Standing Bear wrote: <snip> > remember in the early fifties when many scientists and others were > blacklisted for ostensible political but really many reasons. The result > WAS Sputnik, a monumental acheivement done on a parallel track > that no one in the west paid attention to until too late! Anybody seen > Dr. Ning Li lately? Well we'll just wait, news of her may just float > in someday.
MC: Not quite so simple. There was resistance during the Eisenhower administration to "stunts". Wherner von Braun made the drive into space his life's mission and governments were means to that end, including the Nazis and the US Army. He made a point of surrendring his staff to US forces at the end of WW2 and the Army happily installed him at the Redstone Arsenal, where he bacame a US citizen. He had quitely made sure the pieces of high altitude rocets built for other purposes could be bolted together to reach earth orbit, so I was not long before the US followed suit. MC: The Russians were always ahead in lift power because they initially bungeled microelectronics. Their rockets had to lift heavier tube electronics and more relaince was placed on ground control. Thus they were also able to get humans into orbit before the US could. MC: If you look at the list of blacklisted scientists, it includes many besides Ed Storms. Some of them have been embroiled in fights and controversies for decades. Mike Carrell > > >
