Wernher von Braun, at least 65 years ahead of his time, talks about going to the moon

[Vort]

Everyone who knows much about space travel and astronautics knows Wernher von Braun, the single most brilliant rocket scientist to come out of Nazi Germany, and effectively the architect of the US's space program through the 1960s. One or two things might be fanciful here (e.g. the multifunction space suit, which is pretty cool but a bit outre), but most of his vision here is IMO rock solid. Grandiose with the artificial-gravity-generating orbital space station at 1000 miles altitude (hardly LEO), certainly, but I consider it to be more visionary than fantastic. How can you not get excited watching this? No wonder the 1950s really started the space sci-fi genre. And that vintage 1950s stainless-steel-looking rocket bears much more than a passing resemblance to Elon Musk's latest designs. Plus, the "space plane" on top is both more elegant and far more efficient than the moth-like STS (space shuttle).

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Vort

[Vort]

By the way, the first twelve minutes or so is worth watching. The rest is pretty much a low-budget '50s sci-fi flick, which may or may not be worth watching, depending on your sense of humor and/or interest in old-timey sci-fi with overly dramatic scoring.

[NeuroTypical]

Apparently he also provoked no small amount of anger and outrage by various folks in the US.  Beloved mathematician and song writer (and outspoken antiwar guy) Tom Lehrer wrote a scathing song about him.

Quote

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 pension to Wernher von Braun

 

You too may be a big hero, once you've learned to count backwards to zero
"In German, oder Englisch, I know how to count down
Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by NeuroTypical

[Vort]

2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Apparently he also provoked no small amount of anger and outrage by various folks in the US.  Beloved mathematician and song writer (and outspoken antiwar guy) Tom Lehrer wrote a scathing song about him.

The same Tom Lehrer who mocked the Catholic Church with the "Vatican Rag"?

I'm okay with people demonizing von Braun for his Nazi activities, as long as they are consistent in demonizing every person ever born for working within the societal structures in which they were born. Including you and me. Including themselves. I do not excuse von Braun for being a Nazi, except in the way I might excuse anyone else for accepting the lot life has dealt him instead of using his innate Godliness to rise above such evils.

[NeuroTypical]

I don't know enough about his life to comment one way or the other.  I do know that the location of my ward building was picked 30+ years ago by a former member of the Hitler Youth who came to America and became branch president.  The area originally covered by that branch is now 2 stakes and half a dozen wards. 

[Vort]

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

a former member of the Hitler Youth

As I recall, most of the youth in Germany were members of Hitler Youth. My mother-in-law was a Hitler Youth, and she hated the Nazis. The Nazis did some pretty horrible, unmentionable things to her family.

[Jamie123]

It's interesting how everyone today is quite happy with the idea of rocket propulsion in empty space, but a couple of generations ago people were very suspicious of the idea. The big objection was "In a vacuum, what does the rocket push against?" I have a book (buried under my desk somewhere) by Arthur C. Clarke called "The Promise of Space" - its a nonfiction book about space travel, written in the 1960s - unlike most of his books which were fiction - which devotes a whole chapter to answering this question. It's also interesting to see how earlier sci-fi authors dealt with space propulsion:

• 1835 - Edgar Allan Poe "The Unparallelled Adventure of one Hans Pfaal": the "spaceship" was a balloon lifted by buoyancy (there being sufficient scant "air" in the vacuum of space - we see it as the zodiacal light).
• 1876 - Jules Verne "From the Earth to the Moon": the spaceship is a projectile fired from a giant gun.
• 1898 - H.G. Wells "The War of the Worlds": the Martians came to Earth again in projectiles, believed to have been fired from a giant gun
• 1901 - H.G. Wells "The First Men in the Moon": the spaceship was propelled/steered by manipulating gravity (using "cavorite")
• 1902 - Georges Melies "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" (movie): projectile fired from a giant gun

The rocket is notably absent; I can only think that the "what would it push against?" argument must be to blame for this. I'd be interested to know when the rocket made its sci-fi debut - does anyone know? 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Jamie123

[Jamie123]

I've just thought of one more to add to the list:

• 1938 - C.S. Lewis "Out of the Silent Planet": Professor Weston is not very specific about how his spaceship works (saying that only a top physicist would understand it anyway) but he makes it clear it is not a rocket: "If it makes you happy to repeat words that don’t mean anything — which is, in fact, what unscientific people want when they ask for an explanation — you may say we work by exploiting the less observed properties of solar radiation".

This was 12 years after Goddard had launched the first liquid-fuel-propelled rocket and only 4 years before the development of the German V2 (though of course neither of these actually went into "outer space").