Genius and villainy.
Werner von Braun is one of the founders of modern rocketry, the creator of the first ballistic missiles, a member of the NSDAP since 1937 and the SS Sturmbannführer. After World War II - a key figure in American astronautics. Physicist and rocket engineer, chief designer of the Saturn-5 launch vehicle, which in 1967 put the Apollo 11 spacecraft into orbit, which delivered the crew to the Moon.

1. Family.
Baron ( Freiherr) Werner Magnus Maximilian von Braun ( Wernher Magnus Maximilian von Braun) was born on March 23, 1912 in the town of Virzitz ( Wirsitz, now Wyrzysk, Poland) in Prussia. Father Magnus von Braun served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in the government of the Weimar Republic, mother, Emmy von Quistorp, was from the Prussian royal family. At the age of 13, for confirmation, it was my mother who gave the future great rocket scientist a telescope.
2. You remember how it all began.
The first experience in rocketry was not very successful - 12-year-old Werner, inspired by speed records in cars with rocket engines by Max Valier and Fritz von Opel, blew up a toy car, to which he attached many firecrackers, on a crowded street. The little inventor was first taken into custody, he was taken to the police and held there until his father came to the police station for him.

In 1930, Werner entered the Technical University of Berlin, where he joined the group "Society for Space Travel" (Verein für Raumschiffahrt - "VfR"), takes part in tests of a rocket engine on liquid fuel, later studies at the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich. His dissertation of April 16, 1934 is called "Constructive, theoretical and experimental approaches to the problem of creating a rocket on liquid fuel" and becomes secret at the request of the Wehrmacht. At the end of 1934, a group under his leadership successfully launches two missiles that reach heights of 2.2 and 3.5 kilometers. From 1937 to 1945, von Braun works at the Peenemünde missile base on the Baltic Sea, where he participates in the creation of the so-called "weapon of retaliation".
3. Weapons of retaliation.

"V-2", ( V-2 - Vergeltungswaffe-2, weapon of retaliation, another name: A-4 - Aggregat-4) is a single-stage liquid-propellant ballistic missile. It was launched vertically, on the active part of the trajectory, an autonomous gyroscopic control system, equipped with a software mechanism and devices for measuring speed, entered into action. The maximum flight speed was up to 6120 km / h, the flight range reached 320 km, the trajectory height was 100 km. The warhead contained up to 800 kg of ammotol. The average cost is 119,600 Reichsmarks.

One of the most revolutionary technological solutions used on the V-2 was the automatic guidance system, which did not require constant corrections from the ground, the coordinates of the target were entered into the onboard analog computer before launch. Gyroscopes installed on the rocket monitored its spatial position during the entire flight and any deviation from a given trajectory was corrected by rudders on the side stabilizers.

4. Combat effectiveness.
The weapon of retaliation, which Hitler so hoped for, and which should have terrified the inhabitants of London and Antwerp, was virtually useless. The missile was seriously underdeveloped, and the level of the then technologies could not provide acceptable accuracy, half of the missiles fired reached the target, and even that worked according to the principle "to whom will God send".

In Britain, 2,724 people were killed in missile strikes, meaning that each missile, an expensive miracle of German engineering, killed one or two people. However, for the civilian population, the horror of these missiles was different: the air-raid sirens could not warn of their approach, the V-2s hit suddenly and were a factor of demoralization.

In fact, the V-2 did another terrible damage - its main victims were those who collected it. The prisoners worked at the Mittelwerk underground factory that worked around the clock, many prisoners with the necessary technical skills, for example, welders were taken from other camps. The living conditions of the prisoners were appalling: people were kept without sunlight, in unsanitary conditions, they were starving and lacking sleep.

There were cases of murder of prisoners for an attempt to sabotage work: according to eyewitnesses, the guilty were demonstratively hung on the cranes of assembly lines and Sturmbannführer von Braun witnessed these executions.
5. Career in SS.

Werner von Braun himself was least of all like a naive simpleton who took money from the Nazis for the sake of fulfilling the bright dream of space. He was not only a member of the Nazi Party, he made a career in the Waffen SS from Untersturmführer to Sturmbannführer (corresponds to the army ranks of lieutenant and major), he knew perfectly well that prisoners from a concentration camp were working at his missile factory.

He regularly communicated with the high Nazi command, and it did not take a lot of intelligence to understand what regime he was working for. It was von Braun who persuaded Hitler to focus his efforts on the manufacture of the V-2 rocket, and the fact that in a military sense this rocket turned out to be ineffective does not absolve its creator from responsibility - after the V-2, Peenemünde began developing a new, more powerful rocket , designed to defeat large objects, but they simply did not have time to complete the project.

