fbpx
Wikipedia

Wernher von Braun

May 10, 2023

"Werner Braun" redirects here. For the Israeli photographer, see Werner Braun (photojournalist). For the German musicologist, see Werner Braun (musicologist).
In this German name, the surname is Von Braun, not Braun.

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (US: /ˌvɜːrnər vɒn ˈbraʊn/ VUR-nər von BROWN, German: [ˌvɛʁnheːɐ̯ fɔn ˈbʁaʊ̯n]; 23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer[3] and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States.[4]

Wernher von Braun
Von Braun in 1960
Born
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun

(1912-03-23)23 March 1912
Wirsitz, Posen, Prussia, German Empire
Died16 June 1977(1977-06-16) (aged 65)
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Burial placeIvy Hill Cemetery[1]
NationalityGerman, American
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Rocket engineer and designer, aerospace project manager
Known forNASA engineering program manager; chief architect of the Apollo Saturn V rocket; development of the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany
Political partyNazi Party (1937–1945)
Spouse
Maria Luise von Quistorp
​
​
(m. 1947)​
Children3
Parent
Relatives
Awards
Military career
AllegianceNazi Germany
Service/branchAllgemeine SS
Years of service1937–1945
RankSS-Sturmbannführer (major)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsRocket propulsion
Institutions
ThesisKonstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete (1934)
Doctoral advisorErich Schumann
Influences
Signature

As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space on 20 June 1944. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip.[5] He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the U.S. and beyond from 1955 to 1957.[6]

In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.[7][8] In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science.

Von Braun is widely seen as the "father of space travel",[9] the "father of rocket science"[10] or the "father of the American lunar program".[11] He advocated a human mission to Mars.

Early life

Wernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, then German Empire and now Poland.[12]

His father, Magnus Freiherr von Braun (1878–1972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the Weimar Republic. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European royalty and was a descendant of Philip III of France, Valdemar I of Denmark, Robert III of Scotland, and Edward III of England.[13][14] Wernher had an older brother, the West German diplomat Sigismund von Braun, who served as Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in the 1970s, and a younger brother, Magnus von Braun, who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with Chrysler.[15]

The family moved to Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After Wernher's Confirmation, his mother gave him a telescope, and he developed a passion for astronomy.[16] Von Braun learned to play both the cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer. He took lessons from the composer Paul Hindemith. The few pieces of Wernher's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style.[17]: 11  He could play piano pieces of Beethoven and Bach from memory. Beginning in 1925, Wernher attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar, Free State of Thuringia, where he did not do well in physics and mathematics. There he acquired a copy of Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (1923, By Rocket into Planetary Space)[18] by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog. Space travel had always fascinated Wernher, and from then on he applied himself to physics and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering.[19]

 
Opel RAK.1 – World's first public crewed flight of a rocket plane on 30 September 1929.

The world's first large-scale experimental rocket program was Opel RAK under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier during the late 1920s leading to the first crewed rocket cars and rocket planes,[20][21] which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and U.S. and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards. The Opel RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds, as well as caused global public excitement as the so-called "Rocket Rumble" and had a large long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers, in particular on Wernher von Braun. Sixteen-year-old Wernher was so enthusiastic about the public Opel RAK demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade rocket car, nearly killing himself in the process and causing a major disruption in a crowded street by detonating the toy wagon to which he had attached fireworks.[22] He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him. The Great Depression put an end to the Opel RAK program and Fritz von Opel left Germany in 1930, emigrating first to the US, later to France and Switzerland. After the break-up of the Opel-RAK program, Valier eventually was killed while experimenting with liquid-fueled rockets as means of propulsion in mid-1930, and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age.[23]

In 1930, von Braun attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin, where he joined the Spaceflight Society (Verein für Raumschiffahrt or VfR), co-founded by Valier, and worked with Willy Ley in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with others such as Rolf Engel, Rudolf Nebel, Hermann Oberth or Paul Ehmayr.[24] In spring 1932, he graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering.[25] His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology. Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, von Braun entered the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin for doctoral studies and graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1934.[26] He also studied at ETH Zürich for a term from June to October 1931.[26]

Career in Germany

In 1930, von Braun attended a presentation given by Auguste Piccard. After the talk, the young student approached the famous pioneer of high-altitude balloon flight, and stated to him: "You know, I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time." Piccard is said to have responded with encouraging words.[27]

Von Braun was greatly influenced by Oberth, of whom he said:

Hermann Oberth was the first who, when thinking about the possibility of spaceships, grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs...I, myself, owe to him not only the guiding-star of my life, but also my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry and space travel. A place of honor should be reserved in the history of science and technology for his ground-breaking contributions in the field of astronautics.[28]

According to historian Norman Davies, von Braun was able to pursue a career as a rocket scientist in Germany due to a "curious oversight" in the Treaty of Versailles which did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany.[29]

Involvement with the Nazi regime

 
Von Braun with Fritz Todt, who utilized forced labor for major works across occupied Europe. Von Braun is wearing the Nazi party badge on his suit lapel.

Nazi Party membership

Von Braun had an ambivalent and complex relationship with Nazi Germany.[5] He applied for membership of the Nazi Party on 12 November 1937, and was issued membership number 5,738,692.[30]: 96 

Michael J. Neufeld, an author of aerospace history and chief of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, wrote that ten years after von Braun obtained his Nazi Party membership, he signed an affidavit for the U.S. Army, though he stated the incorrect year:[30]: 96 

In 1939, I was officially demanded to join the National Socialist Party. At this time I was already Technical Director at the Army Rocket Center at Peenemünde (Baltic Sea). The technical work carried out there had, in the meantime, attracted more and more attention in higher levels. Thus, my refusal to join the party would have meant that I would have to abandon the work of my life. Therefore, I decided to join. My membership in the party did not involve any political activity.[30]: 96 

It has not been ascertained whether von Braun's error with regard to the year was deliberate or a simple mistake.[30]: 96  Neufeld wrote:

Von Braun, like other Peenemünders, was assigned to the local group in Karlshagen; there is no evidence that he did more than send in his monthly dues. But he is seen in some photographs with the party's swastika pin in his lapel – it was politically useful to demonstrate his membership.[30]: 96 

Von Braun's later attitude toward the Nazi regime of the late 1930s and early 1940s was complex. He said that he had been so influenced by the early Nazi promise of release from the post–World War I economic effects, that his patriotic feelings had increased.[31] In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that, at that time, he "fared relatively rather well under totalitarianism".[30]: 96–97  Yet, he also wrote that "to us, Hitler was still only a pompous fool with a Charlie Chaplin moustache"[32] and that he perceived him as "another Napoleon" who was "wholly without scruples, a godless man who thought himself the only god".[33]

Later examination of von Braun's background, conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, suggests that his background check file contained no derogatory information pertaining to his involvement in the party, but it was found that he had numerous letters of commendation for outstanding performance of duties during his time working under the Nazi party.[34] Overall FBI conclusions point to Von Braun's involvement in the Nazi Party to be purely for the advancement of his academic career, or out of fear of imprisonment or execution.[34]

Membership in the Allgemeine-SS

Von Braun joined the SS horseback riding school on 1 November 1933 as an SS-Anwärter. He left the following year.[35]: 63  In 1940, von Braun joined the SS[36]: 47 [37] and was given the rank of Untersturmführer in the Allgemeine-SS and issued membership number 185,068.: 121  In 1947, he gave the U.S. War Department this explanation:

In spring 1940, one SS-Standartenführer (SS-Colonel) Müller from Greifswald, a bigger town in the vicinity of Peenemünde, looked me up in my office...and told me that Reichsführer-SS Himmler had sent him with the order to urge me to join the SS. I told him I was so busy with my rocket work that I had no time to spare for any political activity. He then told me, that...the SS would cost me no time at all. I would be awarded the rank of a[n] "Untersturmfuehrer" (lieutenant) and it were [sic] a very definite desire of Himmler that I attend his invitation to join.

I asked Müller to give me some time for reflection. He agreed.

