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Smithsonian national air and Space Museum Live this evening beginning at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3s American History tv. Next on American History tv, nasas earliest days with wally funk. One of 13 women selected to be the first lady astronaut trainees or f. L. A. T. S, this is sometimes called the mercury 13, as they underwent some of the same physiological tests as their male counterparts, the mercury 7 astronauts. Unlike the mercury 7, these women never flew a nasa mission. Funk was interviewed as part of the Nasa Johnson Space Center oral history collection. This is about 50 minutes. Th...

to meet valentina and talk with her? >> very, but she was very guarded. and, of course, she would be. she held a position in moscow as the first lady, and rather interesting. if you lived in a block of buildings and you were to report to her if there was any misconduct in your building, it was your russian duty to report to her. if you overheard anything. if anything was against the government, and this is the way they worked their system. >> very different society. >> in fact, when our astronauts go over, and i've heard this from shannon, she had -- it was a terrible time. the food,...

many were you able to interview, and were they open to talking about it? >> they were open to talk about it and it was painful for them to relive it. of the 13, 11 are still alive and i met all of them, spoke wial the ones who passed away, i spoke to their family members. i think it's fairt for all of them, this experience was a very important center of their lives, so they were most eager to be able to tell the story, that they feel like much of it has been largely forgotten, but it was difficult for them to relive the disappointment. >> 1983 was the first time a woman went up. >> a...

its first man into space, 13 women underwent secret testing in hopes of becoming america's first female astronauts. they passed the same battery of tests at the legendary lovelace foundation as did the mercury 7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys' club at nasa and capitol hill. the ussr sent its first woman into space in the 1963. the united states did not follow suit for another 20 years. martha ackman tells the story of these remarkable women, all cracker jack pilots and patriots who sometimes sacrificed jobs and marriages for a chance to participate in ameri...