6. Operations "Paperclip".
In the spring of 1945, von Braun and his staff decided to surrender to the Americans. In June 1945, the move of the chief and his staff to America was approved at the level of the US Secretary of State, but until October 1, 1945, the American public did not know anything about this. The intelligence services "laundered" von Braun from Nazism, he was among the scientists for whom the United States Intelligence Agency ( Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency, JIOA) created fictitious biographies and removed references to military ranks, NSDAP membership, and ties to the Nazi regime from public records.

As a result, von Braun, personally responsible for the shelling of London, Antwerp, Paris and the deaths of prisoners, instead of being tried as a war criminal, was assigned to lead the American space program.
7. Start of the space race.
America got von Braun, the Soviet Union got the assembly plant "Mittelwerk" and several surviving "Fau", albeit without drawings and calculations. Like the Americans, the Russian missilemen took the trophy down to a screw and copied it completely. It turned out to be not easy, in the country it was necessary to create a modern technical base for rocketry - for example, more than 40 different types of rubber were used in the design of "V", while the USSR industry produced only eight.

The first Soviet ballistic missile R-1 was a modified version of the V-2, but the subsequent R-2 and R-5 became a technological breakthrough, and the revised R-7, a two-stage ICBM, became the carrier of the first artificial earth satellites.
What does von Braun have to do with it? The fundamental principles behind rocketry have not changed significantly over these 70 years. The design of all rocket engines remains the same, most of them run on liquid fuel, and gyroscopes are still used in onboard control systems - all of these solutions were first implemented in his development. We still live in the V-2 era.
8. Career in the USA.
After several travels, von Braun and the rest of his team from Peenemünde settled in Fort Bliss, Texas, at a large American army base north of El Paso. The work progressed slowly, any proposal for new ideas about missiles was rejected: the Americans counted every cent. Since 1956, Brown has led the program for the development of the Redstone ICBM and space rockets based on it - Jupiter-S, Juno and the Explorer satellite.

The impetus for the acceleration of work and their financing was the launch of the first artificial satellite by the Soviet Union, only after that Brown received permission to launch "Juno" - the satellite entered space with a delay of one year. It was the version of the Redstone launch vehicle that was used in 1961 by the ode to launch the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, into space.

9. Awards have not spared an outstanding scientist.

Wouldn't it be nice if all the awards would look together at once, and even on a black uniform?
10. Apolitical genius.

When it became clear that America could sweep away an entire city with a single bomb,
a certain scientist, turning to his father, said: "Now science knows sin."
And do you know what he said? He said, "What is sin?"

Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

Of course, Wernher von Braun personifies the type of scientist who is completely devoid of any semblance of morality. Everything he did was successful: you can bomb London or send people to the moon - the end result is important. After the war, he never once expressed remorse for his involvement in Nazi crimes - even ostentatious and formal. and nevertheless, on the website of the US Space Research Office of NASA, he is given the following description: "Without any doubt, Wernher von Braun was the greatest scientist in the field of rocket physics in history."

Sources:
V2Rocket.com, Wernher von Braun:http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/vonbraun.html
"V-2: Hitler's Rocket That Launched the Space Age":http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/science/2014/09/140915_vert_fut_nazis_space_age_rocket
V-1: Buzz Bombs of the Third Reich against Britain:http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/uk/2014/06/140609_v1_flying_bombs
Original:

Ernst Werner von Siemens (German Werner von Siemens, a more accurate version of the transcription of the surname: Siemens; December 13, 1816 - December 6, 1892) - a famous German engineer, inventor, corresponding member of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, industrialist, founder of Siemens, public and political activist.

Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816-1892)

Werner Siemens was born on December 13, 1816 in Lente near Hanover. He was 4 children out of 14 in the family of the farmer Christian-Ferdinand Siemens and his wife.

Study and service in the army

After graduating with honors from the Catharineum gymnasium in Lübeck, then the artillery engineering school in Magdeburg, he serves as a lieutenant in the artillery workshops in Berlin, where he is engaged in invention and scientific experiments.

After the death of his parents, 24-year-old Werner remains the eldest in a family of ten brothers and sisters.

In 1845, he became one of the most prominent young scientists in the newly formed Physical Society, and the very next year he was sent to the General Staff Commission to prepare for the introduction of electrical telegraphy. In a letter dated December 14, 1846, Werner Siemens informs his relatives: "I have now almost decided to choose a permanent career in telegraphy ... Telegraphy will become an important branch of technology in its own right, and I feel called upon to play the role of organizer in it."

Start of commercial activity

On October 1, 1847, together with the mechanic Halske, he founded the telegraph and construction company Telegraphenbauanstalt Siemens & Halske (S&H), which, in addition to electrical telegraphy, was engaged in a wide range of works in the field of precision mechanics and optics, as well as the creation of electromedical devices. In 1849 S&H built the first telegraph line in Germany from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main.

For one of the sections of the main overhead line, an underground cable with gutta-percha insulation was used, applied using a press invented by Siemens. At the same time, Werner proposed to tighten the cable into lead pipes.

