I learned about Lilian Cunningham from American History Tellers last prohibition podcast and looked her up. Found she had done Moonrise, which I had listed to, learned from and enjoyed years ago. I’m bing listening to her all her Constitutional - it’s great- and when I’m done I do all 44? Episodes or presidential. You need to know the face and UNDERSTAND the emotions behind history because I does repeat itself.
I'm so glad I found this podcast! I thought I had a pretty decent knowledge of the whole history around rockets, competing with the Russians, etc. but this brought my knowledge space to a whole new level with such detail that it just blew me away.
Really enjoying the story. Very interesting. I find the reporter’s tone a challenge. Slow, disinterested and a lot of pausing between words in an manner that is distracting.
From filling Lillian from Presidential, Constitutional, to Moonrise. She’s gotten more and more comfortable with herself and Moonrise shows it! Love the production, information and how she tells the story! Can’t wait for the next thing she does 👀
I’m not a huge science buff but I absolutely LOVED this podcast! It was very interesting and there were many moments that made me yearn for more…(almost every episode!) I would definitely recommend you giving it a listen! :)
I love all things space especially the space race. There are just a lot of things you got wrong. I really wanted to like this podcast but there is too much mis-information.
I was 13 years old when Apollo 11 landed. I was watching it at the home of a relative who was involved with planning a Mars landing program. I was also able to watch the Apollo 13 launch. We were across a stretch of water on a beach. I very vividly remember feeling the vibration of those huge engines. This series brought back many memories like that. The tremendous feeling of pride and hope for the future of space exploration and the tremendous scientific advances to come. And how over the following years how that all died. All I can say now is GO ELON GO!!!
Love it, love it love it. I’ve listened to it over and over and always learning something new.
So much detail that you would never have known if it wasn’t for this teams hard work.
Love the way it’s read and truly enjoy the pauses, very well narrated.
Lillian Cunningham’s voice is a pleasant calm addition to the wonders of space.
A comic book, who could have guessed.
This podcast takes itself way too seriously. I really wanted to learn about this topic, but the distracting and unnecessary sound effects, pregnant pauses, etc…, made it annoying and impossible for ME to finish.
I have now listened to this in successive years to find it even more approachable and rewarding. Cunningham followed her discoveries throughout the series taking you along with a broad diagnosis of history of the time, history felt today, bonus of an atmospheric presence the music leaving you with feelings of star flight and intrigue.
The information in this podcast is so well researched and very captivating, but I couldn’t get over how dramatic and over-produced everything was. So many awkward pauses. And the sound effects were almost annoying.
If you live space and NASA and all things of that realm, you must listen to this podcast. Educational, great history and background, well produced and reported. Just excellent all around. It’s both gritty and realistic about the darker side of politics, but somehow remains a little bit hopeful by the end. I loved this whole season and wished there was more when it was over.
I didn’t know much about the the race to the moon, other than just the regular high level info everyone has … this podcast was so interesting and well done. I really enjoyed this!
Lillian Cunningham has done it again. First, she explored every president in “Presidential” (2016), then followed that up with “Constitutional” (2017), an examination of different aspects of the Constitution, its origins and its lasting effects. With “Moonrise” (2019), timed to start during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, Cunningham goes beyond the traditional narrative of JFK’s famous challenge to get to the moon within the 1960s and goes back to the seeds being planted in the popular science fiction of the 1930s and 1940s. The parallels between these science fiction stories and the scientific developments of the day are closer than I was previously aware of, even intersecting. Fascinating! If you haven’t listened to this now, I highly recommend it. I am only a couple of episodes in as I write this review, and I am hooked.
I saved this podcast when it was released to listen to ASAP, just as I did with dozens others 🤦🏻♀️ so it took me a while to get to it and albeit super late, I’m loving it. I love all the archival interview, there’s something very powerful about hearing the main characters’ voices. I love all the research you’ve done and the detailed information on the background stories, descriptions of the characters and motives of the people who played a part in the space program. Throughly enjoying it (3 episodes to go!)
This podcast is very well done and is great from start to finish. Any person who loves history will enjoy this and appreciate the work that went into its production.
As a space geek, I greatly enjoyed the history. VonBraun, Kennedy’s speech, LBJ, all the historical context around those people and events was wonderfully. I dropped the podcast a star because of the over done frame as well as the agenda of the WP. Equal rights and discrimination were highlighted as a weakness of NASA in the later episodes of the podcast. Seemed unfair to single out NASA as the “all-white” astronaut corps was a reflection of general society of the time. Looking back from today we can see the problems with that thinking, but to accuse NASA of being racist is unfair and seems to promote an agenda.
Loved the history. Didn’t appreciate the agenda.
Fantastic historical podcast. Brings together so many interesting aspects of 20th Century world history. This podcast is a knock out. Fun and entertaining as hell. A rewarding listen.
Superbly conceived, researched, and produced. Stitched together so many of my own experiences and life long interests (science fiction, politics, space exploration, raw courage) into a narrative that I couldn’t see in its entirety until now. Thank you!!
After listening to this podcast twice, I highly recommend it as a companion piece to BBC’s 13 Minutes to the Moon. This expands the narrative focus to include many moments of cultural context behind the moon landing, such as Sci-Fi and the turbulent 60’s. The host’s enthusiasm comes across in her voice and curiosity (suspicions?) but sometimes she pronounces “t” as a hard “d” as in “impordant.”
Waaaay overproduced with unnecessary dramatic overload. Great reporting but didn’t need to make it sound as there was a conspiracy behind every rock.
Music was weird, full of pregnant pauses making you think the episode ended, and modulation of sound needed work.
Having said that there are some interesting historical tidbits to pick up. Good listen overall just be prepared to wade through some drama.
I’ve not listened or watched as well done a program, memoir, biography or analysis of the race to the moon! I’m 57, an Apollo kid and now an Artemis grandparent. I’ve followed NASA and as a teacher helped my students to employment at NASA and other aerospace companies. I have been to JSC, KSC and Ames Research Center. I’ve stood in the trench in MOCR-2. It’s in my bones and Moonrise was fantastic! I was in my classroom the day Falcon Heavy launched and tears streamed from my eyes accepting with joy that the Saturn V has a worthy successor. I discovered this podcast while being a space nerd watching the launch and docking of Demo-2 with my grandsons. I could go on but a hearty thank you to you all for this podcast. I did not want the podcast to end and in fact delayed the last 25 minutes of listening for a week to get past my sadness that it was going to end. Thank you!
I’ve read a reasonable bit of space history, and I was still routinely blown away! I’m only a few episodes in and this is already one of my favorite podcasts ever!
Those that wish to speed through deny themselves the opportunity to reflect for a moment on broad and profound revelations. This is not the hourly news or bingable TV.
I have really enjoyed all of her podcasts so far and this one is probably my favorite. It was especially opportune to listen to it while watching SpaceX launch. Love it!
I have LOVED all of Lillian’s podcasts. This one is so riveting, is easy to understand what she is talking about and she really makes me feel like I was there! I hope she continues podcasting!
I came looking for some history. What I found sounds like typical WA Post, inserting their bias, though perhaps blindly rather than deliberately. I was done when the narrator compared the motivation for America to pursue the space race to Imperialism.
The content is great. My 10 year old son and I are listening together. We have been exploring space travel for a bit of escapism during quarantine. The broader context around why we went to the moon rather than just how is a story I have never heard in this way. I agree with some of the other reviews about the cheesy sound effects but I don’t find them to distract from the content. Sounds great at 1.5 speed but way too slow at normal speed which is odd but an easy fix. Thanks for all your research and hard work! We are really enjoying this!
One of the best podcasts I have listened to.
Tells a well-known story starting at a less well-known beginning, and ending at place different from where it usually ends, and tells it by following various interrelated, historical and global threads that are often obscured by the simplicity of national myth making. ... highly recommended.
I’ve listened to two episodes. The story is compelling, but I could at times barely sit through it because of the overuse and excessive volume of hoaky space music. I’m hoping the production matures and they tone it down.
Really great insights and stories that look at the cultural and political background to the space race. (A really good complement to another BBC podcast that dives deep into the technical and the personalities behind the US space effort)
This is an intriguing podcast that I loved! It was so well done by the Washington Post & the voice of narrator Lillian Cunningham was so soothing that it made for great listening.
I grew up in the 50’s & 60’s and I learned about so many events in that timeframe that I had not been aware of. This was a great learning experience for me!
I would encourage anyone to listen to this podcast!
