On October 4, 1957, Russia launches the first artificial satellite in history – Sputnik. To many Americans this is a shocking event. Few days later Werner von Braun, America’s leading rocket scientist, says in an interview: “We consider the control of space around the earth much like, shall we say, the great Maritime powers consider the control of the seas in the 16th through the 18th Century, and they say if we want to control this planet, we have to control the space around it”. Dr. Werner von Braun is a German engineer who created the V-2 rocket for Hitler in World War II, he now works for the US Army. For years, von Braun has dreamed of exploring space. And many people think that he brought America to the Moon. But this is not true. Now I’m going to tell you what I’ve learned.
In the 1950s, a tiny group of engineers was already planning trips to the moon. They were called the Space Task Group – visionaries dreaming remarkable dreams that conceived and directed the nation’s first human-in-space program. They were the people who had to analyze and decide how to go to the moon.
The most basic decision that should be...