American Minute - Jun. 16 - Father of the American Space Program

American Minute
with Bill Federer

The father of the American space program died JUNE 16, 1977.

He developed the V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the US, where in 1958, he launched America's first satellite.

He was director of NASA and the U.S. guided missile program.

His name was Wernher von Braun.

Founder of the National Space Institute, Wernher von Braun stated:

"The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil.

The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God."

Wernher von Braun continued:

"It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God's side."

To the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972, Wernher von Braun wrote:

"Some...challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we light a candle to see the sun?"

In American Weekly, February 10, 1963, Wernher von Braun wrote:

"It is difficult for me to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe...

Viewing the awesome reaches of space...should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator."