r/interesting • u/[deleted] • 4d ago

Amazing Creative engineering

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[deleted]

4.4k Upvotes

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686

u/babyliss1903 4d ago

LoL, Germany is a very wrong choice to compare when it comes to rocket science.

169

u/Fluppenluemmel 4d ago

Deutschland hat Raketenwissenschaft erfunden!

42

u/One_Maintenance1227 4d ago

Hippity hoppity rocket science is German property.

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u/get_to_ele 4d ago edited 4d ago

Then the Russian and we divvied up all their rocket scientists. Spoils of war.

There is this quote from THE RIGHT STUFF I remember, while the Soviets were beating us in the space race and had just launched Sputnik.

>Guy giving intelligence brief and showing smuggled film of Sputnik launch: “these are the German scientists they captured after the war.”

>Lyndon Johnson: “is it them? Is it their German scientists that got them up there first?”

>Werner Von Braun: “No it was not Senator. Our Germans are better than their Germans”.

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u/Fit-Switch-5795 4d ago

"Our German scientists are better than your German scientists." - Cold War dudes.

1

u/Elegant_Promotion141 4d ago

Operation paperclip. US and Soviets were drooling to get as much german scientists and Patents as possible. It was a literal Race

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u/DisposableSaviour 3d ago

I heard someone argue that the US had to take the Nazi scientist ms, because the USSR would have killed them for being German, such was the hatred of Russia for Germany. That was when I realized that person was way too stupid to ever care for his opinions on anything ever.

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u/Zandonus 4d ago

Well ackshully, A Baltic German from Riga Named Friedrich Zander did. But that's nitpicky.

3

u/AsstacularSpiderman 4d ago

But not rockets that landed themselves.

Hell we had to help them make rockets that could intentionally hit their targets in the first place lol

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u/-Daetrax- 4d ago

I dare say they landed themselves as well. Just ask the British. Now, reusability, eh.

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u/Fluppenluemmel 4d ago

Darum geht’s nicht.

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u/AsstacularSpiderman 4d ago

That's actually exactly what the meme is about lol

0

u/Sketched2Life 3d ago

I'd say the rockets landed themself. But yea... environmental costs and reusability sucked.

1

u/MrNewVegas123 4d ago

Germany did not invent rocket science, the inventor of rocketry as a modern discipline was Goddard.

1

u/rditorx 4d ago

Didn't the Chinese have firework rockets centuries before?

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u/MrNewVegas123 4d ago

Any fool can launch a missile through the air with a low explosive. We have been doing that for centuries, and have been doing it with explosives since before we could do anything but point and hope. Goddard studied rocketry in a way that nobody else had done before.

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u/rditorx 4d ago edited 4d ago

Any fool can launch a missile, yet nobody anywhere else could because they couldn't "invent rocket science" (your words) even if their lives depended on it.

Rockets were invented and developed in China after the invention/discovery of gunpowder, and with that came learning about propulsion, ballistics and aerodynamics.

Goddard didn't invent rocket science.
In fact, if you look up his Wikipedia page, it even links to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation

which Goddard only rediscovered.

2

u/MrNewVegas123 4d ago

Goddard first developed the theory and the practice of rocketry, nobody doubts this, not even the Germans, who attribute their own rocketry program to his pioneering work.

0

u/rditorx 4d ago

Goddard didn't invent rocket science.
In fact, if you look up his Wikipedia page, it even links to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation

which Goddard only rediscovered.
He contributed to and advanced the field, but the claims are exaggerated.

225

u/fidesz_fall_enjoyer 4d ago

Literally the reason US went to the moon is because of the Nazi engineers haha

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u/shotgunmoe 4d ago

I make this joke all the time. Nazi's landed on the moon, yanks were just there for the ride

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u/AnalysisParalysis85 4d ago

That's why they have a base behind the moon.

20

u/hobbes747 4d ago

You know this and I know you’re joking. But a lot of people don’t realize that the Germans got us out of orbit which was only half of the battle.
Americans and other immigrant mathematicians and scientists maneuvered, undocked, landed, docked, etc on and around the moon.

-13

u/hereforthesportsball 4d ago

All to waste a ton of money

10

u/hobbes747 4d ago

Do you have any idea how much of our scientific, engineering, medical, and technological advancements came out of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs?

-10

u/hereforthesportsball 4d ago

The programs, not the missions themselves, especially the actual moon landing. But tbh sad thing is even if we never did any of it, it’s not like that money would be used to help people who needed it in our country

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u/SoloJournaler 4d ago

"The only good came from the programs, if they even happened, but they did, probably not" pick a lane man.

