/LA Made: The Other Moonshot

LA Made: The Other Moonshot

“LA Made” is a series exploring stories of bold Californian innovators and how they forever changed the lives of millions all over the world. Each season will unpack the untold and surprising stories behind some of the most exciting innovations that continue to influence our lives today. Season 3, "LA Made: The Other Moonshot," tells the story of three Black aerospace engineers in Los Angeles, who played a crucial role in America’s race to space, amid the civil unrest of the 1960s. When Joanne Higgins was growing up in Compton in Los Angeles, she heard her godfather, Charlie Cheathem, tell stories about his key role in the Apollo mission to the moon. As an adult, she realized that his experiences — and those of other Black engineers — had been left out of the history books. She set out to record for the first time the accounts of these men, now in their 90s, whose crucial contributions to the early days of the Apollo mission have been overlooked — or taken credit for by others — despite their ingenuity and determination. Season 2, “LA Made: The Barbie Tapes,” tells the backstory of the world’s most popular doll, Barbie. Barbie is a cultural icon but what do you really know about her? Hear Barbie's origin story from the people who created her. Co-hosted by Antonia Cereijido and M.G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, hear the wild stories from never-before-heard tapes of interviews with Barbie inventor Ruth Handler, her wardrobe designer and the sculptors and fabricators, and the innovative marketers who made her what she is today. This 3-part series premieres July 6, 2023. Season 1, “LA Made: Blood, Sweat & Rockets,” tells the hidden story of the fearless, groundbreaking and ambitious crew who shaped our quest to outer space and ushered in the early days of space exploration at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at CalTech. Known as the “Suicide Squad,” the team’s road to triumph was fraught with controversies involving the occult, a suspected spy ring, unplanned explosions, and a suspicious death. Join writer and life-long aerospace fanatic M.G. Lord as she uncovers their story and reveals the shocking origins of rocket science in this 12 episode season. 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. This podcast was made possible with support from the Committee for Greater LA in partnership with the Weingart Foundation.

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Imperfect Paradise: How AI became a Hollywood villain – especially for animators (Redux)

Dec 26, 2025·—

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This episode originally aired on March 12, 2025. Hollywood taught us to be afraid of a super powerful artificial intelligence that will one day conquer humanity. So not surprisingly, many screenwriters and actors are...

Imperfect Paradise: Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission for a new home and space exploration

Dec 19, 2025·—

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Los Angeles is an integral part of space shuttle Endeavour’s journey. The California Science Center is building a new, larger home for the shuttle, which will make it the only place in the world to see a complete...

Imperfect Paradise: Residents left behind at elder care facilities in LA raise serious questions about evacuation preparedness

Dec 12, 2025·—

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In the early morning hours of January 8, the Eaton Fire raced closer to the MonteCedro retirement community in Altadena, California. Nearly 200 of the facility’s residents were evacuated, but two women were left behind...

Imperfect Paradise: Altadena childcare providers' struggle to rebuild raises questions about government disaster response

Dec 5, 2025·—

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At least 280 childcare spaces were affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires in January. LAist reporter Libby Rainey and early childhood senior reporter Elly Yu followed two women who ran childcare businesses out of...

Imperfect Paradise: Gender-affirming care for transgender youth is at risk in LA and nationwide

Nov 28, 2025·—

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Nearly 3,000 patients have been forced to find gender-affirming care elsewhere after the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles closed their LA Center for Trans Youth Health and Development in July. The closure comes amid...

Imperfect Paradise: Health workers say ICE agents at hospitals are compromising patient care

Nov 21, 2025·—

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Amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, there’s been an uptick in ICE presence in hospitals across the country. At Adventist Health White Memorial hospital in Boyle Heights, doctors say that hospital...

Imperfect Paradise: California's new free public preschool program for 4-year-olds

Nov 14, 2025·—

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All four-year-olds in the state of California now have access to a free preschool program in their local school district. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a plan to expand the state’s transitional kindergarten, or TK, program...

Imperfect Paradise: Who pays for the 2028 Olympics? LA taxpayers may be on the hook

Nov 7, 2025·—

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In less than a thousand days, Los Angeles will be hosting the summer Olympics. Many cities worldwide have been put into debt by the games, so what could they mean for Los Angeles? LAist reporter Libby Rainey joins...

