♪ amna: good evening. geoff: on the news hour tonight, the debate stage is set for kamala harris and donald trump to face-off for the first time.

the new pbs news for shows the presidential race in a dead heat. >> their names are etched into our hearts and the history of our nation. amna: u.s. service members killed during the withdrawal from afghanistan are given the highest honor as republicans and democrats trade blame. geoff: miami dolphins wide receiver tyreek hill calls for change after police bodycam footage show police forcibly detaining him before the weekend's football game. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- ♪ ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour. including kathy and paul anderson. and camilla and george smith. ♪ >> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. ♪ ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ ♪

♪ this program was made possible weather corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the news hour. it is an historic night that could shape the course of the presidential election, now just 55 days away. vice president harris and former president trump set to face off in philadelphia in their first and potentially final debate. amna: the last presidential debate in june between president biden and former president trump changed the course of the race, so tonight is highly anticipated. a new all shows 70% of americans say they will be tuning in tonight. another quarter plan on following at least some coverage. geoff: while a majority of

americans say they don't believe the debate will impact their vote, nearly a third say the matchup could impact their pick for the top of the ticket. we have a full table in the studio for analysis of what is at stake. the gang's all here. any walter is here. amisha cross. and kevin madden with us. welcome to the three of you. amy, i know you are interested in who is paying attention to the debate tonight. this call that nearly a third of voters say this could be a determinative for them as they make a decision about who they will vote for. >> that's right. normally, we think of debates, especially a fall debate, as having that much of an influence on the course of the campaign, because voters until this time have seen a lot of these candidates. they have watched them through the primaries and seen them go back and forth. that is not the case. harris is pretty new to a lot of people, especially folks who are younger or voters of color.

when the marist poll asked, will this debate affect your vote for president? a little over half a block voters, 45% of latino voters and 44% of the gen z and millennials said that it will. these are the voters that harris has had some trouble reconstituting into the democratic set of constituency that biden had in 2020. geoff: for harris, the challenges to address those voters who say they don't know enough about her and her policies and whether or not she can be an agent for change. how does she make the best use of her time? >> i think she has to create that contrast. also with the policies that came out of the biden administration. she has to move forward and think economic development.

talking about small business. that is where there jobs are coming from. the other thing is, she has to talk about things like project 2025 and how detrimental that is to various demographics. before the voters didn't want to see either candidate. at this point, the summer still tying her to the biden administration. she has to show a progressive vision for the future for them as well. geoff: donald trump hopes to cast kamala harris as being too liberal, trying to tie her to the buying and administration's unpopular policies. they hope he can stay on message. [laughter] what does a successful night look for him tonight? >> we are talking about defining

the candidates. there is not much room for definition of donald trump. you might even say he has 100 and 10% fixed opinions about him. this is a contest to try to define kamala harris in the eyes of swing voters. i think that is exactly what we will expect tonight is to see donald trump come out in a very aggressive fashion to try to paint kamala harris as a west coast liberal, not a progressive, but a west coast liberal who is out of step with them on the issues they care about. i think the issues are housing, it is inflation, childcare cost. core goal is. amna: let's turn to our own intrepid reporters.

laura, let's start with vice president harris. she has had less recent debate experience. >> the vice president spent five days or so in pittsburgh before heading to philadelphia yesterday. hunkered down, preparing for this debate over the course of the days. a long aide to hillary clinton played donald trump during that debate prep, so reprising his role because he did that when hillary clinton ran for the presidency and campaign sources told me they view this format as one that benefits donald trump. they expect the showman to show up tonight and she has been preparing for that. he said he would not tell voters what advice he gave her. amna: we know his allies love to

say that donald trump does not do debate prep. he prepares in some way. >> he does do debate prep, you cannot call it debate prep. it is an inside joke within the campaign, they call it policy time. you sit down with donald trump at a table and you go over not just kamala harris' policy proposals and also donald trump's to make sure they hone what he is going to say, how he wants to summarize them and that he understands the policies that could come up. there is not a mock debate situation. there could not be more of a contrast to these two campaigns. the former president was at mar-a-lago for most of the day. he traveled to the debate today. he is getting some help from some sort of big names. two that are helping him prepare, representative matt gaetz from florida and tulsa gap are, former democrat. matt gaetz is not portraying kamala harris, but he is pushing

