Elon Musk Applauds Contribution Of German Scientist Wernher Von Braun To America's Space Program [Corrected]

Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect U.S.’s space race was with Soviet Russia.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Thursday applauded the contribution of German scientists including Wernher von Braun in America’s space race against Soviet Russia.

What Happened: “Indeed. Until they were applied to the US space program, America was losing the space race badly,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Earlier this week, Musk had mourned the shortage of engineering talent in America.

Indeed. Until they were applied to the US space program, America was losing the space race badly.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 26, 2024

“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factory in Silicon Valley,” he said. While his companies would prefer to hire Americans, there is a shortage in the country of talented engineers who are motivated in the U.S., he said.

There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 25, 2024

Why It Matters: The U.S. hired several German scientists for the development of its space program including Wernher von Braun after World War 2 as part of Operation Paperclip, a secret United States intelligence program.

A former Nazi party member, von Braun developed the rocket that launched United States’ first space satellite Explorer 1. He was also key to developing the Saturn V launch vehicle which enabled the U.S. to send humans to the Moon under its Apollo program. As of today, the Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle to have carried humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).

Musk’s SpaceX is currently testing and developing its Starship launch vehicle aimed at taking humans to the Moon and further beyond.

While NASA is looking forward to landing humans back on the surface of the Moon after a gap of over 50 years with the help of a custom version of Starship, Musk is dreaming of taking humans to the planet Mars aboard Starship.

The company has completed six flight tests of the Starship to date but none with a payload.

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