Podcasts by Moonrise
“Truer, but also darker.” This is the real origin story behind America’s decision to go to the moon. The story we learn starts with Sputnik, then President Kennedy’s challenge, and ends with triumph: an American flag on the lunar surface. But in the 50 years that have passed since the moon landing, as presidential documents have been declassified and secret programs have been revealed, a wilder story has begun to emerge. “Moonrise,” a new Washington Post narrative mini-series, digs into the nuclear arms race of the Cold War, the transformation of American society and politics, and even the birth of science fiction, to unearth what really drove us to the moon. Join host Lillian Cunningham (of the Presidential and Constitutional podcasts) as she uncovers a story that has so much to reveal about America -- and about the dreams and nightmares of being human on this Earth.
Further podcasts by The Washington Post
Podcast on the topic Geschichte
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Introducing “The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop” from 2023-10-17T11:00
Grenada’s Black revolutionary leader, Maurice Bishop, was executed in a coup in 1983, along with seven others. The whereabouts of their remains are unknown. Now, The Washington Post’s Martine Po...
ListenListen to the first episode of “Field Trip”: Yosemite National Park from 2023-06-30T10:00
To hear the rest of the series, follow “Field Trip” wherever you listen.
California’s Sierra Nevada is home to a very special kind of tree, found nowhere else on Earth: th...
ListenIntroducing “Field Trip” from 2023-06-14T11:00
Journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s national parks. The Washington Post’s Lillian Cunningham ventures off the marked trail to better understand the most urgent stori...
ListenThe Dark Moon from 2019-10-22T11:15
Apollo 11 lifts off from Earth, fulfilling but also waking us from a longtime science-fiction dream. In the finale of “Moonrise,” we find ourselves on the moon.
ListenMagnificent Desolation from 2019-10-15T11:15
The United States confronts race riots and the Vietnam War. Science fiction wrestles with its purpose now that space travel has become real. And NASA investigates its own failings. In the 11th chap...
ListenThe Beyond from 2019-10-08T11:00
Lyndon Johnson takes over the presidency following John F. Kennedy’s assassination, while rocketeer Sergei Korolev watches his fate rise and fall in the Soviet Union. In the 10th chapter of “Moonri...
ListenJFK and the Secret Tapes from 2019-10-01T11:15
John F. Kennedy announces the moonshot. Then the doubts creep in …In the ninth chapter of “Moonrise,” old White House recordings reveal the president’s true views on the space race.
ListenA New Frontier from 2019-09-24T11:00
John F. Kennedy goes from senator to president. Space cowboys go from fiction to reality. And the United States chooses to go to the moon — in the eighth chapter of “Moonrise.”
ListenNightmare on the Hill from 2019-09-17T11:15
Congress investigates the Sputnik launch. Lyndon Johnson seizes the spotlight. And President Eisenhower gets backed into a corner. In the seventh chapter of “Moonrise,” space gets political.
ListenThe Bomb and the Saucer from 2019-08-20T11:46:45
Nuclear fears haunt the American psyche. Fascination with aliens is on the rise. And the U.S. government begins secret rocket experiments. In the fifth installment of"Moonrise,"the best and worst o...
ListenInside the Gulag from 2019-08-13T13:00
A Russian rocket dreamer is sent to a Siberian prison. And the road to redemption stretches more than 5,000 miles. On this episode of"Moonrise,"a look at the maestro behind the Soviet space effort.
ListenThe Shapeshifter from 2019-08-06T13:00
A German rocket scientist with a secret mission and dark past. A science fiction editor under the watch of the FBI. In the third chapter of Moonrise, weapons of war lay the groundwork for space tra...
ListenVisionaries of the Void from 2019-07-30T13:00
A tiny New York office fills with big ideas. A group of sci-fi writers bring space travel into popular culture. American rocketry begins to take flight. On this episode of Moonrise, the dream of th...
ListenThe Tale of the Blue Light from 2019-07-19T13:12
A man who meets himself on the moon. A blue orb that bursts into flames. The quest to explain the unexplained. In the first chapter of"Moonrise,"the journey to space begins.
ListenIntroducing Moonrise from 2019-07-18T21:01:22
You’ve heard about how we landed on the moon, now find out why we went there. Host Lillian Cunningham introduces a new Washington Post podcast that will explore the real story behind the moonsho...
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