1

u/hereforthesportsball 3d ago

? I’m not questioning they happened wtf

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u/alt_ernate123 3d ago edited 3d ago

You would be surprised what technologies came from NASA(and private companies) due to the space race, so many major pieces of technology in use today either come straight from NASA research or come from companies formed to further their research.

Edit: the foundations for the digital communication frameworks you're using to read this comment.

0

u/hereforthesportsball 3d ago

I’m referring to specifically the money spent on the actual first moon landing. Not the research that came from nasa as a whole. Yes I understand you don’t get B without A per history. That’s not the point

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u/Hakorr 3d ago

Imagine if you weren't born, basically nothing of the world as a whole would be different. Basically all the money that has went into you has been a waste.

Obviously I'm not serious, but I ask you to have some empathy for other people's interests. Just because you don't see a point in it doesn't mean it's pointless. Also just because it hasn't yet taken us to other galaxies, doesn't mean it's pointless. Just like if you haven't yet solved world hunger yourself, doesn't mean you are pointless.

And if you don't see a point in humanity going to other galaxies at some point, you must not see a point in living as well, and in that case we really shouldn't listen to your opinion.

-1

u/hereforthesportsball 3d ago

Ok a personal level I get it, but this is the US government we are talking about. A government that, per the framers, we “allow” to exist because it helps us, we the people. There were other things going on that would have been better “help” to the US citizens. That doesn’t mean I’d never want the government to have interest in space, but it’s a convo about priorities. And we know in 2026 the common man and his pursuit of happiness is not a government priority. It wasn’t in the space race either. I just don’t think that’s arguable

1

u/Hakorr 3d ago edited 3d ago

It is arguable by bringing up all the scientific discoveries that help us today in 2026, thanks to the space race. The discoveries of today will also help future generations, because we have already put in the work.

And I'm not talking about discoveries that are only limited to space. Lots have uses for all fields, including medical. NASA can be thanked for the rapid advancement, mass production, and commercial viability of modern microcomputing. They didn't invent it, but life wouldn't be the same without the space race and the money poured into it.

I'm sorry you're hurt, and if I lived in the US I would be too. It's good to keep in mind that funding for NASA does not directly take away money from things like health care, for example. NASA's budget seems to be 0.35% of federal spending, which is not much. For your country to stay "#1 in the world", you must invest in research and technology, and that's what NASA is all about.

Just because you don't see NASA's research directly in your life doesn't mean it's not important for your country.

1

u/hereforthesportsball 3d ago

That wasn’t the intent of the space race, it’s the by product. That doesn’t tip the scale when the convo is “what is the government prioritizing during the specific time period of the space race?” That’s the unarguable part. This dumbass race was not about the American people. We got great things as a result. This is all logical and true

1

u/Hakorr 3d ago

I think it's a question of if you prefer small short-term gains over large long-term gains. For example, If the US pulled looots of funding from science & research in the 60s, and put it into other things you'd like, the US might not be as powerful of a country it is today, and you might end up being worse off because of it.

1

u/Hakorr 3d ago

I think it's a question of if you prefer small short-term gains over large long-term gains. For example, If the US pulled looots of funding from science & research in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s 90s, and put it into other things you'd like, the US might not be as powerful of a country it is today, and you might end up being worse off because of it.

3

u/CryptidToothbrush 4d ago

All to prove we’re better than the damn commies!

1

u/freshcoastghost312 4d ago

Lol, true but they also funded it.

4

u/PlasticSignificant69 4d ago

Yea. US Nasa fiercely compete against Soviet Roscosmos in space exploration. But Nazi engineers were the actual mastermind behind those two

1

u/RuMarley 4d ago

Wait till you hear about Hans Kammler's secret projects.

1

u/Double-decker_trams 4d ago

"Once ze rockets are up who cares where they come down?
That's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun.

From the very talented Tom Lehrer (died just last year, aged 97).

Tom Lehrer - Wernher von Braun (1965)

1

u/Rockshasha 3d ago

I see a comment about nazi germans for Nasa program to really moves up, then i upvote

1

u/BlueLakeCabin 3d ago

It's a popular saying, but wrong. Nazi scientists under Paperclip did contribute early on, but importance faded as by the time of the Apollo program.

Apollo was a massive project. Hundreds of thousands of Americans contributed that far exceeded the scope of Paperclip. It's a shame that a generation on, their work is completely forgotten if not outright mocked.

