Original subtitles

NARRATOR: A visionary scientist.

WILLIAM HENRY: He provided the greatest leap

in human history.

NARRATOR: A single‐minded obsession.

ROBERT PEARLMAN: We wanted to go to space

because he wanted to go to space.

NARRATOR: And a mysterious past.

You have to wonder where this knowledge came from.

NARRATOR: He developed the means to put a man on the moon,

but was Wernher von Braun's passion fueled

by his own ambition?

Or might he have been influenced by otherworldly beings?

DAVID WILCOCK: Wernher von Braun was in touch with some sort

of extraterrestrial force

that is steering us even further out into space.

NARRATOR: Since the dawn of civilization,

mankind has credited its origins to gods

and other visitors from the stars.

What if it were true?

Did extraterrestrial beings

really help to shape our history?

And if so,

might aliens have influenced Wernher von Braun?

NARRATOR: Huntsville, Alabama.

July 24, 1969.

A crowd of thousands gathers in Courthouse Square

to cheer on the triumphant return of Dr. Wernher von Braun,

just hours after Apollo 11's Columbia Command Module

splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

The United States had achieved

what many believed was impossible:

putting a man on the moon.

The picture ran in newspapers around America

the following day,

celebrating the genius rocket engineer who was behind it all.

Von Braun is a titan.

You know, he's one of the major figures of the last century.

And he was way ahead of his time.

Von Braun adamantly believed

that humanity's future was in space.

He's the greatest voice we've had

in the history of the space program.

NARRATOR: Considered by NASA

to be the "Father of Rocket Science,"

von Braun is credited with either inventing

or helping to develop many

of the most sophisticated aerial technologies that exist today,

like the supersonic anti‐aircraft missile,

the ballistic missile,

the first American satellite,

and the first U. S. space vehicles,

including the enormous Saturn V rocket

that enabled man to reach the moon.

Without exaggeration, the Apollo program has been called

"the greatest achievement that mankind has ever accomplished."

Without Wernher von Braun, we would have not reached the moon.

To date, the Saturn V is the most powerful rocket

that we've ever built.

NARRATOR: Von Braun's incredible engineering feats were matched

only by his all‐consuming crusade to send man into space.

In the 1950s, when space travel seemed a fantasy,

Wernher von Braun teamed up with Walt Disney

to convince a skeptical public

that putting man on the moon was not only possible,

but that it would happen in their lifetimes.

In these films,

watched by an estimated 42 million people,

von Braun boldly predicted

not only how we would send men into space,

but also the use of protective suits,

lunar landing vehicles, orbiting space stations,

and even manned trips to Mars.

If we were to start today

on an organized and well‐supported space program,

I believe a practical passenger rocket

could be built and tested within ten years.

NARRATOR: But who exactly was this engineering genius

with such extraordinary visions for the future?

Why did he believe so strongly

that man could and should travel into space?

And what did he expect to find when we got there?

Wernher von Braun was born March 23, 1912,

in a small town in Eastern Prussia.

The second of three sons,

Wernher grew up a child of wealth and privilege.

But while he was born into an accomplished family,

Wernher's keen intellect and unusual passions stood out.

His father once said,

"I don't know where his talent comes from,"

and stated on more than one occasion

that he considered his son a mystery.

IMPEY: Wernher von Braun was multitalented.

Both sides of his brain were working.

He could think about technical things

and imagine rocketry and space travel,

but he was an accomplished musician.

And these traits manifested very early.

I think his parents knew by the time he was four or five

that he was very special.

His mother gave him a telescope when he was young,

and he looked at the moon and said, "I want to go there.

I want to build the machine that will go to the moon."

And of course he did half a century later.

NARRATOR: Wernher von Braun grew up in a time

when German science fiction authors focused

on science utopian novels

that often featured an idealized German engineer

who solves the world's problems through science and technology.

Movies such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis

and Woman in the Moon also stirred the public's imagination

and no doubt had a powerful influence on von Braun.

