M its good to have you with us today members of the European Parliament made history by electing the 1st woman to be Commission President that woman germanys outgoing defense minister ursula fun. Now she will succeed john called younger in the top job after being voted in by a narrow margin of just 9 votes underly and will be as we said the 1st woman to ever serve as the Commission President in the European Union. Of underlined as promised a united and strong europe saying that she will work constructively and pragmatically to achieve that we want to go live now to our Brussels Bureau chief rex hoffman he is standing by at the European Parliament in strasbourg and i think i understand he has the newly elected president with a mass. Thats right brant we do was alive 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 im happy right now does the majority bother you that it was only 9 votes ahead majoritys majority and 2 weeks ago i didnt 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 were dealing with so it was a tough time a very intensive the most intensive in my political career ive ever had but now im happy and you happy with the speech you delivered the feedback you got yes because it showed my conviction and its was to fight for this europe and its best 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 itll be very tough to keep all of those right but its right its not promises its politics and policy would want to bring forward if were talking about the climate neutral continent in 2050 its necessary that we act we have to take bold action to achieve those goals and we needed for our planet and follow lifes 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 or opportunities. We have to tackle youre going to work with a divided parliament where its 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 on country central European Countries often think they are not accepted as they should be and as ive 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 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. Ill spend it in process of getting my cabinet there the commissioners on board and to work on my Work Programme that i have to lay down and lay out in october with. President elect of the European Commission thank you very much for talking to us. Margaret back to you lucy we have a lot of people around here all right next up and their max good job on getting the president elect there to talk with you mcalpin all Brussels Bureau chief ive got so i mean. And here at the big table with me simon she even said she only had 13 days to campaign 2 weeks ago she wasnt even a candidate. There are going to be people who are going to say that she embodies the democracy deficit in the European Union just by the way she was nominated and elected. What she could do to fight that yes some people have said you know its both on the one hand shes a. Merkley from a process behind closed doors and shes the sort of nominated candidate of angle or medical and others have got behind her and you know this is the Old School European democracy of back rooms and so on yeah on the other hand you know shes had to go out there and convince people to vote for her many of whom were reluctant to do so and shes just got this 9 vote majority just just enough to get her over the lines a slim margin of victory isnt it and shes not shes not taking this new position with a strong mandate behind her issue indeed no its a cloud over her just the same as the fact that she hasnt been a leading candidate from it from any one of the parties so no european voter who voted in those recent your bit elections can say yes i voted for the fund a line many of them most of them probably never even heard of before and the last few days having said that the slim vote today in a way doesnt matter now shes got the job and she can press forward with the agenda that she setting out there all these Big Questions in the big promises shes made can she keep them can she deliver you know have to wait which is exactly what. Just asked her lets go back to max im standing by in strasburg max. Were going to get to max areas there get back to let me just ask you what weve been weve been talking here in the studio about the fact that just 2 weeks ago when the lion was not even a candidate for this position i mean this has been a whirlwind campaign Charm Offensive call it what you want how does that impact her ability to lead with people knowing that she you know she wasnt the 1st or the 2nd choice for this job. Im not sure how that impacts her ability to lead but i can tell of the impact her before we had that interview she told me you know when we met back in april i didnt have a clue i didnt even have a clue 15 days ago that i will become this we know that she did prepare herself for european topics possibly trying to become one of the commissioners of the European Commission but not necessarily the president of the e. U. Commission so she had a fairly you know she had a regular political life in berlin many thought she would she was on the downward slope but look at this now maybe adrian we can show this whats happening right here after that interview she got sucked into this vortex right now and me these are all a taboo as journalists trying to get a word with the new president of the e. U. Commission so you can tell that her life in the last 15 days has significantly changed and max the fact that she won by a very slim margin only 9 votes what do you think does that make a difference moving forward. It does on the one side because its not a comfortable more jordan she will have to fight for every piece of legislation that she wants to push through the e. U. Parliament on the other hand there are such things for here as good and bad majorities a bad majority would have been for example to get elected with the votes of the right wing populist or even maybe some say with the votes of the e. C. Are those are the right wing euro skeptics that are not. As far right as for example a guy from from italy it appears she didnt have to rely on those votes but she made it with the votes of the liberals the conservatives the social democrats and maybe a stray vote from the greens that is good news for her because she can base or program on that but the work here will be very difficult and max what about those critics who say that there is a democracy deficit in the European Union and they point to the very pathway that led her to where she is tonight the fact that 2 weeks ago she was in a candidate that she was nominated in back door meetings and now suddenly she has the top job i mean you covered this every day kind of explain to our viewers it does this give cynics a reason to