War, Controversy, Space: The Story of Rocket Development from 1920s Germany to 1960s America

The prestige of German technology and engineering remained high during the years of instability following World War I and prospered under the Weimar Republic. German science made leaps and bounds towards futuristic technologies during these years, including the rocket that came from science fiction novels written by Hermann Oberth. The enthusiasm for futuristic technologies drove people like Wernher von Braun to research and develop rockets with fellow enthusiasts in the form of amateur rocket groups. The rise of the Nazi party to power brought with it the policy of rearming Germany as soon as possible. Army Ordnance looked at these new technologies in order to replace weapons banned by the Treaty of Versailles. Karl Becker of Army Ordnance gave von Braun a small amount of money during the Weimar period to develop rocket technology. When the Nazis came to power, the funds poured in as the different rocket groups were consolidated into a single group at Kummersdorf and eventually Peenemünde. World War II provided an opportunity for the technology to be deployed. The struggles of priority and technical issues slowed the program down from their anticipated deployment in 1941 to 1943, which was pushed back to 1944 due to the bombing of Peenemünde in August 1943. The delays and bombing of Peenemünde brought the rocket program closer to the SS, which strove to gain control over the program. The SS brought to life the horrors of the underground Mittelwerk factory, where slave labor built rockets for the program , horrors that certain people needed to answer for in the post-war period. May 2, 1945, is the critical date when the rocket team surrendered to the American Army. The U.S. intelligence service had been searching for them throughout Germany. The U.S. Army, with the support of the State Department, brought these German rocketeers to the United States as part of the controversial Operation Paperclip, where they became a permanent icon in the American Military-Industrial-Complex, but with a shadow over their pasts. The Germans slowly became involved in the research and development phase of rockets. By the 1950s the group was developing new missiles, which allowed the United States to launch its first satellite, Explorer I on a Jupiter Missile created by von Braun's group. The American space program would not have had the success that it did without the help of these Germans.