Original Sin review: Was space flight tainted from the get-go?

A compelling new book by space policy analyst Bredin Bowen reveals how space technology was born out of fearsome weapons and still has a military bent

To Paul Marks

original sin
Bredin Bowen (Hurst)

The debt the space age owes to Nazi Germany’s killing machine may not be written in heaven, but it’s visible to all on the streets of London.Nazi rocket designer Werner von There are commemorative plaques all over town marking where Brown’s supersonic V2 ballistic missiles hit.

In all, about 3000 V2s were launched during World War II, with over 2700 killed in London and over 1700 killed in Antwerp, Belgium. After …