tough questions to president trump. toll see gabbard is there to give insight and they said you can't have a discussion with just seven guys in the room. they wanted a woman and she is the woman. amna: what is vice president harris' plan for this debate? what is she hoping to accomplish? >> sources inside and close to the campaign say harris views this as one of the biggest chances to speak to undecided voters, the sliver still left, be at the disenchanted republicans or the young voters she needs to come home rather than sit out the race. rather than who she needs to focus on, to former trump administration officials. when it comes to creating big moments during this debate, i

was told she was going to go on offense on abortion and reproductive rights and anchor trump to that. she may highlight voices of women and physicians that have been impact did in those states. harris may try to differentiate herself from president biden on that issue by showing a bit more empathy. democrats admitted president biden would get defensive about the economy given the good data points and that she will try to say she understands how people are feeling with high cost and inflation. she will look for moments to get under his skin, i'm told. one thing to watch is that she may try to goad president trump on election denial specifically, speaking directly to him, saying he lost and trying to get him to admit that he lost. amna: the trump campaign preparing for that kind of goading?

>> they are all hoping for happy trump, calm, happy trump. they know the strategy is to try to get under his skin. it is hard for him not to react when attacked. it is better when attacking. keep that kind of approach here tonight. there are some topics they are nervous about, project 2025 does get under his skin, something he has disavowed but we know it is many of his former and current advisors that are a part of that. what does he want to go on offense about? the one topic phone call they had today was on crime and border. that is something where they think they can make a better case. they will probably accuse vice president harris of telling lies. he will try to turn it around in the debate. geoff: they are reporting that

the harris campaign believes this is a format that benefits donald trump struck me as interesting because you could argue kamala harris, there is a lot of upside in that she gets to redefine herself for some voters. views of donald trump are fairly calcified. >> absolutely. i think she has to do both of those effectively. the other thing she has to do, that has proven very difficult, is fact checking donald trump real-time. without the microphones being open, she can hear the jeers and the side comments, but she will not be able to respond to them in real time where people can hear what he said. she has to create a time and space to call them out on his lies, not all of them, he lies 500 times a minute, but she has to talk about what a kamala harris administration looks like. that is a much smaller sliver of

the american population, but this will be a race decided in the margins. she has to define herself and plaster him for who he is and what he stands for. she has to appear to not fall into the angry black woman trope and that is what donald trump will try to bring out of her. geoff: trump's campaign will focus on crime and immigration. are those two issues resident enough in the selection? >> i think they are because if you look at where the campaign will be litigated in the margin, the severn battleground states in the population centers around their. immigration and crime are very big issues. what i expect him to do is really try to confront kamala harris on the biden record and

tie her to the perceptions about the administration being weak on those issues because that is where kamala harris has made the most again in the last 60 days. becoming a new candidate, people were euphoric about that. she got the mantle of change. trump has to take that away from her, tagger with the incumbency and talk about the issues of what he would do to chart a different course. geoff: what makes the selection different for democrats is they have an enthusiasm advantage, something they didn't happen in 2020 or 2016. how did they sustain that? >> i would argue that they have the same amount of enthusiasm advantage that republicans have right now. i think both sides are equally engaged. the challenge right now for harris is she has gotten all of those people who are the most engaged, but she still needs to

get a sliver of those people who right now feel like they don't know her that well, they don't know if voting is as important to them as it was in 2020. or that they weren't part of the electorate in 2020 and they have to be convinced it is important for them to show up. geoff: thank you to our correspondents and analysts. we will have live coverage starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here. ♪ ♪ we start the day's other headlines in the middle east. palestinian officials say an israeli airstrike on a tent camp earlier today killed at least 19 people and injured 60 more. the attack hit got the -- gaza's southern coast, which israel had designated as a humanitarian zone. the israeli military said it had struck come off militants who

set up a command center in the area. locals sifted through the ruins today, scraps of what appeared to be tense, clothing, and entire cars were buried in the sand surrounded by massive craters. one said the strike came in the family was sleeping and killed one of his daughters. >> it happened at about 1:00 or 1:30 in the morning. my daughter was murdered. my wife and other daughter were injured. we were all buried in the sand. i got out and started looking for my family. i saw body parts of the neighbors in my tent. geoff: also today, israel released footage of a tunnel in gaza, where it's at hamas recently killed six hostages. >> they were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions, where there is no air to breathe. where you cannot stand. geoff: in the video, the idf spokesperson shows a small

