Wernher von Braun (March 23, 1912-June 16, 1977) was the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center; worked on the U.S. guided missile program; founded the National Space Institute, 1975, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1975.
The chief architect of the Saturn V booster rocket, he has been considered "without doubt, the greatest rocket scientist in history," and known as the "Father of the American Space Program."
He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, and went on to develop the famed V-2 rocket during World War II.
In 1945, he emigrated from Germany to the United States; became a citizen, 1955; and on January 31, 1958, launched the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I.
Wernher von Braun, one of the top space scientists in the world, stated:
<In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible-this grandiose, stirring history of the gradual revelation and unfolding of the moral law-remains in every way an up-to-date book.
Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil.
The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God. It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side.
We must learn to pray that we may be on God's side.> 1912WB001
In American Weekly, February 10, 1963, Wernher von Braun wrote:
<It is difficult for me to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe...Viewing the awesome reaches of space...should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.> 1912WB004
In the foreword to his Anthology on the Creation and Design exhibited in Nature, Wernher von Braun stated:
<Manned space flight is an amazing achievement, but it has opened for mankind thus far only a tiny door for viewing the awesome reaches of space. An outlook through this peephole at the vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.
I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advance of science.> 1912WB002
To the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972, (and published in an article May 1974), Wernher von Braun wrote:
<One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all....The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based....
To be forced to believe only one conclusion-that everything in the universe happened by chance-would violate the very objectivity of science itself....What random process could produce the brains of a man or the system of the human eye?...
They (evolutionists) challenge science to prove the existence of God.
But must we really light a candle to see the sun?...They say they cannot visualize a Designer. Well, can a physicist visualize an electron?...What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him?...
It is in scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.> 1912WB003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1912WB001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wernher Magnus Maximillan von Braun, statement. Charles E. Jones, The Books You Read (Harrisburg, PA: Executive Books, 1985), p. 120.
1912WB004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wernher Magnus Maxillian von Braun. American Weekly, February 10, 1963.
1912WB002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wernher Magnus Maximillan von Braun, statement from the foreword to his anthology concerning creation and design exhibited in nature. Henry M. Morris, Men of Science-men of God (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, Creation Life Publishers, Inc., 1990), p. 85.
1912WB003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wernher Magnus Maximillan von Braun, May 1974, in an article he authored titled, Applied Christianity, published in the Bible Science Newsletter, May 1974, p. 8. Dennis R. Petersen, B.S., M.A., Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, 1988), p. 63.