The Chinese Star

The sole purpose of this vehicle would be to be seen. To be seen by [330 million Americans,] [1 billion] 400 million Chinese, 200 million Russians, [one billion] 400 million Indians, etc. The American Chinese Star, rising in the west and setting in the east. Father would show it to son, and the priests would be asked about it, too. It would be punctual and predictable like a clock. Don’t you think this would do more for the Western Asiatic cause in the Asiatic Western mind than the Korean war, the existence of the A-bomb, or the Voice of America TikTok?

Adapted from nazi-American rocket scientist Werner von Braun’s 1955 epilogue to a Time Life Books paperback about the future of space flight, in which he called for the United States to use his old V-2 rockets to launch “The American Star,” a giant, white balloon, into space, just to freak the other countries out. [quoted here]

Previously, related: Speaking about Exhibition Space, Satelloons & the Palomar Sky Survey at CPNAS