For a young man growing up in the 1920s and '30s,

space travel was considered too fantastic and far‐fetched

to ever be possible.

And although the Wright brothers had achieved

the first powered flight in 1903,

the horse and buggy was still

a widely used mode of transportation.

The achievement of putting a man on the moon

is something that was at the time really almost impossible

and almost unthinkable.

Wernher von Braun was obsessed with going to the moon

and going to Mars from the time he was a little boy.

And that was his destiny.

NARRATOR: In his teens,

von Braun wrote papers on orbital flight,

and by the incredibly young age of 20,

he was named the head of Germany's rocket program

by army artillery officer Captain Walter Dornberger.

Dornberger would later write in his 1952 book,

V‐2, the Firing into Space,

that he was deeply impressed by the young von Braun's energy,

shrewdness and astonishing theoretical knowledge.

IMPEY: When he worked towards one of his goals,

he would apply himself

and master a subject in very short order.

He'd been trained as an engineer,

and doing a PhD in physics is not trivial.

And he got his PhD at an age

when most German students were still undergraduates.

NARRATOR: But how is it that Wernher von Braun‐‐

whose contemporaries included such scientific geniuses

as Nikola Tesla,

Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein‐‐

was so far ahead of everyone when it came to rocketry?

And what was behind his obsession

to travel to the stars?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe

that the boy genius may have been guided

by otherworldly forces.

Maybe he drew his inspiration from science fiction.

Maybe it came from his... his own imagination and vision

of what the future should be.

Or maybe it was inspired by something extraterrestrial.

WILCOCK: Some sort of extraterrestrial contact

might have happened with Wernher von Braun.

Something or someone might have reached him and saw

where we needed to go as a civilization,

and gave him the tools and the insights

that he needed to be able

to build our way out into space.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Some have suggested that people

like Albert Einstein, Tesla, that they've had

this extraterrestrial intervention;

that they have had access

to this abundance of knowledge.

And the question has arisen‐‐

did Wernher von Braun? Was he also one of them?

Because the vision he had, the ideas

were incredible for their time.

NARRATOR: Might extraterrestrials

have chosen Wernher von Braun

to propel mankind to the moon and beyond,

as some ancient astronaut theorists propose?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining von Braun's connection

to a mysterious Nazi institution

known as the Ahnenerbe.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Their job was

looking for special occult artifacts.

BARA: Rocketry was black magic

that would enable them to dominate the world.

NAZIS: Heil! Sieg Heil!

NARRATOR: In 1933, Adolf Hitler

rose to power and began consolidating

Germany's military, political

and economic institutions under the control

of his Nazi Party apparatus.

For years, Wernher von Braun avoided

becoming a member of the Nazi Party,

but on November 12, 1937,

he was commanded to join and did so.

To hear him tell it, he was, uh, had no choice.

That he... it was either do that

or, um, face the same fate

as everyone else who disobeyed the Nazis‐‐

certain death.

Von Braun didn't think the Nazi movement was the way to go,

but it was a means to an end to develop his rockets.

NARRATOR: In 1944,

with the help of additional funding

from the German government,

von Braun launched the 45‐foot,

27,000‐pound A‐4,

later rechristened the V‐2,

or "Vengeance Weapon."

While von Braun's first rocket only reached 1.4 miles,

the V‐2 climbed to an altitude

of 108.5 miles,

and became the first man‐made object

to ever reach space.

PEARLMAN: The V‐2 rocket was a one‐stage,

liquid‐fueled rocket that was

not comparable to any other rocket at the time,

because there weren't other rockets at the time.

You had rockets in development.

What von Braun was able to do with the V‐2

was combine the theory with the practical application

and develop the first rocket ever

to be able to reach space.

NARRATOR: How was von Braun able to advance

Germany's rocket program so far

in just a few short years?

Was it due to a desperate nation

supplying him with massive amounts

of money and material?

Or could there be another reason?