Realizing that the matter was of highly political significance for the relation between the SS and the Army, I called immediately on my military superior, Dr. Dornberger. He informed me that the SS had for a long time been trying to get their "finger in the pie" of the rocket work. I asked him what to do. He replied on the spot that if I wanted to continue our mutual work, I had no alternative but to join.[38]

When shown a picture of himself standing behind Himmler, von Braun claimed to have worn the SS uniform only that one time,[39] but in 2002 a former SS officer at Peenemünde told the BBC that von Braun had regularly worn the SS uniform to official meetings. He began as an Untersturmführer (Second lieutenant) and was promoted three times by Himmler, the last time in June 1943 to SS-Sturmbannführer (Major). Von Braun later claimed that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail.[40]

Work under Nazi regime

In 1932, Von Braun received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Technology in Berlin, Germany. During a period in 1931, Von Braun attended the Technical Institute in Switzerland. During this time in Switzerland, Von Braun assisted Professor Hermann Oberth in writing a book concerning the possibilities of creating and manufacturing liquid-propellant rockets. Shortly after this, Von Braun founded his own private rocket development business in Berlin, through which made the first rocket fired by gasoline and liquid oxygen.[34]

In 1932, having caught wind of von Braun's rocket business, the German Army connected with Von Braun to pursue basic missile research and weather data experimentation.[34] Von Braun said that the German Government financed the development of test stands and facilities for experimentation in Darmstadt, Germany. In 1939, Von Braun was appointed a technical advisor at Peenemunde Proving Ground on the Baltic Sea.[34]

 
First rank, from left to right, General Dr. Walter Dornberger (partially hidden), General Friedrich Olbricht (with Knight's Cross), Major Heinz Brandt, and Wernher von Braun (in civilian dress) at Peenemünde, Province of Pomerania, in March 1941

In 1933, von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party came to power in a coalition government in Germany; rocketry was almost immediately moved onto the national agenda. An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who then worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf.[41]

Von Braun received his doctorate in physics (aerospace engineering) on July 27, 1934, from the University of Berlin for a thesis titled "About Combustion Tests." His doctoral supervisor was Erich Schumann.[30]: 61  However, this thesis represented only the public aspect of von Braun's work. His actual thesis, entitled "Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket" (dated April 16, 1934), detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket. It remained classified by the German army until its publication in 1960.[42][43] By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two liquid fuel A2 rockets that rose to heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km (2 mi).[44]

Von Braun continued his guided missile work throughout World War Two, and met with Adolf Hitler on several occasions, being formally decorated by Hitler twice, including being awarded the Iron Cross.[45]

At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddard's research. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat (A) series of rockets. The first successful launch of an A-4 took place on 3 October 1942.[46] The A-4 rocket became well known as the V-2.[47] In 1963, von Braun reflected on the history of rocketry, and said of Goddard's work: "His rockets ... may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles."[26]

Goddard confirmed his work was used by von Braun in 1944, shortly before the Nazis began firing V-2s at England. A V-2 crashed in Sweden and some parts were sent to an Annapolis lab where Goddard was doing research for the Navy. If this was the so-called Bäckebo Bomb, it had been procured by the British in exchange for Spitfires; Annapolis would have received some parts from them. Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had invented and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon.[48] Later, von Braun said: "I have very deep and sincere regret for the victims of the V-2 rockets, but there were victims on both sides...A war is a war, and when my country is at war, my duty is to help win that war."[49]

The engineer who designed the V2, Wernher von Braun, came to be feted as a hero of the space age. The Allies realised that the V2 was a machine, unlike anything they had developed themselves.

—V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age, BBC, September 2014.[50]

In response to Goddard's claims, von Braun said "at no time in Germany did I or any of my associates ever see a Goddard patent". This was independently confirmed. He wrote that claims about his lifting Goddard's work were the furthest from the truth, noting that Goddard's paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", which was studied by von Braun and Oberth, lacked the specificity of liquid-fuel experimentation with rockets. It was also confirmed that he was responsible for an estimated 20 patentable innovations related to rocketry, as well as receiving U.S. patents after the war concerning the advancement of rocketry. Documented accounts also stated he provided solutions to a host of aerospace engineering problems in the 1950s and 1960s.[51]

 
Schematic of the A4/V2

On 22 December 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the production of the A-4 as a "vengeance weapon", and the Peenemünde group developed it to target London. Following von Braun's 7 July 1943 presentation of a color movie showing an A-4 taking off, Hitler was so enthusiastic that he personally made von Braun a professor shortly thereafter.[52]

By that time, the British and Soviet intelligence agencies were aware of the rocket program and von Braun's team at Peenemünde, based on the intelligence provided by the Polish underground Home Army. Over the nights of 17–18 August 1943, RAF Bomber Command's Operation Hydra dispatched raids on the Peenemünde camp consisting of 596 aircraft, and dropped 1,800 tons of explosives.[53] The facility was salvaged and most of the engineering team remained unharmed; however, the raids killed von Braun's engine designer Walter Thiel and Chief Engineer Walther, and the rocket program was delayed.[54][55]

The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.[56]

See also: Bombing of Peenemünde in World War II

The first combat A-4, renamed the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2 "Retaliation/Vengeance Weapon 2") for propaganda purposes, was launched toward England on 7 September 1944, only 21 months after the project had been officially commissioned.[57] Doug Millard of the Science Museum, London states:

The V2 was a quantum leap of technological change. We got to the Moon using V2 technology but this was technology that was developed with massive resources, including some particularly grim ones. The V2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives, with the Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets.[50]

Experiments with rocket aircraft

In 1936, von Braun's rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft. Ernst Heinkel enthusiastically supported their efforts, supplying a He-72 and later two He-112s for the experiments. Later in 1936, Erich Warsitz was seconded by the RLM to von Braun and Heinkel, because he had been recognized as one of the most experienced test pilots of the time, and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge.[58]: 30  After he familiarized Warsitz with a test-stand run, showing him the corresponding apparatus in the aircraft, he asked: "Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air? Then, Warsitz, you will be a famous man. And later we will fly to the Moon – with you at the helm!"[58]: 35 

 
A regular He 112

In June 1937, at Neuhardenberg (a large field about 70 km (43 mi) east of Berlin, listed as a reserve airfield in the event of war), one of these latter aircraft was flown with its piston engine shut down during flight by Warsitz, at which time it was propelled by von Braun's rocket power alone. Despite a wheels-up landing and the fuselage having been on fire, it proved to official circles that an aircraft could be flown satisfactorily with a back-thrust system through the rear.[58]: 51 

At the same time, Hellmuth Walter's experiments into hydrogen peroxide based rockets were leading towards light and simple rockets that appeared well-suited for aircraft installation. Also, the firm of Hellmuth Walter at Kiel had been commissioned by the RLM to build a rocket engine for the He-112, so there were two different new rocket motor designs at Neuhardenberg: whereas von Braun's engines were powered by alcohol and liquid oxygen, Walter engines had hydrogen peroxide and calcium permanganate as a catalyst. Von Braun's engines used direct combustion and created fire, while the Walter devices used hot vapors from a chemical reaction, but both created thrust and provided high speed.[58]: 41  The subsequent flights with the He-112 used the Walter-rocket instead of von Braun's; it was more reliable, simpler to operate, and safer for the test pilot, Warsitz.[58]: 55 

Slave labor

SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps, including Auschwitz, had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. Arthur Rudolph, chief engineer of the V-2 rocket factory at Peenemünde, endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon.[59] Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at Mittelwerk on many occasions,[5] and called conditions at the plant "repulsive", but claimed never to have personally witnessed any deaths or beatings, although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred.[60] He denied ever having visited the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where 20,000 died from illness, beatings, hangings, and intolerable working conditions.[61]

Some prisoners claim von Braun engaged in brutal treatment or approved of it. Guy Morand, a French resistance fighter who was a prisoner in Dora, testified in 1995 that, after an apparent sabotage attempt, von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged,[62] while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, claimed von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes.[62]: 123–124  However, these accounts may have been a case of mistaken identity.[63] Former Buchenwald inmate Adam Cabala claims that von Braun went to the concentration camp to pick slave laborers:

... also the German scientists led by Prof. Wernher von Braun were aware of everything daily. As they went along the corridors, they saw the exhaustion of the inmates, their arduous work and their pain. Not one single time did Prof. Wernher von Braun protest against this cruelty during his frequent stays at Dora. Even the aspect of corpses did not touch him: On a small area near the ambulance shed, inmates tortured to death by slave labor and the terror of the overseers were piling up daily. But, Prof. Wernher von Braun passed them so close that he was almost touching the corpses.[64]

Von Braun later claimed that he was aware of the treatment of prisoners, but felt helpless to change the situation.[65]

Arrest and release by the Nazi regime

According to André Sellier, a French historian and survivor of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, Heinrich Himmler had von Braun come to his Feldkommandostelle Hochwald HQ in East Prussia in February 1944.[66] To increase his power-base within the Nazi regime, Himmler was conspiring to use Kammler to gain control of all German armament programs, including the V-2 program at Peenemünde.[17]: 38–40  He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V-2. Von Braun claimed to have replied that the problems were merely technical and he was confident that they would be solved with Dornberger's assistance.[67]

Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Gröttrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer's house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on a spaceship[5] and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments. Combined with Himmler's false charges that von Braun and his colleagues were communist sympathizers and had attempted to sabotage the V-2 program, and considering that von Braun regularly piloted his government-provided airplane that might allow him to escape to Britain, this led to their arrest by the Gestapo.[17]: 38–40 

The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on 14 March (or 15 March),[68] 1944, and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland).[17]: 38–40  where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him.[69]

Through Major Hans Georg Klamroth, in charge of the Abwehr for Peenemünde, Dornberger obtained von Braun's conditional release and Albert Speer, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue[5][17]: 38–40 [70] or turn into a "V-4 program" (the Rheinbote as a short-range ballistic rocket) which in their view would be impossible without von Braun's leadership.[33] In his memoirs, Speer states Hitler had finally conceded that von Braun was to be "protected from all prosecution as long as he is indispensable, difficult though the general consequences arising from the situation."[71]

Upon investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation on 1 May 1961 advised that "there was no record of an arrest in their respective files"[72] suggesting that Von Braun's imprisonment was wiped from German prison records at a point after his conditional release or after the Nazi regime had fallen.

