Wernher von Braun was a German aerospace scientist who built advanced weapons such as the V-2 rocket and the Saturn V rocket which took humankind to the Moon. However, probably, the weirdest thing about him is that he predicted the name Elon will be connected with the colonization of Mars.

Von Braun developed the V-2 rocket, which enrolled in late 1944. By the end of the war, many people died because of this infamous weapon.

The South African-born businessman and engineer Elon Musk is one of the world’s preeminent pioneers in space travel. His company SpaceX works on the production of economical and cost-effective spacecraft.

As a matter of fact, it is likely these spacecraft to take humankind to Mars at the following time to come.

If this eventually happens, the name of Elon Musk will go into the astronomical human history regarding the Red Planet.

So, where is the connection? How come this German scientist to foretell the name Elon will associate with the Mars’s colonization back in 1952?

Von Braun was an enthusiastic astronomer who grew a strong emotion for rockets during his childhood. In 1934, he earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Berlin.

Seeking to create large rockets, he enrolled in the German army to produce ballistic missiles before Hitler’s dictate. Later, in 1933, he has got an offer to join the SS.

According to his assistant, Ernst Stuhlinger, Von Braun was reluctant into accepting the proposal to join the SS.

Even though he worked together with the German army, he publicly confirmed he has problems to accept Hitler’s aim. All he wanted to do, actually, was to develop interplanetary travel.

In 1944, von Braun was arrested by the SS under the charge he is secretly working with Communists.

His alleged crimes, however, were never proven so he was released. At that time, he was already planning his getaway to the US.

In 1945, it was plain Germany wouldn’t win the war hence he started plotting his expectations for the postwar era.

Von Braun talked to the Allies and arranged his submission to the American forces. He abdicated together with 500 other scientists, relegating equipment, designs and multiple vehicles.

When he arrived in the US, he expressed a desire to cooperate with the US Air Force as he had an obvious aversion towards the Nazi regime.

In return for his collaboration, they released him of the blame for his Nazi past and became a citizen of America in 1955. In the beginning, he was developing ballistic missiles.

However, his true passion was always the space travel. He wanted to build innovative jet propulsion systems that could carry manned rockets to the Moon and Mars.

Following his vision, he released numerous theoretical papers that theorized a possible space station in Earth’s orbit and Red Planet’s colonization event.

Furthermore, his work regarding the creation of a space station inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey.

One of his most famous paperwork was “The Mars Project”, which he published in 1952. The book was credited as “the most influential book on planning human missions to Mars”.

The book talks about a manned mission to Mars that will end up in an eventual colonization of this planet. However, the weird part of this book is that he mentioned something that looks rather prophetical.

According to the book, the mission would involve an armada of 10 large rockets which would carry 70 astronauts and 9 crew vehicles.

Von Braun calculated precisely the aeronautical and engineering framework of the mission. However, his plan remained only on paper since the technology in the 1950s wasn’t much advanced.

Here we come to the predictive part that Von Braun mentioned in his book. Namely, he spoke how instead of Presidents, rulers of the colony will have the title of Elon.

“The Martian government was directed by ten men, the leader of whom was elected by universal suffrage for five years and entitled “Elon.” Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered by the Elon and his cabinet. The Upper House was called the Council of the Elders and was limited to a membership of 60 persons, each being appointed for life by the Elon as vacancies occurred by death.”

At that time, the name of Elon didn’t mean anything important and it most likely originates from the Hebrew word Elon which means ‘oak trees.’ But why did he use it in the first place?

Now, with Elon Musk’s endeavors and plans, people have no other choice but to ask. Did Von Braun predict Musk’s plans or is it just a coincidence?

Although von Braun never succeeded to conquer the legendary colonization of Mars, he did become a top engineer of American space travel.