VadeRetro: Three things he wasn't: a biologist, a paleontologist, or a YEC. It's possible I could be mistaken on the last point but I doubt it.Dataman: Meaning what? That he wasn't qualified to comment on the issue?
Yes, his opinion would have more weight on this issue if he had worked anywhere near the fields of expertise most involved. As it stands, he was a far spectator. He also died in 1977 and thus missed a lot. It might have been interesting to see his reaction to the molecular evidence, the hominid fossils, the walking whales, the feathered dinos, the legged sirenians ...
And I believe that he was not a Young Earth Creationist, which means the endorsement you attempt to imply here of the position you and bondserv hold never happened.
Just for the record, I am a Young Earth Creationist because that is what a straightforward reading of the Bible indicates. I am also led to believe in a Young Earth by logically considering the precariousness of our environment when one considers what we know about our universe.
Billions of years of random complexity, in light of the catastrophic occurrences that have plagued the world in recent history, makes extended periods of time highly unlikely.
I would be unsurprised to discover that Von Braun took the same position.