He also improved the Wheatstone-Cook pointer telegraph, for which he was awarded one of the highest awards at the First International Industrial Exhibition in England (1851).

Since 1853, S&H has been building a number of telegraph lines in Russia, connecting St. Petersburg with Kronstadt, Helsingfors, Warsaw, Riga, Revel and taking over their maintenance.

Siemens, combining scientific research and inventive activity with experimental and design developments, introduced new products into production and improved the manufactured products - a feature that made this practical scientist related to Edison.

World recognition and great inventions

Siemens' report on electrical telegraphy at the Paris Academy of Sciences was highly praised by Humboldt and published on the recommendation of Arago. At the age of 35, Siemens joined the ranks of internationally recognized authorities in the field of electrical engineering. In 1860 the University of Berlin awarded him the title of Honorary Doctor of Philosophy.

In 1868-1870. S&H took part in the construction of the 11,000 km Indo-European Telegraph Line London - Calcutta. One of the sections of this line (across the Caucasus) was built on iron supports and operated from 1871 to 1931.

The beginning of Siemens' work in the field of high-current electrical engineering dates back to the second half of the 1860s. His most significant achievement in this area dates back to 1867, when he created the perfect self-excited DC generator design, long referred to as a dynamo. He also proposed a mercury resistance unit, later converted into ohms, and the name Siemens was assigned to the unit of electrical conductivity.

In the early 1870s, S&H built the cable ship Faraday, which was equipped with an advanced cable laying machine. In 1874, Faraday laid a transatlantic telegraph cable, directly connecting Ireland and the United States (5700 km), bypassing the island of Newfoundland. And in just 10 years, this ship has laid six transatlantic cables.

In July 1874 Siemens was admitted to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

In 1877, S&H manufactured Bell's handsets, and in 1881 participated in the construction of the first telephone exchange in Berlin.

In 1877, a unique, perfectly preserved fossil of a fossil bird was discovered in shale dating back to the Late Jurassic period. The amateur geologist who found this paleontological rarity intended to sell it abroad, asking for a large sum of money for it. Hearing about this rarest find, Siemens immediately buys it, leaving it in Germany. Later he donates it to the Berlin Museum of Natural History. The scientific name of the rarity Archeopteryx Simensii (Archeopteryx Siemens) still reminds us of this remarkable act of Werner Siemens.

Almost all of Siemens' success is due to the research and inventive ability of its manager. He rejected everything that was not comprehensively considered theoretically and confirmed by experiment.

The Siemens dynamo made a real revolution in mining, thanks to it, an electric breaker, an electric mine fan, an electric conveyor and, most importantly, an electric mine road appeared.

In 1879 Siemens & Halske presented the first electric railway at the Berlin Industrial Exhibition; in 1880 at the exhibition in Mannheim - the world's first electrolift; in 1881 she built the first electric tram line on the outskirts of Berlin; in 1882, trial operation of trackless vehicles began.

Siemens has done a lot for the development of German and European electrical engineering. He is the initiator of the formation of the Berlin Electrotechnical Union (1879), as well as the founder and chairman of the Patent Society in Berlin. And it was Werner von Siemens who even coined the term electrical engineering, using it in 1879 in a letter to Heinrich von Stefan, General Postmaster of Germany (before that they used the term "applied theory of electricity").

In addition, Werner Siemens is known as a philanthropist in the field of science and culture: he donated 500 thousand marks for the creation of the Berlin National Physics and Technology Laboratory; thanks to his efforts and financial support, the Physicotechnical Institute was opened in Charlottenburg.

At the First International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Paris in 1881, the exhibits of Edison and Siemens were most successful. There, both luminaries of electrical engineering met and became friends.

In 1882 he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1888 Werner Siemens was elevated to the nobility and became Werner von Siemens.

Since 1889, Werner Siemens began a gradual departure from active participation in the affairs of the company, at this time in his company, including subsidiaries in London, St. Petersburg and Vienna, there were already 5,000 employees. On December 31, 1889 Siemens resigned from the management of the company.

In 1892, he invented steel tape armor to protect underground cables from mechanical stress.

At the end of his life, with his inherent gift of real foresight, Siemens pointed to the prospect of world trade and the economic unification of Europe:

"This can only happen by removing, if possible, all internal political customs barriers that restrict sales areas, increase the cost of production and reduce competitiveness in the world market."

An immense dedication to his work played a significant role in von Braun's successes and achievements. Jay Holmes concluded that von Braun "Belongs to the most ambitious people in the history of mankind"... For more than 35 years, he has doggedly pursued the idea of ​​creating rockets for space exploration.

It was only while in America that von Braun was able to fulfill his dream of creating rockets for good purposes when satellites were launched into Earth's orbit. The great importance of satellites in modern life is demonstrated by their use in communications systems, scientific research and military forces.

