4 ms·

Von Braun wouldn't have gotten anywhere if he didn't have the backing and financing of Nazi Germany.

• mikeash 11y ago
  To be fair, he did much more interesting (and ethical) stuff when he had the backing of the US afterwards.
  • petra 11y ago
    Was there really a big difference - in the technology ? just the natural evolution of past efforts, technologically speaking.
    • mikeash 11y ago
      I don't know how much different the fundamental technology was, but the results were vastly better because of the far greater resources and much better goals he had with the US. Building advanced rockets on a shoestring with slave labor isn't really a recipe for great success.
      • stuxnet79 11y ago
        Prior to Kennedy's promise to land a man on the moon by the end of the 60s, the budget he was getting from the US wasn't all that great either. Dwight D Eisenhower hated Von Braun because he had a tendency to overspend, and was always begging for more funding.