On July 1, 1935,

Hitler's SS commander, Heinrich Himmler,

established Ahnenerbe‐‐

an elite Nazi institute that purported

to research the cultural and archaeological history

of the Germans.

However, its true purpose proved far more bizarre.

BARA: Ahnenerbe was based on the idea that the Aryan race

was the most directly descended from ancient,

perhaps alien, gods.

CHILDRESS: Part of their job was to literally go

all over the world looking for special occult artifacts.

Things like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.

BARA: Von Braun became closely associated with them

through his association with the SS

and with Heinrich Himmler.

And one of the main reasons for that was that

they felt like rocketry was almost an arcane secret,

um, a sort of black magic that would

enable them to dominate the world.

NARRATOR: As World War II

broke out across Europe...

... Ahnenerbe expanded its research

into secret weapons programs,

and Himmler tapped von Braun as its technical director

at Germany's large‐scale experimental research facility

at Peenemunde in Northwest Germany.

It was during these next several years that von Braun

advanced the science of propulsion,

aerodynamics and rocket guidance systems

beyond what anyone had thought possible.

CHILDRESS: You have to ask yourself,

where would they have gotten

that kind of knowledge so quickly?

One of the possible reasons is that the Ahnenerbe,

with their researches,

had actually discovered

technology through

some of their expeditions

to find ancient relics,

and their search, really, for ancient technology.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Ahnenerbe

discovered artifacts that helped them

advance their weapons research?

Some ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the Nazis did,

in fact, recover something

not from the ancient world

but from an extraterrestrial one.

A multicolored orb of light was seen in the sky

in 1937 in Southwestern Poland.

And by all accounts, this was a UFO sighting.

But it's a lot more than that.

This orb actually crashed into the ground.

NARRATOR: According to the account,

when investigators reached the suspected crash site,

they found a strange disc‐shaped object.

Nazi officials are said to have taken the damaged craft

to a nearby secure facility

where it was examined

by Germany's top aeronautical experts,

including Wernher von Braun.

While no remains of any alleged UFOs survived the war,

German engineers

did develop a series of revolutionary aircraft,

including the first rocket‐powered jet fighter,

the first stealth bomber,

and even antigravity‐powered,

saucer‐shaped vehicles.

From what we're able to glean today,

Nazi technology at the end of World War II

was so advanced that they had things

that are still science fiction today‐‐

antigravity...

beam weapons...

flying saucers...

flying triangles.

Things that are still kept secret today.

NARRATOR: In June 1945,

U. S. Army officials holding German scientists

reported that the Nazis were 25 years ahead

of the United States in rocketry.

You have to wonder where this knowledge came from

and also whether von Braun‐‐

who was really the spearhead of all the Nazi rocket technology‐‐

if he had also gotten information from other sources,

perhaps extraterrestrials,

that helped him advance so quickly

in rocket technology.

NARRATOR: Could the incredible advances

made by von Braun's design team

have been the result of alien technologies

that were reverse‐engineered?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and claim

the most compelling evidence isn't the amazing technology

achieved by the Nazis,

but the incredible advancements that came after the war

in America.

POPE: All this was actually alien technology.

WILCOCK: German scientists were at the root

of alien reproduction vehicles.

NARRATOR: Oberjoch, Germany, May 1945.

In the wake of Adolf Hitler's suicide

and the German surrender, Wernher von Braun

and hundreds of other German rocket engineers

surrendered to the U. S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps.

But it was a move von Braun had planned months before.

BARA: Von Braun and his colleagues made

a conscious decision to surrender to the Americans

because they felt they would have access to higher technology

and they would have a better opportunity to fulfill

his dream of going to the moon and going to Mars,

uh, to explore what was there.

NARRATOR: Although he was a known member of the SS,

von Braun leveraged his position

as the head of Germany's V‐2 rocket program

to convince U. S. authorities to bring him

and roughly 100 hand‐picked members of his team to America.

Eventually, some 1,500 German scientists

and technicians would follow von Braun to the U. S.

through a top secret program called Operation Paperclip.