passageway more than 60 feet underground where he says the hostages were held. he said the entrance was located above ground in a child's bedroom. the discovery sparked mass protests in israel. separately, israel's military said today that the american activist killed in the west bank last week was likely shot in their words indirectly and unintentionally. witnesses say they were struck in the head by an idf fire shortly after the protest. israel expressed its regrets and said troops were aiming at somewhere else. today can a visit to the u.k., secretary of state antony blinken called the killing unprovoked and unjustified. >> no one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. in our judgment, israeli security forces need to make

fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the west bank, including changes to the rules of engagement. geoff: her family called the killing a deliberate, targeted, and precise attack against an unarmed civilian. they called on u.s. leaders to order an independent investigation in the shooting. voters in missouri will weigh in on abortion rights this november. the proposal to enshrine abortion rights is expected to widely undo missouri's 2022 near total abortion ban if it passes. a group of republican lawmakers had sued to stop the ballot question. missouri is one of more than half a dozen states with abortion measures on the ballot this fall. tropical storm francine is gaining strength with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. the storm is heading north east and is expected to build into a hurricane before making landfall

in louisiana. >> we all know the current predicted pathway of the storm edges more toward louisiana. the heavy rains and tornadoes are still a possibility. geoff: governor abbott said texas has sent trucks and firefighters to california to help authorities battle wildfires there. extremely hot weather has fanned the flames, leaving behind a scorched landscape in san bernardino county. the line fire has burned more than 40 square miles and forced around 6000 people to evacuate. firefighters hope cooler temperatures tonight will give them a chance to rein in the fire. blazes are also burning in idaho, oregon, and nevada. american household saw incomes rebound to pre-pandemic levels

last year according to the latest data from the u.s. census bureau. the median household income adjusted for inflation rose 4% in 2023 to around $80,000, the first increase since 2019. for the first time in two decades, men saw a larger increase in median income than women did. stocks ended mixed. the dow jones lost nearly 100 points on the day. the nasdaq added more than 140. the s&p 500 rose for a second straight day. still to the news hour, ukraine launches its largest drone attack yet on moscow. mission-critical, a new report says nasa's future is at risk. a musician's improbable journey from uganda to austin, texas. >> this is the pbs news hour, from weta studios in washington

and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: today, a solemn moment at the u.s. s 13 following american military service personnel were posthumously awarded congress's highest honor, the congressional gold medal. lisa is back now with that. lisa? lisa: those service members were killed by a suicide bomb at the kabul airport during the chaotic withdrawal in august 2020 one. greeting families received metals and top leaders from both parties praised those who were lost. >> our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to the service members and those here today. we also owe them something deeper and that is an apology. >> these 13 americans were

something more heroes, guardians , saviors. lisa: the afghan withdrawal has become part of the election debate. i sat down today with kelly barnett and darren hoover, parents of sarah -- staff sergeant hoover who was killed that day, they were the family who invited trump to arlington cemetery. >> i say this all the time, he was born with fire and grit in his veins. the most loving person you had ever met. but he was always our protector. we put that on his headstone, our protector. he was always the one looking out for his mama and his sisters. i love that kid and i miss him terribly. lisa: what was it like sitting

there in the rotunda of the u.s. capitol at the ceremony that i think you had been fighting for, this kind of recognition for a few years? >> when speaker johnson read their names, i just wanted to fall out of my seat. and to hear it in the capitol and that beautiful space, it took my breath away. >> marine corps staff sergeant taylor hoover. >> just for them to acknowledge finally and say their names, which is one of the big things we have been really pushing for, even from the administration. just say their names. don't sweep them under the rug. don't put them behind you. because they have set their legacy. that needs to be remembered. lisa: as you know yesterday the house republicans came out with their report on the afghan withdrawal, they found numerous problems with the biden administration's actions, the biden administration kind of tells a different story.