Surrender to the Americans

 
Von Braun, with his arm in a cast, Walter Dornberger (on the left) and Bernhard Tessmann (on the right) surrendered to the Americans just before this 3 May 1945 photo.

The Soviet Army was about 160 km (100 mi) from Peenemünde in early 1945 when von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. Unwilling to go to the Soviets, von Braun and his staff decided to try to surrender to the Americans. Kammler had ordered the relocation of his team to central Germany; however, a conflicting order from an army chief ordered them to join the army and fight. Deciding that Kammler's order was their best bet to defect to the Americans, von Braun fabricated documents and transported 500 of his affiliates to the area around Mittelwerk, where they resumed their work in Bleicherode and surrounding towns after the middle of February 1945. For fear of their documents being destroyed by the SS, von Braun ordered the blueprints to be hidden in an abandoned iron mine in the Harz mountain range near Goslar.[73] The U.S. Counterintelligence Corps managed to unveil the location after lengthy interrogations of von Braun, Walter Dornberger, Bernhard Tessmann and Dieter Huzel and recovered 14 tons of V-2 documents by 15 May 1945, from the British Occupation Zone.[30][74]

While on an official trip in March, von Braun suffered a complicated fracture of his left arm and shoulder in a car accident after his driver fell asleep at the wheel. His injuries were serious, but he insisted that his arm be set in a cast so he could leave the hospital. Due to this neglect of the injury, he had to be hospitalized again a month later when his bones had to be rebroken and realigned.[73]

In early April, as the Allied forces advanced deeper into Germany, Kammler ordered the engineering team, around 450 specialists, to be moved by train into the town of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps, where they were closely guarded by the SS with orders to execute the team if they were about to fall into enemy hands. However, von Braun managed to convince SS Major Kummer to order the dispersal of the group into nearby villages so that they would not be an easy target for U.S. bombers.[73] On 29 April 1945, Oberammergau was captured by the Allied forces who seized the majority of the engineering team.[75]

Nearing the end of the war, Hitler instructed SS troops to gas all technical men concerned with rocket development.[72] Upon hearing this, Von Braun commandeered a train and fled with other "technical men" to a location in the mountains of South Germany. After some time, Von Braun and many of the others who made it to the mountains left their location to flee to advancing American lines in Austria.[34]

Von Braun and several members of the engineering team, including Dornberger, made it to Austria.[76] On 2 May 1945, upon finding an American private from the U.S. 44th Infantry Division, von Braun's brother and fellow rocket engineer, Magnus, approached the soldier on a bicycle, calling out in broken English: "My name is Magnus von Braun. My brother invented the V-2. We want to surrender."[15][77] After the surrender, Wernher von Braun spoke to the press:

We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided not by the laws of materialism but by Christianity and humanity could such an assurance to the world be best secured.[78]

The American high command was well aware of how important their catch was: von Braun had been at the top of the Black List, the code name for the list of German scientists and engineers targeted for immediate interrogation by U.S. military experts. On 9 June 1945, two days before the originally scheduled handover of the Nordhausen and Bleicherode area in Thuringia to the Soviets, U.S. Army Major Robert B. Staver, Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in London, and Lieutenant Colonel R. L. Williams took von Braun and his department chiefs by Jeep from Garmisch to Munich, from where they were flown to Nordhausen. In the following days, a larger group of rocket engineers, among them Helmut Gröttrup, was evacuated from Bleicherode 40 miles (64 km) southwest to Witzenhausen, a small town in the American Zone.[79]

Von Braun was briefly detained at the "Dustbin" interrogation center at Kransberg Castle, where the elite of Nazi Germany's economic, scientific and technological sectors were debriefed by U.S. and British intelligence officials.[80] Initially, he was recruited to the U.S. under a program called Operation Overcast, subsequently known as Operation Paperclip. There is evidence, however, that British intelligence and scientists were the first to interview him in depth, eager to gain information that they knew U.S. officials would deny them.[81][82] The team included the young L.S. Snell, then the leading British rocket engineer, later chief designer of Rolls-Royce Limited and inventor of the Concorde's engines. The specific information the British gleaned remained top secret, both from the Americans and from the other allies.[83]

American career

U.S. Army career

 
Wernher von Braun at a meeting of NACA's Special Committee on Space Technology, 1958

On 20 June 1945, U.S. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr. approved the transfer of von Braun and his specialists to the United States as one of his last acts in office; however, this was not announced to the public until 1 October 1945.[84]

The first seven technicians arrived in the United States at New Castle Army Air Field, just south of Wilmington, Delaware, on 20 September 1945. They were then flown to Boston, Massachusetts, and taken by boat to the Army Intelligence Service post at Fort Strong in Boston Harbor. Later, with the exception of von Braun, the men were transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to sort out the Peenemünde documents, enabling the scientists to continue their rocketry experiments.[85]

Finally, von Braun and his remaining Peenemünde staff (see List of German rocket scientists in the United States) were transferred to their new home at Fort Bliss, a large Army installation just north of El Paso, Texas. Von Braun later wrote that he found it hard to develop a "genuine emotional attachment" to his new surroundings.[86] His chief design engineer Walther Reidel became the subject of a December 1946 article, "German Scientist Says American Cooking Tasteless; Dislikes Rubberized Chicken", exposing the presence of von Braun's team in the country and drawing criticism from Albert Einstein and John Dingell.[86] Requests to improve their living conditions such as laying linoleum over their cracked wood flooring were rejected.[86] Von Braun was hypercritical of the slowness of the United States' development of guided missiles. His lab was never able to get sufficient funds to go on with their programs.[34] Von Braun remarked "at Peenemünde we had been coddled, here you were counting pennies".[86] Whereas von Braun had thousands of engineers who answered to him at Peenemünde, he was now subordinate to "pimply" 26-year-old Jim Hamill, an Army major who possessed only an undergraduate degree in engineering.[86] His loyal Germans still addressed him as "Herr Professor," but Hamill addressed him as "Wernher" and never responded to von Braun's request for more materials. Every proposal for new rocket ideas was dismissed.[86]

 
Von Braun's badge at ABMA (1957)

While at Fort Bliss, they trained military, industrial, and university personnel in the intricacies of rockets and guided missiles. As part of the Hermes project, they helped refurbish, assemble, and launch a number of V-2s that had been shipped from Allied-occupied Germany to the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. They also continued to study the future potential of rockets for military and research applications. Since they were not permitted to leave Fort Bliss without military escort, von Braun and his colleagues began to refer to themselves only half-jokingly as "PoPs" – "Prisoners of Peace".[87]

In 1950, at the start of the Korean War, von Braun and his team were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, his home for the next 20 years. From 1952 to 1956,[88] von Braun led the Army's rocket development team at Redstone Arsenal, resulting in the Redstone rocket, which was used for the first live nuclear ballistic missile tests conducted by the United States. He personally witnessed this historic launch and detonation.[89] Work on the Redstone led to the development of the first high-precision inertial guidance system on the Redstone rocket.[90]

As director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, von Braun, with his team, then developed the Jupiter-C, a modified Redstone rocket.[91] The Jupiter-C was the basis for the Juno I rocket that successfully launched the West's first satellite, Explorer 1, on 31 January 1958. This event signaled the birth of America's space program.[92]

Popular concepts for a human presence in space

Repeating the pattern he had established during his earlier career in Germany, von Braun – while directing military rocket development in the real world – continued to entertain his engineer-scientist's dream of a future in which rockets would be used for space exploration. However, he was no longer at risk of being fired. As American public opinion of Germans began to recover, von Braun found himself increasingly in a position to popularize his ideas. The 14 May 1950 headline of The Huntsville Times ("Dr. von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon") might have marked the beginning of these efforts. Von Braun's ideas rode a publicity wave that was created by science fiction movies and stories.[93]

 
Von Braun with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960; after the loss of the U.S. space race in 1957, the American leadership agreed to von Braun's main role in the design of space rockets

In 1952, von Braun first published his concept of a crewed space station in a Collier's Weekly magazine series of articles titled "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!". These articles were illustrated by the space artist Chesley Bonestell and were influential in spreading his ideas. Frequently, von Braun worked with fellow German-born space advocate and science writer Willy Ley to publish his concepts, which, unsurprisingly, were heavy on the engineering side and anticipated many technical aspects of space flight that later became reality.[94]

