Werner von Braun

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:07 pm

I actually found a song about the man behind it all... and a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6il4yNRUN4
Now, remember: I think this is funny because it is SATIRE, not because he was REALLY a blackhearted Nazi. That said, enjoy.

Note: not mine, I just found it

des · Post by **des** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:10 pm

Well there is no evidence that he really WAS a Nazi. True, he worked for the Nazi war machine and was responsible for some very bad things for that reason, but he was "hired" because of his rocket building abilities. I'm sure he would have been shot if he had refused. He kept files of his rockets for space which was always his true love. The museum in Huntsville showed an exhibit of his rocket drawings, many freehand, that were absolutely beautiful.
I think they should put them in a book. I'd sure buy it. He kept these drawings at great risk.

After the war, he made an effort to turn himself in to the Americans having some idea of what Russia might be capable of.

He was an interesting kid, making rocket sleds with his engineering abilities.

The first thing he did in Hunstville is get a library card.

--des

Mercergl wrote:I actually found a song about the man behind it all... and a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6il4yNRUN4
Now, remember: I think this is funny because it is SATIRE, not because he was REALLY a blackhearted Nazi. That said, enjoy.

Note: not mine, I just found it

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:58 pm

Maybe I phrased that wrong. I meant to say that he wasn't a nazi. sorry for the misunderstanding.I can't agree more, and I'm sure the thing about being unable to refuse is absolutely true. This was written during the cold war, so i guess you weren't only accused of being a commie, but a nazi too! Still a little funny, though, in a misguided sort of way.

And the library card: Of course that's the first thing he did! He couldn't go to space camp!

des · Post by **des** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:05 pm

No problem, but it is a common misconception. I am really busy with my job so I haven't seen the youtube thing. I can't go doing that or I have trouble getting OFF youtube.

--des

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:07 pm

I know what you mean... very addictive, very dangerous...

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:20 am

One of the major changes i noticed at the Rocket Center when i visited this weekend was the tributes to Mr. Werner Von Braun. During my Camp years, and when I last visited in '96, the areas entering the museam where all the Von Braun stuff is now was occupied by planetary science and astronomy stuff. It was kinda freaky to enter the museam and walk directly into the Von Braun "shrine" which i did not expect right off the bat.

My overall critique of the museam is not as good as what it was "back in the day". The content of the Space & Rocket Center is very lopsided now compared to what it used to be. A tour of the Space & Rocket Center in the late 80s-early 90s would include lots of pre-Mercury to Apollo stuff, plus some Shuttle stuff including Skylab and a little bit (but not too much) of military stuff.

Nowadays, it kinda seems like the Space & Rocket Center is a hodge-podge of everything. Mercury-Apollo artifacts and exhibits are scattered around, but not as thorough. Shuttle exhibits are very few and far between. The military section has been moved to the main museam floor and has been expanded ten fold to take up alot more space than it should. The climbing wall is a joke and has nothing to do with space exploration and is a waste of space in the museam in my opinion.

the biggest disappointment is how the Space Camp training center has been blocked off visually. Who's brilliant idea was this?!?!?! Standing around the old cafeteria, one cannot casually observe an Endeavour mission or a MAT exercise. You can't see the training floor at all!!!!!!! they have blocked it all with tinted windows, as if some sort of DOD mission is going on inside the training center!!! Had this been the case back in my day, my folks probably would have never sent me to Camp and I'd be a homeless bum right now. Can we put Buckbee back in charge please? This is not good PR!

in my visit this weekend, i missed the old days where one could roam around the Rocket Center and SC grounds almost limitlessly as long as they weren't bothering anything. Now, there are fences, guard posts, walls, tinted windows, and regulations that make the experience of being a Camper -or visiting ex-Camper a bit more of a pain than it used to be. At one time, you could walk from the Marriott to the Hab to the Rocket Park to the museam unobstructed and without any hassle if you at least looked like you belonged (flightsuit, space gear, etc). Its not so easy now. Luckily I had friends (Boomerang, Diesel) to help me out with that a little bit!

Thank you to everyone i met over the weekend involved with Space Camp, the Space & Rocket Center, and NASA. It was an awesome weekend that ended way too soon. I hope to come down in September to tie up any loose ends!!

Brian / Hotdog

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:09 am

If i understand you right, and all of the training equipment is blocked off, then yes that does suck! Last year (2006) they blocked off what I think was endeavor's MCOR, but you could see it if you looked closely trough the windows. If they have blocked the entire area, that is definetly bad PR. I can't imagine how many normal vistors would see a fully flight-suited team exiting the sims after a mission and thinking "I want to do that." That's got to draw a lot of people to Space Camp and such.

If you have any pictures of the changes, I'd like to see them, although I'll see for myself in 3 days

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:55 am

not completely blocked off - you can still walk around it - you just can't see anything on the training floor. visitors only have gift shop postcards to show them what the sims on the training floor look like.

ApolloXI · Post by **ApolloXI** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:01 pm

Vince, Vicki, Laura, and I talked about how the things used to be where good PR for camp. One story idea we came up with a young child visiting the USSRC in the past would see a trainee riding the MAT, 1/6th child, and etc. and ask "Mommy can I ride that," and mom would think about allowing the child to go to camp. The way things are now Space Camp has killed their free PR system. Now about the only way they could do some free PR is either give tours of the TCF/MCC to the public, build a cat walk above the floor, or special camera system allows the public to see the floor.

Hotdog wrote:One of the major changes i noticed at the Rocket Center when i visited this weekend was the tributes to Mr. Werner Von Braun. During my Camp years, and when I last visited in '96, the areas entering the museam where all the Von Braun stuff is now was occupied by planetary science and astronomy stuff. It was kinda freaky to enter the museam and walk directly into the Von Braun "shrine" which i did not expect right off the bat.

My overall critique of the museam is not as good as what it was "back in the day". The content of the Space & Rocket Center is very lopsided now compared to what it used to be. A tour of the Space & Rocket Center in the late 80s-early 90s would include lots of pre-Mercury to Apollo stuff, plus some Shuttle stuff including Skylab and a little bit (but not too much) of military stuff.

Nowadays, it kinda seems like the Space & Rocket Center is a hodge-podge of everything. Mercury-Apollo artifacts and exhibits are scattered around, but not as thorough. Shuttle exhibits are very few and far between. The military section has been moved to the main museam floor and has been expanded ten fold to take up alot more space than it should. The climbing wall is a joke and has nothing to do with space exploration and is a waste of space in the museam in my opinion.

the biggest disappointment is how the Space Camp training center has been blocked off visually. Who's brilliant idea was this?!?!?! Standing around the old cafeteria, one cannot casually observe an Endeavour mission or a MAT exercise. You can't see the training floor at all!!!!!!! they have blocked it all with tinted windows, as if some sort of DOD mission is going on inside the training center!!! Had this been the case back in my day, my folks probably would have never sent me to Camp and I'd be a homeless bum right now. Can we put Buckbee back in charge please? This is not good PR!

in my visit this weekend, i missed the old days where one could roam around the Rocket Center and SC grounds almost limitlessly as long as they weren't bothering anything. Now, there are fences, guard posts, walls, tinted windows, and regulations that make the experience of being a Camper -or visiting ex-Camper a bit more of a pain than it used to be. At one time, you could walk from the Marriott to the Hab to the Rocket Park to the museam unobstructed and without any hassle if you at least looked like you belonged (flightsuit, space gear, etc). Its not so easy now. Luckily I had friends (Boomerang, Diesel) to help me out with that a little bit!

Thank you to everyone i met over the weekend involved with Space Camp, the Space & Rocket Center, and NASA. It was an awesome weekend that ended way too soon. I hope to come down in September to tie up any loose ends!!

Brian / Hotdog

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:11 pm

The idea of the cameras or catwalk is good. Maybe they should use the mission control video feeds from the shuttles and show it to visitors during missions.

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:33 pm

the best/cheapest route would be to simply take down the walls!

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:05 pm

Well, yeah, but it doesn't look like they're about to do that... I wonder if they are renovating something and they want to close it off...?

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:25 pm

I doubt the walls are ever going to come down. They built the white rooms to give the kids a more realistic experience with getting to dress up in the launch/re-entry suits. But something does need to be done for the public in order for them to be able to see the MCC.

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:10 pm

Thats definetly true, and hopefully that will be broght to the attention of whomever it concerns at USSRC

des · Post by **des** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:10 pm

Perhaps the Mother Ship reads this?
Because that hiding everything is a bad idea!! Back in the day, there was even a huge multipart screen (actually modern enough to be done now) with scenes of SC looking out over the training floor. You could watch everything.

I'm sorry about the changes in the museum as well. I think it was an awesome museum, with excellent balance of past, present and future.

--des

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:15 pm

it isn't entirely ruined, but it took a big chunk out of the experience by blocking this off...

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:23 pm

Chris and Mercergl have the right idea. LG donated a bunch of flat panel displays, a few of them should be used to display sim video feeds. Either a random assortment of camera views or a collection of views from a particular sim could be displayed at any one time and motion sensing would ensure that only views with activities would be displayed.

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:25 pm

That would be great, maybe thats why LG donated them (plus its cheap advertising

) They should play the landing videos whenever they can, as that is the best part, both for the crew and a spectator...

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:17 pm

Actually they have one lg plasma screen that does just that over in front of the training center by Endeavour MOCR the camera views rotate around the diffrent sims on the floor though it isnt always working.

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:12 pm

Thats a great start... Maybe they're testing the setup for future expansions... I go in a day... I'll ckeck it out then and post whatever i can find out.

Werner von Braun

Werner von Braun

Re: Werner von Braun