sounded the

alarm neil armstrong took control and landed the lunar module gently on the moon's surface. when neil came back for it later the eagle has landed very excitedly ready i said roger toy for a week i'll be on the grill you got a bunch of guys about for a blueberry that buzz aldrin filmed armstrong setting foot on the moon along with his historic words. armstrong then went about collecting dust and rock samples buzz aldrin set up some scientific equipment.

together they planted the stars and stripes and the moon surface. and then the last big challenge the lunar module has only one engine and if it failed it would mean that the astronauts would be stranded on the moon. the comanche makes it into orbit around the moon without any problems and almost 4 hours later it docks on to the command capsule. what seemed like an impossible feat had been accomplished and on july 24th the 3 astronauts returned to earth 1st they went into quarantine they could have brought dangerous microbes with them but later they were hailed as heroes all of them visibly touched by their part in the adventure of the century. and

as we remember the 50th anniversary we're going to do it tonight with elizabeth bill since she is a former administrator director of space sciences at cornell university in ithaca new york it's good to have you on the day so tell me what do you remember what are your memories of that liftoff of apollo willow. i don't really remember it's a liftoff so much but certainly the members are landing and vet armstrong stepped out said his famous sentence a small step for man and a huge step for mankind. to see the switch was retread unbelievable one that we could do better to land people on the moon and see a better live and a very dark in stepping out on the surface and other of on all of this

fire that really people on the earth's could watch this that's what for me was almost war on the believe of the landy you worked with professor thomas gold who was one of the principal investigators of the apollo lunar samples tell me what was it like to have moon rocks in your hand and what did you learn from all the analysis. but 1st of all it was fantastically exciting it was sometimes the following fall fall of 69 bends a sample of. tiny little rock tips and tiny little samples of dos and that was huge excitement of course in the hall bit in that we had that and weak would look at it in our hands and we couldn't look at the samples under my cross

couldn't do all kinds of scenes with them which we planned to do of course in order to be elektra to be a principal investigators have to have very very defined very special projects are for our jeff was to determine the off to current properties of the samples and the power ups option for dave to our studies later on then i developed yes just if i could in the rich i just want to ask you about the the optical aspect of these moon rocks we always think of the moon especially when there's a full moon of the surface being very shiny and reflecting white but i was reading that the actual moon rocks that you were in the lines the surface turned out to be one that was not so reflective is that correct.

well what is really quite act is that is 5 times a fact that you'll look at the morning and it looks shiny and bet it flecked in and out do you really do what would you would top by its composition it is actually the doc not read it inflected and our project was to determine why soil is less deflective than what you would expect noise it's chemical composition it was before we run out of time and we just ask you are we still learning things from those moon rocks that were brought back 50 years ago i have to tell you quite frankly i don't know as dawn nor orderly relatively small fraction of the material broad back but not only apollo 11 apollo 11526070. more still some material is

steers stored intact. but not one tear was distributed among maybe a 100 scientists that many many experiments where apparent full on a lot of studies made but who knows maybe in the end in a few decades they've had the visit and really does all samples taken out again and study it from a different point of view yeah that's a very important point to make there may still be something new to learn there elizabeth billson with cornell university joining us tonight from ithaca new york this because we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight thank you. the day is almost done the conversation of course continues online to find us on twitter either at u.w. news you can follow me of brant goff t.v. don't forget to use the hash tag of the day and tonight we're going to leave you

now with original footage of that momentous liftoff half a century ago and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see that everybody. gets.

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