Operation Paperclip was a, uh,

an executive‐ordered, uh, private secret operation

to bring over Nazi scientists,

mostly Nazi rocket scientists and engineers, to the U. S.

to help build up a rocketry program for the United States.

Operation Paperclip was kept a secret for decades.

And you have to wonder whether it was this special knowledge,

perhaps extraterrestrial knowledge,

that these Nazi scientists had

that we needed so desperately for our own space program.

NARRATOR: In the fall of 1945, the U. S. Army assigned

the 33‐year‐old von Braun and his German colleagues

to the White Sands Proving Ground missile test range

in New Mexico.

Since the 1940s,

White Sands has been the military's testing site

for cutting‐edge developments in rocketry and space travel.

According to official records,

von Braun's task was to help teach the Americans

how to rebuild and launch

captured V‐2 rockets brought back from Germany.

But there are others who believe

von Braun had another top secret job.

Former Army Lieutenant Colonel Philip Corso,

in his book, The Day after Roswell,

claimed the facility also housed classified R & D projects,

including the study of extraterrestrial craft.

Lieutenant Colonel Philip Corso served

in the U. S. military for many years,

and he claimed that he actually worked

on recovered alien technology,

including the crashed vehicle

that was recovered at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.

Now, there is a theory that alien technology from Roswell,

and maybe from other crashes, too,

was actually taken to the White Sands Proving Ground‐‐

that's where Wernher von Braun worked‐‐

and that all this, uh, R & D that was going on at White Sands

was actually at least in part alien technology.

NARRATOR: Corso claimed

that these reverse‐engineering efforts resulted

in today's integrated circuit chips,

fiber optics and lasers.

The sudden explosion of post‐World War II technology

is unexplainable to many.

This is why they point to Wernher von Braun and the Nazis

as the source of this technology.

NARRATOR: There are also claims

that a top secret Nazi superweapon called Die Glocke

ended up in the hands of the Americans.

Reportedly, "the Bell," as it came to be known,

was brought to the United States

in a secret deal with SS General Hans Kammler,

the same man behind the construction

of Mittelwerk and Peenemunde.

Die Glocke, or the Bell, is said to represent

the pinnacle of the Nazi SS wonder‐weapons program.

It's a metallic bell, about nine feet in diameter,

with many mysterious properties.

Scientists who have looked at this

and the recollections of its appearance and its usage suggest

that it had antigravitational properties.

We have to legitimately consider

that the German scientists were at the root of all this

and that their transferred technology

is exactly what is now being used

in advanced so‐called "alien reproduction vehicles,"

built by our own military industrial complex.

NARRATOR: It was rumored

that much of the Nazis' secret weaponry was hidden

at the Mittelwerk underground research facility.

In the 1990s,

German archaeologist and scientist Willi Kramer

determined that somehow 70 tons of material

that used to exist at Mittelwerk is now missing.

Is it possible that the missing material ended up in U. S. hands?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining the story

of how Wernher von Braun put a man on the moon.

WILCOCK: Wernher von Braun allowed us

to make technological leaps forward

much faster than we ever would have been able to do.

POPE: It's phenomenal that we came so far

so fast.

NARRATOR: In the early 1950s,

the American public seemed to have an insatiable appetite

for science fiction.

It seemed that in the wake of the atomic bomb,

anything was possible.

Wernher von Braun viewed this fixation as his opportunity

to get the public to share in his dream of space exploration

and initiated a plan

to turn science fiction into science fact.

In 1952, he captured the public's imagination

with an illustrated series of articles in Collier's magazine,

depicting life in space.

And it was two years later that von Braun teamed up

with perhaps the only man just as passionate as him

at the notion of turning dreams into reality: Walt Disney.

Over the course of three films,

von Braun used Disney's model and animation artists

to illustrate his vision for our future space program.

Here we have a scale drawing of the earth

with the moon 240,000 miles away.

