Terry Gross

Retired US Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut Capt. Jerry Linenger ("Linn-en-jer") In his book, "Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir" (in paperback) he chronicles his five months on board the Russian Space station "Mir" a ramshackle place he described as "six school buses all hooked together." During his five months there, they had numerous brushes with death, lacked adequate supplies, and battled constant system failures.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews the new film "Hannibal" starring Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore.

British actor Anthony Hopkins. His include "Equus," "The Remains of the Day," "Mission Impossible," "Armistad," "Nixon," and "The Silence of the Lambs." In the new film "Hannibal" he revives the character of Doctor Hannibal Lecter, a brillant psychiatrist turned sociopath killer, which he played in "The Silence of the Lambs."

Tom Kelley is the General Manager of IDEO, a design firm that has created some of the most successful and well-often used products, such as the first Apple mouse, Polaroids I-Zone instant camera, the Palm V pilot, the Crest Neat Squeeze standup toothpaste tube, and the Oral-B soft grip kids toothbrush. The company is known for its innovation, cutting-edge design, and attention to how products are used in real-life situations. His new book is The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, Americas Leading Design Firm.

J.J. Johnson, a pioneer of the modern jazz trombone died Sunday at his home in Indianapolis. He was 77. It was an apparent suicide. Johnson was considered the definitive trombonist of the bebop generation. He played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Wood Herman, and Miles Davis, often balancing that with leading his own band. Later in life, Johnson moved to Hollywood to work as a composer and arranger for television.

Salzman is the author of the new novel, Lying Awake about a cloistered nun who discovers that her spiritual visions may be induced by epilepsy. The book explores the connection between neurologic disorders and mysticism. Salzman is also the author of the novel The Soloist, and a memoir, Lost in Place. He is also a cellist.

Briggs is the creator of Who Wants to Be a Millionare? which premiered on British television in September 1998 and thereby set the phrase (or its translation) "Is that your final answer?" into orbit. The shows format has been licensed in 80 countries including India, Japan, Greece, and of course, the U.S.

Parsons invented the reality format show Survive, but couldn't get any interest for it in Britain. In 1996 Strix Television in Sweden bought the format rights for Survive, and went on to produce Expedition Robinson. It has become the most successful and controversial TV series in Scandinavia.

Peter Hessler is the author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (HarperCollins). Its about his two years in Fuling, China as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English and American literature at a local college. The book was serialized in The New Yorker.

Kraft was NASAs first flight director, from the first forays into space in the 1960s to after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969. Kraft also created Mission Control. He has written a new book, –Flight: My Life In Mission Control.