the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture on sunday, february 19, at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three, american history tv. you are watching american history tv, all we can, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. announcer: up next on real america, space for women, the 1980 when nasa recruitment and educational film features interviews with women employed by the agency in a variety of specialized fields. by in theas directed award-winning filmmaker william grieves and narrated by actor ricardo montauban. ♪

narrator: there are many things in the history of the world that were once thought to be impossible. as the earth speeds around the sun over 60,000 miles per hour , we are coming to realize more and more that many obstacles are and problems the daily confront us are in reality merely

opportunities, opportunities to break free of our fears and ancient taboos. and we are discovering to that the very process of freeing ourselves forces us to learn more and more about ourselves and the world in which we live. ♪ >> for an awful long time, 2,000 years, people assumed that there is schism between the mind and intellectthere was and emotion, but only until recently, we realized how much time we influence the ongoing physiological activity in our body by what we think about, every stimulus, every stimuli and our environment that impinges on an organ is reflected to some extent.

narrator at the space : administration number of , a scientists are deeply involved with technology. have a physiologist, i studied ways in which people adapt, adjust to stressful environments. and working within the space a ratherally affords unique opportunity for a psycho physiologist to see people working at the limits of human capability. if it's possible to understand the ways in which people adapt to the unusual environment of zero gravity, sustained weightlessness, sustained long -duration manned spaceflight, then it is possible to understand really how people adapt to unusual environments on the earth. ♪ narrator 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 and at a rate faster than our most sophisticated technological inventions can perceive a record. strive to keep pace with these changes, the development of the human mind becomes increasingly crucial to our survival. ♪ >> what i began to study in graduate school was cyber sematic health. if the mind can make you sick, the mind can make you well. and that is the basis of the research that i and hundreds are working on within an area called behavioral medicine. >> what are we measuring here? >> we are measuring ekg here, but remember that the major symptoms were heart rate changes significant

constriction of the blood vessels in your hands. you do those two exercises and keep your breathing pace, you should be ok. >> ok. narrator: dr. patricia collins is a psycho physiologist whose specialty is behavioral medicine. she is one of a growing number of women working at the highest levels of responsibility in the scientific community of nasa. her research will help to unravel some mysteries of survival in outer space. ♪ >> long before a strong a science, people gazed -- i will start again. >> i write and produce the nasa space stories, the 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 very important to disseminate the information about what nasa does through these radio programs. there are many, many different things that are going on at nasa every day that the press does not cover. >> nasa, the national aristotle national aeronautics and space administration 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. .o i use a narrator i use willard scott. >> 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. >> seat, this is something -- >> right, right.

>> i do not have a scientific background. as a matter of fact, my major was art history, but i did get into the production area in puerto rico doing program for the university. so we use a lot of sound effects in our programs just to make the program more interesting. >> you are listening to the sounds of thousands of tiny particles. >> i was the first woman to ever do this job. and i found that a woman as well as a man can do a job which is so exciting, so challenging. so 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. , willard. separation,ut

altitude five, four, three, two, , one. we do have separation. clear. it is on its way to final dissent on the runway. narrator: it was in the early days of the space shuttle when it was first testing wings that women and minorities began entering the professional ranks of nasa. -- phillips was one of those women. > pilot to orbiter -- you should be making your final dissent any minute. the orbiter is coming in over the run way at edwards. you should have touchdown momentarily. ♪ new reader: the more you think

about it, the more it apparent it becomes that human intelligence reveals the increasing importance of the survival of the human race. on this space ship called earth , we are learning to respect our intelligence in whatever form or color it appears. when the first space shuttle was tested in the mid-1970's, the director of space shuttle operations was an ex-air force pilot. since then, he has been promoted to the position of director of the space center. it was from him that the first female astronauts received introduction to the enterprise, nasa's first space shuttle. >> wing tip to wing tip --

-- thee to baseline highest center to resistance. you will notice when we get around front -- narrator: in the 21st century, the ranks of space travelers must be filled with not only people of high intelligence, but 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 thele flying in it, astronaut crews, the mission specialist, and the payload specialist, will be on this end

of the shuttle. once it is in orbit, the payload specialist and mission specialist working with experiments, will move from this end of the shuttle into the lab compartment. this features a pressurized module where scientists will be able to work in a shirtsleeve environment. this allows for them to do experimentation in space that has never been done before. i'm part of the team which is called the space live data processing office here. and 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 experiment onboard space lab. 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 data processing field, which is what we do here. when i first started, i think the opportunities for women were not as well publicized then. and now i seem more and more 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, a good majority of it, 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. ♪

new reader: to achieve this narrator: to achieve this, the safety and survival of a spacecraft depends on excellence both mental and physical of all on board. ♪ narrator: 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? >> welcome, you have to appreciate the fact that 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

i remember the the morning, the whole day in fact, quite well, and i was very happy and very excited, but then all the activities took off at such a sortndous rate that that of masked over personal celebrations and personal reaction. it was an incredibly busy and exciting day, but was a great blur too. you were given a pass or a fail, and a critique was written by the professor how will you had done in class. >> by the authority vested in my by the university, i conferred to you the degree of dr. of philosophy with all rights and privileges there to pertaining. and i congratulate you. >> but still, i always found that my performance in the class was best, my results from the

