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Wernher von Braun: The Father of Space Flight
Institute for Creation Research ^ | Jan 2015 | Jerry Bergman

Posted on 01/05/2015 7:18:57 AM PST by fishtank

Wernher von Braun: The Father of Space Flight

by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D. *

Wernher von Braun—more than any other scientist—brought us into the space age.1 Von Braun laid the foundation for cell phones, satellite radio, the Internet, GPS, and Doppler radar. His later career reads like a history of the American space program,2 and it was undergirded by a firm belief in the Creator God of the Bible.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: braun; creation; nasa; space
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To: katana

Hear, hear.


21 posted on 01/05/2015 8:01:26 AM PST by stormer
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To: fishtank

Cell phones? I don’t think so.


22 posted on 01/05/2015 8:05:36 AM PST by Ray76 (/s)
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To: null and void

Speaking of Ice Station Zebra, there were interesting parallels with the actual loss of US CORONA spy satellite masquerading under the name of Discoverer II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Station_Zebra#Plot_origin_and_cultural_impact


23 posted on 01/05/2015 8:07:23 AM PST by XEHRpa
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To: null and void

If only Jim Brown had been more careful when they were out there with the Snow Car or whatever vehicle that was.


24 posted on 01/05/2015 8:08:10 AM PST by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: Maceman

“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun


25 posted on 01/05/2015 8:08:19 AM PST by heartwood
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To: 2banana

The smartest engineering professor I ever had was one of von Braun’s rocket scientists. Even in the 1980’s NASA used to fly him down for shuttle launches as a consultant.


26 posted on 01/05/2015 8:09:44 AM PST by XEHRpa
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To: SaveFerris

Oops - Snow Cat or whatever


27 posted on 01/05/2015 8:12:49 AM PST by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

When you get right down to it, the V-2 was a massive investment for delivering a relatively small amount of HE. The resources would have been better spent elsewhere.


28 posted on 01/05/2015 8:14:38 AM PST by Little Ray (How did I end up in this hand-basket, and why is it getting so hot?)
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To: fishtank
Wernher von Braun—more than any other scientist—brought us into the space age

I thought that was Goddard

29 posted on 01/05/2015 8:15:08 AM PST by pa_dweller
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To: pa_dweller

Wernher von Braun based his and his team’s development work with liquid fueled rocket engines upon Robert Goddard’s prior works. The U.S. Government neglected to make its resources available to Goddard in anything resembling those resources the German government made available to Von Braun and his team. This was due in part to support from Dornberger and the German Army.


30 posted on 01/05/2015 8:21:45 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: kosciusko51
Von Braun's Nazi membership number was 5,738,692. His SS membership number was 185,068 and his wore his uniform regularly to official SS functions.

Be careful about anything Von Braun wrote or said about his Nazi past after his capture and arrival in America, since he tried hard to spin it all away while working in the U.S. missile and space programs.

31 posted on 01/05/2015 8:24:29 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: WhiskeyX
In the last days of the war, Von Braun risked his life to evacuate the members of his team and their technical documentation to the U.S. Army.

So that they would not be left to the tender mercies of the Russians? That's hardly a selfless act.

32 posted on 01/05/2015 8:26:17 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

After getting Top Secret clearance I (E4) and nine other GIs went TDY FT.Gordon to Redstone Sept. 1958. Our assignment
90 days to install phone system in new facilities for Von Braun in his new building.
This Florida Cracker saw his first snow, in November, that year, age 23.
Nice town but weird liquor laws!


33 posted on 01/05/2015 8:26:25 AM PST by GOYAKLA
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Space & Rocket Center is a great place to visit

Was suprised how big a V-2 was

Not to mention how big the Saturn was...

America was fortunate to have captured Von Braun and others


34 posted on 01/05/2015 8:26:54 AM PST by Harold Shea
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To: kosciusko51

Well do you have any evidence that he ever apologized? Just because he wanted to surrender to capitalists instead of communists doesn’t mean he renounced anything.


35 posted on 01/05/2015 8:31:42 AM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: Little Ray

In retrospect you are exactly correct. But keep in mind at this time these were very revolutionary and experimental prototype weapons and technology. One can only imagine what could have occurred had the Nazis had more time to develop and improve the accuracy of the their V-2 rockets and the ability to mount atomic weapons on them, not to mention their jet rockets. Hitler of course was obsessed with these super weapons and diverted much resources to them. And the propaganda department also used the prospects of these wonder weapons to rally and galvanize morale during the closing months of the war.


36 posted on 01/05/2015 8:41:20 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: pa_dweller

It WAS Goddard.

Oberth was corresponding with Goddard in the late 1920s and Oberth later said that this was the foundation that the German space exploration society that he and Von Braun put together.

All the major elements of modern rockets were designed and patented by Goddard. Every rocket today that flies is a Goddard rocket, just with improvements.

When Von Braun and Rudolph were questioned by OSS after the war about what they did at Peenemunde, they said why are you asking us? We learned all of this from Goddard.

But because Goddard refused to be sucked into the Aerojet gang of Malina and Von Karman, he was pointedly not funded and ignored by the Army. His funding came from Guggenheim at the urging of Lindbergh.

He also invented triode tube amplifiers that were the basis for Collins Radios. He assigned that patent to Art Collins for free to spite David Sarnoff and RCA, who copied his patents and then tried to claim that DeForrest was the inventor. The resulting lawsuit ended in 1959 in Goddard’s favor, but of course it was way too late and he had died.

Goddard was a 100% American genius and creator. The Germans were smart guys and worked hard, but it was always the stupidity of American military bureaucrats that looked elsewhere for engineering capability rather then at home, probably because they couldn’t put up with a guy who was independent and didn’t need their “guidance” going down the wrong paths.


37 posted on 01/05/2015 8:50:36 AM PST by Regulator
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To: bigdaddy45
First, you assume he was committed to the Nazi movmement. Based on what I have read and seen, von Braun was a NINO (Nazi in name only). Otherwise, he would have ended up in prison or dead (see post 18).

Second, I have not seen any quotes from him that showed a deep sympathy towards the Nazi movement, only to the cause of space travel.

Third, Freeman Dyson had this to say regarding von Braun:

... Whatever von Braun knew about the terrible treatment of the prisoners at the Mittelwerk factory, he did not himself, so far as I know, administer or order that treatment. In my view, von Braun was morally no better and no worse than other patriotic soldiers who take part in the atrocious killings that are inherent in modern war. The only qualities of von Braun that were exceptional were his talent and his dedication to the exploration of space.

38 posted on 01/05/2015 8:52:08 AM PST by kosciusko51 (Enough of "Who is John Galt?" Who is Patrick Henry?)
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To: heartwood

“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun


Wernher von Braun never made such a statement. The fake quote was used by comedians such as Mort Sahl to destroy von Braun’s reputation in the eyes of the public.


39 posted on 01/05/2015 8:52:51 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: Regulator

You got that right!!!


40 posted on 01/05/2015 8:55:38 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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