The space station (to be constructed using rockets with recoverable and reusable ascent stages) was a toroid structure, with a diameter of 250 feet (76 m); this built on the concept of a rotating wheel-shaped station introduced in 1929 by Herman Potočnik in his book The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor. The space station spun around a central docking nave to provide artificial gravity, and was assembled in a 1,075-mile (1,730 km) two-hour, high-inclination Earth orbit allowing observation of essentially every point on Earth on at least a daily basis. The ultimate purpose of the space station was to provide an assembly platform for crewed lunar expeditions. More than a decade later, the movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey drew heavily on the design concept in its visualization of an orbital space station.[95]

Von Braun envisioned these expeditions as very large-scale undertakings, with a total of 50 astronauts traveling in three huge spacecraft (two for crew, one primarily for cargo), each 49 m (160.76 ft) long and 33 m (108.27 ft) in diameter and driven by a rectangular array of 30 rocket propulsion engines.[96] Upon arrival, astronauts would establish a permanent lunar base in the Sinus Roris region by using the emptied cargo holds of their craft as shelters, and would explore their surroundings for eight weeks. This would include a 400 km (249 mi) expedition in pressurized rovers to the crater Harpalus and the Mare Imbrium foothills.[97]

 
Walt Disney and von Braun, seen in 1954 holding a model of his passenger ship, collaborated on a series of three educational films; among other things, this suggests that von Braun had enough free time to popularize astronautics due to the fact that priority in the design of a space rocket was given to other people.[93]

At this time, von Braun also worked out preliminary concepts for a human mission to Mars that used the space station as a staging point. His initial plans, published in The Mars Project (1952), had envisaged a fleet of 10 spacecraft (each with a mass of 3,720 metric tonnes), three of them uncrewed and each carrying one 200-tonne winged lander[96] in addition to cargo, and nine crew vehicles transporting a total of 70 astronauts. The engineering and astronautical parameters of this gigantic mission were thoroughly calculated. A later project was much more modest, using only one purely orbital cargo ship and one crewed craft. In each case, the expedition used minimum-energy Hohmann transfer orbits for its trips to Mars and back to Earth.[98]

Before technically formalizing his thoughts on human spaceflight to Mars, von Braun had written a science fiction novel on the subject, set in the year 1980. However, the manuscript was rejected by no fewer than 18 publishers.[99] Von Braun later published small portions of this opus in magazines, to illustrate selected aspects of his Mars project popularizations. The complete manuscript, titled Project Mars: A Technical Tale, did not appear as a printed book until December 2006.[100]

In the hope that its involvement would bring about greater public interest in the future of the space program, von Braun also began working with Walt Disney and the Disney studios as a technical director, initially for three television films about space exploration. The initial broadcast devoted to space exploration was Man in Space, which first went on air on 9 March 1955, drawing 40 million viewers.[86][101][102]

Later (in 1959) von Braun published a short booklet, condensed from episodes that had appeared in This Week Magazine before—describing his updated concept of the first crewed lunar landing.[103] The scenario included only a single and relatively small spacecraft—a winged lander with a crew of only two experienced pilots who had already circumnavigated the Moon on an earlier mission. The brute-force direct ascent flight schedule used a rocket design with five sequential stages, loosely based on the Nova designs that were under discussion at this time. After a night launch from a Pacific island, the first three stages brought the spacecraft (with the two remaining upper stages attached) to terrestrial escape velocity, with each burn creating an acceleration of 8–9 times standard gravity. The residual propellant in the third stage was used for the deceleration intended to commence only a few hundred kilometers above the landing site in a crater near the lunar north pole. The fourth stage provided acceleration to lunar escape velocity, and the fifth stage was responsible for a deceleration during return to the Earth to a residual speed that allows aerocapture of the spacecraft ending in a runway landing, much in the way of the Space Shuttle. One remarkable feature of this technical tale is that the engineer von Braun anticipated a medical phenomenon that became apparent only years later: being a veteran astronaut with no history of serious adverse reactions to weightlessness offers no protection against becoming unexpectedly and violently spacesick.[check quotation syntax][citation needed]

Religious conversion

In the first half of his life, von Braun was a nonpracticing, "perfunctory" Lutheran, whose affiliation was nominal and not taken seriously.[104] As described by Ernst Stuhlinger and Frederick I. Ordway III: "Throughout his younger years, von Braun did not show signs of religious devotion, or even an interest in things related to the church or to biblical teachings. In fact, he was known to his friends as a 'merry heathen' (fröhlicher Heide)."[105] Nevertheless, in 1945 he explained his decision to surrender to the Western Allies, rather than Russians, as being influenced by a desire to share rocket technology with people who followed the Bible. In 1946,[106]: 469  he attended church in El Paso, El Paso County, Texas, and underwent a religious conversion to Evangelical Christianity.[107] In an unnamed religious magazine he stated:

One day in Fort Bliss, a neighbor called and asked if I would like to go to church with him. I accepted, because I wanted to see if the American church was just a country club as I'd been led to expect. Instead, I found a small, white frame building...in the hot Texas sun on a browned-grass lot...Together, these people make a live, vibrant community. This was the first time I really understood that religion was not a cathedral inherited from the past, or a quick prayer at the last minute. To be effective, a religion has to be backed up by discipline and effort.

— von Braun[106]: 229–230 

On the motives behind this conversion, Michael J. Neufeld is of the opinion that he turned to religion "to pacify his own conscience",[108] and University of Southampton scholar Kendrick Oliver said that von Braun was presumably moved "by a desire to find a new direction for his life after the moral chaos of his service for the Third Reich".[109] Having "concluded one bad bargain with the Devil, perhaps now he felt a need to have God securely at his side".[110]

At a Gideons conference in 2004, W. Albert Wilson, a former pilot and NASA employee, claimed that he had talked with von Braun about the Christian faith while von Braun was working for NASA, and believed that conversation had been instrumental in von Braun's conversion.[111]

Later in life, he joined an Episcopal congregation,[107] and became increasingly religious.[112] He publicly spoke and wrote about the complementarity of science and religion, the afterlife of the soul, and his belief in God.[113][114] He stated, "Through science man strives to learn more of the mysteries of creation. Through religion he seeks to know the Creator."[115] He was interviewed by the Assemblies of God pastor C. M. Ward and stated that "The farther we probe into space, the greater my faith."[116] In addition, he met privately with evangelist Billy Graham and with the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.[117]

 
Von Braun with President Kennedy at Redstone Arsenal in 1963; President Kennedy was the initiator of the American lunar program in 1961, and von Braun was appointed its technical director
 
Von Braun with the F-1 engines of the Saturn V first stage at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center
 
Still with his rocket models, von Braun is pictured in his new office at NASA headquarters in 1970

Concepts for orbital warfare

Von Braun developed and published his space station concept during the time of the Cold War when the U.S. government put the containment of the Soviet Union above everything else. The fact that his space station – if armed with missiles that could be easily adapted from those already available at this time – would give the United States space superiority in both orbital and orbit-to-ground warfare did not escape him. In his popular writings, von Braun elaborated on them in several of his books and articles, but he took care to qualify such military applications as "particularly dreadful". This much-less-peaceful aspect of von Braun's "drive for space" has been reviewed by Michael J. Neufeld from the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.[118]

NASA career

 
Von Braun during the Apollo 11 launch, with binoculars to watch it

The U.S. Navy had been tasked with building a rocket to lift satellites into orbit, but the resulting Vanguard rocket launch system was unreliable. In 1957, with the launch of Sputnik 1, a belief grew within the United States that it lagged behind the Soviet Union in the emerging Space Race. American authorities then chose to use von Braun and his German team's experience with missiles to create an orbital launch vehicle. Von Braun had originally proposed such an idea in 1954, but it was denied at the time.[86]

NASA was established by law on 29 July 1958. One day later, the 50th Redstone rocket was successfully launched from Johnston Atoll in the south Pacific as part of Operation Hardtack I. Two years later, NASA opened the Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) development team led by von Braun was transferred to NASA. In a face-to-face meeting with Herb York at the Pentagon, von Braun made it clear he would go to NASA only if development of the Saturn were allowed to continue.[119] Von Braun became the center's first director on 1 July 1960 and held the position until 27 January 1970.[120]

Von Braun's early years at NASA included a failed "four-inch flight" during which the first uncrewed Mercury-Redstone rocket only rose a few inches before settling back onto the launch pad. The launch failure was later determined to be the result of a "power plug with one prong shorter than the other because a worker filed it to make it fit". Because of the difference in the length of one prong, the launch system detected the difference in the power disconnection as a "cut-off signal to the engine". The system stopped the launch, and the incident created a "nadir of morale in Project Mercury".[121]

