In 1948, Wernher von Braun, a German-American aerospace engineer and rocket physicist in his science-fiction novel Mars Project: A Technical Tale predicted that a man named "Elon" will be taking humans to Mars.
Nearly half a century later his prediction is coming true.
Last year, Musk tweeted "Destiny, destiny. There is no escape for me.” In response to his tweet, a user named Toby Li shared a page from Von Braun's book in which he might have predicted Musk’s quest to reach the red planet decades ago.
NASA completes major test on rocket that could take humans back to the moon
"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," Li wrote back.
Destiny, destiny
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2020
No escaping
that for me
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
Von Braun was one of the main creators of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket at the end of World War II. After the end of the war he emigrated to the United States where he was nationalized and worked to develop the country's space exploration agenda and, eventually, NASA reports Gizmodo.
However, another Twitter user clarified that “Elon” was not the leader of the Martian community in Von Braun's book, but rather a title.
Are we sure this is real?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2020
Yeah it's real. This is the English transcript of the same book ... But "Elon" referred by Von Braun in the book isn't the name of the person but rather the name of the position something like an elected meritocratic president pic.twitter.com/GADiMJHxLp
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) December 30, 2020
This year in April, SpaceX won NASA’s $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the moon as early as 2024.
Musk's SpaceX wins $2.9 billion contract to land humans on moon
Further, the first orbital Starship flight is planned for year’s end. The Starship was one in a series of prototypes for the heavy-lift rocket being developed by SpaceX to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.
The billionaire is determined to deliver on his Mars promise, which is a recurrent theme even in his tweets.
Make life multiplanetary! #Mars
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2021
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