Word: braun
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Braun hurried back to the dinner table, broke the news of Sputnik I, turned earnestly to Neil McElroy. "Sir," he said, "when you get back to Washington you'll find that all hell has broken loose. I wish you would keep one thought in mind through all the noise and confusion: we can fire a satellite into orbit 60 days from the moment you give us the green light." Army Secretary Wilber Brucker, who had accompanied McElroy, raised a hand of objection: "Not 60 days." Von Braun was insistent: "Sixty days." General Medaris settled it: "Ninety days." Neil McElroy...
...Sept. 20, 1956, the first Jupiter-C was ready for firing at Cape Canaveral. It was a four-stage missile, with even a dummy fourth-stage satellite configuration-just like the bird that last fortnight put Explorer into orbit. By this time, Pentagon brass had a notion that Von Braun might be trying to beat the Navy into space with an unauthorized-and presumably undignified-major satellite. The Army, which had had the foresight to bring Von Braun and his team to the U.S. in the first place, and which had supported him all along in the face of awesome...
General Medaris therefore had no choice but to call Von Braun. "Wernher," said he, "I must put you under direct orders personally to inspect that fourth stage to make sure it is not live." Without a satellite, Jupiter-C flew 3,300 miles-farther than any U.S. missile before or since. Wernher von Braun knew then that he could surely launch a satellite-if given the chance...
...Chance. He got his chance, months later, the hard way. On the night of Oct. 4, 1957, Von Braun was called to the telephone from a Redstone dinner honoring Defense Secretary-designate Neil Mc-Elroy. Voice on the wire: "New York Times calling, Doctor." Von Braun: "Yes?" Timesman: "Well, what do you think of it?" Von Braun: "Think of what?" Timesman: "The Russian satellite, the one they just orbited...
...Good Dusting. Von Braun went-and fast. The very next week, he reserved Cape Canaveral range time for the night of Jan. 29, 1958, between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. (he would have hit it right on the nose except for bad weather). Jupiter-C had been ready for months. Says Von Braun: "All she needed was a good dusting. We simply took every bit of care on her that was humanly possible. That is the most you can do and the least you can do in missilery...