This is the elliptical path

which our rocket ship will follow,

going out... and coming back.

We must aim the ship well ahead of the moon

so that they both arrive

at about the same point in space at the same time.

Even though we now have the theoretical knowledge

to make a trip to the moon,

it will be many years yet before our plans can fully materialize.

Wernher von Braun was a mixture

of scientist, engineer and visionary.

Von Braun was that rare combination,

and perhaps the mystic visionary in him lifted his work

above the common sphere

of scientific and engineering achievement.

NARRATOR: October 4, 1957.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The Soviet Union shocks the world

when they launch Sputnik into Earth's orbit

and beat the United States at becoming the first country

to send a man‐made object into space.

PEARLMAN: The Soviet Union had shocked the United States

by putting the first man‐made satellite into space.

Sputnik flying overhead not only was a scary proposition,

because if they could put a satellite above us,

why couldn't they put a nuclear missile above us?

It was also, uh, sort of a wakeup call,

because most people considered the Russians

to be behind us technologically.

NARRATOR: America's interest in space shifted into high gear,

and over the next several years,

Wernher von Braun led the design team

that sent the first American satellite into space

and the first man into orbit...

all aboard rockets based on

von Braun's original V‐2 designs.

MAN: Three, two, one...

NARRATOR: But as impressive as these feats were,

the next step man would take

would be far greater than any that had come before.

On July 20, 1969,

57‐year‐old Wernher von Braun watched

from inside Mission Control as a human being,

for the first time in history,

stepped foot on a celestial body other than Earth.

CHARLIE DUKE: We copy you down, Eagle.

NEIL ARMSTRONG: Tranquility Base here.

The Eagle has landed.

That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

NARRATOR: Wernher von Braun's boyhood dream,

which so many had called an impossible feat,

had become a reality.

(horse whinnies)

POPE: We effectively went from horse and buggy

to landing people on the moon in 60 years.

It's an exponential increase in technology.

It's an absolute explosion.

It's phenomenal that we came so far so fast.

IMPEY: Getting to the moon involves

extremely precise orbital calculations

and the possibility of missing the moon,

of not capturing into an orbit,

is a matter of a tiny fraction of a degree in the trajectory

and a small percentage of the speed coming in.

So the ability to adjust the orbit in real time

and adjust those calculations‐‐

it was a stunning achievement.

NARRATOR: But how did von Braun know

all the specific information needed to calculate

not only how to send man to the moon

but to bring him back to Earth?

Where did he get data such as

the exact gravitational pull of the moon,

the speed needed to break Earth's orbit,

or the effects of space radiation on the ship?

BUZZ ALDRIN: We're now in the approach phase.

Everything looking good.

NARRATOR: And how did von Braun know the answers

15 years earlier,

when he appeared in Walt Disney's

"Man In Space" programs?

I consider it to be entirely possible

that the endowment of extraterrestrial technology

that fell into the hands of guys like Wernher von Braun

was, in fact, a key element

that allowed us to make technological leaps forward

much faster than we ever would have been able to do

if we were without the benefit

of this advanced technology.

POPE: Wernher von Braun wanted to go further

than just send people to the moon and bring them back.

Ultimately he was talking about colonies in space.

Maybe it was inspired by something extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: Could it be that von Braun was not only guided

by an alien intelligence,

but that the incredible achievement of reaching the moon

really was made possible

with the help of extraterrestrial technology?

Some ancient astronaut theorists say

that not only is this the case,

but there is evidence

that NASA encountered more on the moon

than they have revealed.

POPE: Wernher von Braun famously said

that the next world war will be the war against the ETs.

WALTER BOSLEY: If anybody knew about the extraterrestrials,

it would've been a guy like Wernher von Braun.

RONALD EVANS: Tranquility Base, uh, Houston.

Guidance recommendation, uh, is PGNS,

and you're cleared for takeoff.

NARRATOR: July 21, 1969.