After the flight of Mercury-Redstone 2 in January 1961 experienced a string of problems, von Braun insisted on one more test before the Redstone could be deemed man-rated. His overly cautious nature brought about clashes with other people involved in the program, who argued that MR-2's technical issues were simple and had been resolved shortly after the flight. He overruled them, so a test mission involving a Redstone on a boilerplate capsule was flown successfully in March. Von Braun's stubbornness was blamed for the inability of the U.S. to launch a crewed space mission before the Soviet Union, which ended up putting the first man in space the following month.[122] Three weeks later on 5 May, von Braun's team successfully launched Alan Shepard into space. He named his Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7.[123]

 
Charles W. Mathews, von Braun, George Mueller, and Lt.-Gen. Samuel C. Phillips in the Launch Control Center following the successful Apollo 11 liftoff on 16 July 1969

The Marshall Center's first major program was the development of Saturn rockets to carry heavy payloads into and beyond Earth orbit. From this, the Apollo program for crewed Moon flights was developed. Von Braun initially pushed for a flight engineering concept that called for an Earth orbit rendezvous technique (the approach he had argued for building his space station), but in 1962, he converted to the lunar orbit rendezvous concept that was subsequently realized.[124][125] During Apollo, he worked closely with former Peenemünde teammate, Kurt H. Debus, the first director of the Kennedy Space Center. His dream to help mankind set foot on the Moon became a reality on 16 July 1969, when a Marshall-developed Saturn V rocket launched the crew of Apollo 11 on its historic eight-day mission. Over the course of the program, Saturn V rockets enabled six teams of astronauts to reach the surface of the Moon.[126]

During the late 1960s, von Braun was instrumental in the development of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. The desk from which he guided America's entry into the space race remains on display there. He also was instrumental in the launching of the experimental Applications Technology Satellite. He traveled to India and hoped that the program would be helpful in bringing a massive educational television project to help the poorest people in that country.[127]

During the local summer of 1966–67, von Braun participated in a field trip to Antarctica, organized for him and several other members of top NASA management.[128] The goal of the field trip was to determine whether the experience gained by the U.S. scientific and technological community during the exploration of Antarctic wastelands would be useful for the crewed exploration of space. Von Braun was mainly interested in the management of the scientific effort on Antarctic research stations, logistics, habitation, and life support, and in using the barren Antarctic terrain like the glacial dry valleys to test the equipment that one day was used to look for signs of life on Mars and other worlds.[129]

In an internal memo dated 16 January 1969,[130] von Braun had confirmed to his staff that he would stay on as a center director at Huntsville to head the Apollo Applications Program. He referred to this time as a moment in his life when he felt the strong need to pray, stating "I certainly prayed a lot before and during the crucial Apollo flights".[131] A few months later, on the occasion of the first Moon landing, he publicly expressed his optimism that the Saturn V carrier system would continue to be developed, advocating human missions to Mars in the 1980s.[132]

Nonetheless, on 1 March 1970, von Braun and his family relocated to Washington, DC, when he was assigned the post of NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning at NASA Headquarters. After a series of conflicts associated with the truncation of the Apollo program, and facing severe budget constraints, von Braun retired from NASA on 26 May 1972. Not only had it become evident by this time that NASA and his visions for future U.S. space flight projects were incompatible, but also it was perhaps even more frustrating for him to see popular support for a continued presence of man in space wane dramatically once the goal to reach the Moon had been accomplished.[133]

 
Von Braun and William R. Lucas, the first and third Marshall Space Flight Center directors, viewing a Spacelab model in 1974; von Braun's proposals for the development of astronautics were not accepted, and priority was given to the space shuttle program instead

Von Braun also developed the idea of a Space Camp that would train children in fields of science and space technologies, as well as help their mental development much the same way sports camps aim at improving physical development.[30]: 354–355 [134]

Career after NASA

After leaving NASA, von Braun moved to the Washington, D.C. area and became vice president for Engineering and Development at the aerospace company Fairchild Industries in Germantown, Maryland on 1 July 1972.[134]

In 1973, during a routine physical examination, von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time.[135]

Von Braun helped establish and promote the National Space Institute, a precursor of the present-day National Space Society, in 1975, and became its first president and chairman. In 1976, he became a scientific consultant to Lutz Kayser, the CEO of OTRAG, and a member of the Daimler-Benz board of directors. However, his deteriorating health forced him to retire from Fairchild on 31 December 1976. When the 1975 National Medal of Science was awarded to him in early 1977, he had been hospitalized, and was unable to attend the White House ceremony.[136]

Engineering philosophy

Von Braun's insistence on more tests after Mercury-Redstone 2 flew higher than planned has been identified as contributing to the Soviet Union's success in launching the first human in space.[137] The Mercury-Redstone BD flight was successful, but took up the launch slot that might have put Alan Shepard into space three weeks ahead of Yuri Gagarin. His Soviet counterpart Sergei Korolev insisted on two successful flights with dogs before risking Gagarin's life on a crewed attempt. The second test flight took place one day after the Mercury-Redstone BD mission.[30]

Von Braun took a very conservative approach to engineering, designing with ample safety factors and redundant structure. This became a point of contention with other engineers, who struggled to keep vehicle weight down so that payload could be maximized. As noted above, his excessive caution likely led to the U.S. losing the race to put a man into space with the Soviets. Krafft Ehricke likened von Braun's approach to building the Brooklyn Bridge.[138]: 208  Many at NASA headquarters jokingly referred to Marshall as the "Chicago Bridge and Iron Works", but acknowledged that the designs worked.[139] The conservative approach paid off when a fifth engine was added to the Saturn C-4, producing the Saturn V. The C-4 design had a large crossbeam that could easily absorb the thrust of an additional engine.[30]: 371 

Von Braun did not indicate interest in politics or political philosophy during his onboarding working for the U.S. army. He was primarily focused on his work in guided missiles for the purpose of advancing science and technology. According to FBI background checks, "any political activity he may have engaged in was a means to an end to provide him with the necessary freedom to conduct his experiments."[34] This included time spent in the Nazi party during World War 2.

Personal life

 
Maria von Braun

Von Braun had a charismatic personality and was known as a ladies' man. As a student in Berlin, he often was seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once.[30]: 63  He later had a succession of affairs within the secretarial and computer pool at Peenemünde.[30]: 92–94 

In January 1943, von Braun became engaged to Dorothee Brill, a physical education teacher in Berlin, and he sought permission to marry from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. However, the engagement was broken due to his mother's opposition.[30]: 146–147  Later in 1943, he had an affair with a French woman while in Paris preparing V-2 launch sites in northeastern France. She was imprisoned for collaboration after the war and became destitute.[30]: 147–148 

During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp, his maternal first cousin, in a letter to his father. He married her in a Lutheran church in Landshut, Bavaria, on 1 March 1947, having received permission to go back to Germany and return with his bride. He was age 35, and his new bride was age 18.[140] Shortly after, he converted to Evangelicalism. He returned to Manhattan on 26 March 1947, with his wife, father, and mother. On 8 December 1948, the von Brauns' first daughter together, Iris Careen, was born at Fort Bliss Army Hospital.[46] The couple had two more children: Margrit Cécile, born in 1952,[141] and Peter Constantine, born in 1960.[141]

On 15 April 1955, von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[142]

Death

 
Grave of Wernher von Braun in Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia), 2008

In 1973, von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer during a routine medical examination. However, he continued to work unrestrained for a number of years. In January 1977, then very ill, he resigned from Fairchild Industries. Later in 1977, President Gerald R. Ford awarded him the country's highest science honor, the National Medal of Science in Engineering. He was, however, too ill to attend the White House ceremony.[143]

Von Braun died on 16 June 1977 of pancreatic cancer in Alexandria, Virginia at age 65.[144][145] He is buried on Valley Road at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria. His gravestone cites Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork" (KJV).[146]

Recognition and critique

 
In 1970, Huntsville, Alabama, honored von Braun's years of service with a series of events including the unveiling of a plaque in his honor. Pictured (l–r), his daughter Iris, wife Maria, U.S. Sen. John Sparkman, Alabama Gov. Albert Brewer, von Braun, son Peter, and daughter Margrit.
  • Apollo program director Sam Phillips was quoted as saying that he did not think that the United States would have reached the Moon as quickly as it did without von Braun's help. Later, after discussing it with colleagues, he amended this to say that he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all.[17]: 167 
  • In a TV interview on the occasion of the U.S. Moon landing in July 1969, Helmut Gröttrup, a staff member in Peenemünde and later head of the German collective in the Soviet rocketry program, set up the thesis that automatic space probes can get the same amount of scientific data with an effort of only 10 or 20 percent of the costs, and that the money should be better spent on other purposes. Von Braun justified the expenses for crewed operations with the following argument: "I think somehow space flights for the first time give mankind a chance to become immortal. Once this earth will no longer be able to support life we can emigrate to other places which are better suited for our life."[147]
  • Scrutiny of von Braun's use of forced labor at Mittelwerk intensified again in 1984 when Arthur Rudolph, one of his top affiliates from the A-4/V2 through the Apollo projects, left the United States and was forced to renounce his citizenship in place of the alternative of being tried for war crimes.[5][148]
  • A science- and engineering-oriented gymnasium in Friedberg, Bavaria was named after von Braun in 1979. In response to rising criticism, a school committee decided in 1995, after lengthy deliberations, to keep the name but "to address von Braun's ambiguity in the advanced history classes". In 2012, Nazi concentration camp survivor David Salz gave a speech in Friedberg, calling out to the public to "Do everything to make this name disappear from this school!".[149][150]
  • Satirist Mort Sahl has been credited with mocking von Braun by saying "I aim at the stars, but sometimes I hit London."[151]