In 1960, von Braun led the development of the Saturn liquid-propellant rocket, which enabled Neil Armstrong and his team to travel to the moon. The Apollo project was the pinnacle of the American space program, and von Braun was at the center of the entire venture.

Creation Scientist

After von Braun came to believe in God, he became an ardent defender of the Christian faith and creationism. He wrote quite a lot about his faith and, whenever possible, always spoke on this topic. He called creationism "A viable theory of the origin of the universe, all life and man"... The scientist came to the following conclusion:

“The realization that our Universe was created ultimately raises the question of the Creator…. The scientific method does not allow us not to think that the Universe, life and man are based on design. The belief that everything in the universe was formed by chance would violate the objectivity of science itself. Yes, there are those who argue that the universe evolved due to a random event, but what random event can lead to the emergence of the human brain or the human eye? "

His conviction in the importance of examining God's creation is clearly expressed in his observation: “The more I learn about God's creation, the more I am amazed at the order and precise perfection of the laws of nature that govern us. And in this perfection, the scientist only manages to look with an eye at the Creator and His design in nature ".

Dr. von Braun's words confirm how important it was for him to believe in God's design:

“The apparent resistance to accepting the case for Design as a valid scientific alternative to the current case for Randomness lies in the incomprehensibility of the concept of Designer by some scientists. The incomprehensibility of important issues should not be allowed to rule out any theory that explains the relationship of the observed data…. Many smart people say that they cannot imagine a Designer. Can a physicist see an electron? The electron is materially inconceivable, and yet we know exactly how it works, used to illuminate cities and fly planes. For what strange reasons do some physicists believe in incomprehensible electrons and refuse to believe in the reality of the Creator only because they cannot see Him? ... And although they also do not fully understand electrons, they are ready to recognize them, because they managed to create out of them, albeit not perfect, but a mechanical model. "

Von Braun was convinced that the issue of origins should be taught objectively in schools. In his opinion, claims that science and religion are incompatible are unfounded. On the contrary, he believed that "Science helps to understand the creation, and religion helps to understand the Creator".

“Science and religion are like two windows in a house through which we look at the reality of the Creator and the laws revealed in His creation. If we see different images in these windows, we need to try to see a more complete picture of reality, correctly linking our scientific and religious views. "

Von Braun emphasized that our survival depends more than ever on the observance of basic moral principles given to us by God. When asked what he thinks about religion and science, in particular “are technological methods and religious beliefs compatible,” Von Braun replied:

“While technology controls the forces of nature around us, morality tries to control the forces of nature within us. The Ten Commandments are quite enough, without any amendments and changes, to cope with all the problems that the technological revolution has not only brought, but will also bring to our lives in the future. "

Von Braun concluded that the Bible is "the most powerful bulwark built against the ravages of time .... The Bible is a revelation of God's nature and His love." Prayer was no less important in von Braun's life. One day he was asked when his prayer was most fervent. He replied that he prayed most of all before and during the flights of the Apollo spacecraft. As noted by Henry Morris, von Braun believed that manned space flights, while the greatest achievement, but

“These achievements open to us only a small gap to the secrets and riches of outer space. Our gaze through the opening of the pipe at the mysteries of the universe only strengthens our faith in the greatness and glory of the Almighty Creator. It is difficult for me to understand those scientists who do not recognize the role of the Creator in the creation of the universe, as it is difficult to understand those theologians who reject the possibilities of science. "

Von Braun died in Alexandria, Virginia on June 16, 1977, leaving an indelible mark on the history of the world.

Conclusion

A study of the history of Western science shows that many great scientists were moved by the Christian faith. All of them came to the conclusion that God reveals Himself to people through Scripture and through His creation, and in order to better know the Creator, we need to study His creation more. Werner von Braun argued that “The universe, discovered through scientific research, testifies to the fact that everything that exists is the work of the hands of God. Understanding the nature of creation gives us a solid foundation for faith, through which we try to cognize the nature of the Creator himself. " ... When properly understood, science and the Bible reveal the same truth to us.

Links and notes

* Dr. Bergman is an Adjunct Professor at Toledo Medical College, Ohio.

Werner Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun, NSDAP member since 1937, SS Sturmbannführer.
A key figure in the US legends that 12 American biological beings in spacesuits unsurpassed since then (the secret of making is lost) played golf on the Moon, where they arrived on an unrivaled spaceship since then (the secret of making is lost).
Born in 1912 in Poland (then it was Germany), died in 1977 in the USA.
Freiherr, if anything, is a baronial title.