i want to ask who specifically do you blame for the mistakes made and what happened? >> for me, it is general mckenzie, general milley, secretary blinken, secretary austin, and then of course it goes right up to the top. i have some real issues with the way things were handled. >> i think biden and harris wanted that to be their legacy, that they got them out of afghanistan. i think it was what they brought to the table to the general's is you are going to do it, this is the date, no matter what you've got to do, this is it. i believe it was completely mishandled. there was no plan, they had no plan. it makes no sense to me. the way that they did things. but it is pretty obvious they had no plan. lisa: i know initially you all

didn't, i know you didn't want to speak to president biden. but that changed and you did reach out? >> we just didn't want to do it at that time. i do now. i would rather speak with vice president harris. lisa: what would you say to her? >> woman to woman, i want to know what you were thinking. i wanted to know why my child was considered collateral damage. i wanted to know what made you think that the generals did not know best. they have already told us they told him it was not a good decision. why did you go ahead? i want to know. for the anniversary, you did invite former president trump to join you in arlington national cemetery. there is dispute over what happened. we do know that the trump campaign has used some photos from that. how do you know you are not being used politically by the trump campaign? are you concerned about that? >> i reached out to the campaign

myself. it was a few weeks before, this was not anything planned in advance. it was me that reached out to him. it was me that asked for photos to be taken down at the gravesite. lisa: i think the question still remains that the trump campaign has used that. for some military families, they worry about that line, that your grief is being used in a very tense political moment. >> and they did ask if they could use it and because i am such a strong supporter of his, i said, heck yeah. lisa: former president trump has criticized some people that others believe are heroes, senator john mccain, his sacrifices for the country, the father of a gold star, the goldstar father in 2016. how do you reckon with that? >> in all honesty, i don't think that he disparaged any of them. because the things that he said get twisted and turned so much

that, who knows exactly what he meant? lisa: he said john mccain being captured was not a hero. >> i don't want to speak to what he meant on that. lisa: did you think about taylor what -- what taylor would have thought about today? >> i think he would have enjoyed it. i think today he is proud. >> he should be proud, as all of them should be. lisa: thank you so much for talking with us. >> thank you. >> as to the hoovers accusations about biden's role in afghanistan, the white house said they were up against problems because of the trump administration's refusal to add more troops and limitations of troops.

they sent me this statement, we owe these families a sacred debt. they did not respond to whether they would try to meet with these families. that is still something the family say they haven't gotten an answer on. ♪ geoff: for the first time, a ukrainian drone attack killed a russian civilian in the capital region of moscow, part of a 140 drone barrage, one of the war's largest attacks by ukraine into russia. ukraine had already seized territory the size of los angeles inside russia's kursk region. amna: the u.s. accused iran for the first time of transferring ballistic missiles to moscow for

use against ukraine. here is nick schifrin with more. nick: the unmistakable drone familiar to kyiv, now exploding in russia's capital. the war has come to moscow. this is the city's suburbs where putin promised to the war would never visit. by day, the apartment complex a purely civilian target badly damaged by a single ukrainian drone. if ukraine wanted to frighten these residents, the attack worked. >> the first seconds, actually even now it was a shock and stress. we were running, managed to grab the dog and the kids, a horror movie. nick: the strike wounded at least eight and for the first time killed a civilian. these are rare and jarring scenes to a russian capital that has, thus far, managed to remain insulated.

but it was the second large-scale ukrainian drone attack into russia in as many weeks. ukraine is increasingly taking the fight to moscow with long-range strikes made possible by a booming homemade drone industry as we saw last year. one of more than 200 domestic drone manufacturers have increased local production more than 100 times. their flagship drone can fly as high as 10,000 feet. you know what your long range drones are being used for? >> no. it is classified. nick: but russia has built its own drone arsenal and is even manufacturing iranian drones inside russia with the help of chinese components. and today, the u.s. confirmed iran shipped russia ballistic missiles for the first time. the u.s. says russian military personnel were trained how to use them in iran. pressure can use these to

attract eastern ukraine, enabling them to use them for longer strikes. >> it russia today has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in ukraine against ukrainians. this development and the growing cooperation between russia and iran threatens european security and demonstrates how the destabilizing influence reaches far police --areas. nick: european capitals restricted iran ability to fly to europe. to discuss, we turn to the professor georgetown university for senior and international studies.

