posted 03-16-2020 03:39 PM               

In the 1998 HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," Mondale is portrayed badly, as a NASA critic opposed to the Apollo program. At one point the Mondale character in the show explains to Webb in private that there are other things the government is doing that he is interested in, "and if getting what I want means we don’t go to the Moon, then so be it."

When he was interviewed for "Washington Goes to the Moon" in 1999, Mondale was asked about that episode and bristled both at the TV show's portrayal of him and the claim that he was opposed to the Apollo program. Mondale noted that he was an Apollo supporter, not somebody looking to cut the budget. He did not have an axe to grind with NASA; rather, he simply wanted to find out the truth about the [Apollo 1] fire.

Fortunately, after the radio program aired, the producer turned transcripts of the interviews over to NASA as historical documents. These transcripts include unaired portions of the interviews, including Mondale's interview. This interview, where the questioner is not identified but was probably producer Richard Paul, is reproduced [here] with limited editing for clarity. It has never been published before.