German rocket pioneer predicted it as early as 1948
Vision or coincidence? In 1948, the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun wrote in his fictional novel about a ruler on Mars. Musk supporters see parallels with the SpaceX founder. No wonder, because the character in the novel is called Elon.
Seven rulers headed by a man named “Elon” – this is how the rocket developer Wernher von Braun came up with the idea of leading a society that populates Mars. In 1948 he wrote in his manuscript “The Mars Project” of government representatives who are elected for five years. The Martians call the head of government the “Elon”. This is what it says in a photographed document that circulates on Twitter.
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“Elon” from the Old Testament
Supporters of SpaceX founder Elon Musk see a connection. After all, the first manned landing on Mars could use technology from Musk’s space company SpaceX. The first name of the SpaceX, Tesla and PayPal founders sounds unusual to European ears, but is much more common in Musk’s South African homeland. Von Braun’s choice of name could go back to the Bible: In the Old Testament, “Elon” is mentioned in the Book of Judges. A Hebrew name that means tree or oak.
At the end of last year, a space journalist drew attention to the identity of the founder and the character in the novel. The Canadian replied to a tweet from Musk: You couldn’t escape your destiny. Under the film quote from a Frankenstein grotesque, the journalist posted a photographed page of the German Von Braun manuscript. Other Twitter users questioned the authenticity.
Speaking about destiny, did you know that Von Braun’s 1953 book “Mars Project,” referenced a person named Elon that would bring humans to Mars? Pretty nuts pic.twitter.com/m28yFU4Ip6
– Toby Li (@tobyliiiiiiiiii) December 30, 2020
Werhner von Braun’s novel on the red planet found few followers in the post-war period. Only the technical appendix appeared in German in 1952 and in English in 1953. In it, von Braun describes, incompletely but in great detail, a prerequisite for a manned mission to Mars. His complete work was only published in 2006.
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Author’s Nazi past
Since the moon landing in 1969, Wernher von Braun had been an acclaimed researcher in the USA. The engineer played a key role in the great success and his past seemed to have been forgotten: Wernher von Braun developed rockets not only for the USA, but also for the Nazis beforehand. Under Hitler, the German launched the V2 “wonder weapon”. Tens of thousands of slave laborers paid with their lives to build the rockets in miserable conditions in underground tunnels. The Wehrmacht used Braun’s rockets primarily in London and Antwerp, where they killed around 8,000 to 12,000 people. Throughout his life, the rocket engineer denied complicity in the Nazi crimes. After the war he further developed the V2 rocket. This time in his new home America.