Summary of SS career

  • SS number: 185,068
  • Nazi Party number: 5,738,692[30]: 96 

Dates of rank

  • SS-Anwärter: 1 November 1933 (Candidate; received rank upon joining SS Riding School)
  • SS-Mann: July 1934 (Private)

(left SS after graduation from the school; commissioned in 1940 with date of entry backdated to 1934)

Honors

In popular culture

Film and television Von Braun has been featured in a number of films and television shows or series:

  • "Man in Space", "Man and the Moon" and "Mars and Beyond" – episodes of Disneyland which originally aired on 9 March 1955, 28 December 1955 and 4 December 1957 respectively.[159][160][161]
  • I Aim at the Stars (1960) – also titled Wernher von Braun and Ich greife nach den Sternen ("I Reach for the Stars"); von Braun played by Curd Jürgens, his wife Maria played by Victoria Shaw.[162] Although it was said that satirist Mort Sahl suggested the subtitle "But Sometimes I Hit London", the line appears in the film, spoken by actor James Daly who plays the cynical American press officer.
  • Frozen Flashes (1967) – based on Julius Mader's documentary report "The Secret of Huntsville"; von Braun (only referred to as the "rocket baron") played by Dietrich Körner.[163]
  • Perfumed Nightmare (1977) – the main character, a Filipino who dreams of spaceflight, established a Wernher von Braun fan club in Laguna, Philippines.[164]
  • From the Earth to the Moon (TV, 1998) – von Braun played by Norbert Weisser.
  • October Sky – a 1999 biographical film on the life of Homer Hickam and his fascination with rockets, who is inspired by von Braun (played by Joe Digaetran)
  • Planetes (a 2003 made 26 episode anime series) his name was used as a spacecraft name, which has a "tandem mirror fusion engine" and aims to reach Jupiter with crew.
  • Space Race (TV, BBC co-production with NDR (Germany), Channel One TV (Russia) and National Geographic TV (USA), 2005) – von Braun played by Richard Dillane.[165]
  • The Lost Von Braun – a documentary by Aron Ranen. Interviews with Ernst Stuhlinger, Konrad Dannenberg, Karl Sendler, Alex Baum, Eli Rosenbaum (DOJ) and von Braun's NASA secretary Bonnie Holmes.
  • - A three-part (, , ) documentary – in English – from the German International channel DW-TV.[166] Original German version Wernher von Braun – Der Mann für die Wunderwaffen by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Played by Ludwig Blochberger.[167]
  • American Genius television series (2015): Space Race (Season 1, episode 5) - von Braun played by Corey Maher.
  • Timeless television series (2016): Party at Castle Varlar (Season 1, episode 4) – von Braun played by Christian Oliver.
  • Project Blue Book television series (2019): "Operation Paperclip" (Season 1, episode 4) – von Braun played by Thomas Kretschmann.[168]
  • For All Mankind television series (2019): "Red Moon" (Season 1, episode 1), "He Built the Saturn V" (Season 1, episode 2), "Home Again" (Season 1, episode 6) – von Braun played by Colm Feore.
  • Hunters (fictional web television series on Amazon Prime Video, 2020): "The Jewish Question" (Season 1, episode 8) – von Braun played by Victor Slezak.

Several fictional characters have been modeled on von Braun:

In print media:

In literature:

  • The Good German by Joseph Kanon. Von Braun and other scientists are said to have been implicated in the use of slave labor at Peenemünde; their transfer to the U.S. forms part of the narrative.
  • Space by James Michener. Von Braun and other German scientists are brought to the U.S. and form a vital part of the U.S. efforts to reach space.[171]
  • Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. The novel involves British intelligence attempting to avert and predict V-2 rocket attacks. The work even includes a gyroscopic equation for the V2. The first portion of the novel, "Beyond The Zero", begins with a quotation from von Braun: "Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death."
  • V-S Day by Allen Steele is a 2014 alternate history novel in which the space race occurs during World War II between teams led by Robert H. Goddard and von Braun.
  • Moonglow by Michael Chabon (2016) includes a fictionalized description of the search for and capture of Von Braun by the U.S. Army, and his role in the Nazi V-2 program and subsequently in the U.S. space program.
  • V2 by Robert Harris (2019) covers 5 days of Von Braun's group in Peenemünde in November 1944.[172]

In theatre:

  • Rocket City, Alabam', a stage play by Mark Saltzman, weaves von Braun's real life with a fictional plot in which a young Jewish woman in Huntsville, Alabama becomes aware of his Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage. Von Braun is a character in the play.[173]

In music:

  • Infinite Journey (1962), Johann Sebastian Bach and Apollo program rocket sounds album by various artists including Henry Mazer, which features von Braun as a narrator.[174]
  • "Wernher von Braun" (1965):[175] A song written and performed by Tom Lehrer for an episode of NBC's American version of the BBC TV show That Was The Week That Was; the song was later included in Lehrer's albums That Was The Year That Was and The Remains of Tom Lehrer. It was a satire on what some saw as von Braun's cavalier attitude toward the consequences of his work in Nazi Germany.[176] For example, one line in the song states: "A man whose allegiance/ Is ruled by expedience/ Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown/ 'Nazi, Schmazi!' says Wernher von Braun."[177] There was a widespread rumour that von Braun had sued Lehrer for the song, but this is untrue.[176][178]
  • The Last Days of Pompeii (1991): A rock opera by Grant Hart's post-Hüsker Dü alternative rock group Nova Mob, in which von Braun features as a character. The album includes a song called "Wernher von Braun".

In video games:

