The Ballad of Wernher von Braun
Dr. Wernher von Braun was notably bound
To play with his rockets all day.
A few went up, but too many went down,
To his and his colleagues’ dismay.
Quite soon he was told by some Wehrmacht scold
That his rockets had all better work!
Or he’d find out at some point that he’d run out of time
And Der Fuehrer would go quite berserk!
Not content then to blow a second launch 'go',
Young Wernher gathered up all his tools,
When he saw Uncle Joe, with his Soviets in tow
And went quickly away, not extending his stay,
To American lines with his space plans intact,
But his loyalties quite up for grabs,
To spend the next years (with few pauses for beers)
Testing moon rockets near the sand dunes and crabs.
With NASA in charge, by now funding his work,
Our man Wernher began changing his tune,
And built great big rockets with just a few quirks.
They no longer went 'BOOM', when launched to the moon!
And low and behold, with his word good as gold,
Wernher’s Saturn lifted up into space,
And our 'man on the moon' was there none too soon
When we won the great lunar space race!
Amazon author's page for Kalikiano Kalei
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Regis
I do recall all the early failures of the Vanguard project. And then taking a proven Redstone rocket used by the military, we were able to launch our first satellite. I also recall von Braun and Walt Disney teaming up with grand plans for going to the moon and beyond. The Saturn rocket performed almost exactly as he described it in those early television shows--amazing. I was fortunate to go to the Downey facility in 1968 and see the Saturn IVB being assembled as well as view the clean room where a long line of Apollo modules, including Apollo 11, were being assembled to go to the moon.
Nine years later in 1977, I attended the 20/20 conference in Huntsville. Members of von Braun's team were there, bemoaning the fact that we hadn't gone back to the moon.
Ron
Sandie