i knew jackie cochran. she had been very generous to support phase 1 financially. i had wonderful letters from her. but i didn't realize. out of the country, or i was so buried in my work that i didn't realize until after it was over that these hearings had gone on. the parameters are jet test pilot experience to be an astronaut. which let us out of the league. ? for the time being. >> yes, yes. thank you for adding that. these girl test pilots and i think we've got two female or eileen and another gal that are testing so that because eileen has to have a back-up, girl back-up. >> hopefully we'll be seeing more and more. >> absolutely. >> as you said, you were traveling overseas for a length of time. you had your career in aviation. tell us some about that, if you would. an overview of what you did. >> well i went over to russia with two goals in mind to see the paris air show. and to meet valentina peshkova. she had already gone up in '63. >> so -- i saw the paris air show. i went to russia by myself. scared to death. on a train, from vienna to moscow. and never g

they did make use of them and in fact, jackie cochran, spent time there flying with those women. as a result of her time there and of that experience, she was able to help and come back here and encourage the united states to do the same. >> it was applied and not combat related. other questions, comments? >> does anyone know what a victory garden is? >> yes, go ahead. >> something for growing u up -- you were doing your part by providing your own -- they started it in britain, did it? >> yes, victory garden. >> it was a time where you can only buy certain foods and we were rationing things. we wanted a lot of stuff to go to the war efforts. gas were one of the things we rationed. women were told to grow a garden. go out in the backyard and grow a garden and help to feed not only your family but maybe another family. there were a lot of ways that women participated in the war efforts and certainly that was one. if you were at home and lets say your husband had gone off to war and you at home had kids. you didn't have the opportunity to go off to work in a factory or playing profe

amelia earhart, vesy coleman, geraldine mock, jackie cochrane, the list goes on.ed my imagination with the art of the possible. and then in the smallest little corner of the museum i saw them. my heroes to this very day. the women air fost service pilots of world war ii, america's first women military aviators. so the lightbulb went off in my 12-year-old head, over 40 years ago, prior to my visit, those women flew. they flew in service to their country. and at that moment i realized i could too. the 12-year-old in me was catalyzed to action. my imagination was unleashed and it led to 20 years of flying the f-16 and i watch this wonderful group of young folks down here in the front and i think how many astronauts and how many scientists and engineers, how many pilots are we going to have inspired here today, tonight, in this museum. captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008

a woman named jackie cochrane who was a pilot and a florida native along with a test pilot named nancy love approached fdr at the beginning of the war and said, you know, there are a lot of women who could fly supply planes, a lot of women who could pull targets, who could transport planes from one place, from the factory to a base. and again, as the same response when the effort was first made to get women into the war industry, no, no, no. we can't do that. we don't want women. we don't want women in those roles. well, it didn't take long before it was clear we needed someone to take over those roles. we needed someone to fly the planes from the factories to the bases. so in september of 1942, the wasps, the women service pilots, were headed to their first training. the initial training, some of it took place in texas. some of it in florida. these women had a pilot's license, a commercial pilot's license and they learned to fly, quote, the army way. they were not trained in combat maneuvers because they were not allowed to in any way participate in combat. more than 25,000 women appl

but they did make use of them and, in fact, jackie cochrane spent time there flying with those women and it was, as a result of they are time there and that experience, she was able to come back here and encourage strongly encourage the united states to do the same. >> it was supplies, that kind of thing, not combat related. although, of course, it's all combat related. other questions, comments? does anyone know what a victory garden was? go ahead. >> you don't have to buy as much. you were doing your part by providing your own. they started in great itain, didn't it? >> yeah. victory gardens were -- exactly. >> rations. >> yeah. it was a time where you can only buy certain foods and we were rationing things. victory gardens were exactly that. women were told, grow a garden. go out into your backyard, grow a garden, help to feed not only your family but maybe another family. there were lots of ways that women participated in the war effort and certainly that was one. and if you were at home, you had kids, maybe you didn't have an opportunity to go off and work in a factory or play p

and in fact, the -- jackie cochran spent time there flying with those women. and it was as a result of her time there in that experience that she was able to help come back here and encourage -- strongly encourage united states to do things. >> so was the role similar -- >> it was. it was. supplies, that kind of thing. not combat related. although of course it is all combat related. other questions, comments. >> can you explain what victory gardens are? >> yes! does anybody know what a victory garden was? yeah, go ahead. >> something for -- growing your own so you didn't have to buy as much, you were doing your part by providing your own food. they started in britain, didn't it? >> yeah. victory gardens were -- exactly. >> rationed. >> yeah. it was a time where you could only buy certain foods and we didn't -- we were rationing things. gas was one of the things we rationed. victory gardens were exactly that. women were told, grow a garden. go out into your backyard, grow a garden, help to feed not only your family, but maybe another family. there were lots of

amelia earhart, betsy coleman, jackie cochran, the list goes on.looded my imagination with the art of the possible. then in the smallest corner of the museum i saw them, my heros to this very day, the women air force service pilots of world war ii, america's first women military aviators. so the light bulb went off in my 12-year-old head, over 40 years ago prior to my visit in 1986 those women flew. they flew in service to their country. at that moment i realized i could, too. the 12-year-old in my was catalyzed to action. my imagination was unleashed and it led to 20 years of flying the f-15 and the f-16. i'm watching this wonderful group of young folks down here in the front and i ask how many astronauts, and how many scientists and engineers, how many pilots are we going to have inspired here today, tonight in this museum. so it goes, that arc of history moves on. milestones conceived and achieved by our imagination. this museum reminds us that the world of aviation and space flight is open to all of us. milestones are not an end to themselves.

but they did make use of them and, in fact, jackie cochrane spent time there flying with those women and it was, as a result of they are time there and that experience, she was able to come back here and encourage strongly encourage the united states to do the same. >> it was supplies, that kind of thing, not combat related. although, of course, it's all combat related. other questions, comments? does anyone know what a victory garden was? go ahead. >> you don't have to buy as much. you were doing your part by providing your own. they started in great britain, didn't it? >> yeah. victory gardens were -- exactly. >> rations. >> yeah. it was a time where you can only buy certain foods and we were rationing things. victory gardens were exactly that. women were told, grow a garden. go out into your backyard, grow a garden, help to feed not only your family but maybe another family. there were lots of ways that women participated in the war effort and certainly that was one. and if you were at home, your husband had gone off to war, you were at home and you had kids, maybe you didn't have