Published works

  • Proposal for a Workable Fighter with Rocket Drive. 6 July 1939.
  • 'Survey' of Previous Liquid Rocket Development in Germany and Future Prospects. May 1945.[181]
  • A Minimum Satellite Vehicle Based on Components Available from Developments of the Army Ordnance Corps. 15 September 1954. It would be a blow to U.S. prestige if we did not [launch a satellite] first.[181]
  • The Mars Project, Urbana, University of Illinois Press, (1953). With Henry J. White, translator.
  • Arthur C. Clarke, ed. (1967). German Rocketry, The Coming of the Space Age. New York: Meredith Press.
  • First Men to the Moon, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1960). Portions of work first appeared in This Week Magazine.
  • Daily Journals of Wernher von Braun, May 1958 – March 1970. March 1970.[181]
  • History of Rocketry & Space Travel, New York, Crowell (1975). With Frederick I. Ordway III.
  • The Rocket's Red Glare, Garden City, New York: Anchor Press, (1976). With Frederick I. Ordway III.
  • New Worlds, Discoveries From Our Solar System, Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, (1979). With Frederick I. Ordway III. Von Braun's final work, completed posthumously.
  • Project Mars: A Technical Tale, Apogee Books, Toronto (2006). A previously unpublished science fiction story by von Braun. Accompanied by paintings from Chesley Bonestell and von Braun's own technical papers on the proposed project.[182]
  • Willhite, Irene E. (2007). The Voice of Dr. Wernher von Braun: An Anthology. Apogee Books Space Series. Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1894959643. A collection of speeches delivered by von Braun over the course of his career.[183]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ivy Hill Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia, Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 48952). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
  2. ^ a b Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.
  3. ^ Neufeld, Michael. Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (First ed.). Vintage Books. pp. xv. Although Wernher von Braun got a doctorate in physics in 1934, he never worked a day in his life thereafter as a scientist. He was an engineer and a manager of engineers, and he used that vocabulary when he was talking to his professional peers.
  4. ^ Wernher von Braun: History's Most Controversial Figure?, Al Jazeera
  5. ^ a b c d e f Neufeld, Michael J. (20 May 2019). "Wernher von Braun and the Nazis". American Experience: Chasing the Moon. PBS. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Article on von Braun and Walt Disney". 18 February 2016.
  7. ^ "SP-4206 Stages to Saturn, Chapter 9". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  8. ^ . MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 11 June 2002.
  9. ^ . Nationalaviation.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  10. ^ "A Guide to Wernher von Braun's Life – Apollo11Space". Apollo11space.com. December 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  11. ^ "How Historians Are Reckoning with the Former Nazi Who Launched America's Space Program". 18 July 2019.
  12. ^ Magill, Frank N. (2013). The 20th Century A–GI. Dictionary of World Biography. Vol. 7. New York: Routledge. p. 440. ISBN 9781136593345.
  13. ^ "Von Braun, Wernher" 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Erratik Institut. Retrieved 4 February 2011
  14. ^ "Dr. Wernher von Braun'i mälestuseks", Füüsikainstituut. Retrieved 4 February 2011
  15. ^ a b Spires, Shelby G. (27 June 2003). "Von Braun's brother dies; aided surrender". The Huntsville Times. p. 1A. Magnus von Braun, the brother of rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun who worked in Huntsville from 1950–1955, died Saturday in Phoenix, Ariz. He was 84. Though not as famous as his older brother, who died in 1977, Magnus von Braun made the first contact with U.S. Army troops to arrange the German rocket team's surrender at the end of World War II.
  16. ^ Magnus Freiherr von Braun, Von Ostpreußen bis Texas. Erlebnisse und zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen eines Ostdeutschen. Stollhamm 1955
  17. ^ a b c d e f Ward, Bob (2005). Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun. ISBN 978-1-591-14926-2.
  18. ^ Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen by Hermann Oberth, R. Oldenbourg 1923 OCLC 6026491[failed verification]
  19. ^ Biddle, Wayne (2009). Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher Von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05910-6. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  20. ^ Boyne, Walter J. (1 September 2004). "The Rocket Men". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  21. ^ Rohwedder, Leif (May 2018). "Opel Sounds in the Era of Rockets". Opel Post web magazine. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  22. ^ Winter, Frank H. (30 April 2021). "A Century Before Elon Musk, There Was Fritz von Opel". Air & Space/Smithsonian. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  23. ^ Hensel, André T. (2019). "Die Grundlegung der Raumfahrt in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts". Geschichte der Raumfahrt Bis 1970: Vom Wettlauf Ins All Bis zur Mondlandung (in German). Springer: 1–44. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-58839-0_1. ISBN 978-3-662-58838-3. S2CID 188476724. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  24. ^ Various sources such as The Nazi Rocketeers (ISBN 0811733874 pp. 5–8) list the young Wernher von Braun as joining the VfR as an apprentice to Willy Ley, one of the three founders. Later when Ley fled Germany because he was a Jew, von Braun took over the leadership of the Verein and changed its activity to military development.
  25. ^ "Wernher von Braun biography". Biography.com. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  26. ^ a b c . MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009.
  27. ^ As related by Auguste's son Jacques Piccard to fellow deep-sea explorer Hans Fricke, cited in: Fricke H. Der Fisch, der aus der Urzeit kam, pp. 23–24. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2010. ISBN 978-3-423-34616-0 (in German)
  28. ^ Leo Nutz; Elmar Wild (28 December 1989). "Oberth-museum.org". Oberth-museum.org. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  29. ^ Davies, Norman (2006). Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory. London: Macmillan. p. 416. ISBN 9780333692851. OCLC 70401618.
  30. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Neufeld, Michael (2007). Von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26292-9.
  31. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (20 May 2019). "Wernher von Braun and the Nazis". PBS. Von Braun was a right-wing nationalist by upbringing but seems to have taken little interest in Nazi ideology or anti-Semitism. As money began flowing into rearmament and eventually into the rocket program, he became more enthusiastic about the regime. In 1933-34, he was a member of an SS riding group in Berlin, but National Socialist organizations were then pressing non-member students to participate in paramilitary activities. In 1937, now the technical director at age 25 of the new Army rocket center at Peenemünde on the Baltic, he received a letter asking him to join the Party. Since it required little commitment, and it might damage his career to say no, he went along.
  32. ^ Spangenburg & Moser. 2009. Wernher von Braun, Revised Edition. Infobase Publishing. p. 33
  33. ^ a b Ward, Bob. 2013. Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun. Naval Institute Press. Ch. 5
  34. ^ a b c d e f g h "Wernher VonBraun Part 2 of 7". FBI Records: The Vault. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 17 April 1961. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  35. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (2002). "Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility". German Studies Review. 25 (1): 57–78. doi:10.2307/1433245. ISSN 0149-7952. JSTOR 1433245. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  36. ^ Ward, Bob (2009). Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1591149279.
  37. ^ "Wernher von Braun FBI file".
  38. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (10 September 2013). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 178–179. ISBN 978-1-58834-467-0. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  39. ^ "Dr. Space" pp. 35 "It had been thought that he publicly wore his uniform with swastika armband just once, during one of two formal..."
  40. ^ Dr. Space, p. 35. "Wernher von Braun in SS uniform". The Reformation Online.
  41. ^ Sloop, John L. (1978). Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel, 1945-1959. Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  42. ^ a b . Astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2013.
  43. ^ Konstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete. Raketentechnik und Raumfahrtforschung, Sonderheft 1 (1960), Stuttgart, Germany.
  44. ^ Bergaust, Erik (1976). Wernher Von Braun: The Authoritative and Definitive Biographical Profile of the Father of Modern Space Flight. National Space Institute. pp. 43–49. ISBN 978-0-917680-01-4. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  45. ^ "Wernher VonBraun Part 3 of 7". FBI Records: The Vault. Federal Bureau of Investigation. pp. 13 Sept 1969. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  46. ^ a b West 2017, p. 50.
  47. ^ Weisstein, Eric Wolfgang (ed.). "Robert Goddard". ScienceWorld.
  48. ^ . Popular Science. May 1959. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  49. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. 2008. Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War. Vintage. p. 351
  50. ^ a b Hollingham, Richard (8 September 2014). "V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age". BBC. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  51. ^ "Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun", Bob Ward. Naval Institute Press, 10 July 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2017
  52. ^ Speer, Albert (1969). Erinnerungen, p. 377. Verlag Ullstein GmbH, Frankfurt a.M. and Berlin, ISBN 3-550-06074-2.
  53. ^ . RAF History – Bomber Command. Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 1 November 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  54. ^ Middlebrook, Martin (1982). The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943. New York: Bobbs-Merrill. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-672-52759-3.
  55. ^ a b Dornberger, Walter (1952). V2—Der Schuss ins Weltall. Esslingan: Bechtle Verlag (US translation V-2 Viking Press:New York, 1954). p. 164.
  56. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (1995). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: The Free Press. pp. 158, 160–162, 190. ISBN 9780029228951. from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  57. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. 2008. Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War. Vintage. p. 184
  58. ^ a b c d e Warsitz, Lutz (2009). The First Jet Pilot: The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz. Pen and Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84415-818-8.
  59. ^ Tracy Dungan. "Mittelbau Overview". V2rocket.com. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  60. ^ . MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 26 May 2002.
  61. ^ Jaroff, Leon (26 March 2002). "The Rocket Man's Dark Side". Time. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012.
  62. ^ a b Biddle, Wayne (2009). Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393072648.: 124–125 
  63. ^ Michael J. Neufeld (February 2002) "Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility", German Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 57–78