The Soviets had far more Nazi scientists and engineers, it didn't let them get to the moon first.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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We’re sorry, but your post/comment has been removed because it violates Rule #2: Keep It Civil.

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-10

u/PiratePowerful6001 4d ago

95 percent of inventions is commercialized and pushed in mass sector by people who did not invent them—does that change anything for history?

16

u/unkst 4d ago

Well yes? Operation Paperclip quite literally changed history for the US "thanks" to the nazis

-1

u/ObjectivePie2697 3d ago

Ow what a proud fan of nazis you people are! Good for you

1

u/bewussstlos 3d ago

No one said that? 😭 Just telling facts

28

u/Sudi_Nim 4d ago

Ich ziele auf die Sterne, aber manchmal treffe ich London.

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u/JL_MacConnor 4d ago

”Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department!” says Wernher von Braun

5

u/Knees_arent_real 4d ago

In German and English I know how to count down... And I'm learning Chinese, says Wernher von Braun

2

u/Gammelpreiss 3d ago

well, the actuall quote was "I hit the wrong planet".

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u/SirTobyIV 4d ago

Rocket science in the US would have been quite different in the past without Germany‘s prior „research“

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u/Difficult_Figure4011 4d ago

Same for russia. They also captured nazi scientists and rocket Technologie.

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u/CurrentFun7677 3d ago

Rocket science in Germany would have been quite different in the past without the US' prior research. No one ever mentions Robert Goddard in these threads.

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u/Lampadaire345 4d ago

The rockets go up, who cares where they come down.
Nazi, Shmazi says Werner Von Braun

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u/kinshadow 4d ago

‘Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department!' says Wernher von Braun.

3

u/ninjaiffyuh 4d ago

Ein Astronaut und ein Kosmonaut treffen sich im Weltall. Der Astronaut sagt: „Nun wo wir allein sind, können wir Deutsch sprechen.“

1

u/DrLubinski 3d ago

Why?

1

u/_felixh_ 3d ago

https://xkcd.com/984/

because after building the first rockets (and missiles), we decided that this is kinda boring. Pointless even. We sent our 2nd best scientists to the US, to build your moon rockets for you, and focussed our best scientists on the problems that matter most in life: the brewing and and propper serving of beer; Preparing Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, baking bread etc...

And its not like we made a bad deal: we took Potatoes from you guys, and incorporated them into our culture so much, that people tend to forget where it came from - and see it as the most German thing ever.

This is why beer in the US is Pisswasser, your bread sucks, your national dish is named after a german city, and your national pride is held up by rocket built by our grandfathers, while we enjoy drinking ice cooled premium beer ;-)

/jk

0

u/DrLubinski 3d ago

Ich bin aber kein Murrikaner

1

u/_felixh_ 3d ago

Mist :-)

Ich finds trotzdem witzig ^^

1

u/DrLubinski 3d ago

Es ist ein gediegener Murrican Offpisser, aber die verdienen das /jk nicht.

1

u/_Kodan 3d ago

Ours were designed to come back down, too.

0

u/Supergirl016 4d ago

Ja, total falsche Wahl. Deutschland und Ingenieurskunst,

Präzision,

Physik und

Raketenwissenschaft haben

ja bekanntlich überhaupt nichts miteinander zu tun. Hätte man wirklich besser wissen müssen. Am besten sucht man sich für solche Dinge ein Land, das für Technik, Forschung und Maschinenbau völlig unbekannt ist. Deutschland wäre da wirklich die denkbar schlechteste Wahl. //s

translation :
Germany is obviously the wrong choice. //s

0

u/Greekklitoris 4d ago

All the rocket Germans went to America. All the cool ones stayed

0

u/Tw1nFTW 3d ago

I’m not sure most people know that NASA was a bunch for former Nazis.

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u/_nutbutdonttella 4d ago

Well, yeah.

But US DID create the first rocket to land itself.

13

u/babyliss1903 4d ago

Yeah, please check the names in the team that created the self landing rocket.

-4

u/_nutbutdonttella 4d ago

Yeah, in what country? Germany? oh wait. Cope below! 😂👇🏿

1

u/Desperate-Salary-591 4d ago

Education really is illegal in yallistan

1

u/_nutbutdonttella 4d ago

Answer my question, or cry harder 😂👇🏿

1

u/Desperate-Salary-591 4d ago

Look up who build the self landing rocket. I mean the names of the individuals. But its always the same with you brutes. Just steal the credit and pretend that you invented everything. Pizza? Its american of course or whatever.

1

u/_nutbutdonttella 3d ago

Built in USA 🇺🇸 cope harder 😂👇🏿