Werner Von Braun doesn't get Kidney or Pancreatic cancer in the 1970s. He lives on until the 1990s (perhaps until 1997). What is the impact of this?
WI: Von Braun lives longer
- Thread starter Polish Eagle
- Start date
Well, he was only 65 when he died, so assuming that his illness is butterflied away, yes its concievable that he might have live for another 10 or 20 years.
As for the effects of Von Braun in the 80s and 90s, I'm not entirely sure. He probably would have pushed for a Mars mission. I know that NASA offered Nixon offered a Mars shot or the space shuttle. A surviving Von Braun might mean that manned a Mars mission becomes NASA's next big project instead of the International Space Station.
As for the effects of Von Braun in the 80s and 90s, I'm not entirely sure. He probably would have pushed for a Mars mission. I know that NASA offered Nixon offered a Mars shot or the space shuttle. A surviving Von Braun might mean that manned a Mars mission becomes NASA's next big project instead of the International Space Station.
Von Braun actually directed that study; it would have involved nuclear rockets and super-Saturn Vs.
It's hard to say what his influence would have been. That said, here's a crack at a best-case scenario:
1972: WvB retires as NASA Deputy Administrator. Instead of becoming VP at Fairchild, he returns to Huntsville to become the Director of the University of Alabama in Huntsville's Research Institute* (which he had help found). Alabama butterflies magically cure his cancer.
1972-1977: Von Braun remains at the UAH-RI, occasionally directing independent studies of Moon and Mars missions. He retires in late 1976, and is suggested for NASA Admin, but Frosch still gets it.
1978: Getting ansy as a retiree, WvB takes a VP position at Rockwell, the lead Shuttle contractor. Von Braun is back in the heart of manned spaceflight.
1981: Regan nominates von Braun for NASA Administrator. Despite some opposition from Jewish groups, it goes through. The first space shuttle is launched shortly after Werner von Braun, the man who first popularized the idea of such a vehicle, is sworn in. Now the fun begins...
A NASA Administrator Von Braun under Reagan would be interesting. On the one hand he would not be shy about promoting, in private and in public, an expanded space exploration program. In that vein perhaps Reagan porposes it along with the space station in 1984. Also Von Braun would have been better equipped to run such a large project with his experience.
On the other hand one can see Democrats and space station opponents bringing up some of the more unfortunate aspects of Von Braun's war record. Still, I think the story about his almost getting shot by the Gestapo for touting space exploration over military rockets would trump that.
On the other hand one can see Democrats and space station opponents bringing up some of the more unfortunate aspects of Von Braun's war record. Still, I think the story about his almost getting shot by the Gestapo for touting space exploration over military rockets would trump that.
with Von Braun as Administrator NASA under Reagan
means one thing:
Bye bye SDI. Ronald Reagan takes road to Mars
means one thing:
Bye bye SDI. Ronald Reagan takes road to Mars
Yeah, I think WvB would push for Mars over a large space station like Freedom. It would probably involve in-space construction using Shuttles to get the stuff up there. Possibly could involve an unmanned construction dock, sorta like the horizontal truss of ISS/Freedom, minus the all the pressurized modules. Add in Titan IV-launched unmanned tankers and it starts to become plausible that you could launch the first Mars mission in the early 1990s...
Regan and von Braun are a good match, as both saw the space program as a peaceful expression of national awesomeness. Witness below, Regan and the First Lady meeting the crew of STS-3, seconds after they stepped off the shuttle!
Regan and von Braun are a good match, as both saw the space program as a peaceful expression of national awesomeness. Witness below, Regan and the First Lady meeting the crew of STS-3, seconds after they stepped off the shuttle!
wormyguy
Banned
I wonder what the public reaction is at the continued involvement of Von Braun as a high-level NASA administrator while his participation in the Holocaust becomes more and more well-known. I can imagine there would be quite a bit of backlash, and quite a few people who would want him tried, convicted, and executed as a war criminal.
Von Braun wasn't Eichmann; he was arrested by the Gestapo and only released on condition he not protest the slave camps. After the war, he managed to redirect the most deadly weapons program ever (the ICBM) to more peaceful uses that have benefited billions of people. He had a far cleaner record than most of the government of West Germany at the time...
Or maybe some medical research done onboard Skylab space station, which incidatally was managed by... Von Braun at Marshall
I have to start a thread one day "fight against cancer more successfull". You'll have tons of famous people living longer, thus massive butterflies.
I'd just pick "no cancer" as the POD. Just makes it easier.
As for the thing itself--well, having Von Braun around will give space exploration a powerful advocate. You might see a number of robotic programs accelerated compared to OTL, and perhaps some manned programs. Especially if and when Sagan come onto the scene, there might actually be some degree of pressure to fly missions. I'm not sure if he'd ever be Administrator, though--the whole Nazi thing doesn't help. Probably an independent advocate position, if he doesn't stay inside NASA. In that case, probably head of a center until retirement/death.
Most of them ran slave labour camps, did they?
No, he wasn't a racist Nazi. IMO he was an amoral SoB who would do anything short of selling his own soul to get to play with his toys. I think Tom Lehrer got him to a T.