In the milestone 200th GRR program – part 1 of a special 2 part show celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Apollo 11 moon landing. Jack “The Agnostic” Garcia an expert on early science fiction and the pulp magazines charts the long history of the lunar voyage in the genres of speculative fiction. From it’s beginnings as satire – a way to lampoon traditional political, scientific, social and religious values, flights into outer space accomplished via flocks of birds , gargantuan springs, gunpowder, balloons and demon powered spacecrafts. To the more realistic and scientific portrayals of the lunar voyage written as the imminent possibility of spaceflight draws nearer and nearer.  Jack also examines some of the great moon landing movies including the works of George Melies , Fritz Lang , George Pal and Stanley Kubrick.  Next, its the often neglected contribution of the Soviet Union to space exploration.  As the Russians ignite the space race and kick America’s butt for years until a series of disasters and tragedies (kept secret for decades) turn billions of rubles into dust and ashes, causing the Soviets to lose momentum and fall behind.

5 tracks hit forward to advance.