you recently returned from ukraine. why do you believe ukraine is trying to bring the war into russia? >> i think there are a lot of factors. there are basic military goals. they are going to troops in ukraine itself. trying to attack -- stop russian attacks in russian soil. going after airbases and military depots. i think much of the goal is political. this is the war of attrition. they are trying to shore up the morale of the ukrainian people, we are heading back. at the same time, it is trying to show that they cannot remain immune from this, ordinary russians, and to shatter the image that putin has been trying to convey that everything is fine, russia is winning, and that ordinary russians can go about their lives without the

war disrupting them. the last thing i will say is that these attacks give ukraine the ability to bargain with russia. with these types of attacks on russia itself, ukraine can say, we can hate you, maybe we both reduce long-range attacks. maybe you need to eventually withdraw and have a political settlement because this war is not going to be one the way you think it is. nick: is there a military risk? ukraine took some troops from the donbas were russia is making gains around the key transport hub in eastern ukraine. they took troops and moved them into kursk, into russia. is there a risk. >> there is absolutely a risk,

and i would say a very high risk. russia has made steady advances in the donbas area since ukraine went into kursk, since it went into russia. it hasn't pulled significant troops from that area. this was a gamble on ukraine's part that russia might have to divert troops. instead, ukraine might lose more territory to russia and i would emphasize that it doesn't appear that putin or the russian military is panicking about the kursk offensive, that they are willing to take it in stride, bottle it up, and continue their efforts in ukraine itself. ukrainian forces are exhausted, they are in tremendous difficulty. russia can make even more gains in the coming weeks. >> defense officials tell me putin has prioritized trying to see his more territory than defending his own territory from the ukrainian attack.

let's shift to the iranian shipments. what impact could these have? >> the missiles themselves are not going to be game changers, but they do make it easier for russia to continue the war. these missiles will enable pressure to continue short range attacks. it continues long-range attacks. this is a war of attrition that has required huge numbers of missiles. by having support from iran and china, this is helped russia continue the fight even after its initial reserves have been exhausted or in short supply. >> one of the main questions is what is russia giving iran in return? sharing technology iran needs.

and sharing information about space with iran. how important is that? >> this is potentially a game changer for iran and the middle east. russia historically has been cautious about the level of technology it has shared with iran, but it is possible russia is being far more aggressive right now. that it is willing to share nuclear missile, other advanced technology and that it is going to use political power to protect iran from u.s. pressure. iran can benefit in lots of different ways beyond very basic military cooperation. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. ♪ amna: the detention of miami dolphins star tyreek hill has sparked conversations on policing in america, specifically the treatment of black americans.

miami-dade county police released footage of the incident last night of the incident sunday showing officers stopping hill as he drove to the stadium for a game, pulling him from his car, forcing him to the pavement, and handcuffing him. >> hey. take your window down. keep your window down or i'm going to get you out of the car. as a matter of fact, get out of the car. get out of the car. get out of the car. get out of the car right now. we are not playing this game. get out. get out. get out. get out. get out! >> damn! >> what part of get out do you not understand? amna: joining me now is a senior writer, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. amna: you write about this for your latest commentary. >> it was here we go again.

i've seen countless versions of this video play out over the last decade. when i've been able to comprehend what has been going on as an adult. it is the same thing where a black man gets pulled over. it gets escalated because the police seem to want to escalate it. then it turns into really violence against that black person. at least in this case, tyreek hill walked away with no injuries, he wasn't shot or tased. it is par for the course over the last decade. amna: he went to the game, played in the game, spoke about the incident after the game, he basically said he was wondering what if i wasn't tyreek hill? in other words, do you think him being a famous nfl star played a role in how this unfolded? >> oh-fer sure. in that bodycam footage that we saw, if you kept playing that, you would hear at some .1 of the officers saying, do you know who that is? the other officer be in, no.

the officer says, the miami dolphins football player. then he uses an expletive like, i think i messed up. that led to him being able to go to that again and having a successful game for the dolphins that day. if he was not who he was, if he was not a celebrity, that could have been another hashtag we have seen over the last decade plus stemming back to trayvon martin. amna: we also see in the video right before we saw, a verbal back-and-forth between the officer and tyreek hill, the officer keeps telling him to put the window down. the officer suddenly ordered him out of the car. we should put out that the head of the south florida police union said, if mr. hill would have just complied, it would have sped the process up. he also went on to say people who are detained should obey lawful police commanders forced -- first and complain later. what >> one, police union official is doing his job.

