I was having this argument the other day with regards to the post-WW2 Nazi rocket scientists who took the US to the moon. There's a very real possibility that

I was having this argument the other day with regards to the post-WW2 Nazi rocket scientists who took the US to the moon. There's a very real possibility that liquid rockets would have remained a novelty, just another "Nazi Wunderwaffe" had they all been tried and hung for their crimes instead of pardoned and put to work. Solid rockets were (and are) more than sufficient for all military applications. But to get people into space, you need liquid engines. Would we have ever invented them independently? Very possibly not.