Father - Minister of Food and Agriculture in the government of the Weimar Republic (a very short time, six months, and much later than inflation).
Mom is already on both lines of ancestors - royal blood.
Little Werner dreamed of becoming a composer, but did not grow together, and from about 1930 he began to deal with rockets. Just then Hitler arrived, who, apparently, already then fully understood what rocketry was - the Nazi regime banned civil experiments in rocketry, and von Braun received grants, a training ground, a doctorate in physics, a dissertation on the combustion of liquid fuel was classified right up to 1960 , and in 1934 he already launched the first rocket at an altitude of 3.5 km.
Together with the Luftwaffe, the young promising scientist is developing liquid-fuel rocket engines, jet boosters for aircraft, the A-4 long-range ballistic missile, and the Wasserfall supersonic anti-aircraft missile.
In 1936 - the first, not entirely successful, flight of an airplane on a jet engine.
Since 1937, von Braun was the technical director of the German missile research center in Peenemünde and the chief designer of the A-4 (V-2) rocket, which was used in World War II to shell France, Great Britain, Holland and Belgium.
Either in December 1932, or in November 1933, or in November 1937 (different data), von Braun, of course, joined the NSDAP. There are documents that he entered the SS school on November 1, 1933, and then, on May 1, 1937, in the National Socialist Party, and from May 1940 until the very end of the war he was an SS officer.
Von Braun received the rank of Untersturmführer, Himmler himself then promoted him three times in rank. The last time was in June 1943 before the SS Sturmbannfuehrer.
In December 1942, Hitler signed an order for the production of A-4 missiles as a "weapon of retaliation", setting London as a target for the developers.
After Brown showed a color film showing the takeoff of the A-4 in July 1943, Hitler was delighted and personally awarded him the title of professor. For Germany and for that time, it was completely exclusive. Brown is 31 years old.
By that time, British and Soviet intelligence already knew about the missile program at Peenemünde. Such great importance was attached to this that on the night of August 17-18, 1943, British bomber aviation carried out a special operation "Hydra": 596 aircraft dropped 1,800 tons of bombs on the von Braun rocket center. Nevertheless, both the center itself and the main group of developers survived.
The first combat A-4, renamed V-2 for propaganda purposes (Vergeltungswaffe 2 - "Retaliation Weapon 2"), was launched across the UK on September 7, 1944, just 21 months after the project was officially adopted.
At that time, there was already a shortage of labor, and slave labor of concentration camp prisoners was used. Subsequently, it turned out that during the construction of the V-2 rockets more people died than died from the use of this rocket as a weapon. Von Braun selects the slaves himself - there is his correspondence with the consent to personally participate, for example, in the selection of prisoners from Buchenwald.
Here is the testimony of one of them:

Without even listening to my explanation, (von Braun) ordered Meister to give me 25 punches ... Then, deciding that the punches were not strong enough, he ordered me to be whipped more brutally ... von Braun ordered me to transfer that I deserve the worst that in fact I deserve to be hanged ... I believe that his cruelty, which I personally fell victim to, was an eloquent testament to his Nazi fanaticism. - Biddle, Wayne. Dark Side of the Moon (W.W. Norton, 2009) pp. 124-125.

Another inmate claimed that von Braun stood and watched as the inmates were hanged from the chains of hoists. (Brown himself after the war, of course, swore by his mother that he "never saw any abuse or murder" and only "there were rumors ... that some of the prisoners were hanged in underground galleries.")
In March 1944, after being informed about the words "it is a pity that the war is going wrong," he ended up in the Gestapo for two weeks. Hitler personally frees the valuable staff.
In the spring of 1945, von Braun gathered his development team and asked them to decide how and to whom they should all surrender. It was decided to surrender to the Americans.
He forges documents and sends 500 people to where he estimates they will be captured by US troops. Von Braun hides the basic blueprints for the missiles in an abandoned mine.
Well, then, as you know, everything came together, on June 20, 1945, the US Secretary of State approved the move of von Braun and his staff to America, until October 1, 1945 this was not announced openly - they were preparing fake biographies.

His career in the United States before the launch of the Soviet satellite was not very impressive - well, he developed rockets.
Everything was developed.
But then the events began fabulous.
The beginning was something like this: he was allowed to launch his fully finished Juno, but only after a test launch of the Navy's rocket.
Which rose exactly one meter.
Thus, the von Braun satellite was launched with a delay of a year, but it got rid of the US Navy as a direct competitor for good and came out on top.
And here the US space program, which was created by the Germans, began. Absolutely everything. Only the Germans. They were in all the more or less significant leadership positions.
I will not retell in detail, since within the framework of von Braun's story, the most interesting thing is the question:
- von Braun got into a mess with his F-1, and so NASA willy-nilly was forced to fly in Kubrick's studio,
or
- Von Braun deliberately sabotaged the project, and NASA willy-nilly was forced to conduct flights in the Kubrick studio?
There are some circumstantial arguments for each of these options, but the facts clearly say: even starting with Gemini, absolutely the entire US space program is Photoshop.
Everyone involved in the project knew this.
And the US government knew it.
As for von Braun himself, his role is sad.
And they treated him (after it became clear to everyone that the F-1 was crap) was clearly pig-headed.
For example, can we imagine that in the midst of the next stage of the space race, Korolev was suddenly pulled from his place and sent on a long (more than one month) business trip to the Arctic?
Nonsense, of course.
And here is von Braun, the chief US specialist in rocketry, in 1966-1967. sent to Antarctica.
No justification.
The official reasons were funny: the study of logistics and the problems of human acclimatization in the harsh Antarctic conditions close to space.
In general, nonsense.
The main version of the skeptics: as punishment for the failure of von Braun, as the last negro cleaner, they were sent to collect lunar meteorites - since the decision was made that it was easier to take beautiful pictures than to fly to the Moon, then one had to prepare to present moon stones to the world.
And in 1972, von Braun, even before the official completion of NASA's lunar program, had already been sent into some completely inglorious retirement.
There are no reasons for this (in the light of the official enthusiastic recognition by the whole world that the US lunar victory is the highest achievement of mankind), and there cannot be any at all.