that is what all police officials are going to do in this case. but this idea that if you don't comply, if you don't follow their orders they can exact violence on you, that is not part of the job. they have a lot of leeway. they have qualified immunity, they can get them out of lawsuits. they have power from the state to shoot and kill people without really any recourse. they get paid a salary that is much higher than most public servants, not to mention the overtime officers will get from working those games. the least that they could do is de-escalate situations. that is all we are asking them to do and they are saying that if you don't comply, if you try to escalate the situation, we will go even further to the point of violently snatching you out of your car, putting you face first into the pavement, driving my kneecap into your back and arresting you just for a traffic violation. amna: wrapped up in all these conversations about police duty to de-escalate and

disproportionate police violence against black americans is the conversation about tyreek hill's own checkered past and allegations of violence and assault against women and a child in one case. how are you looking at that conversation? >> honestly, i don't think it really matters. i have my own opinions about tyreek hill's history, but something tells me those officers did not know that when they pulled him over and not to mention if they were pulling him over for that reason, we are not saying that these cops are wild feminists and believe they are taking up for women by arresting tyreek hill. this was just the case of pulling over a black man in a car, escalating the situation, and turning it into this whole thing. amna: the dolphins organization said they want to see swift and strong action against these officers. what kind of action do you think sends a message that discourages this from happening again? >> honestly, i'm not exactly sure. every time one of these situations happens and tyreek

hill said this himself, conversations about how we repair these relationships, that is on the police, that is not on us citizens. they have the power in the leeway. it starts at the top. amna: thank you. good to speak with you. >> thank you. you too. ♪ geoff: a four person crew civilians launched on a private spacex rocket that aims to include the first commercial space wall -- walk in history less than a week after boeing's troubled starliner capsule returned to earth after its astronauts. nasa has big plans including sending people to the moon and mars, but a sweeping new report from the national academies of

sciences raises questions about the agency. our science correspondent joins us now. help us understand the essence of the concerns laid out in this report. miles: well, it is a concern which has been around for a long time, but it was well articulated by a prestigious group led by north augustine. led by lockheed martin. you mention some of the things they are trying to do. return to the moon, go to mars. it has huge goals, big missions on its plate. not nearly enough budget and not the expertise to pull it off and maybe not even the infrastructure. geoff: much of this is linked to their decision a decade ago to partner in a more significant way with commercial contractors like spacex.

what does the report say about the consequences of that decision and what it has meant for nasa's workforce? miles: you could put it in the category of unintended consequences, i suppose. nasa created by careful funding and letting out contracts to the likes of spacex a very vibrant space industry in low-earth orbit, which as you pointed out is succeeding greatly. we have yet another private mission in space. it is also luring the best and the brightest engineers and scientists to its fold because it is so exciting. meanwhile nasa being bureaucratic, it takes three months for them to hire an individual. difficulty keeping up with matching salaries. there are other high-tech enterprises which compete with them. the workforce is graying and perhaps not the expertise to

really do the job that lies ahead. geoff: another challenged link to the bureaucracy in this report, budgeting and long-term planning. tell me more about that. miles: what the committee found out was somewhat shocking, but there it is. nasa doesn't do any true long-term planning. the agency relies on the kindness of congress. it gets an annual budget. sometimes it is not even appropriated until the middle of the year, so it goes hand to mouth year after year and space is something you need to think about at least at the decade level. to go anywhere, you have to think about a 10 year plan or more and when you are subject to all the vagaries of politics in one year, two year, four year cycles, it becomes difficult to make those plans and it is not making strategic investments in its infrastructure and the like. geoff: let's talk more about

that because the report says much of nasa's infrastructure is from the 1960's and a lot of it is poorly maintained. how big of a problem is that when nasa wants to partner with third-party companies, these commercial contracts? miles: the commercial contractors are new and building shiny new facilities. much of nasa's facilities, capabilities for launching into space harkens back to the apollo era. we are talking on average 60-year-old infrastructure to get spacecraft into orbit. that is obviously not a sustainable effort. they had a lot of funding back in the apollo days and is some respect living on the vapors of that. you can only go on doing that. the fact that it isn't putting aside the right amount of money to invest in that infrastructure is one of the big failings of

