special occasions. dinnerthe traditional before the state of the union message. and one year, justice kennedy came with a couple of bottles of opus one from california. your: he alsoyor brought more from california. justice ginsburg: that was before the state of the union. [laughter] announcer: watch the entire program on the supreme court's through tradition, monday, july 4 at 6:30 eastern at c-span3 "american history tv." up next on "american history for --el america," fate space for this educational and recruitment elm showed women employed by the agency in a variety of socialized fields.

it is directed by an african-american and narrated by ricardo montalban. ♪ [indiscernible talking] ricardo montalban: there are many things in the history of the world that were thought to be impossible. >> [indiscernible]

ricardo montalban: as the earth speeds along the sun at 60,000 miles per hour, we are coming to realize more and more many of the obstacles and problems that daily confront us are in reality merely opportunities. opportunities to break free of ancient taboos. and we are discovering freeing ourselves to learn more and more about ourselves and the world in which we live in. >> for an awful long time, 2000 years, people assumed that there was a schism between the mind and the body. there was the intellect and there was a motion. only till recently did you realize how much of the time we

actually influence the ongoing physiological activity in our own bodies by what we think about. stimulus, every stimuli in your environment that changes an organism is reflected to some extent physiologically. ricardo montalban: the national aeronautics and space administration, a number of scientists are deeply involved in the development of the mind. >> i study the way in which people adapt. address to stress and environment. working within the space agency is a unique opportunity for a physiologist to see people working at the limits of human capability. if it is possible to understand the ways in which people adapt to the unusual environment, the same weightlessness, the same long duration of spaceflight, it

is possible to understand really how people adapt to unusual environments on the earth. ricardo montalban: there are many lessons to be learned from nature and from the universe through which our world spins. chief among these is the fact that the world is changing rapidly. at a rate faster than our most sophisticated technological inventions can perceive or record. to keep ups strive with these changes, the development of the human mind is increasingly crucial to our survival. >> what i began to study in graduate school was psychosomatic health. the mind can make you sick, the mind can make you well. that is essentially the basis of i am now working on, hundreds of researchers are working on, within this area.

>> but you remember that major simptms were heart rate changes and significant contradiction of vessels in your hand. if you keep your breathing paced you should be ok. >> dr. patricia collins is a psycho physiologist whose specialty is behavioral medicine. one of a growing number of women working at the highest levels of responsibility in the scientific community of nasa. research would help to unravel some mysteries of survival in outer space. ♪

>> i write and produce the nasa space story, special reports and the space notes which are radio programs that go out to about 2,000 stations throughout the nation. i find it is important to disseminate the information about what nasa does through these radio programs. there are many different things that are going on at nasa every day that the press does not cover. >> nasa presents a look back at voyager 2's encounter. i enjoy the actual interviews with the scientists. i find sometimes it is difficult because they tend to speak in very scientific terms. >> are we going to do this first?

>> i write his part sometimes in such a way that he is sort of explaining what the scientist says so that everybody can understand it. >> i do not have a scientific background. as a matter of fact my major was art history. i did get into the production area in puerto rico doing program for the university. so i would use a lot of sound effects in our program just to make the program more interesting. >> thousands of tiny particles. >> i was the first woman to ever do this job. i find that a woman as well as a man can do a job which is so exciting, so challenging. we are also doing a very important thing in terms of

disseminating information not just about nasa, but about space itself. and i think it is important because it is really documenting the space age through radio. >> it's beautiful. >> five, four, three, two, one. we do have separation. it is now on its way. >> it was in aurally days of the space shuttle when it was first testing wings that women and minorities began entering professional ranks of nasa. one of those women. >> the orbiter is coming in over the run way at edwards. should have touchdown

momentarily. >> the more you think about it, the more it apparent it becomes to future survival. on this space ship called earth we are learning to respect our intelligence in whatever form or color it appears. for the first space shuttle destined in mid 1970s director of space shuttle operations was a pilot. he has been reported to

position. it was from him that the first female received introduction to the enterprise, nasa's first space shuttle. >> highest temperature and you will notice the tip of the nose. >> in the 21st century the ranks of space travelers must be filled with people of high intelligence and great stamina because challenges of outer space would be many. each one of those challenges would represent opportunity for human growth. space lab will fly on board the space shuttle.

when shuttle launches all the people flying in it, the astronaut crew, mission specialist and pay load specialist will be on this end of the shuttle. once it is in orbit the pay load specialist and mission specialist working with experiment will move from this end of the shuttle into the compartment. this features a pressurized module where scientists will be able to work. this allows for them to do experimentation in space that has never been done before. i'm part of the team which is called space live data processing office here. the purpose of our office is to put together a data processing facility that will capture and

record and process all the data coming from the experiments on board space flight. i'm originally from the philippines. i have a degree in mathematics and physics from the university in manila philippines. with my background in mathematics and physics it was easy enough to pick up the kind of knowledge and experience needed to work in the beta processing field which is what we do here. when i first started, i think the opportunities for women were not as well publicized then. now i see more and more women working in these areas that i'm working in. in fact, we have a contractor that now works for us that is developing the software and a lot of the workforce consists of

women. so i think since i first joined nasa to this point there has been a tremendous improvement in the hiring of women in the scientific and technical areas. (music) (music) >> to achieve this for the safety and survival of a spacecraft depends on excellence both mental and physical of all on board. how do these space travelers feel about being astronauts.

