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Two Men With A Vision Christopher Columbus, a fifteenth-century Italian seafaring man, possessed a single-minded vision of what was possible using the cutting edge of then current technology. The caravel, a small, fast sailing vessel was relatively new, as were the ship’s compass for ascertaining the earth’s magnetic polar direction, and the quadrant for taking the elevation above the horizon, of the sun by day, and the polar star by night. Columbus was an experienced navigator both in the Mediterranean and on the waters of the Atlantic adjacent to Spain, Portugal, England, and France. He was well acquainted with the Portuguese accomplishments of sailing long distances within sight of land along the African coast. Portugal was the leading maritime power in the 1400’s. But Portuguese seafarers were not eager to try out the combination of the caravel, the compass, and the quadrant to venture far out to sea. Columbus was eager to do so. Columbus approached England, Portugal, and Spain asking for support for his vision for sailing across the uncharted seas to reach the Asian land mass. England’s King Henry VII laughed at the idea. Portugal’s King John II did not trust Columbus to succeed. Fernando and Isabela were interested, but were distracted by their war against the Muslims in Granada. Christopher lobbied the Spanish monarchs for seven years until they finally approved his plan. Columbus single-minded vision deeply impressed the Spanish monarchs. In January 1492, Spain was, for the first time in almost eight hundred years, free of warfare with the Muslims. Eight centuries of almost constant religious wars produced a large population of skilled and ambitious warriors for God and King. The victory won at Granada freed the nation’s budget and made resources available for exploration and conquest abroad. Fernando and Isabela recognized an opportunity to harness these skills and resources for the aggrandizement of the nation. They viewed Christopher Columbus as the man most likely to lead Spain to new worlds. Columbus single-minded devotion to duty is well documented in A History of the Indies by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo a contemporary of Columbus. We see this characteristic also in a published digest of Columbus log books produced by Bartolome de Las Casas. The Las Casas publication is further supported by other contemporary sources. Like Columbus, a young Wernher von Braun recognized the potential for existing technology to lead mankind to worlds beyond our own. Von Braun began his career in rocket science working for a movie company filming outside Berlin in the early 1920’s. He earned his Ph.D. in physics specializing in the design of rocket propulsion systems. Wernher worked for the German army artillery section long before the Nazis came to power. Wernher’s primary goal was to send men to the moon and the stars. Like Columbus, he was a man with a single vision. During World War II, Wernher von Braun worked to develop propulsion and guidance systems for the long-range V-2 rockets at Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea Coast. As German forces fell back on all fronts, and the war effort was very much lost, von Braun assembled his staff at Peenemunde to discuss the future of his scientific team. The Russians were approaching from the east. Peenemunde was very much in their path. Should they stay and surrender to the Russians? They felt they could never trust the Russians. Should they surrender to the British or the French? Those two nations had suffered terrible physical and economic damage from the war. How about the Americans? The U.S.A. was the only viable candidate for continuing the reach for the stars. The Americans were the most likely to have the desire and the resources to go into space. Wernher von Braun organized a motor convoy of trucks and vans to carry over fifteen hundred scientists, technicians, and their dependents south to Bavaria where they placed themselves directly in the path of the advancing American army. They placarded their vehicles with large signs reading “Project for Special Disposition.” German army roadblocks were quickly opened and von Braun’s convoy rolled south, sometimes with military escort, and with gasoline supplies that would have been impossible to obtain without the important-sounding title. His gamble paid off. The Americans had formed a cadre of scientists and intelligence operatives to locate and secure as many German technical secrets and personnel as possible. Von Braun’s foresight in taking his people to Bavaria played right into the American plan. In 1945, the U.S. Army gave Dr. Von Braun a one-year contract to work at the White Sands Missile test range in New Mexico. From that small beginning, the German scientists merged with their American team mates to put men into orbit around the Moon in December 1968, and land men on the Moon in July 1969. When Apollo Eight astronauts Borman, Lovell, and Anders, heard the words, “You are go for trans-lunar insertion,” they became the first terrestrial inhabitants to leave the familiar gravity of their home planet. They must have felt as those seamen of old felt crossing the bar from the harbor at Palos, Spain into the rolling Atlantic to begin a journey into the unknown. In July 1969, I stood with my niece and nephew at a public viewing site near launch complex thirty-nine. Apollo Eleven was poised on the launch pad, ready to take Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to man’s first landing on the Moon. I told my young audience to imagine that they were standing at dockside in the harbor at Palos, Spain, viewing Columbus’ three ships, the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria. Imagine the ships tied to their moorings, waiting for the rising tide on which to sail into the unknown. I crossed paths with Dr. von Braun on two occasions. The first time was in November 1958, when I was working as an electronic technician on launch complex nineteen at Cape Canaveral. He paid a brief visit to the block house control room one afternoon. The second occasion was a brief glimpse of him at the Marshall Space Center in Alabama. Every time I saw the man in the newspapers, or on TV, I always thought of him as I would think of Christopher Columbus. The lives and careers of Christopher Columbus and Dr. von Braun have many parallels. They were both men of singular vision and drive. At the conclusion of destructive wars, they both harnessed the resources of victorious nations favorable to their ventures. They worked against daunting odds bringing together teams of diverse individuals to work for a common goal. They envisioned using the cutting edge of existing technology and pushing the development of new technology to achieve greatness. They never lost sight of their primary goal, and they conquered the unknown. End |