professors was 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 that nothing was worth doing unless you are willing to do what was needed to do the job well. self discipline i think is the top, 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. waxing philosophical, i think we show each other many, many lessons just in day-to-day life, and we can learn a lot from each other. we can give a lot to each other. and that will only be, 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 a phd or being an astronaut. you can't just do it for yourself. it does count. ♪

narrator: reaching, reaching the highest point, this is the dream that has sailed across the dreams of the human mind for a very long time. that highest point is the point at which we achieve excellence in whatever we do. but that excellent's must start here on earth, in the objects and structures we build and in the many jobs we perform. at nasa, there are numerous jobs, each crucial to the space program as a whole. ♪ >> i monitor operations at the construction site, making sure they are following osha standards, the 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. for entry professionals, and we go through the process of applying for the job, then we will if i waited and selected. narrator: brenda 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 workforce at 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 get your start? >> in high school, they have the program where they go around and recruit students that were interested in the secretarial

field who 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 workederk typist and right up through the ranks by going to college in the evening. ♪ >> i worked on the shuttle >> i worked on the shuttle program since i have been working here at nasa over the six and a half 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 that 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 purple people to come out and eat up the astronauts. i have to admit that i never believed that i would actually be here taking apart in all of this technology and all of this going to the moon and unique happenings. narrator: shirley is an electrical engineer on the space shuttle. surely, how did you become an engineer? >> i graduated from high school that had a senior class of about 38 people. and it is 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 the school teachers who were role models. and i was afraid of the sight of blood, and teachers did not 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 , well 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 well, there is civil engineering, architectural, mechanical, and electrical, and i said which one is the hardest? he said electrical engineering. i said ok, i'm majoring in

electrical engineering. i graduated in may 1971 with a degree in electrical engineering. narrator: today, women are pursuing a wide variety of careers in space and science. sue norman foran fo example. 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.

they are color infrared pictures, and we use color infrared because it tells us more about the vegetation on the ground, whether it is healthy or whether it is diseased. these pictures are northern california the bay area. , you can see the mountains in the background with snow on them. if you look closely, you can see a little bit of curvature of the earth. i think let's see, we have two maps. this one is the map of the state of california that shows the places where a satellite path is over. it takes one picture. narrator: what made you think initially of a career in space? >> there were quite a few. number one, when i was going to school, i did not belong to a very wealthy family, so i really wanted to get a job and go to something so ie

could 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 with the whole significance of the space program and the early 1960's, 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. but i also wanted science, i also felt a natural inclination towards that as opposed to english. i'm not a good speller and can't write very well, so it seemed like what was me was science. i kept flunking english and other types of things like that. narrator: what about the business of you're being a woman here? do you feel you have encountered , well, special problems working here because you are a woman?

>> special problems, 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. and i think in that sense, it is changing. ♪ narrator: the world is changing, changing rapidly. so are our thoughts about ourselves and those around us.

this is sharon p she is 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. and 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 , all kinds of planes jets.rjet' 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. what happened was when i applied here, there was a person in front of me there was like the veteran points.

i have no veteran points, so they were going to bring me out in a special program where you work halftime and go to school halftime and get paid full, so i i appliedr that, and to stanford university and got accepted, but nasa had a regular position for me. so i came in as a regular nasa employee. narrator: did you find you have encountered any problems working at nasa, i mean because you are a woman? >> i would say maybe not having the background that a lot of men have had as children. you grow up and your dad shows you how to fix a car or fix a stereo, i never had that kind of training as a child. i never did anything with circuits until i got into engineering. i mean i just never toyed around with it, and that really holds me back. just getting out there and getting your hands dirty, i am a little slow at.

i see that as maybe being a woman holding me 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 is really like? narrator: since you have been a part of the nasa team, have you found that you encounter any problems being a woman? >> i think i have 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 principal investigator and i am the one directing this program, and you can get people to work with you pushy oreing telling them what to do.

is easy to 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. but what are you going to do? i'll wear heels a lot. ♪ narrator: 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 . in that sunny climate, human intelligence, trust and total commitment can prosper. we become a winning team. >> for purposes of testing equipment, we no longer had a need for that and gave that up about three years ago, but that is where the water facility will be built. >> i would like to go into space for a couple of reasons. the space program meets my particular academic needs, gives me something challenging and physically challenging.

but much more important, man needs something to dream about. we have explored our world ferry fairly thoroughly. 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 with women training as violence, that there will be women selected as pilots. i think we are here to stay. narrator: who is to say who will succeed or fail in any task we earthlings undertake? four is there really any 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 payload specialist on a dress rehearsal on a space shuttle flight, i was 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 had submitted experiments, as it will be for actual flight. the payload specialist and 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.

♪ narrator: and so as we approach the 21st century drifting increasingly we are coming to that -- rather than race, color, creed, or sex are the keys to success in space travel whether we happen to be on board the space shuttle or on mothershipor ship -- . ♪

>> next on american history tv, historians discuss the relationship between food and societies throughout history. using rachel laudan's