Before the Moon Blog
Exploring the past, present, and future of space.
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Discover how the Apollo Guidance Computer engineers turned 2‑kHz hardware limits into real‑time software breakthroughs that still guide modern spacecraft.
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Discover how the Johnsville human centrifuge in rural Pennsylvania gave NASA the hard data it needed to set Apollo’s crew‑safety G‑force limits, and why its leg
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Some moments stay with you long after they’re over. The first official private screening of Before the Moon at The Fuge (Johnsville Centrifuge) was one of those moments. More than 850 people filled the former Naval Air Development Center building for a sold-out evening celebrating a story that, for decades, had quietly existed in the…
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What does it feel like to be responsible for a spacecraft hundreds of miles above Earth… while sitting in a chair, staring at numbers? For Milt Heflin, that wasn’t a thought experiment. It was his job. He didn’t arrive at NASA with a grand plan or a childhood dream of spaceflight. The path was almost…
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon, millions watched history unfold. Dr. Lawrence Kuznetz was not watching from home. He was on console. He had not expected to be there. When he arrived at NASA in 1967, he was given a problem that did not exist in textbooks. Model the human body inside a…
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In this episode of Future Tech, I sit down with Blue Origin space explorer Jason Stansell, crew member of Mission NS-37, to break down what spaceflight really teaches you about preparation, risk, teamwork, and perspective. Jason shares what it’s like training for space, flying above Earth, and returning with a completely different view of fear,…
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When Ralph Anderson joined NASA, he didn’t know he would one day design a device that could save a drifting astronaut’s life. “I started out as a junior engineer working for Lockheed,” he said. “We built flight crew equipment for the Space Shuttle—a switch panel called L-1011. I couldn’t believe they were going to entrust…
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When Jerry Ross launched aboard the Space Shuttle for the first time, he was not just fulfilling a childhood dream. He was stepping into a role that would make him one of NASA’s most accomplished astronauts. With seven spaceflights, Ross remains the joint record holder for the most missions in human history. His hands built…
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When people think about the space program, they imagine rockets, astronauts, and launchpads in Florida or Texas. What they rarely picture is a chemical engineering laboratory in eastern Pennsylvania, where fundamental questions about materials, gravity, and matter were being asked decades ago. Yet that is exactly where Mohamed S. El-Aasser built a career that quietly…
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One Small Step… for a Camera? When Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of the Lunar Module and made that legendary first step on the Moon, millions of people watched it live on television. The image of Armstrong’s boot touching lunar dust is one of the most iconic in human history. But few people ever ask:…