Dan,
Possibly true, but what other nation's space program could those people have contributed to (at the time)?
I think it's a matter of financing and opportunity. It's more readily available in the US than elsewhere.
Someone our famiy knew in the 1950-ies was a helicopter pilot in the Belgian military stationed in the then German occupation zone. He was going to make a big career in the military, then he met a German girl with relatives in Eastern Germany. They got married, he was forced out of his job because he could be armwrestled to give Belgian military secrets (at this point, my belly is wiggling so hard from a laughing cramp, it hurts) to the Russians.
McDonnelDouglas learned from this event, hired him and he became chief test-pilot on the DC10 program.
Financing and opportunity, both balanced.
Weren't semiconducters developed by a Hungarian refugee? And wasn't Apple founded by the illegitimate son of an Iranian refugee?
Financing and opportunity ...
... and maybe something else ...
\%/@rd
--- DB4 - Apr.15 2021
* Origin: Hou het veilig, hou vol. Het komt allemaal weer goed (2:292/854)