Did the Space Shuttle Atlantis Cancel Because of the Scrutiny Generated on ATS?, page 4

Von Braun is well known as the leader of what has been called the “rocket team” which developed the V–2 ballistic missile for the Nazis during World War II. The V–2s were manufactured at a forced labor factory called Mittelwerk. Scholars are still reassessing his role in these controversial activities.

history.msfc.nasa.gov...

Von Braun's relationship to the Nazi Party is complex; although he was not an ardent Nazi, he did hold rank as an SS officer. His relationship to slave labor is likewise complicated, for his distance from direct responsibility for the use of slave labor must be balanced by the fact that he was aware of its use and the conditions under which prisoners labored.

The question of what to do with German technicians in American custody was laden with political, military, and moral overtones. Some feared that allowing them to continue their research might allow for a rebirth of German militarism.

history.msfc.nasa.gov...

von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, to the Americans.

history.msfc.nasa.gov...

NASA's veneration of Nazi old-timers deserves renewed scrutiny. In 1969, NASA's Distinguished Service Award went to Arthur Rudolph for his work as project director of the Saturn V moon rocket. When he left the country in 1984 rather than face charges as a Nazi war criminal, Rudolph and the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations signed an agreement.

Elizabeth Holtzman, who drafted the law allowing the government to deport Nazis, wrote in a telegram to Reagan, "It is a disgrace for an American medal to remain in the hands of this bestial killer."

"it clearly does not protect Rudolph's distinguished science award as I had been led to believe by the NASA general counsel's testimony."

Von Braun's own admissions in U.S. Army records show that the man NASA touts as a hero was an S.S. major who frequently visited the underground rocket factory where a black American flyer and 25,000 other prisoners from the concentration camp Dora died. During one visit, according to documents shown on CNN, von Braun attended a meeting that discussed rounding up citizens off the streets of France to be brought to Dora.

writing.upenn.edu...

In 1994, Carl Sagan wrote in his book, "Pale Blue Dot", Apollo was not mainly about science. It was not even mainly about space. Apollo was about ideological confrontation and nuclear war.

ARTHUR RUDOLPH OF DORA AND NASA
By Linda Hunt

On the hill was the huge cavelike entrance to the factory; 6,000 bodies covered the ground as far as the eye could see. Rows upon rows of skin-covered skeletons were frozen solid in grotesque shapes, bearing bruises and wounds from beatings. "They had been starved to death,"

There is no monument to Dora - Americans do not wish to be reminded of what Jean Michel said about the day that U.S. astronauts first walked on the moon: "I could not watch the Apollo mission without remembering that that triumphant walk was made possible by our initiation to inconceivable horror."

cndyorks.gn.apc.org...

Shall I go on with our little history lesson or can we continue with the topic that this thread is about instead of some of us coming here to read new posts only to find a slanging match going on and with no further useful chat or information relating to the topic.

Please show a bit more open mindedness to all that wants or needs to be said, if not for us then do it for the poor 6000+ people that died so we could glorify our space missions, which we as a global society are now all a major part of.

Thank you for your patience.