Von Braun was fascinated by the possibility of space travel, however, and he began lobbying to have funds diverted from the design of missiles to the design of passenger-carrying rockets which could be used for the exploration of space. At the time, there was little interest in space travel, and the American administration believed that it was necessary to focus all their efforts into the production of ever more powerful Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) capable of delivering nuclear warheads into the Russian heartlands.