Approximately 21½ hours after landing on the moon,

the Lunar Module Eagle lifts off

to rejoin the Command Module Columbia

and begin the return to Earth.

The astronauts take with them

47.5 pounds of lunar surface material,

and they leave some items behind as well,

like scientific instruments,

an American flag,

and a small plaque commemorating the Apollo 11 mission.

But perhaps most curious of the items left on the moon

was a small bag containing

a gold replica of an olive branch

and a silicon disk

with recorded messages of peace and goodwill

from 73 world leaders.

Why were these symbolic messages sent up into space?

Some ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the mastermind

behind the Apollo program‐‐ Wernher von Braun‐‐

was expecting to find more on the moon

than NASA wanted the public to know.

Wernher von Braun famously said

that the next world war will be the war against the ETs.

His remarks were hugely controversial.

Some people have said that he was simply saying

there can't be another world war

now that we've got atomic weapons.

Other people have speculated that he knew something

and he was hinting at some terrible truth.

Another story relates that, uh, von Braun claimed

that we had help from "them"

to get us into space.

If anybody knew about the extraterrestrials,

it would've been a guy like Wernher von Braun.

NARRATOR: Some ancient astronaut theorists propose that not only

did alien beings have a hand in man reaching the moon,

but that once there, we discovered further evidence

that we are not alone.

And they claim the strongest proof can be found

by examining our last manned trip to the moon:

the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

We definitely weren't told everything,

and there's monkey business played with the moon landings,

of course, as far as what we know about them.

(indistinct radio chatter)

BARA: Apollo 17 was, in fact, a technology salvaging mission.

HARRISON SCHMITT: Yeah, looks like there's been

a geologist here before us.

BARA: Some of it has to do with the actual landing site itself.

There were several mountains in the area

that don't really look like mountains.

One of them is very hexagonal‐looking.

And they bear a striking resemblance

to actual artificial structures.

The astronauts went directly for this hexagonal mountain.

They parked on the hill above it

and then they got out of the lunar rover.

What's interesting is that, for the next 20 or 30 minutes,

NASA has control of the camera on the rover,

and they point it at everything

except what the astronauts are doing.

They had plenty of time to rappel down

inside of this V‐shaped depression.

‐JOHN YOUNG: Okay, let's go on back. ‐DUKE: I am.

BARA: It's really interesting that we don't see

any of the astronauts at all

until they come back to the lunar rover.

(indistinct radio transmission)

There's no question that the mystery would be

what they were looking for, what they found,

could it possibly have been ancient alien technology?

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

that even more compelling than the hexagonal formation

is what appears at another spot that was filmed:

the Shorty Crater.

SCHMITT: There is orange soil!

CERNAN: Well, don't move it until I see it.

SCHMITT: It's all over!

Orange!

BARA: In Shorty Crater, you can see orange soil

that was discovered at the landing site.

And the reason the soil was orange was because

it had a great deal of oxygen in it,

which was kind of a surprise.

But the biggest surprise

is, if you actually look in the crater,

what you see are objects that at first

might to the naked eye appear to be rocks,

but in fact, as you study it with an engineer's eye,

what you see is mechanisms.

And right in the middle of it,

there's a very interesting object

that as you zoom up on it, it begins to look

more and more like a human head.

NARRATOR: Mike Bara

and fellow researcher Richard Hoagland

obtained early generation negatives from Shorty Crater,

and upon enhancing the colors present in the film,

found that the object appears metallic.

BARA: The most intriguing thing is that, on the upper part

of the mouth, there was a bright, distinct

red stripe painted across it.

And it glowed and shone

as if it were metallic.

You then come to the realization

that what you're probably looking at

is the head of a humanoid‐appearing robot.

The leftovers of an explosion that damaged and destroyed

a bunch of mechanical stuff.

(indistinct radio transmission)

NARRATOR: Did NASA really recover

alien artifacts from the moon?

Curiously, on June 30, 1972‐‐

just 5 months before the Apollo 17 mission‐‐

Wernher von Braun retired from NASA,

frustrated over the direction the Apollo program was headed.

