Jul 20, 2026

The Curiosity Squad Episode 42 – How the Moon Landing changed Huntsville

Space spin-offs are usually science or technology related, but here in the rocket city, the very city itself was transformed by the space program from the 1950’s. In this episode of the Curiosity Squad, host Alex Hall explores the space age ranches with realtor Vicki Van Valkenburgh and the preservation work done on the historic test stands before demolition earlier this year. She brings a story told by voices from audio recordings of 1958 and 1966 as well as today of the ‘clubhouse’ that the rocket scientists built on Monte Sano, and we also hear from three USSRC docents who were there. Jack Stokes, Benni Jacks and Heidi Collier recount some of the ways that community was more enduring than the buildings.

As the interview with the docents was much much longer than we were able to include in the show, more of that will be uploaded at a later date so that you can hear recollections of stores, malls, and more from the space race era.

Audio sources for the VBAS story are listed below. Alex would like to thank Dick Christiansen for his work on the VBAS 70th anniversary documentary, from which a few snippets are taken.

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