Episode 62: Go for Launch (The Apollo Program, Part VII)

Wernher von Braun is, without a doubt, the reason why the United States was able to land a man on the moon - not just in 1969, but ever. He was also a very complex many with plenty of skeletons in his closet.

So that he could continue working on rockets after earning his doctorat in Berlin in 1939, von Braun applied to join the Nazi Party and was accepted. The above photo is him (in a black suite and a zircular swastika lapel pin) with many of the Nazi soldiers who worked for an with him in the German rocketry program during World War II. 

Heinrich Himmler, Hitler's #2 and the monster in charge of the SS, insisted that von Braun join the SS, which he did. After the war, von Braun surrendered to the Americans and was brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. Hundreds, if not thousands, of German scientists and engineers were brought to the United States and had their records wiped clean in return for working for the US government. The above image is thought to the the only one that shows von Braun (blocked mostly by Himmler) wearing his black SS officer uniform, having been ordered to wear if for Himmler's inspection.

After coming to the United States, he built rockets for the Army, became a US citizen, joined NASA, and popularized the idea of manned space exploration by helping Walt Disney make several Wonderful World of Disney programs about the subject before helping the US launch its first sattelite and building the heavy lift Saturn V rocket for the Apollo Program.

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun died from kidney cancer on June 16, 1977 in Alexandria, Virginia. He is buried in Arlington's Ivy Hill Cemetery. He is widley seen as the father of space travel and the father of the American lunar program.

 Apollo 11 backup commander, Jim Lovel, came up with the idea of using a bald eagle, the United State's national bird, as the symbol for the mission. The olive branch in the bird's talons is to represent the peaceful nature of the lunar mission. The astronauts decided not to put their names on the patch so it would be representative of everyeone who had worked toward the lunar landing. 

After adopting an eagle as the mission's official symbol, the lunar lander was given Eagle as its call sign.

The command module was named Columbia