when you were first made aware of the fact that you had been selected how did you react to that? >> you have to appreciate i was in the middle of writing a phd thesis. that tends to swamp out a lot of other things. i was obviously very excited and -- tasha critique was written by the professor. -- >> by the authority vested in

my with all rights and privileges there to pertaining. and i congratulate you. >> still i found that my performance in the class was best. my results from the professors were best when my only motive was to learn the most i could. as i say i never aimed for the space program as such. all i really thought about was nothing was worth doing unless you are willing to do what was needed to do the job well. self discipline i think is the most important factor. and i think it is also important to realize the responsibility that each person has towards all the other people around them. i think we show each other many, many lessons. and we can learn a lot from each other. we can give a lot to each other. that will only reach its highest

point if each of us individually tries to do the best we can. that is true for high school exam or phd or astronaut. you can't just do it for yourself. it does count. >> reaching, reaching the highest point. this is the dream that has sailed across the dreams of human mind. that is the point at which we achieve excellence in whatever we do. that excellence will start here in the objects and structures build and in the many jobs we perform. at nasa there are numerous jobs each crucial to the space program as a whole.

>> construction site, making sure they are following occupational safety and health act. we are mostly concerned with investigating potentially hazardous situations on the job for both contractor and nasa personnel. most anything that potentially happens. i became a safety specialist through a specialty training. we go through the process of applying for the job and then we evaluate it. >> amanda willis is one of growing number of women involved in the various programs and projects of nasa. is it necessary for a person to have a phd to advance in the work force of nasa?

not at all. there are so many different ways in which a person can pursue a new career within this organization. how did you dpet your start? >> in high school they have the program where they go around and recruit students that were interested in the secretary field who have had some experience in typing and short hand. i started out in the clerical field with nasa. and by taking the civil service exam and i came into nasa and worked right up through the ranks by going to college in the evening. >> i worked on the shuttle program since i have been working here at nasa over 6 1/2 years that i have worked here. and it's very fascinating especially when you watch the shuttle just land on target.

you get goose bumps knowing that you were an active part in making history happen. the space program has always held a fascination to me. i can remember when they first landed on the moon we sat up all night, my mother was making hot chocolate and sitting there and we were all of us kids sitting around the television set waiting for the people to come out and eat up the astronauts. i have to admit that i never believed that i would actually be here taking part in all of this technology and all of this going to the moon and unique happenings. >> shirley is an electrical engineer on the space shuttle. how did you become an engineer?

>> i graduated from high school that had a senior class of about 38 people. it's a simple texas town of about 2,000 people. so if you were considering a profession you either had the doctor who was a role model or school teachers who were role models. teachers didn't make enough money so my oldest brother was in his sophomore year in college majoring in civil engineering when i graduated from high school. so about that time he asked me what are you going to do? i said i imagine i will go to college. he said what are you going to major in? i said i don't know maybe engineering. he said forget it. he said i'm a fellow and engineering is rough for me. i don't think you can make it in engineering. i said i think i can. i said how many kinds do they

have? he said civil engineering, architectural, mechanical and electrical. i said which is the hardest. he said electrical engineering. i graduated in may 1971 with degree in electrical engineering. >> today women are pursuing a wide variety of careers in space and science. take sue norman. she first came to nasa as a research scientist. since that time she worked in several other fields.

her current job involves work in arial and satellite photography. >> we use both arial photography and satellite imagery to help in analysis. there are two youtube pictures which were taken from a side looking angle at 65,000 feet. we use color infrared because it tells us more about the vegetation on the ground whether it is healthy or whether it is disease. these are in the bay area. you can see the mountains in the background. you can see a little bit of curvature of the earth. >> i think let's see, we have two now. this one is the map of the state of california that shows the places where a satellite path is over. it takes one picture.

>> what made you think initially of a career in space? >> there were quite a few. when i was going to school i didn't belong to a very wealthy family. so i really wanted to get a job and go to college and make some money so to speak. they had the space act where they would give students loans if you would go into science. i didn't really have enough money to go to school and my family didn't have enough money either. so by taking science classes and the whole impetus of the space program in the early '60s i was able to get loans to go to school. that was part of it because they would give me loans as long as i was in science. i felt a natural inclination towards that as opposed to english. i'm not a good speller and can't

write very well. seems like what was me was science. i kept flunking english and other types of things like that. >> what about the business of you're being a woman here? do you feel you have encountered problems working here because you are a woman? >> i think the answer is yes. if you are going to be honest you have to say yes. there are not that many women in the professional or scientific field. so you find yourself being a minority in the midst of in a sense not a minority. women are half the population. when i first came there was one other woman in my group of about 30 men. and no minorities. the present group i'm in as you can see there are a lot of women and just having the opportunity to talk with other women and share experiences at least for me has been really helpful. and kind of fun, too. i think in that sense it is changing. >> the world is changing,

changing rapidly. so are those around us. this is sharon, a computer specialist at nasa. how does she begin her career? >> when i went out looking for a job i sent out 85 applications and went to a lot of different companies in the area. a lot of the companies were production oriented and you do one thing to fit the needs of the company. and when i came here i'm seeing simulators, wind tunnels, animal centrifuges and all kinds of leer jets. that's just really exciting for me to work on it every job is different. i can't say i have ever had a job that repeats a second job.

