Before the Moon Blog
Exploring the past, present, and future of space.
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It started with a countdown. Ten, nine, eight… a group of kids huddled behind a yellow safety line, eyes locked on the slender rocket balanced on its red launcher. The button was pressed, and in a burst of smoke and speed, the rocket shot into the blue August sky. Cheers erupted. For a moment, every…
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What does it feel like to watch a man willingly black out in the name of science? Frank Kurdziel still remembers. In the mid-1980s, Frank was a young environmental engineer at the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster, Pennsylvania. He didn’t design rockets or pilot jets, but he was part of the backbone that…
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This post is from an informal pre-interview done with filmmaker Jason Sherman in preparation for an in person formal interview with NASA Astronaut Terry J. Hart for his upcoming film Before the Moon. When Terry Hart appears on screen, he doesn’t command attention with volume – but with clarity. Calm, precise, and humble to a…
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The Moment I Got My Boarding Pass to Space It was a quiet Monday when I clicked “Register.” No fanfare, no boarding tunnel, no NASA badge around my neck. Just a digital RSVP to witness history: the NASA SpaceX Crew-11 mission launch, happening July 31st at precisely 12:09 p.m. EDT. For most of my life,…
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Wait… What Does Butter Have to Do With Space? Let’s rewind. Before centrifuges spun astronauts and local factories built NASA hardware, Bucks County was already quietly solving problems—with steam, steel, and, yes… butter. The region’s inventors weren’t aiming for the stars. They were aiming to improve life on Earth. But their curiosity, craftsmanship, and willingness…
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It Started With Corn. It Ended With the Moon. In the early 20th century, the land that would later host America’s most advanced aerospace research wasn’t full of jets, rockets, or spinning centrifuges. It was full of corn. Rows and rows of it. But beneath those furrows of farmland was a spark—a quiet legacy of…
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On July 16, 1969, a rocket unlike any the world had seen thundered off the pad at Cape Kennedy. Four days later, two astronauts stepped into history. Fifty-six years ago this week, Apollo 11 launched humanity beyond Earth’s cradle, and nothing has been the same since. That moment—when Neil Armstrong’s boot hit the lunar dust—was…
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They Weren’t on the Rocket—But They Saved the Mission When Apollo 13 suffered a catastrophic explosion en route to the Moon, the world held its breath. Oxygen was leaking. Power was draining. And carbon dioxide—the astronauts’ own breath—was building up inside the Lunar Module. If NASA couldn’t scrub the CO₂ fast enough, the astronauts would…
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There’s something profoundly grounding about stepping into a room full of artifacts, photographs, and paper records most people have never seen. Yesterday, I had the chance to do just that during a visit to the Newtown Historic Association in Bucks County. Dave Callahan was nice enough to give me a tour of his well organized…
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Would You Strap Yourself Into a Machine That Simulates Death? Imagine climbing into a steel gondola, being locked into a seat, and flung in a giant circle at 175 miles per hour—until your vision tunnels, your breath seizes, and the world darkens to black. Now imagine doing it… on purpose. This wasn’t a thrill ride.…