be cynical when they talk about european democracy. And we could talk about this all night brenda its a very complicated issue now the fact is that the leaders in the European Council that suggest who should be the president of the you commission are elected back home so you could argue its the same process as a national countrys when somebody gets elected and forms a cabinet afterwards then it gets approved by the European Parliament that is democratically elected so. There is democracy involved here to say the least what is not working is the socalled. Process its a german word but everybody you know uses it all over the world so the lead candidate process where you have the candidates of the different political groups that go on the campaign trail and later one of those gets elected e. U. Commission president it worked 5 years ago because the 2 biggest parties in the parliament were on the same page it didnt work this time because that you problem and couldnt agree on one kind of dead so you could also argue that the leaders really didnt have any choice but to try to find an. Alternative solutions and she will be replacing you know weve just got about half a minute tell me what do you think will be the biggest difference between ursula fund a lion and john called younger. Very different types. Or has a lot of humor hes more of an easygoing guy he had tons of experience and policies being the Prime Minister of luxembourg the finance minister of luxembourg the head of the euro group so he was you know very very friendly terms with most of the leaders that he had to deal with later on this is not the case what was it on the line but she has a pretty good network in the European Union for example in money where michael the french president really wanted her to get this job she has a network in Eastern Europe so she doesnt start from scratch but she will have to have a sharp learning curve but shes shown that shes capable of that in the last 2 weeks. Helping there at the European Parliament in Strasbourg France and here in the studio with me our Political Correspondent simon young to both of you thank you very much and here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world u. S. President donald trump has claimed progress in diffusing tensions with iran. Maybe it was just so you the pictures there we go according to the state Department Iran is now ready to enter negotiations over its controversial Ballistic Missile program and thats to spite tehran announcing that it would up its uranium enrichment in defiance of the 2050 nuclear deal climate activists from the Group Extinction Rebellion have blocked the entrance to a concrete factory in london theyre trying to stop the construction of a road tunnel under the river thames theyve planned a week of disruption in 5 british cities to urge the government to take action on Climate Change at least 2 people have died after a residential building collapsed in the indian city of mumbai rescuers are looking for dozens of others feared trapped in the rubble collapses are common during monsoon season as poorly constructed buildings become weakened by the torrential rain its the 1st ebola patient in goma a major city in the east of the democratic republic of congo has died prompting fears that the contagious disease could now take hold there the victim was a pastor who became infected last week when visiting a town heavily hit by the outpouring. 50 years ago today july 16th 1969 Neil Armstrong buzz aldrin and Michael Collins were poor used to make history as part of the apollo 11 mission millions tuned in to watch their rocket liftoff. Of these are the original black and white images from 50 years ago this 1st manned mission to the moon took to the skies from now says Kennedy Space center in florida and it reached its destination 4 days later. And no doubt this was america demonstrating its power to the world at the time today those black and white images they are available in color bringing a new generation closer to one of the 20th centurys most defining moments. For Neil Armstrong. Michael collins. And buzz aldrin it was the mission of their lives the estimated probability for success was put it only 20 percent by nasa technicians and engineers. The launch was followed by multiple complex maneuvers each of which would have disastrous consequences if anything went wrong to get to the moon pilot mike collins had to ignite an engine to the nearest 2nd and then down the lander ferry and separate it from the rocket. Surely duke was one of the team members at the control center he kept in touch with the astronauts on their mission. 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 moons surface. Very excitedly ready point for a ready week up the on the ground you got a bunch of guys about to. 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 mountain makes it into orbit around the moon without any problems and almost 4 hours later it docks on to the command capsule it. Would seem like an impossible feat had been accomplished and on july 24th the 3 astronauts return 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 physically touch to find their part in the adventure of the century. And its still moving to see those pictures today 50 years on to talk about what weve learned in those 50 years im joined now by keith cowing hes an astrobiologist hes editor of the American Space program blog nasa watch keith its good to have you on the show what have we learned 50 years on after that incredible day a half century ago when we 1st landed on the moon. Well what weve learned has changed over time and now were learning that we should have gone back a long time ago weve learned since we sent humans there in the 1960 s. That the moon is not a bone dry place that theres currently water ice at the least the south pole and what weve also learned is not just with the definition we use his terms of humanity its not just the u. S. And russia who are interested in the moon its japan and china and india and israel and a whole bunch of other countries so what we learn is cheat over time and think again the consensus is now that its been 50 years and somebody walked there its time to go back in 50 years ago you know we were in the cold war the space race was between the u. S. And the former soviet union you know you mentioned now all the other countries that are going to the moon so what is this Current Space race about is it about science or are we still talking about political pristine asian and showing you know military muscle if you will. Well you know the thing about a race is it everybody in the race has to agree that there is a race and some people are going to the moon for scientific