German Innovations: The V-2 Rocket and Wernher Von Braun
The German V-2 rocket was created around the end of World War 2 by Nazi Germany. Designed to be used to remotely attack various Allied locations, the V-2 ran on liquid fuel and could take out several city blocks at a time. Unfortunately for the Axis forces, the development of the V-2 rocket came too late to keep the Allies from winning. Fortunately for Allied forces, the collapse of Nazi Germany meant that all the advancements in rocket technology that had been made by these scientists, and the scientists themselves, were up for grabs, and the United States took advantage of this opportunity in what was known as Operation Paperclip, where scientists formerly employed by Nazi Germany were recruited by the United States in order to advance the state of the US’ technology (Admittedly though, this did result in the somewhat morally questionable activity of the employment of former Nazis by the United States government. Though this was technically not allowed by President Truman’s orders, government officials would regularly falsify documents and biographies for scientists who were deemed important enough). This would include prominent German aerospace engineer Wernher Von Braun, arguably one of the most important rocket scientists in American history. The leader of the team that designed the V-2 rocket, Von Braun had his team of approximately 500 scientists surrender to American forces – he and his team would be moved to the Army base at Fort Bliss, Texas as a part of Operation Paperclip. After developing the Jupiter rocket for the Army, Von Braun would then be transferred to NASA in 1960, where he was promoted to director of Marshall Space Flight Center, and was given the task of designing the Saturn rockets. Eventually, he and his team would develop the Saturn V rocket, which would take mankind to the moon. Powered by liquid fuel, the Saturn V was a multistage affair that remains the only rocket that has transported humans beyond low Earth orbit, and is the most powerful rocket to ever be used at an operation level.
|