This is an oral history interview with former NASA astronaut and science pilot for the first SkyLab mission, Joseph Kerwin. SkyLab was America’s first Space Station. Kerwin’s mission was to repair SkyLab and conduct scientific experiments in space, including tests in weightlessness. In the first half of this two-part interview, Kerwin discusses the process of becoming an astronaut, his experience as a capsule communicator for Apollo 13 and how NASA prepared for the first extended stay in space. This interview is part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an interview with former NASA flight director, flight controller and Johnson Space Center Director, Gerald Griffin. After joining NASA in 1964, Griffin worked on moon missions, including Apollo 11, 12, 13, and 17. In the second half of this two-part interview, Griffin talks about transitioning from Master Control to the Apollo missions to taking the helm as director of the Johnson Space Center. He also discusses working with Washington, the results of the fatal Challenger mission, and the future of space travel. This interview was part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an interview with former NASA flight director, flight controller and director of the Johnson Space Center, Gerald Griffin. After joining NASA in 1964, Griffin worked on moon missions, including Apollo 11, 12, 13, and 17. In the first half of this two-part interview, Griffin discusses his role in the Gemini program and his work at Mission Control. He also recalls when lightning struck Apollo 12,  Apollo 8's groundbreaking mission, and how the almost disastrous Apollo 13 mission proved to be a NASA victory. This interview was part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an oral history interview with former NASA astronaut Vance Brand. In addition to three space shuttle missions, Vance was also a member of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission – the first meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. In this interview, Brand talks about why this co-mission was important, what it was like learning from and training with the Soviets, and how the two spacecrafts eventually rendezvoused. This discussion was part of the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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Apollo 13 was scheduled for a 10-day mission to the moon. The highlight would have been the first landing on the moon’s upland region.  But 55 hours into the flight an oxygen system failure forced crew members to convert their lunar module “Aquarius” into a lifeboat for a perilous return to Earth. Fred Haise was Apollo 13’s Lunar Module Pilot. In excerpts from this interview recorded for the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, he talks about that failed trip to the moon.

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Bob Dole, former U.S. Senator and 1996 Republican nominee for president, recorded a series of interviews for an oral history project of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. The project chronicles not only Dole’s career, but the life of the U.S. Senate, and the people and politics of his times. In excerpts from a 2007 interview, Dole talks with historian Richard Norton Smith about passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, meeting Saddam Hussein, the advice he gave President Clinton, his interest in Colin Powell as a vice-presidential running mate and his work with veterans.

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Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell participated in an oral history project in 2007 directed by the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Mitchell, a Democrat and former Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, discusses his political and personal relationships with his Republican colleague, Bob Dole. He also talks about Social Security, the 1990 budget negotiations, the Senate vote on the first Gulf War, and a memorable trip he and Bob Dole took to Saudi Arabia.

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Former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle describes his relationship with former Senate colleague Robert Dole, and his belief that Dole would have made a great president. Daschle also recalls the night that President Clinton made popcorn during a lull in negotiations in the midst of the 1995 government shutdown. This interview – among others from the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics – has been made exclusively available to C-SPAN.

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Frm. Sec. of State James Baker participated in an oral history project in 2007 directed by the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. In this interview, Baker talks about the 1976, 1980 and 1988 presidential races, Bob Dole’s legislative prowess, the relationship between Dole and President George H.W. Bush, and Dole’s political legacy.

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In the early 1960s Dorothy Gilliam was the first African American woman to work as a reporter for the Washington Post. She later became Assistant Editor for the Style section and eventually moved on to write a weekly column. In 1993 she was elected president of the National Association of Black Journalists. Dorothy Gilliam was interviewed for the Washington Press Club Foundation’s “Women in Journalism” project.

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