reasons some are going for you know prestige reasons but theres another player that we have now that we didnt have in the sixtys that is the private sector and muscular jeff bezos are building their own rockets with their own money and they will have the ability to go to the moon when and where and why they wish to go so its an amalgam its a mix and its ever changing and the more people who get involved the more reasons there are to go so its markedly different than the sixtys which was we have to beat the other guys and keep it id like you to listen to what a russian cosmonaut i think his name is fi adore your kitchen what he had to say about today he was a boy at the time of the moon landing but listen to his thoughts here and it was abilities believe that back then i was 10 and a half years old and i had dreamt of becoming an astronaut for a long time that was the real thing is that you my heroes were yuri gagarin and also Neil Armstrong i dont make a distinction between them and what they both did they did for all mankind yes it was a pity it wasnt us russian else but space travel was developing fast and it was clear to us that many countries would send their astronauts into space and it was no use that now im at the end of my career as an active astronaut but i have never been to the moon as one of the moment so hes saying that it was our humanity maybe a bigger part of our humanity that we discovered when we went to the moon what about at nasa what have we discovered i mean you know the programs there you know the problem with financing and funding what could be improved today. Well i was 14 at the time so what he says resonates with me very much part of the problem and the minister of defense has brought this up recently the real problem going back to the moon is never did Rocket Science as we did that 50 years ago and other people are doing it its political and can you maintain a program for enough years justify the expense to congress and you know go through elections and still have the next Administration Want to support something and theres a lot of risk that goes with that that soften Political Risk so you know i guess what weve also learned now is that why is it so hard to do something now that we get to 50 years ago and nobody quite has the answer this is the 3rd time in the past 30 years that weve tried to go back to the moon i hope its the last time i hope we do go back but only time will tell yeah and are you concerned about the militarization of space certain that we had the u. S. President in the Vice President recently saying were going to go to the moon were going to go to mars and at the same time announcing the creation of space force which is another Military Branch in the u. S. Well the space for simply renaming things that weve already been doing and as far as the militarization of space that started in the 1940 s. When the germans launched the 2 rockets and there has been the militarization of space ever since so people who are afraid that its something new its not its just that in my opinion the president likes to say the word space force a lot and thats why were doing it all right thank you kelly had a pair of the nasa watch website if we appreciate your insights tonight and sharing your memories too of about when you were just a young boy watching men go to the moon thank you if you. Well weve heard about the 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon for the 1st time no that was the past but Lunar Exploration it does as we just heard from keith it does have a future nasa is planning to send humans back to the moon as part of the next step in space exploration. The rockets are set to carry modules for a space station to orbit the moon the lunar orbital platform gateway or lucky for short is a modest successor to the International Space station like the i assess this project will be developed through International Cooperation under nasa as leadership. Astronauts will be able to launch and monitor missions on the lunar surface from the new orbiting station. First they will study the moon with remote controlled robots to determine the extent and location of the moons resources. Later astronauts will be able to reach the moon from the gateway the aim is to build a Permanent Base on the lunar surface where technologies could be developed and tested. Then they can advance further into space toward mars. In the long term goal is to use the gateway as a kind of Assembly Line and transfer station for the astronauts on their long journey to the red planet but that probably wont be possible until over a decade from now at the earliest. And finally back here on earth the owner of a sushi stand in new zealand well he had to call the police recently to remove 2 intruders were not talking about robbers were talking about penguins the penguins resisted removal it for us but we understand the police eventually managed to convince them to take a hike. Caught red flippers too little blue penguins hiding in a wellington sushi shop but they werent after the fish they were looking for a nest so i ran the saw me a pink ones around coming out much on a one to foil place with and then my can sit up shocked to excite her on an ogress huddling under the restaurants warm grill of the 2 lovebirds cover was blown when a worker at the sushi outlet sensed something fishy the Police Rushed to the site and carefully detained the penguins but despite their criminal energy the 2 waddling vagrants wont have to fear jail time. Thing was absolutely protected on the wall of it which means that you cant touch them pick them up handle them them in any way be adventurous the pair was released back into wellington harbor and will now have to start looking for a more private breeding spot. If they dont like criminals from me because everybody of the top story that were following for you ursula if i know i have a german conservative politician has been elected president of the European Commission members of the European Parliament voted for her today she won by a slim margin from the long and is from germany she is the 1st woman to lead the commission. I dont forget you can always get the w. News on the go just. From google play or from the work that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the v. W. Out to send us photos and videos when you see news happening. Youre watching a d. W. News up next kick off on the global success of german the soccer club of munich ill be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the date tonight were going to have an indepth look at that 50th anniversary of lifting off man tended for the moon to see that. Oh boy. Because. 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