Synopsis

It’s the height of the Cold War. The United States is locked in a high-stakes race with the Soviet Union for space supremacy. Determined to reach the Moon before the decade’s end, President John F. Kennedy commits the nation to an ambitious and uncertain path—one that will demand the largest mobilization of government, educational, and private sector resources ever undertaken in peacetime.

Many rise to the challenge, making sacrifices willingly. But what of the sacrifices made without consent? The lives disrupted without choice, without the chance to say “no”?

Across a swath of the American South, entire communities were displaced to make way for the infrastructure needed to get us to the Moon. Under eminent domain, the federal government seized land from farmers, families, and historic communities alike.

Powerful figures like Senators John Stennis of Mississippi and Claude Pepper of Florida, exerted political muscle to push these efforts through, displacing people whose families had lived on that land for generations. Until now, these voices have been largely excluded from the historical record.

Through in-depth interviews with survivors, descendants, local historians, and former NASA workers, Erased for Space aims to build a more complete historical narrative—one that balances the celebrated legacy of space exploration with the social costs borne by those in its path.

• Part I focuses on Mississippi’s Piney Woods region, where some 150,000 acres were seized for what would become the nation’s largest rocket test facility, the John C. Stennis Space Center.
  

• Part II shifts to Florida’s Atlantic coast, where the creation of the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island led to the destruction of farming communities and historic towns like Orsino, Shiloh, Clifton, and Allenhurst.

Initial fundraising is wrapping up on Kickstarter. But there’s still time to support the project.