Spaceships-of-ezekiel

The Spaceships of Ezekiel (historical novel) [disambiguation: Spaceships of Ezekiel (experimental jazz ensemble)]
Originally published in German under the title Da tat sich der Himmel auf , The Spaceships of Ezekiel is a 1974 book by Josef F. Blumrich who was, at the time of publication, NASA's Chief of Systems Development at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The project originated out of Blumrich's effort to discredit prominent ufologist Erich von Däniken's claim that the bible outlined several extraterrestrial encounters. However, upon extensive study of Däniken's materials and various apocrypha and error texts, Blumrich in fact became convinced that the biblical character Ezekiel had in fact made contact with an ancient alien spacecraft ¹ . As part of the book, Blumrich outlined various aspects of the technology described by Ezekiel, including numerous diagrams of the Omni Wheel, a wheel that not only spins backwards and forwards but also sideways. Blumrich subsequently patented the Omni Wheel and it now features in various land rovers designs for remote lunar and Martian exploration.

¹ In the late 1890s Burrell Cannon, a Baptist minister, multi-linguist, and amateur woodworker in Texarkana, Texas, used the same source material analyzed by Blumrich to design and build the Ezekiel Airship, a gasoline-powered paddle wheel contraption that may in fact have been humanity's first successful flying machine. Reportedly, all those who were present at the Ezekiel Airship's first flight in 1901 were sworn to secrecy, and the plans and blueprints were incinerated. The Airship itself is documented to have been destroyed in a storm on the way to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.