Saturday, October 17, 2009

Wernher von Braun

I happened to catch the end of Man, Moment, Machine on the History channel this weekend. The documentary was on Wernher Von Braun. He was a German scientist that was responsible for the creation of the V2 missile.
Hitler happened to get his hands Von Braun's blue prints on the missiles and hastily had hundred's of them built. The Nazi party apparently directed these missiles at London England. Between September 1944 and March 1945, five thousand people were killed due to the sneak attack of these deadly missiles. Hitler used slave labor to build these enormous V2 weapons.
Luckily after Hitlers death, Von Braun was able to escape Nazi control and hid the documents in an iron mine in the city of Dorten.
As it turns out Americans find the documents and had them translated, discovering the key to German technology.
Von Braun wanted to give his creation to the US because he understood that the United States was and industrial gold mine or "cash cow".
The technology of the V2 was eventually used to help Neil Armstrong land on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Wernher von Braun's moral decision to come west to fulfill his dream of space flight put valuable technology in the hands of the United States rather than in Hitler's Germany or other nations.
Cool documentary, hopefully I can catch it in its entirety

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