ps
Oddly enough, Wikipedia has a phrase like this: according to B.E. Chertok, the activities of W. Brown contributed to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War.

It seemed as soon as the "Apollo 11" broke away from the launch platform, the world entered a new era of space exploration. Among the people who watched the launch from the launch room 30 years ago was Dr. Wernher von Braun - the creator of the Saturn rocket, in which astronauts were supposed to go to the moon. He promised that this space travel will open up new frontiers for man. From the surface of the Earth, ships will go to plow the Universe, benefiting science and all of humanity. Von Braun became America's new Columbus.

Wernher von Braun and his dreams of space

Wernher von Braun, whose biography is revealed in the article, has dreamed of space since childhood. He lived to make his dream come true. He believed that space flight is a necessary step in the evolution of mankind, and fate will help him take this step. However, the new dawn of science has become for some people a painful memory of years of grueling labor practically as slaves.

Wernher von Braun, whose photo you see, was a very smart man. He wanted to build a rocket at any cost. He believed that the fate of mankind was the conquest of the Cosmos, and was ready to pay for it. Wernher von Braun's biography became an endless crusade. He was ready for anything to make a breakthrough into space. The spacecraft he created for a flight to the moon based on a ballistic rocket was a new step in evolution. While Brown himself took the step from a Nazi to a NASA employee.

Werner von Braun's family

Werner's interest in celebrities originated in Berlin in the 1920s. He was born into an aristocratic German family. For many centuries, their family owned lands in the east of Germany. Taking the post of minister, the head of the family moved to his Berlin residence. Werner was the second of his three sons. Great attention was paid to raising children in the family. It was thanks to this that Werner developed an interest in the stars. As he became a teenager, this interest morphed into a passion for rockets. Werner's interest was shared by thousands of his fellow citizens. Many believed that a large enough rocket would lift anything. During the First World War, the rocket was used as a weapon. Now, the people, seized by another utopian idea, believed that it would help them open the doors to a new peaceful era. The work of rocket science enthusiasts inspired von Braun and his brother to experiment on their own. They built a small rocket launcher out of fireworks. She crashed into the basement window of a grocery store, and my father said that this was the end of the space epic for the brothers. This did not stop Werner.

Hermann Obert's ideas

His passion for rockets grew into an interest in astronomy when his parents gave the boy a telescope. At the same time, Werner came across a book that described how a liquid-fueled rocket could be used for interplanetary travel. Obert's ideas, the author of the book, reached the general public later when he was invited to consult Fritz Lang's technical consultant for Woman on the Moon. The film showed the process of preparing a liquid-fueled rocket for flight.

The film described what needs to be done to launch the rocket. A multistage rocket rose into the air, its steps fell off - the viewer got an idea of ​​weightlessness. To some extent, this film anticipated the events that would happen 50-60 years later. It was a prophetic film and people could see what would happen in the future. This film irrevocably changed the biography of Wernher von Braun. From now on, he began to call Hermann Obert his guiding star.

At school, von Braun began writing about space travel. Quotes by Wernher von Braun began to be repeated all around. "Undoubtedly," he wrote, "one day a man will set foot on the moon." He was a talented student. His comrades recognized his craving for leadership. After high school, von Braun joined the rocket science group and began designing his own liquid-fueled rockets. He never tired of repeating to his colleagues that they would soon become living witnesses of the first flight into space. It seemed to many that he was crazy and wasting his time. Von Braun liked to say that for the sake of success, he was ready for much.

Collaboration with the Nazis

Hitler was impressed by Brown's successes, but he was dissatisfied with the speed of work. In the official photo, Wernher von Braun barely found the strength to smile. The meeting did not go well. Hitler said he was not interested in discoveries that would take years. Six months later, Germany entered the war with Britain and the allies. Work on the rocket proceeded at an accelerated pace. The war did not affect von Braun's dedication to work. He was about 30 years old and suddenly in his hands were practically unlimited funds for development. Caring primarily about the rocket, von Braun joined the National Socialist Party in 1937.

