Wernher von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (1912-1977). German-American aerospace engineer who was the central figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. During WWII, led the development of the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany at Peenemünde. Was an SS officer (Sturmbannführer). Recruited under Operation Paperclip after the war, records sanitized. At Fort Bliss, then moved to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama where he built NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Designed the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon. Became the most famous rocket scientist in history and a public face of American space exploration. According to his spokesperson Carol Rosin, on his deathbed in 1977 von Braun warned her that the military-industrial complex would manufacture a series of false enemies to justify space-based weapons: first the Soviets, then terrorists, then third-world 'crazies,' then asteroids, and finally a fake extraterrestrial threat. He told her the alien threat would be the 'last card' and that it would all be a lie. Von Braun also reportedly stated that he knew about extraterrestrial technology and that the technology behind UAPs was real but was being kept secret. His deathbed warning is one of the most significant claims in disclosure — the father of American space travel warning about manufactured threats with his dying words.