However, he continued his efforts

to return to space,

turning to his wealthy and high‐powered friends for help.

But what did he tell them?

Is it possible that there exists

a secret space program?

NARRATOR: Pasadena, California.

January 22, 2015.

Officials with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

announce plans

for the Mars Helicopter‐‐

a drone that will triple the distance

a rover can explore.

Meanwhile, the privatization of space exploration

has created a new $300 billion industry

that may soon surpass the advancements of NASA.

And there are some

ancient astronaut theorists who believe

that this private space industry

is the brainchild of Wernher von Braun.

Wernher von Braun had the ear of seven American presidents,

the top scientists of the world

and many of the world's industrial leaders.

It's natural that you might find the links

to the private groups that have the resources,

the means and the dedication

to develop their own advanced technology

independent of the governments, independent of the‐the public,

the‐the people of the world.

NARRATOR: After retiring from NASA in 1972,

Wernher von Braun was invited

to meetings of the Bohemian Club‐‐

a secretive group of high‐powered men

famous for their rustic retreats.

But why?

What went on there?

It is rumored that some members of the Bohemian Club

also belonged to private groups called "breakaway civilizations"

that have developed advanced technologies

independent of world governments.

WILCOCK: I've had insiders that have told me

that they worked in this space program,

that we do have a breakaway civilization

that is extremely advanced.

That we already have diplomatic relationships

with a variety of extraterrestrial

species and cultures.

NARRATOR: Is it possible von Braun knew

of the existence of extraterrestrials?

Might his extraordinary efforts to reach space

have been motivated by a desire

to come in contact with otherworldly beings?

Could it have been part of his plan all along

for us to have a private space industry

that operated in secret?

For the last 60‐some years,

we've developed no new propulsion technologies at all.

And that seems very, very unlikely.

So the question becomes, at what point

did NASA actually develop the next level

of propulsion technology and maybe take it secret?

NARRATOR: On June 16, 1977,

after a four‐year‐long battle with cancer,

65‐year‐old Wernher von Braun died.

His gravestone contains no epitaph,

simply a reference to Psalms 19:1‐‐

a biblical passage that reads

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Wernher von Braun's bold predictions

that we would put a man on the moon,

explore Mars

and build a space station

have all come to pass.

But was this incredible visionary

perhaps preparing us for something even greater?

On January 20, 2015,

President Barack Obama announced

in his State of the Union address

that the next step for the United States space program

is a manned mission to Mars.

Last month, we launched a new spacecraft

as part of a reenergized space program

that will send American astronauts to Mars.

NARRATOR: Photographs taken on Mars have revealed

mysterious formations that some have interpreted

as man‐made structures like pyramids,

the outline of a sphinx,

and even a carving of what appears to be

a human‐like face.

Might life exist on the Red Planet?

And could it be

that NASA's next mission isn't to travel there

but to disclose the fact

that we have been there before?

There's no question when you look at the surface of Mars

that there are ruined artificial structures there.

There's no question when you look at photographs of the moon

that there are ruined artificial structures there.

And it seems very unlikely that it was just us,

that it was human beings that built this.

The question becomes, did NASA go to different places

like the moon and Mars and find things

that we would all like to know about

but are being hidden from us?

WILCOCK: What if we actually

are on the moon

and it's all classified?

What if there is a whole secret infrastructure

and that there is already a vast amount

of colonization of the moon, of Mars,

and of other moons in our solar system as well?

Let's all hope that the time is coming soon

where we will get disclosure,

where the walls of secrecy will finally break down,

and we will be told the truth.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the greatest rocket scientist

the world has ever known

found his inspiration not on our world but another?

Could Wernher von Braun have been chosen

to propel mankind into space?

And might he have been responsible

for much more than we are even aware of?

Perhaps one day soon,

we will realize von Braun's full vision for space travel

and finally come face‐to‐face with our alien ancestors.

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