Beer Anecdote

Here is an interesting “beer anecdote” from 1989.

As part of the twentieth anniversary of man’s landing on the moon, the local TV stations in Huntsville, AL (The Rocket City) have been producing bits about various aspects of the Apollo program, etc.  A number of the members of the “Von Braun team” still live in Huntsville, and have been interviewed for these stories.  Last night, they interviewed George Von Tiesenhausen, introducing him as the man who developed the hold-down / release system for the Saturn rockets.  Then the interviewer stated that Mr. VT had invented the system while drinking beer.  Well, that got my attention, as I had just poured a homebrew.  Mr. VT held up a Grolsch bottle, and popping open the swing top, said (I’m paraphrasing) “You see how a little force from your thumbs can release the large force holding down the cap.  When you look at a beer bottle like this, you are seeing almost exactly how the release system for the Saturn rocket worked.”