All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S10E02 NASAs Secret Agenda

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.

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.

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.

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 wake-up 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.

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?

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 re-energized
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.