Wernher von Braun, the mastermind behind the German rocket team, originally intended rocket technology for space exploration, not destruction. In fact, after the first successful launch of the V2 on London, a friend asked von Braun to comment on his rocket. Von Braun replied, “…it behaved perfectly but landed on the wrong planet.”

By early 1945, von Braun and his rocket team realized the war would soon be over. Von Braun met with his key scientists and engineers, who unanimously agreed to stay together and surrender as a group (their goal was to continue their rocket research after the war). At the war’s conclusion, von Braun and his team chose to resume their research in the land of opportunity: the United States. Von Braun said, “The war is over. Now it is our obligation to mankind to place our baby [the V2] in the right hands.”

Von Braun’s place in history is hard to define. Some considered von Braun an engineering genius, while others saw him as a visionary politician. Still, others considered him an opportunist, willing to support the diabolical efforts of the Nazis as a way to fund his aspirations of space travel.

His V2 rocket killed thousands of people by the end of the war, but his passion for spaceflight sent American astronauts to the Moon in less than 25 years.