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Von Braun's Vision

© Bryan Johnson

As the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing aproaches, it is appropriate to reflect upon the vision that many of America's early space pioneers had thought would be accomplished by the turn of the century.

One such pioneer, Werner von Braun, the German scientist obtained by the U.S. from Germany in "Operation Paperclip" following World War II, wrote out a specific plan for the U.S. space program, sometime in 1970. [Editor's Note: the following is based on hand written notes by von Braun, available from his archives -- BTJ].

Specifically, von Braun broke his vision down into the following areas:

1) Planetary: Here von Braun expected man to visit Mars, that there would be a small permanent station there, and that nuclear powered electric propulsion systems would get people to and from the planet. He also expected that all the outer and inner planets and major moons of the solar system would be thoroughly explored and mapped by unmanned plantary orbiters and landers.

2) Lunar: Here, von Braun expected a permanent reactor powered manned base on the moon, with manufacturing activities. He also envisioned a powerful radio telescope located on the moon's far side.

3) Earth Orbit: von Braun expected that by the year 2000, the U.S. would have orbital education satellites operated under contracts with less developed countries that would beam programs directly to poor countries. There would be orbital research facilities where students would travel to do their Ph D thesis on astronomy, medicine, geophysics, chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, etc., while in orbit. There would be orbital air traffic control systems that would manage the space transporation system to avoid collisions. Finally, von Braun envisioned orbital laser satellites that would protect the U.S. from ICBM attack.

4) Aviation: Finally, von Braun envisioned a large passenger jetliner capable of carrying passengers around the world in just a few hours, or to take them to low earth orbit to even the moon.

It is not surprising that the man who created the massive Saturn V rocket that took U.S. astronauts to the moon and brought them back safely to the earth would have such thorough ideas. What is surprising is how little of his vision the U.S. has accomplished. While the U.S. and other nations are making progress in moving in a direction that might ultimately accomplish some of these goals, there is little indication that much progress will be made any time soon.

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