NASA's Top Rocket Scientist Had a Controversial Past

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1:19 Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-2005-0163 / Tellgmann, Oscar / CC-BY-SA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Articles referenced:

[Newsthink]

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[NRC]

Wernher von Braun needs his own movie like Oppenheimer

[TwinXBlaze]

now i understood those ''where were NASA scientists during WWII'' memes

[breawycker]

"When the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department!" Says Werner von Braun

[kasession]

I had a lot of family in Huntsville. As a kid, I got shipped there in the summer to hang out with cousins. It wasn't until I was an adult, that I got into history. When I learned that Von Braun lived in Huntsville, I said...OMG...For all I know, we may have driven by his house.
History is rich and complex. Thanks for expanding it just a little bit more. 👍🏿

[pascal]

I honestly do believe that von Braun was not a Nazi. He was an opportunist and not a ideologist, his goal was too engineer a rocket.

[wcg]

As an engineer who worked at MSFC NASA n Huntsville in the 90s, I CRINGE every time I hear the term “rocket scientist “. These Germans were rocket engineers and I was able to meet one who gave a speech at NASA.

Scientists think about things. Engineers do things.

[bradfordrusso]

I saw him, live. Lecturing at Millersville University. (Just outside of Lancaster, PA.) When I was in High School Physics class. This was 1974.

He spoke of hopes to create new metalic alloys in the absence of gravity (out in space). The goal was to make super-conductors at room temperature. Which was expected to allow them to create computer memory more dense than the human brain. I suspect our present day "thumb drives" or "flash drives" have achieved this storage capacity.

[wcg]

According to one book during development l, the V2 was falling apart as it came down. The engineers wanted to see it happen so decided that they would target an open field and stand directly at the point they were targeting reasoning that they knew they weren’t that accurate so should be safe.

That day they were pretty accurate and the rocket came down within a hundred yards of them. Fortunately for them just far enough they weren’t killed. But still pretty funny. Or at least I think so!

[leonardgibney]

I'm puzzled by the fact von Braun never (if I'm correct) attended debriefing conferences after Apollo missions, at least not the public ones. You'd think the father of rocketry would.

[wcg]

The production was originally with the engineering development at Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea. The Allies got word and bombed it. Due to that the Nazis moved production to the Nordhausen cave complex and started using slave labor instead of German labor due to secrecy concerns. But the V2 had many operational failures. Nobody knows how many of these slave laborers threw in dirt or pebbles deep in the rocket.

[DanielGomez-gwkt]

Newsthink Dr Wernher Von Braun wasn't really controversial, he was an innocent and talented engineering scientists and genius.

Because ever since he read a book about rockets and going into space, he had the ambition and he really wanted to make it all a reality. The truth is throughout his life, he had been fascinated and willing to build rocket ships to go into space. I also do believe that he never wanted to be involved with conflict and war, and I really do believe he was one of them that never believed in conflict and war.

I also do believe that in his vision, he never wanted to design and make rocket fuel for conflict and war. He wanted his ideas as peaceful purposes, because he really wanted to use his ideas and visions for space only. Because his number one dream and goal was to build rocket ships to go into space, and he hoped that spaceflight will be the future of traveling into outer space. As well as exploration to go to the Moon and even the red planet Mars.

I really believe that Dr Wernher Von Braun really wanted to do those ideas, and that they were part of his vision of space travel and space exploration. and he wanted to build rocket ships to do all of that.

And even though he worked for the nazis, and I'm very happy that you've explained in this video. Because later on when he was still with the nazis, he became a prisoner himself. Because they were evidence that he was tortured in prison, and when he was released. He wore a very big bandage on his arm. And whenever I would see that picture, I do believe that they probably broke his arm. The Nazis that is, because I really believe those guys had somehow tortured him in prison.

Because I do believe later on Von Braun realized that he was making weapons for the Nazis, and I believe he was scarred and affected by it so badly. And I do believe he was ashamed of himself for making weapons, that he really wanted to make rocket ships to go into outer space. So I do believe at some point later on he wanted to escape the Nazis, and vowing himself never to make weapons ever again.

Another thing I do believe that he told some of those Nazis that he really wanted to make rocket ships to go into space and that's it, but they didn't care of what he really wanted to do. And I do believe that they forced him to make weapons anyway, and if Von Braun didn't cooperate and didn't follow their orders. He too would be their prisoner, in which he was later on during World War II. And I do believe they did torture him in prison, forcing him to make weapons for the Nazis.

Luckily when the war was over, Von Braun was released out of prison. I believe he was worried at first if he would be arrested by Americans, but luckily they did not arrest him. They had been fascinated of his scientist skills, and engineering talents to build rockets.

And so in a way I believe the Americans really saved and rescued him away from the Nazis. And so Dr Wernher Von Braun had a new and better life to make his ideas and visions into a reality in the United States.

And then former President Eisenhower formed NASA in the late 1950s, and decided that Dr Wernher Von Braun should be the lead technician, engineer and scientists of all of the rockets they would build at NASA.

Dr Wernher Von Braun was really a genius and a true visionary, as well as a dreamer. Because for all of his life he wanted to make spaceflight a reality with space travel and space exploration, with powerful rocket ships that he wanted to design and build.

Alive today, I believe Dr Wernher Von Braun would continue his ideas and visions to focus only two outer space

[layersnmasks]

Your videos are amazing and easy to digest. I am so engaged by your creativity, pace and insight. this is what the web was meant to be..

[atombom]

Wow can't believe I haven't heard of this channel sooner. This is great content. Well made videos. Ive been browsing

[RevMikeBlack]

Born in the year of Sputnik, I grew up with the space program. Apollo was discussed in school every day for two years prior to the moon landing. The White House and NASA propaganda was hot & heavy at that time. Although I was a top science student and the NASA liaison for my school, I NEVER remember hearing of von Braun until well after the Apollo program had ended. His name just didn't come up very often because the focus was on the astronauts, the mission and the science. In addition, we were taught that absolutely no astronauts drank alcohol, smoked tobacco or participated in promiscuous activity. In other words, the message was always tightly controlled and von Braun was kept almost as invisible as Soviet Chief Designer Sergei Korolev.

[feraudyh]

When I was a tee, ager we would get the visit of WvB's niece. She told us that she did not see her uncle often, but when she did, he was always accompanied by half a dozen or more bodyguards.

[wcg]

Of course von Braun saw the tunnels. The chief engineer would always be involved in production.

[sietsedegrande]

22 hours after upload, 6k views. What a shame

[marsspacex]

Von Braun is probably one of the 5 or 6 most important people responsible for Apollo not the only person. 400, 000 people worked on Apollo the vast majority were american.

[motherslove]

We need to understand one thing! Engineers or scientists put their best efforts to fulfill tasks assigned by higher authorities. JUST because their creations were used for Evil purpose does not mean the man is evil