they are very different and i enter a new field every time. >> when i applied here there was a person in front of me there was like the veteran points. they were going to bring me out in a special program where you work halftime and go to school halftime i applied for that and stanford university and got accepted. nasa had a regular position for me. i came in as regular employee. >> did you find you have encountered any problems working at nasa? >> i would say maybe not having the background that a lot of men have had as children. you grow up and you have to fix a car or fix sterio.

i never had that kind of training as a child. i never did anything with circuits until i got into engineering. i never toyed around with it. that really holds me back. getting out there and getting your hands dirty, i am a little slow at. i see that maybe as being a woman holding back. as far as dealing with people i would almost say they are more willing to deal with me because i'm a little bit different. they want to see what is a woman engineer really like? >> since you have been a part of the nasa team, have you found that you encounter any problems being a woman? >> more problems by virtue of the fact that i am short. i am the shortest person in my lab. most people who work here are older than i am. the majority of them are men. i really don't have that much of a problem working with people who are older than i am and who are men because as it turns out they realize i am the one

directing this program and you can get people to work with you without being pushy and explain it is the best idea or that it's for all of our mutual benefit. being short is a little difficult. do this and that. everybody seems to be taller. i'll wear heels a lot. >> as we approach the 21st century there is much to learn about our world and ourselves. this learning occurs best in a climate of equal opportunity human intelligence, trust and total commitment can prosper. we become a winning team. >> for purposes of testing equipment we gave that up about three years ago. that is where the water facility

will be built. >> space program meets my particular academic needs and gives me something challenging and physically challenging. much more important that may need something. i realize that internet is three quarters of our world. there is the ocean and space and i would like to be a part of that effort. i certainly feel that women are here to stay as part of the space program. this time all the women were selected as mission specialists. i certainly feel that in future selections that there will be women selected as pilots. i think we are here to stay. >> who is to say who will succeed or fail in any task we earthlings undertake?

or is there a difference in the minds of males and females? the women of nasa don't think so and neither does nasa. for it is generally agreed that differences in performance occur when there is a difference in opportunity to learn and to gain experience. >> when i was picked about a year or so ago to be a backup pay load specialist on a dress rehearsal in a space shuttle flight i was afraid at that time because i thought maybe i really can't do it. but as it turned out, i was picked because of the investigators who it submitted experiments as it will be for actual flight. the scientist astronauts are chosen because maybe there is some particular characteristic of their own experiment that would make them be the best person to conduct that experiment and also because

their educational background is varied enough to be able to adequately carry out other people's experiments on board. as we went through the simulation i found out that i could learn what i had to learn and i was doing just fine. >> and so as we approach the 21st century drifting through the university at almost 1,000 miles per minute increasingly we are coming to realize that equal opportunity, intelligence, excellence and teamwork rather than race, creed, color or sex are the keys to success in space travel whether we happen to be

aboard a space shuttle or on board our mother ship earth. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

announcer: watch coverage of the 2016 republican and democratic conventions and every saturday night, we will look at past conventions and the candidates who won their nominations. this saturday, incumbent presidents who ran for reelection. dwight eisenhower in san francisco, lyndon johnson in atlantic city. richard nixon in miami beach. jimmy carter in new york city. george h.w. bush in houston. bill clinton in chicago. in the 2004 republican convention in new york with george w. bush.

eastern night at 8:00 on c-span. monday, the senior vice president of verizon and the head of policy and public affairs operations in washington on the issues in telecom. she is joined by john mckinnon. >> there are characteristics of the spectrum that make it complicated. wallsdoesn't go through well? >> exactly. there is actually a lot of engineering that have developed new antennas. there are ways to adjust for that issue to get more usable in that environment. announcer: monday night at 8:00

on c-span2. journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. monday morning, we will discuss the concepts of freedom and liberty in the u.s. today with theeditor in chief and correspondent for "the daily beef." we will also discuss the campaign, brexit vote, and possible effects on the economy, and what is ahead for congress. the former iraqi intelligence advisor and generals will discuss the retaking of fallujah by iraqi forces, u.s. air strikes and what is next for iraq in the war with isis. be sure to watch "washington journal" monday morning. join the discussion. >> you are looking at a time-lapse view recorded by the library of congress showing the process of constructing the