Heinrich Himmler invited him to join the SS. The rocket program benefited from this, and Werner agreed. 5 years after the start of work, the rocket was ready for testing. On October 3, 1942, the A-4 was launched. The Nazis could celebrate the creation of new weapons. However, for von Braun and his associates, this was only the first step towards space travel. They did not seem to realize that they had created a terrible weapon. Wernher von Braun was determined. He assured that the help of the Nazis was just a necessary evil that would help him fulfill his dream immediately after the end of the war.

"The weapon of retaliation"

After the first launch, luck seemed to have turned away from scientists - out of 11 subsequent launches, only two were partially successful. It was necessary to enlist the support of Hitler. Von Braun feared that sooner or later Hitler would lose patience and shut down the project. They went to a demonstration that could get Hitler's attention. In a public cinema at Hitler's headquarters, von Braun held one of the most important meetings of his life. He demonstrated a record of a successful launch. The title of the film reminded the Fuehrer of his premature skepticism.

It read: "We have achieved success!" Hitler changed his mind after the presentation of the filmed film. He stated that this film is of national importance and should be distributed immediately to raise morale. The A-4 missile was renamed to reflect the Fuhrer's hope. Now it has become known as the "Weapon of Vengeance", with the help of which Hitler hoped to win the war.

Work in a concentration camp

Werner von Braun's rocket was built in a secret underground factory in the Harz mountains. A concentration camp was set up to work on the rocket. First, it was necessary to expand the underground tunnel. For 5 months, 8 thousand people saw little or no daylight while digging this tunnel. They were extremely ill-treated by SS guards who monitored their work. Thousands of people died from overwork. Many were killed by the guards.

Von Braun often visited the tunnel. Recently recovered documents confirm that he attended meetings when the use of slave labor was discussed. At one of these meetings, it was decided to replace the deceased prisoners with two thousand French prisoners. In addition, von Braun often visited the Buchenwald concentration camp, which was located nearby.

First missile strike

The first V-2 rockets were fired into London on the evening of September 8, 1944. A new era of war has begun. The missile strike claimed the lives of 5 thousand people. Almost all of them are civilians. Von Braun, who was in charge of the development, seemed surprised by the launch results. He said this shouldn't have happened. He built a rocket to get to the moon, not take other people's lives. Sometimes Brown began to realize that the Nazis were losing the war and made plans to get by without their support.

At one of the parties, Werner imprudently expressed his concerns. The conversation was turned over to the Fuehrer, and Brown spent two weeks in prison. Very soon, however, he regained the affection of Hitler, and he bestowed Werner the highest award that civilians have received for loyalty to the Reich. However, this did not affect Brown's skepticism about the outcome of the war. These interesting facts about Werner von Braun will not go unnoticed.

Former opponents - new allies

In the winter of 1944, he carefully interviewed his colleagues to find out who among them was ready to work for the enemy. Von Braun decided that he could continue to work in America. No other country could afford to develop such a large-scale project. When the Soviet troops came close to the Peenemünde training ground, it was decided to evacuate. The USSR was as impressed with the missile as the USA. However, the transfer of developments to the Russians was out of the question. Everyone became interested in the rocket.

After the war, the Russians had a wanted list, and von Braun was in the first place on it. When Hitler's death was officially announced, von Braun made a treaty with the American army. The biography of Wernher von Braun at this moment changed dramatically. Former opponents fulfilled all the wishes of scientists. Werner, as well as key people in the project, were offered to sign contracts with the American army. A month earlier, the Americans had liberated Mittelwerk. There they found only living skeletons.

More than 20 thousand people died during the production of weapons. Half of them - directly during the work on the "V-2". However, the US Army was of little interest in ethical issues. They wanted Wernher von Braun, and the CIA began looking for dirt in German archives. The documents found were destroyed. This was not mentioned in the military reports. A few months after the end of the war, von Braun and his colleagues were back on horseback. The leadership strongly encouraged intense experimentation in an effort to win the war. 70 missiles were delivered to the New Mexico desert.

Von Braun's main task was to train the military in rocketry. However, he had enough time to dream of space flights. Von Braun got this opportunity thanks to the threat of war. The Soviet Union terrified the United States with its military power. By the 50th year, communism began to show America the most important threat to well-being. To end the Cold War, they needed new missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. A new alliance appeared in the arena in the person of Wernher von Braun and the United States.

New Proving Ground in Huntsville

The landfill was moved south, to Alabama, to Huntsville - a small poor town with a population of less than 20 thousand people. For several decades, it was to become a city of missiles. On the outskirts, the army has stationed its arsenals. Finally, a truly major project fell into the hands of von Braun. Thousands of Americans worked on the Redstone rocket under the guidance of German scientists, but von Braun set out to crush national barriers. He stopped wearing a leather coat.

