Posted on 04/02/2012 10:25:16 AM PDT by Borges
One of the greatest rocket scientists of all time would have been 100 years old on Friday, and his legacy is being celebrated in his adopted home town of Huntsville, Ala.
Wernher von Braun was a German engineer who came to the United States at the end of World War II after working for the German war effort designing the V-2 combat rocket. Despite his past and affiliation with the Nazi party, von Braun went on to build the rockets that would carry U.S. astronauts to the moon and establish America as a leader in space for decades to come. He became a United States citizen in 1955.
"He was very unique," recalled American aerospace engineer David Christensen, who worked with von Braun when he arrived in the United States. "I don't know of another individual, frankly, that's had those capabilities, either then or now, that could do the things he did."
Christensen, who will turn 80 on April 7, will speak along with others who knew von Braun at a University of Alabama commemorative event on Friday in Huntsville.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun
A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience
Call him a Nazi, he won’t even frown
“Ha, Nazi schmazi,” says Wernher von Braun
Don’t say that he’s hypocritical
Say rather that he’s apolitical
“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun
Some have harsh words for this man of renown
But some think our attitude should be one of gratitude
Like the widows and cripples in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun
You too may be a big hero
Once you’ve learned to count backwards to zero
“In German oder English I know how to count down
Und I’m learning Chinese,” says Wernher von Braun
— Tom Lehrer
“Despite his past and affiliation with the Nazi party...”
I don’t think he had much of a choice.
Plagerize, plagerize, let no one’s work escape your eyes.
Tom Lehr, one of me favorite geniuses, graduated from MIT, then went on to become an irreverent songster.
Just think of the outcome of our space program if the USSR grabbed all these guys first.
Right after Sputnik went up In 1957 there were rocket clubs formed in high schools around the country similar to the one in the movie October Sky. I was a member of a club of 5 members in my high school in Oklahoma City. Von Braun came to Oklahama City and met with us and a couple of other clubs.
We went on to fire several rockets at Fort Sill that were tracked on radar and our club set the record of 5200 ft. One of our members went on to be and engineer and worked for NASA for a while.
Just think of the outcome of our space program if the USSR grabbed all these guys first.
/mark
He also became a Christian after being witnessed to by a Gideon.
Von Braun was one of the old school engineers who designed the massive Saturn V with basically slide rule technology.
I always think of October Sky when I hear about Von Braun. That was a great film...
“No Senator...our Germans are better than their Germans.”
When your boss is sacked and you find out that you now report directly to Heinrich Himmler your options dwindle down to "work voluntarily and possibly survive" or "work at gunpoint and die when finished."
Bet they don’t commemorate him in London.
Is that Goddard?
And now an engineering degree is so complicated it takes 5 or 6 years to complete.
And others are...
* Taking out loans now from Fedzilla.
* to get degrees in social justice, and other such gutless studies.
* And Obama essentially shuts down the space program.
We are so screwed...
Obama doing what only Nikita Khrushchev could only dream of doing without a shoe!
“I always think of October Sky when I hear about Von Braun. That was a great film...”
As you can imagine, I can relate to the movie in a personal way. It was a great experiance for me and my 4 classmates.
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