Wernher von Braun Quote

[Jasper Fidget]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> Behalf Of Otto
> Subject: Wernher von Braun Quote

> 
> His personal ethics did not keep him from first building Hitler's V2 at
> Peenemünde and then developing ICBM's at Huntsville, from a simple
> destructive and deadly missile to a nuclear rocket able to annihilate
> mankind utterly. Strange guy indeed 


His work at Huntsville led to the development of the Redstone rocket, an
MRBM capable of ~200 miles, which *was* deployed with thermonuclear warheads
but which also led to the development of the Jupiter and Saturn rockets that
put satellites into orbit, and the Saturn V that moved men to the moon.  Von
Braun was more interested in space exploration than in Earth annihilation
(he was the first director of NASA), demonstrated in part by his space
station and space shuttle plans:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980328.html
http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/vonbraun.htm

"Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it
to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently."  
--Wernher von Braun

WRT von Braun's religious beliefs, it appears he takes the Intelligent
Design argument, perhaps the only stable creationist argument available to
an engineer...?:

"For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the
necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the
universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it
all."

http://www.eadshome.com/VonBraun.htm


He did have weird ethics though: he married his first cousin.