WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.400 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:00:03.400 --> 00:00:06.360 align:middle line:84% NARRATOR: A rocket towers high over the Alabama 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:08.940 align:middle line:90% city of Huntsville. 00:00:08.940 --> 00:00:11.820 align:middle line:84% It's a Saturn V, the most powerful launch 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:14.940 align:middle line:90% vehicle ever sent into space. 00:00:14.940 --> 00:00:18.960 align:middle line:84% The story of how Huntsville came to be known as Rocket City 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.240 align:middle line:84% begins at a former military base just outside of town. 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:27.480 align:middle line:84% In 1945, at the end of World War II, 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.180 align:middle line:84% the US government smuggled a group of German scientists 00:00:30.180 --> 00:00:34.770 align:middle line:84% into the United States to keep them out of Russian hands. 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:38.760 align:middle line:84% It was a program codenamed Operation Paperclip. 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:41.820 align:middle line:84% One of those scientists, named Dr. Wernher von Braun, 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:45.660 align:middle line:84% had worked to develop rockets for Hitler. 00:00:45.660 --> 00:00:48.120 align:middle line:84% The US government wanted his expertise 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:52.520 align:middle line:84% despite his Nazi sympathies, so starting in 1950, 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:55.140 align:middle line:84% von Braun worked here on the grounds of the US 00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:58.470 align:middle line:90% Army's Redstone Arsenal. 00:00:58.470 --> 00:01:01.110 align:middle line:10% He led a team of German and American scientists 00:01:01.110 --> 00:01:02.850 align:middle line:10% to develop a rocket that could one 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:07.590 align:middle line:10% day carry humans into space. 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.980 align:middle line:84% In 1958, President Eisenhower signed legislation 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:13.620 align:middle line:84% to create NASA, which soon established 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:19.320 align:middle line:84% the Marshall Space Center here at Redstone, NASA's first home. 00:01:19.320 --> 00:01:22.590 align:middle line:84% By the late 1960s, von Braun's team had tested 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:25.080 align:middle line:90% 32 of their Saturn designs. 00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:26.530 align:middle line:90% Not a single one failed. 00:01:26.530 --> 00:01:29.110 align:middle line:90% 00:01:29.110 --> 00:01:33.120 align:middle line:84% Finally, in 1969, powered by a Saturn V, 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.300 align:middle line:84% Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin lifted off and became the first 00:01:37.300 --> 00:01:38.800 align:middle line:90% to set foot on the moon. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:41.610 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:01:41.610 --> 00:01:43.440 align:middle line:84% Thanks to the Marshall Space Center, 00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.570 align:middle line:84% Huntsville is also home to one of the biggest 00:01:45.570 --> 00:01:48.840 align:middle line:84% concentrations of high-tech companies in the country. 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:51.060 align:middle line:84% Siemens, Boeing, and a wide range 00:01:51.060 --> 00:01:53.130 align:middle line:84% of other aerospace-related firms whose 00:01:53.130 --> 00:01:55.380 align:middle line:84% names are less familiar to the public all 00:01:55.380 --> 00:01:59.220 align:middle line:90% call Huntsville home. 00:01:59.220 --> 00:02:04.020 align:middle line:84% Huntsville continues to live up to its nickname, Rocket City. 00:02:04.020 --> 00:02:06.450 align:middle line:84% Inside the McMorrow Missile Laboratories, 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:11.370 align:middle line:84% scientists develop a wide range of missiles for military use, 00:02:11.370 --> 00:02:14.220 align:middle line:84% and the nearby Huntsville Airport is still a place 00:02:14.220 --> 00:02:19.350 align:middle line:84% to see amazing flying machines, like this Boeing Dreamlifter, 00:02:19.350 --> 00:02:24.210 align:middle line:84% one of the highest capacity cargo planes in the world. 00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:26.700 align:middle line:84% The fortunes of many in Alabama are still 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:30.560 align:middle line:84% soaring on the frontier of space exploration.