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We made a deal with the USSR. We split up the German scientists. I think the USSR got the better part of the bargain and that is why they jumped out to an early head start in the space race.
The show was missing the point - human advancement and innovation is brought about by demand. And no greater demand is created then that which is brought about by war - better ways to kill people.
How did we get from horse drawn buggies to tanks in the first world war in 3 years?
How did we get to muzzle loaded muskets to the machine gun (albiet, never used) in the 4 years of the civil war?
How did we develop atomic power from a theory in someones head to a working bomb in less than 10 years?
None of those amazing advancements in technology were due to aliens. Your show concluded that "it must be aliens" but they are dismissing history. Nazi's developed rockets as a weapon, and all the resources of a nation were devoted to this goal (strenghtened by the mandate of a ruthless dictator).
We would not be able to get to the moon in the 60's without V1 or V2 rocket development during ww2, and with the intercontinental ballistic missle devolopment during the cold war. After that, the moon was merely a stepping stone.
What is the motivation today? We did have the tools then, as we have now. We were capable of a Mars manned flight in the early 80's. I remember reading the predictions in the early 70s as a school kid. But we have no motivation, and political scientific trends leave us earth bound. And wars have changed in nature, away from using sophisticated technology in transporting heavy weapons, to more individual targeting.
The gatling gun is a machine gun and was used in the Civil War. I'm pretty sure anyway.
We made a deal with the USSR. We split up the German scientists. I think the USSR got the better part of the bargain and that is why they jumped out to an early head start in the space race.
I don't think that there was a deal between the US and USSR to split up the German rocket scientists.
I recall from something I read (can't remember where/what) that at the end of WW2 every important German who could move west to surrender to the Americans or British did so. Last thing they wanted was to surrender to the Soviets. This included Werner Von Braun and his associates. So the US wound up with the bulk of the German rocket scientists.
On the other hand, the laboratories and workshops of those German rocket scientists were mostly in the parts of Germany captured by the Soviet Army. So the USSR wound up with the bulk of the research notes, blue prints, tooling machines and working rocket prototypes of German rocket program.
I find it interesting that the computers they did use for Apollo were about the size of a house and were dumber than a 286.
I was at the Smithsonian this past Summer and recall that the Apollo command capsule's computer only had something like 1/100th the computing power as a typical smartphone of today.
I find it interesting that the computers they did use for Apollo were about the size of a house and were dumber than a 286.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoobleKar
I was at the Smithsonian this past Summer and recall that the Apollo command capsule's computer only had something like 1/100th the computing power as a typical smartphone of today.
But the computers aboard the Apollo rockets were the first to use semi-conductor IC's. And it cost millions to produce these chips. But in the 1970's these machines sat dormant so they started to mass produce these chips for pennies.
The gatling gun is a machine gun and was used in the Civil War. I'm pretty sure anyway.
Yes that's what I was refering to - It was developed but I don't think it saw any combat usage in the civil war actually. Off topic discussion, but it is interesting.
We made a deal with the USSR. We split up the German scientists. I think the USSR got the better part of the bargain and that is why they jumped out to an early head start in the space race.
It wasn't a deal, it was a race. USSR forces advanced into Germany and Berlin, and some of the rocket development facilities, first, but fortunetly and for obvious reasons not many German scientists wanted to surrendor to the soviets. Van Braun and some of his staff purposely made efforts to surrender to the west.
Yes that's what I was refering to - It was developed but I don't think it saw any combat usage in the civil war actually. Off topic discussion, but it is interesting.
Yes, the Gatling Gun was used by the Union during the Civil War and also at San Juan Hill.
BTW....you can add the first submarine to having been built by the Confederates during the Civil War, the necessity of war again!
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