'Before The Moon' Documentary Spotlights Bucks Co. Space History

WARMINSTER TOWNSHIP, PA — The race to space didn't begin at Cape Canaveral or Houston.

A new feature-length documentary coming out this summer spotlights how the Apollo program that landed astronauts on the moon began in Bucks County, at a base in the township.

"Before The Moon" focuses on Bucks County's inventors, engineers, and test pilots, who laid the groundwork for the Space Age.

At the center of the legacy was the Naval Air Development Center (NADC), a Cold War research hub where flight systems, guidance technologies, life-support innovations, and the world's largest and most powerful human centrifuge reshaped our understanding of human endurance.

Here, future astronauts like Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, and Buzz Aldrin pushed their bodies to the limit while NADC's laboratories pioneered many of the tools and techniques that made crewed spaceflight possible.

"The Fuge" — where special entertainment events are now held —was once known as the Johnsville Centrifuge, the place where NASA trained those three astronauts who will be remembered in history books until the end of time.

"The Fuge" will hold a special screening of the film on July 18.

From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for the acceleration (G force) training for X-15 pilots as well as Project Mercury, Project Gemini (New Nine), and 14 Project Apollo astronauts in preparation for manned spaceflight.

It's been over 65 years (August 1959) since Project Mercury Astronaut training began at the Centrifuge.

Project Mercury was the first U.S. manned spaceflight program and consisted of seven astronauts: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, and Gordon Cooper.

Click here to learn more about the film

(Dino Ciliberti/Patch)