If it was not for WWII the America space program (NASA) might not be what is today, even though NASA seems to be without a vision and that sense of purpose that Apollo space missions gave NASA. It was during the closing of the WWII with the Americans closing from one side, and the Russians closing from the Eastern Front that Wernher von Braun had to make a decision for his rocket team. They decided that their future would be best with the Americans, so they buried all of their research notes, von Braun then set out to find the Americans while the rest of the team went underground so not to be discovered by the Russian Military. Braun then hooked up with the Americans, and once the US Military Intelligence understood who Braun was, they were brought back to the States where they continued their research in rocket flight. What I find fascinating is that the book that I read said that the Germans back in the 30's were planning a Mars mission, and here we are (2006) still debating a Mars trip even though Bush gave the mandate for NASA to go to Mars and return to the Moon.

If the Germans had won WWII, I wonder if Germany would have kept their initial plans and developed a rocket capable of making a trip to Mars, and then back to the Earth? What would NASA be like if after the Apollo missions they would have started research to develop a space ship to make the Mars trip, and what technologies would have been developed as a direct result of the Mars mission trip? I think that the space shuttles were necessary step in the evolution of space flight but we seemed to have stopped there. The shuttles are 20 to 30 years old and we should be developing new ships and new engines. I am sure that NASA has stuff on the drawing board (antimatter engines), but there seems to be no excitement in the news or the public at large for space flight. When the United States stopped the Apollo missions, I think a part of NASA died even though NASA continues space research and exploration.