I've taken some time to reflect on the comments that you've written here before responding. You asked rhetorically what I would do if I was placed in Von Braun

I've taken some time to reflect on the comments that you've written here before responding. You asked rhetorically what I would do if I was placed in Von Braun's shoes, as if it were the kind of thing that I had never taken the time to think about. But boy let me tell you it is definitely something that I've thought about. Far more than you I'm quite certain. As it has been told to me, my grandfather was forcibly conscripted into the SS after the Nazis invaded Estonia. The choice was "Join up with the side that has better food and better weapons. Join the winning side and fight the Russians -- your sworn enemies. Or die." So he picked the better food and weapons. It worked out okay for him. Just like Von Braun. but not so much the side that he picked. Just like Von Braun. I'm skeptical of the noble story that Von Braun tells about his arrest for dreaming about space too much or whatever. It's pretty self serving. The truth of the matter is that Von Braun had many off roads before he wound up in the situation where he was made to don an SS uniform. And more off roads before he wound up under the SS gun. He didn't take them. Why? Because he didn't care about that shit. He cared about space more than he cared about people. That's how every empire falls.[0] I wonder what your father would say about that Walter. [0] https://genius.com/John-prine-thats-how-every-empire-falls-lyrics https://genius.com/John-prine-thats-how-every-empire-falls-l...