Brown's accent did not disappear, but he spoke good English. He started a family. Three years before moving to Hutsville, he married his cousin. Wernher von Braun and his wife moved to Huntsville, and his second daughter was born there. Then he had a son. Von Braun's efforts to become part of the world around him were rewarded. Scientists have adopted American citizenship. The past is far behind. Maria von Braun, the wife of Wernher von Braun, supported her husband in all his projects and endeavors.

As the technical director of the Missile Weapons Directorate, von Braun was able to lobby for the interests of the space program. He has already managed to interest the world with missiles. Now he was trying to draw attention to the stars. It was necessary to find an approach to taxpayers. He believed that it was impossible to achieve success if not to instill in the souls of people a craving for unknown cosmic spaces. Von Braun himself had a difficult task - to translate the plots of science fiction films into reality.

Von Braun became a missionary for interplanetary travel. Wernher von Braun's famous missions to Mars and the Moon are made public. His first achievement was a series of articles in a well-known magazine. He introduced readers to his vision of the future world. Your journey to the stars will begin with a huge four-stage rocket that will launch a satellite and then a space station. Man will go to the moon and Mars. However, von Braun's dreams were not a utopia of peaceful coexistence in space. The missiles could be used to launch nuclear warheads. It was a revelation for the readers of the magazine.

USSR one step ahead

However, despite all von Braun's efforts to courting the Americans, the USSR made the first step into space. On September 4, 1957, the first artificial satellite was launched. The success of the USSR led to the start of the space race Wernher von Braun and Korolev became the main rivals .. The national pride of the Americans suffered even more when the rocket created for the first launch of the Avangard satellite exploded right on the launch pad. As von Braun predicted. This opened up new possibilities for Werner. Peaceful cooperation was forgotten. Von Braun and the military would have to salvage the reputation of American technology. In January 1959, the first American satellite was launched.

Von Braun was almost 47 years old - he managed to achieve worldwide fame and recognition. The success inspired Werner, and he was already planning an expansion of the space program. However, the president was not impressed and did not support the idea of ​​manned space flight. He was more attracted by the use of satellites for scientific purposes. Von Braun and his followers took a romantic view of rocket science. Despite the president's skepticism, the training of cosmonauts has begun. In the 59th year, it was decided to launch the von Braun rocket.

The flight of Yuri Gagarin

The project became part of a new national space agency known as NASA. Von Braun finally got the opportunity he had long dreamed of. However, he again had to catch up with his competitors. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin spent two hours in Earth's orbit. Celebrations in Moscow were broadcast all over the world. Another blow has been dealt to America's prestige. The new president, John F. Kennedy, felt it especially keenly.

The next month, the first American astronaut made an orbit on a von Braun rocket, but only for a few minutes. Von Braun was sure that there was only one way to get around the Soviet Union - to be the first to land a man on the moon. From that moment on, Wernher von Braun, the man who sold the moon (as Denis Pashkevich will call him in his famous book), threw all his strength into making this dream come true.

Flight to the moon

In 1962, Kennedy visited Huntsville to see how things were progressing. Twenty years after working on a rocket for Hitler, von Braun was back in his element. His team designed the giant three-stage Saturn 5 rocket. Its height was over 100 m. There was no such engineering structure in America yet. Over the next 10 years, von Braun's astronauts were to explore the depths of the universe. The moon was high on the list of priorities. However, the scientist's ambitions knew no bounds - he was already planning the next step.

On the morning of July 16, 1969, millions of people gathered on the Florida coast. All eyes were on the Apollo 11 rocket. This was the culmination of what von Braun had worked for over the years. Von Braun watched as his bird lifted off the ground. He has repeatedly said in the press that a new era has begun in the development of mankind. The rocket, which he created with his colleagues, carried the person into a bright future.

At this very moment, von Braun's past jeopardized his triumph. His fame attracted the attention of those who also had a chance to play a role in the creation of the spacecraft. Von Braun's past was buried 25 years ago, but the protests of the prisoners who took part in the construction of the "V-2" have reached their limit. Von Braun was asked to appear before a wartime crime court. No formal charges were brought against him, but former prisoners held him morally responsible for their suffering.

The decline of von Braun's career

The successful launch opened new horizons for Wernher von Braun, the man who sold the moon. NASA suggested that he start all over again. He had to leave his colleagues and the city he helped found. However, by the time he arrived in Washington, the situation had changed. The country was already leading the space race, and politicians wanted to spend taxpayer money on more pressing needs.

Even von Braun was unable to persuade them to fund a mission to Mars. After spending two fruitless years at NASA, von Braun submitted his resignation letter. His dream ended, but the biography of Wernher von Braun will forever remain in the memory of his followers.