10 Secrets You Didn’t Know About NASA

In a very swift change of pace, we're pivoting away from frivolous reality TV and onto the Nazis.

The Third Reich had built up a huge bank of scientists, engineers, and technicians over the course of World War II. After the conflict ended, the US wanted to use some of their knowledge for their own gain.

Thus came Operation Paperclip, a plan to rehouse hundreds (if not thousands) of former Nazi scientists in the US and put them to work on various projects. One such project was, you guessed it, the early days of NASA.

One of the people brought over in Operation Paperclip was Kurt Debus, a former V2 rocket scientist. Debus was transferred over to NASA in 1960 and, in just two years, was named the first ever Director of its Launch Operations Centre.

From there, he oversaw hundreds of rocket launches and played a pivotal role in the preparations for the moon landings.

Operation Paperclip remains a black mark against America's post-war activities and NASA was unfortunately a part of it. It's an unpleasant secret, one that doesn't get any easier to hear even after all these years.