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The Secret Mine That Took Us To Space

The Space Race, the Cold War, and the Moon Landing all have an origin story connected to a small, obscure silver iron mining operation in the mountains of Lower Saxony in Germany – and it’s such a complex, unbelievable tale that it exposes our most dangerous intersections of science and morality. 14 tons of buried…

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1 month ago

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The Space Race, the Cold War, and the Moon Landing all have an origin story connected to a small, obscure silver iron mining operation in the mountains of Lower Saxony in Germany – and it’s such a complex, unbelievable tale that it exposes our most dangerous intersections of science and morality.

14 tons of buried paper determined the fate of the world and kicked off humanity’s exploration of space.

We already know the end of the story: we know about Sputnik and Apollo 11, we know about Werner von Braun, and we know about Operation Paperclip. But pulling the threads of NASA and the Soviet Union’s Vostok program unravels an unknown World War II race between trucks and time, a struggle of secrets and survival, and a twist-filled tale of man, mind, and morality.

What you need to know is that story’s beginning – and if you don’t know it already, that’s because they never told you.

#spacerace #coldwar #science #history

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11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. @BeenDownSoLong...

    March 22, 2024 at 12:21 pm

    In my opinion, you should have said the cache also contained documents pointing out that the end justifies the means. Or at least they were making the case for a Machiavellian justification for their behavior. Oh, and that was a nice “Fine-tuning” argument at the end there. To what purpose?

    Reply

  2. @JohnJones-oy3md

    March 22, 2024 at 12:35 pm

    I was assured that it was a bunch of sassy black ladies crunching numbers that got us to the moon.

    Reply

    • @Conrad500

      March 23, 2024 at 2:45 pm

      It is! As well as many other moving parts just as vital to the process. There’s a reason the saying is “it’s not rocket science,” because when it is, it really is.

      Reply

  3. @Conrad500

    March 22, 2024 at 12:40 pm

    Ok, now tell me where they hid non paper treasure

    Reply

  4. @Pieceoreece

    March 22, 2024 at 4:42 pm

    Ok i’ll bite…

    Reply

  5. @Matpatfan101

    March 22, 2024 at 8:14 pm

    You’ve earned a sub!

    Reply

  6. @Xxvier123

    March 22, 2024 at 8:14 pm

    You’ve earned a sub!

    Reply

  7. @KoenZyxYssel

    March 23, 2024 at 2:02 pm

    Never heard about this but I did figure the german scientists that defected during/after the war had a lot to do with the scientific advances in the US after the war, and having people that actually understand the subject matter is probably more valuable than having technical documents you don’t fully understand. And yeah, I’m not surprised that the US was only looking out for its own best interest before and during the war. It’s what nations do (in so far as the US is a nation, that’s another topic) and nazi germany was no different: they were left bankrupt after the first world war so they decided to reject that reality and substitute their own. Wars are pointless things that make perfect sense, especially when you take into account that people do pointless things (like going to the moon).

    Reply

  8. @ddturnerphd

    March 24, 2024 at 5:46 am

    Awesome!

    Reply

  9. @noooosleepp

    March 27, 2024 at 5:54 am

    Love the content and so glad I found the channel. Interesting and different discussions. Great work.

    Reply

  10. @MB-st7be

    April 9, 2024 at 8:46 am

    Yeesh who wrote this script? Way too incoherent

    Reply

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