The German rocket engineers used metric *gravitational* units, i.e. meter-kg(force)-second units, not SI. von Braun's monograph "Das Mars Projekt" was also m-kgf-s, but to their credit they were the first NASA Center to adopt SI which is a metric "absolute" system, meter-kilogram(mass)-second.
You are mistaken to imply that NASA Research Centers have abandoned SI. Only NASA-Houston (manned space flight) has not used SI (for the Shuttle). The canceled Constellation Program tried to revert to inch/pound units. Gene. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 09:40:27 -0500 >From: "Kilopascal" <kilopas...@cox.net> >Subject: [USMA:49753] RE: Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> >... > I will disagree with you about you comment on Space > Flight. America's greatest achievements in Space > Flight came when it was under the direction of > Werner von Braun, a German who did all of his > designs and conceptualizing using metric units. In > an interview in the early '70s he told the > interviewer that he never used USC and loathed it. > ...