Imperfect Paradise: Why the site of the largest methane leak in US history still hasn’t been shut down

Oct 31, 2025·—

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Regulations on gas storage facilities have been tightened since the detection of the Aliso Canyon leak, which started in 2015 and lasted nearly four months. But residents remain worried about long term health effects...

Imperfect Paradise: How becoming a US citizen just got harder under the Trump administration and what it means for Angelenos

Oct 23, 2025·—

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The Trump administration’s immigration policies have resulted in raids and protests in Southern California and across the country, and the administration has also moved to tighten who gets citizenship. Recently, the...

Imperfect Paradise: Prop 50: Is California’s redistricting push a threat to democracy or a defense of it?

Oct 17, 2025·—

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Proposition 50 is part of a nationwide battle over control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Californians are being asked to take a side: Should the state be temporarily allowed to redraw congressional maps to...

Imperfect Paradise: An LA Commission created to tackle city government scandals is being stymied

Oct 9, 2025·—

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A charter reform commission was created in 2024 in response to multiple Los Angeles city government scandals, including the leak of a racist tape featuring City Council President Nury Martinez. One of the commission’s...

Imperfect Paradise: Reports about failures in response to the January LA fires and a 2018 fire have striking similarities

Oct 3, 2025·—

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A new report details the Eaton and Palisades fires, including failures in the emergency response. But this report bears striking similarities with another -- which chronicled the response to the 2018 Woolsey Fire in...

Imperfect Paradise: How union organizing is being upended by private universities in Southern California

Sep 26, 2025·—

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Big companies like Amazon and SpaceX are claiming that the National Labor Relations Board – an independent federal entity in charge of overseeing unionizing efforts – is unconstitutional. In addition to those companies...

Imperfect Paradise: Why California's protest law is flawed and the consequences to protesters

Sep 19, 2025·—

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After the George Floyd protests of 2020, California took steps to rein in violent policing of protests by passing laws restricting how law enforcement uses less-lethal weapons, like tasers and rubber bullets. But high...

Imperfect Paradise: The Huntington Beach library at the center of America’s culture wars

Sep 10, 2025·—

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Censorship efforts at libraries nationwide have increased steadily over the last several years. In the 2023 - 24 school year, more than 10,000 book bans were counted in the country’s public schools. These efforts have...

Part 4: The Landing

Feb 19, 2025·—

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In the final episode of "LA Made: The Other Moonshot": Despite several stopgaps and hiccups, the moon landing is a monumental success, although many Black Americans feel it’s come at a cost to their progress. The...

Part 3: Making an Impact

Feb 12, 2025·—

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In this episode of "LA Made: The Other Moonshot": The launch of Apollo 6. Nate and Charlie must choose how to respond when their work is undermined by superiors, leading to tense stand-offs. Meanwhile Shelby works on a...

Part 2: Spring Loaded to Failure

Feb 5, 2025·—

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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...

Part 1: Ignition Starts

Jan 29, 2025·—

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In this first episode of "LA Made: The Other Moonshot": America aims for the moon. President John F. Kennedy stands proudly behind the mission to advance the country and welcomes a diverse team to get the job done. That...

Introducing LA Made: The Other Moonshot (Coming January 29)

Jan 22, 2025·—

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When Joanne Higgins was growing up in Compton in Los Angeles, she heard her godfather, Charlie Cheathem, tell stories about his key role in the Apollo mission to the moon. As an adult she realized that his experiences...

The Barbie Tapes: When Girls--and Barbie--Could Do Anything

Jul 20, 2023·—

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In this episode, Ruth and Elliot Handler are gone, and the new Mattel team, led by a man who feared the volatility of the toy business, diversified the company and made a big gamble on electronics. It didn’t work...

The Barbie Tapes: Battle of the Bulge

Jul 13, 2023·—

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For Barbie, the cultural upheaval of the 60s and 70s incites one identity crisis after another as Mattel tries to keep up with the times. On top of that, she has a new boyfriend to deal with. Ken's creation is a big hit...

The Barbie Tapes: A Toy is Born

Jul 6, 2023·—

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When Barbie arrives on the toy scene in 1959, her celebrity is instantaneous, and not just because of her controversial appearance. Worldwide, Barbie is still the best-selling doll of all time. But Barbie has always...

Introducing LA Made: The Barbie Tapes from LAist Studios

Jul 4, 2023·—

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Season 2 of “LA Made” tells the true story of the making and marketing of the most famous doll in the world, Barbie, told by the people who did it. We’ll hear from Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler, who spent years trying...