EXTRA! - Who's minding the store?

This Saturday!

Oklahoma's State Capitol to be featured on Discover Oklahoma

Tune in to the upcoming episode of Discover Oklahoma this Saturday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. on KFOR Channel 4 to see OHS Executive Director Trait Thompson and Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell take a tour through the recently renovated Oklahoma State Capitol! Thompson and Pinnell will show viewers the results of the Oklahoma Capitol Restoration Project and what they will encounter on their next trip to the building. The two will also explore the recently installed Oklahoma State Capitol Museum, featuring the history of the capitol and the work of Oklahoma’s state government.

Listen to the latest episode of A Very OK Podcast!

“Higher and Faster”

In this episode, OHS Executive Director Trait Thompson and Dr. Bob Blackburn are joined by Oklahoma History Center Director Dan Provo to discuss Oklahomans who contributed to the space program in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1961, when President Kennedy challenged Americans to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, Oklahomans answered the call. Because of people like Gordon Cooper, Owen K. Garriott, and Bill Pogue, the first lunar landing in 1969 was a success.

General Thomas Stafford is the special guest on this episode of the podcast. Stafford grew up in Weatherford. He joined the US Air Force, saying he always wanted to fly “higher and faster.” Stafford was the pilot on the Gemini VI mission and commander on the Gemini IX and Apollo X flights. He also participated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, which is credited with easing tensions between the United States and the USSR. He holds the Guinness Book of World Records entry for the highest reentry speed of any manned space flight, which was achieved during Apollo X.

Fun fact: Did you know that on December 16, 1965, while in orbit above planet Earth in Gemini VI, Thomas Stafford and Walter Schirra Jr. reported the sighting of Santa's sleigh?

Their radio transmission playfully described that they could see “a command module” and “eight smaller command modules in front, traveling in a polar orbit from north to south.” They pretended that the sleigh was trying to signal their spacecraft, and performed the melody Jingle Bells with Schirra on harmonica and Stafford keeping time with a jingle bell wristband—instruments they smuggled onto the aircraft in advance of the light-hearted prank. This was the first instance of recorded music in space.

Holiday Kilgen performance with Lance Luce and the Laurel and Hardy film Big Business (1929)

On Monday, November 28, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. the Oklahoma History Center will present the 2022 late fall performance of the Kilgen Organ series featuring organist Lance Luce. The theme for the concert will be “Holiday Special.” The Laurel and Hardy film, Big Business (1929), will be shown and an audience sing-along is planned as a part of the performance.

Tickets for the performance are $10 for Oklahoma Historical Society members and $20 for nonmembers and may be reserved by calling 405-522-0765. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.