this committee identified. geoff: miles o'brien, our thanks to you as always. miles: you are welcome. ♪ amna: there are various paths young musicians can take to produce their first album, but few if any have taken one like john mooke. our special correspondent has that story for our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ >> a 31-year-old singer-songwriter. he is skilled at mending the sounds of america with those of his homeland. ♪ how he came to be that way, he

will tell you it wasn't exactly preordained. ♪ he grew up on the outskirts of a city from uganda, far from the basic amenities of the city. jon: we didn't have tapwater. me and my friends we would go to the well, bring water. that is what all the guys did. >> the only music he knew as a kid was what was played locally. jon: there it is 50 tribes and each tribe place their own kind of music. i was not really exposed to western music. growing up, we didn't have a tv and i only owned a radio to listen to football. >> one day he visited the home of a cousin who had a cd of the song "we are the world." that was the day everything changed for jon muq. jon: there were many artists. i did not know most of them.

>> you had never heard stevie wonder or bruce springsteen. jon: no, but i listened to that cd until it could not play anymore. i was mind blowing. >> he immediately set out to learn guitar and privately at least to sing in english. jon: at school, no one knew i sang. i could barely speak proper english. it was just, my friends thought i was crazy. >> he said he only felt self-assured when he sang for kids in the street. jon: they listened. i started going to the streets of the city and these kids helped me build that confidence. ♪ >> to audition for his first gig, he started at a hotel. jon: the only song i had was "we are the world." the lady told me, you have a job today. no microphone, no speaker. you will need food for free. >> he wrote his first song in

english as he began to believe in himself. it was for a pal on the verge of losing his girlfriend. jon: the girl was breaking up with him and i was like, i can write the love letter to the girl. >> was he trying to get the girl back. jon: yes. the next day he said, she loved it. i said, i will use most of the words in that letter to create the song. ♪ ♪ >> they are still together? jon: yes. ♪ >> i think this friend owes you a favor. ♪ jon: yeah. >> that is from his first-ever new york city performance at rockwood music hall. [applause] let's go back to the story from uganda. where he was still outperforming

for free. jon: one day, my friend is like, dude, this is so cool, we need to capture a video of this. we took the video and posted it on facebook. >> here is where the story becomes kind of amazing. somehow, someone from norwegian cruise lines saw this video and soon jon muq was getting paid to sing on a ship like this one. ♪ his next stop would be the u.s., austin, texas, to be exact where the cultural differences ran deep. jon: my expectation of the whole picture of america was different. when it went to make friends, you meet people and i thought if anyone makes eye contact slightly, i will show them a welcome sign like hi, i'm good. in uganda, you just wave and smile. when i tried it here on the streets of austin, my friend was like, did you wave at people and

smile? i was like, yeah. he only told me this is texas, it is weird, you can't just do that. [laughter] and it took me a long time to understand that. ♪ >> it was loneliness and facts that led to what is now part of his signature look. you appear to have two big eyeballs on your guitar. jon: the googly eyes. i was sad. there is only one friend i had, it was my guitar. that is why i drew the eyes. to have a friend that i felt was accepting. >> meanwhile, he continued making music and posting videos online including a familiar number by paul mccartney. jon: ♪ blackbird singing in the dead of night take these broken wings and learn to fly ♪ ♪ >> internet lightning struck a

second time. that one was seen by dan auerbach of the black keys who signed john to a contract and brought him to nashville. he made a debut album combining the sounds he grew up with combined with the ones he has heard since. it is titled "flying away" and the googly eyes are right there on the cover. the album was called soulful by the roots magazine "no depression." the title song conveys something universal about believing in oneself. >> ♪ i always dreamed i would go away somewhere maybe i could fly ♪ ♪ jon: it is about people not understanding how you feel inside if they don't understand you as long as you believe in what you do, you just keep going. with time, they will know, this is why. ♪

>> for the pbs news hour. ♪ ♪ amna: don't forget to join us here later tonight for live special coverage of the abc news presidential debate simulcast right here on pbs with full analysis from our panel of experts. that begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern. online, we will have a live fact-check of that debate with our partners at pull a fact. that is the news hour for tonight. geoff: thanks for joining us and we will see you back here soon. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? >> this is a pocket dial.

somebody's pocket. i thought i would let you know that you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. thousands take to the streets in mexico, opposing sweeping judicial reform with a new president set to take power soon,