Talk:Wernher von Braun

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Wernher von Braun page.


satire[edit]

...odd theres an entry for some random satire song but not a more famous one like "the rocket worked perfectly, except for landing on the wrong planet." especially since its in his wikipedia entry —This unsigned comment is by 24.38.211.120 (talkcontribs) .

This is not that odd at all — WQ is NOT controlled by some top-down authority as to content (though their have sometimes been obvious measures TOWARDS such on the part of a FEW), but primarily by what appropriate content people who are free to edit it choose to add, and such a quote as you referred to had simply not been added, and since you mentioned it and noted it, I found an earlier source for it than that used at Wikipedia, and it has now been added. To you or anyone else who might read this, I would say, if you are dissatisfied with content, GET INVOLVED in using liberties and privileges provided to you to add it, rather than simply complaining about the lack of others with an inclination to conform to your expectations in producing articles. ~ Kalki·· 00:55, 26 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Wernher von Braun.

  • Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.
  • Development of the space station is as inevitable as the rising of the sun; man has already poked his nose into space and he is not likely to pull it back...
  • Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.
  • For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.
  • I always shoot for the sky, but sometimes I hit London.
  • I believe in an immortal soul. Science has proved that nothing disintegrates into nothingness. Life and soul, therefore, cannot disintegrate into nothingness, and so are immortal.
  • I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
    • Variant: Always use the word impossible with the greatest caution.
  • It will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. It will open to him the gates of heaven.
    • On the rocket-ship. Variant: It will free man from the remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet.
  • Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft... and the only one that can be mass-produced with unskilled labor.
    • Variant: The best computer is a man, and it's the only one that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
  • One test result is worth one thousand expert opinions.
    This quote may have originated as the Riehle Axiom from Riehle Brothers Machine Company founded in the 1800s.


  • this article claims the quote was made in 1972, but i couldn't find anything more exact. It certainly isn't in his letter to the California State board of Education. Perhaps in the New York Times article "Birth of Child on Moon foreseen by von Braun" (findable here). I however couldn't confirm this since i don't have access to the article. —This unsigned comment is by Amphicoelias (talkcontribs) 9 June 2014.
The March 1897 edition of "Book News", page 368, includes the quote "One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions". Von Braun wasn't even born until 1912. --Pascal666 (talk) 20:18, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.
  • The mastery of space is man’s greatest adventure and his most inspiring undertaking. It should spur us to maximum effort. The nation which mastered all of man’s earthly environment— land, sea and air— owes to its destiny the mastery of the limitless environment of space.
  • The greatest gain from space travel consists in the extension of our knowledge. In a hundred years this newly won knowledge will pay huge and unexpected dividends.
  • The universe is hostile only when you do not know its laws. To those who know and obey, the universe is friendly.
  • There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space program— your tax-dollar will go further.
  • Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
  • With every new answer unfolded, science has consistently discovered at least three new questions.
  • It takes sixty-five thousand errors before you are qualified to make a rocket.
  • An outlook through this peephole [that manned space flight had opened] at the vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.
  • Better is the enemy of good.

"The will to do it"[edit]

I see a number of motivational speakers who claim that JFK asked Wernher von Braun what it would take to put a man on the moon, and that Von Braun responded, "The will to do it." Is there a credible source for this?

The "wrong planet" quote looks doubtful[edit]

Did von Braun say "The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet"? https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17517/did-von-braun-say-the-rocket-worked-perfectly-except-for-landing-on-the-wrong-p/20125 Chriswaterguy (talk) 14:22, 13 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]