Funny how things work out. When Germany surrendered, we got the liquid
scientists here in Huntsville. The Russians took the solid fuel scientists.
They had powerful rockets that could throw anything into space, but they
couldn't be controlled as well for exploration. We got the weaker liquid
rockets because of the German team we got. We therefore focused on
miniaturizing everything we put into space. That led to the transistor. That
led to personal computers. That led to the internet that we are
communication on right now.

One time when I was at NASA with my dad, Dr. Von Braun knew I was there and
came out and asked me to hold something. He put a funny-looking cube in my
hands. It was the strung iron core memory (anyone remember THAT?) for the
mercury capsule, about 16 bits in all if I remember. He said "you're holding
two million dollars." What a feeling!

Jim

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:27 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:

> Jim,
>
> I envy the extent of your experience with him! I met Werner when he was
> Director of Marshall Spacecraft Center. We spent an amazing 3+ hours
> together during our first meeting on so many subjects including our mutual
> acquaintance, Dr. Willy Ley. I had interviewed Dr. Ley when still in high
> school and spent an amazing weekend at his home on Long Island. I had a
> number of shorter exchanges with him during later years. I later came to
> know Werner even better after he left NASA. As a history buff and amateur
> archaeologist, I was able to visit Peenemunde, Nordhausen and many of the V2
> sites. I was always interested in the chemistry and engineering of liquid
> rocket based propulsion and he got me invitations to several reviews of the
> Saturn propulsion system. Our greatest overlap was the dream of exploring
> Mars. He was focussed on human flight to Mars and I have always been
> interested in searching for signs of life or of a second genesis beyond the
> earth. Incredible memories! The man was the most spell-binding imagemaker I
> ever encountered!
>
> Frank Grunthaner
>
> On Apr 16, 2010, at 5:31:32 PM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From:"Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com>Subject:Re: VW quality & Mercedes
> FI & Japanese FI - was - Massive Maintenance and costDate:April 16, 2010
> 5:31:32 PM PDTTo:frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com>Cc:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> Where did you run into Von Braun? My dad worked for him. Everybody
> here knew him, we all went to the NASA picnics, tours of NASA, say him
> at sears buying a lawnmower and stuff like that around town.
>
> He gave me a "Ticket to Mars in Your Lifetime" once. I left it at my
> grandparents' house and never saw it again. Wish I still had it!
>
> Jim
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:48 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:
> > Neat! Knew the man well, never the daughter!
> >
> > Frank Grunthaner
> >
> > On Apr 16, 2010, at 4:14:57 PM, "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
> >
> > From:  "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA>
> > Subject:    Re: VW quality & Mercedes FI & Japanese FI - was - Massive
> > Maintenance and cost
> > Date:   April 16, 2010 4:14:57 PM PDT
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Ah ha, looks like the Triumph was just giving you the old "up yours"
> > on account of your passenger's father.
> >
> > :)
> >
> > alistair
> >
> >
> > On 16-Apr-10, at 2:45 PM, Jim Felder wrote:
> >  Maybe it was the TR4 distributor that flew apart in the middle of a
> > Georgia forest with
> > Dr. Werner Von Braun's daughter in the passenger seat in the middle of
> > the night on the way to Atl anta.
> >
>
>
>