Never-Before-Told Story Of LA’s ‘Other Moonshot’ Honors Work Of Three Unsung Black Engineers.

The story of Apollo 11 is well known in modern history, but a lot fewer people know the story of the other moonshot. Far from Cape Canaveral in Florida or NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, this one occurred on the West Coast. And it is the subject of a new limited-run series from LAist Studio’s LA Made podcast.

LA Made: The Other Moonshot tells the story of three Black aerospace engineers who worked on the Apollo mission in Los Angeles during the 1960s – despite barely being allowed in the room. Host Joanne Higgins grew up hearing about the contributions of these Black aerospace engineers, in part because her godfather Charlie Cheathem was among the group who worked on the Apollo mission. Fearing that their legacy could be forgotten, Higgins began a journey to record and capture their experiences. 

“I’m so thrilled that this podcast was able to happen,” says Higgins. “It’s been an ambition of mine for many years to get their story out there. And now it is. It’s my gift to Charlie.

Higgins tells this story through first-hand accounts from her godfather, as well as his colleagues Nathaniel LeVert and Shelby Jacobs. Jacobs has since died; LeVert and Cheathem are in their 90s and speaking to the media for the first time in the podcast, sharing their crucial contributions to the early days of the race to the moon that have been overlooked or taken credit for by others.

Hired by North American Aviation for their skills and talent, Cheathem, LeVert and Jacobs were thrust into the uncertain and chaotic early Apollo missions. Not only were they expected to solve the hardest engineering problems, but as Black men, they faced an additional gauntlet of racism: They had their work stolen. They were insulted and excluded regularly. And they had little support from their higher-ups Yet they stayed the course and were ultimately triumphant, driven by their love of engineering and passion for space travel.

“While developing the first season of our LA Made podcast, ‘Blood, Sweat & Rockets,’ we separately learned about the previously untold experiences of the subjects of The Other Moonshot. We also fell in love with Joanne Higgins’ voice and tenacity in bringing this story to an audience,” says Shana Naomi Krochmal, VP of Podcasting at LAist Studios. “ The twin challenges at the center of The Other Moonshot—to achieve an audacious and unprecedented scientific accomplishment while also pushing workplaces to take a great leap forward—are as relevant and complex to consider now as they were then.”

Produced in partnership with Reasonable Volume, LA Made: The Other Moonshot will debut Wednesday (Jan. 29) with new episodes released weekly. It is the latest season for the podcast chronicling the global impact of Californian innovators.