The Leaning Factories 289
first successful launch of the rocket in September 1957.
The rocket made by American engineers failed, and the
Soviet Union launched the R-7 rocket carrying the satellite
Sputnik in October 1957. Von Braun was finally allowed
to launch the Juno-1 carrying the satellite Explorer 1 in
January 1958.^36 The German engineers were now trusted,
so von Braun could begin designing the Saturn V rocket.
When you are working at SpaceX and hear the word
von Braun, you are not always hearing it because someone
is talking about the room or the man. You might hear it
because someone is talking about a conflict that requires
an immediate solution. One NASA manager who visited
SpaceX said that when there’s a new problem to solve,
it looks like a flash mob in the hallway.^288 This is how a
discussion can sound:
“Would you VPPA? [variable polarity plasma arc – a
welding method].”
“Naaaaaah, I’d probably go to soft plasma [another
welding method].”
“You always get misplaced diameters with that.”
“What if the heat shield attached to the Dragon’s
base...”
(A slight pause)
“We’ll take it to the von Braun!”^49