LA Made: The Other Moonshot - Part 2: Spring Loaded to Failure

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4.5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

In this episode of "LA Made: The Other Moonshot": Were these three engineers set up to fail? The space race starts to hit debilitating roadblocks, and the Black aerospace engineers are beginning to feel the weight of the workplace — and the clock ticking. Shelby, Nate and Charlie develop different ways to cope with the pressure. A tragedy during an Apollo 1 flight simulation raises the stakes even further, while outside the company, racial tensions come to a head in nearby Watts.

"LA Made: The Other Moonshot" is a production of LAist Studios with Reasonable Volume, and the third season of the LA Made franchise.

Visit BetterHelp.com/moonshot to get 10% off your first month.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We all know the story of how America got to the moon, but there's still another story
0:05.0	that's pretty much unknown. The story of the black aerospace engineers in Los Angeles
0:09.9	who helped get us there. The other moon shot from LAS, wherever you get your podcast.
0:15.8	Hey, it's just me, Paula Poundstone, and I'm coming to Glendale for a special live taping
0:20.4	co-presented by L.A.S. and Martin Media. It's February 8th at the Alex Theater. Tickets at
0:26.8	LAIS dot com slash events. See you there.
0:31.2	When I drove up to Shelby Jacob's house in 2022, Shelby rushed up to my car.
0:37.8	Hello, Shelby.
0:39.4	I didn't even have a chance to open the door.
0:41.7	What a pleasure to meet you.
0:43.2	Oh, you also.
0:45.0	So excited.
0:46.1	We're very, very excited.
0:48.1	He wore a blue cap that said,
0:50.4	Shelby Jacobs,
0:51.6	African-American Aerospace Engineer,
0:56.7	and a shirt covered in hot air balloons.
1:00.0	Good, but I wanted you to get a chance to see and talk to you a little bit about our environment.
1:03.0	You're familiar with the environment here generally.
1:06.3	I had only been in the driveway for one minute,
1:09.6	but like an enthusiastic tour guide, this Spry 87-year-old had things he needed to share.
1:17.2	When I worked out on the state's program, I could not live here.
	...

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