  64. ^ Fiedermann, Heß, and Jaeger (1993) Das KZ Mittelbau Dora. Ein historischer Abriss, p. 100, Westkreuz Verlag, Berlin ISBN 978-3-92213-194-6
  65. ^ Ernst Stuhlinger; Frederick Ira Ordway (April 1994). Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir. Krieger Pub. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-89464-842-7. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  66. ^ Sellier, André (2003). A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets. Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee. ISBN 978-1-56663-511-0.
  67. ^ The Army Air Forces in World War II: Europe, argument to V-E Day, January 1944 to May 1945. Office of Air Force History. 1948. ISBN 978-0-912799-03-2. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  68. ^ . MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005.
  69. ^ Bilstein, Roger E. (August 1999). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicle. DIANE Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7881-8186-3. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  70. ^ Dornberger, Walter (1954). V-2. New York: The Viking Press, Inc. pp. 178–184.
  71. ^ Speer, Albert (1995). Inside the Third Reich. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 501–502. ISBN 9781842127353.
  72. ^ a b "Wernher VonBraun Part 1 of 7". FBI Records: The Vault. Federal Bureau of Investigation. pp. 18 April 1961. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  73. ^ a b c Cadbury, Deborah (2005). Space Race. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 978-0-00-721299-6.
  74. ^ Huzel, Dieter K. (1962). From Peenemünde To Canaveral. Prentice Hall. ASIN B0021SD22M.
  75. ^ Dunar, Andrew J.; Administration, U. S. National Aeronautics and Space (1999). Power to Explore: A History of Marshall Space Flight Center, 1960-1990. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office, Office of Policy and Plans. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-16-058992-8. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  76. ^ . Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Capture of Wernher von Braun by the 324th Regiment Anti-tank Company
  77. ^ McDougall, Walter A. (1985). ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age. New York: Basic Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-465-02887-0.
  78. ^ Arts & Entertainment, Biography (1959–1961 series). Mike Wallace, television biography of Wernher von Braun, video clip of the press statement.
  79. ^ McGovern, J (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 182.
  80. ^ Speer, Albert (2001). Schlie, Ulrich (ed.). Alles, was ich weiß. F.A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung. p. 12. ISBN 978-3-7766-2092-4.
  81. ^ Fauzia, Miriam. "Fact check: Nazi scientists were brought to work for U.S. through Operation Paperclip". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  82. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (2004). "Overcast, Paperclip, Osoaviakhim - Looting and the Transfer of German Military Technology". The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990: A Handbook: Volume 1: 1945–1968. Cambridge University Press. 1: 197–203.
  83. ^ "The Pretty German Seaside Resort with a Dark Past - Start Travel". Start Travel. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  84. ^ "Outstanding German Scientists Being Brought to U.S". War Department press release. V2Rocket.com. 1 October 1945. from the original on 1 March 2010.
  85. ^ Dunar, Andrew J; Waring, Stephen P (1999). Power to Explore. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 12. ISBN 0-16-058992-4.
  86. ^ a b c d e f g h Matthew Brzezinski (2007) Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age, pages 84–92, Henry Holt, New York ISBN 978-0-80508-147-3
  87. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (2008). Von Braun: dreamer of space, engineer of war (First ed.). New York: Vintage Books. p. 218. ISBN 9780525435914. OCLC 982248820.
  88. ^ "Wernher von Braun | Encyclopedia of Alabama". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  89. ^ Redstone Rocket, Hardtack-Teak Test, August 1958 on YouTube
  90. ^ Bucher, G. C.; Mc Call, J. C.; Ordway, F. I. III; Stuhlinger, E. (23 March 1962). "From Peenemuende to Outer Space. Commemorating the Fiftieth Birthday of Wernher von Braun". NASA Technical Reports Server. hdl:2060/19630006100.
  91. ^ . TIME Magazine. 17 February 1958. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007.
  92. ^ Ritchie, Eleanor H. (1986). Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1977: A Chronology. Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  93. ^ a b Harbaugh, Jennifer (18 February 2016). "Article on Von Braun and Walt Disney". NASA. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  94. ^ Gohd, Chelsea (6 November 2019). "Yes, the 'Von Braun' Space Hotel Idea Is Wild. But Could We Build It by 2025?". Space.com. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  95. ^ "What Kubrick did with the man from Nasa". The Telegraph. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  96. ^ a b Woodfill, Jerry (30 November 2004). "Gallery of Wernher von Braun Moonship Sketches". The Space Educator's Handbook. NASA Johnson Space Center. from the original on 30 May 2010.
  97. ^ Braun, Wernher Von; Whipple, Fred Lawrence; Ley, Willy (1953). Conquest of the Moon. New York: Viking Press. pp. 107, 109–110. ISBN 978-0-598-82516-2. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  98. ^ Braun, Wernher von (1969). Manned Mars landing presentation to the Space Task Group.
  99. ^ Bergaust, Erik (1976). Wernher von Braun: The authoritative and definitive biographical profile of the father of modern space flight (Hardcover). National Space Institute. ISBN 978-0-917680-01-4.
  100. ^ Wernher von Braun (2006) Project Mars: a technical tale, Apogee Books, Burlington, Ontario ISBN 978-0-97382-033-1
  101. ^ Ley, Willy (October 1955). "For Your Information". Galaxy. p. 60. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  102. ^ Pat Williams, Jim Denney (2004) How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life, page 237, Health Communications Inc. ISBN 978-0-75730-231-2
  103. ^ "Wernher von Braun (January 2000) "First Men to the Moon". Reprint by Henry Holt & Co., Inc. ISBN 978-0-03030-295-4
  104. ^ Neufeld, Michael J. (2008) Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, Vintage. pp. 4; 230
  105. ^ Stuhlinger, Ernst & Ira Ordway, Frederick. 1994. Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir. Krieger Pub, p. 270
  106. ^ a b Neufeld, Michael J. (2007) Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, Knoff, New York ISBN 978-0-30726-292-9
  107. ^ a b Mallon, Thomas (22 October 2007) "Rocket Man", The New Yorker, Access date: 8 January 2015.
  108. ^ Walker, Mark (2008) "A 20th-Century Faust" 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, American Scientist, Access: 8 January 2015
  109. ^ Oliver, Kendrick (2012) To Touch the Face of God: The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program, 1957–1975, page 23, Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978-1-42140-788-3
  110. ^ Oliver, 2012, page 24
  111. ^ "God Touches the Heart of a Scientist through Gideons' Bible Ministry". www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  112. ^ Stuhlinger, Ernst & Ira Ordway, Frederick. 1994. Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir. Krieger Pub, page 270: "Those who knew him through the 1960s and 1970s noticed during these years that a new element began to surface in his conversations, and also in his speeches and his writings: a growing interest in religious thought."
  113. ^ von Braun, Wernher (1963) "My Faith: A Space-Age Scientist Tells Why He Must Believe in God", (10 February 1963) The American Weekly, page 2, New York: The Hearst Corporation.
  114. ^ See von Braun's speeches in The voice of Dr. Wernher Von Brain: An Anthology. Apogee Books Publication; ed. by Irene E. Powell-Willhite: These touch "a variety of topics, including education, the cold war, religion, and the space program".
  115. ^ See the same article by von Braun, Wernher, published as "Science and religion", in Rome Daily American, 13 September 1966. Available in New Age Frontiersn (Oct. 1966) United Family, Volume II, Number 10.
  116. ^ See "The Farther We Probe into Space, the Greater my Faith": C.M. Ward's account of His Interview with Dr. Warner von Braun (1966) Springfield, MO: Assemblies of God, 17 pages Mini-pamphlet.
  117. ^ Ward, Bob (2013) Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun, Ch. 1: "The Accursed Blessing", Naval Institute Press OCLC 857079205
  118. ^ Neufeld MJ: "Space superiority: Wernher von Braun's campaign for a nuclear-armed space station, 1946–1956". Space Policy 2006; 22:52–62.
  119. ^ "Stages to Saturn – The Saturn Building Blocks – The ABMA Transfer". NASA.
  120. ^ "Photos: Wernher von Braun, Space Pioneer Remembered". Space.com. 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  121. ^ Swenson, Loyd S. Jr.; Grimwood, James M.; Alexander, Charles C. "MR-1: The Four-Inch Flight – This New Ocean". NASA. from the original on 9 May 2001.
  122. ^ Siddiqi, Asif A (2000). Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974. Washington, DC: NASA. p. 283. ISBN 9781780393018. LCCN 00038684. OCLC 48909645. SP-2000-4408.
  123. ^ West 2017, p. 36.
  124. ^ West 2017, p. 39.
  125. ^ "Concluding Remarks by Dr. Wernher von Braun about Mode Selection for the Lunar Landing Program" (PDF). Lunar Orbit Rendezvous File. NASA Historical Reference Collection. 7 June 1962.
  126. ^ Mann, Adam (25 June 2020). "The Apollo Program: How NASA sent astronauts to the moon". space.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  127. ^ Spangenburg & Moser. 2009. Wernher von Braun, Revised Edition. Infobase Publishing. pages 129-130
  128. ^ "Space Man's Look at Antarctica". Popular Science, Vol. 190, No. 5, May 1967, pp. 114–116.
  129. ^ West 2017, p. 40.
  130. ^ von Braun, Wernher (16 January 1969). (PDF). MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2007.
  131. ^ Bergaust, Erik. 1976. Wernher von Braun: The Authoritative and Definitive Biographical Profile of the Father of Modern Space Flight. National Space Institute. page 117
  132. ^ . Time. 25 July 1969. Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007. Even as man prepared to take his first tentative extraterrestrial steps, other celestial adventures beckoned him. The shape and scope of the post-Apollo crewed space program remained hazy, and a great deal depends on the safe and successful outcome of Apollo 11. Well before the lunar flight was launched, though, NASA was casting eyes on targets far beyond the Moon. The most inviting: the earth's close, and probably most hospitable, planetary neighbor. Given the same energy and dedication that took them to the Moon, says Wernher von Braun, Americans could land on Mars as early as 1982.
  133. ^ Times, Harold M. Schmeck Jr Special to The New York (28 January 1970). "Von Braun to Go to Washington To Direct Space Mission Plans". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  134. ^ a b West 2017, p. 43.
  135. ^ German sources mostly specify the cancer as renal, while American biographies unanimously just mention cancer. The time when von Braun learned about the disease is generally given as from 1973 to1976. The characteristics of renal cell carcinoma, which has a bad prognosis even today, do not rule out either time limit.
  136. ^ "The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details | NSF - National Science Foundation".
  137. ^ Launius, Roger (2002). To Reach the Higher Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles. University of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2245-8.
  138. ^ Sloop, John L. (1978). Liquid hydrogen as a propulsion fuel, 1945–1959 (PDF). The NASA history series. Vol. SP-4404.
  139. ^ "To the Moon". NOVA. 13 July 1999.
  140. ^ West 2017, p. 46.
  141. ^ a b West 2017, p. 51.
  142. ^ Redd, Nola Taylor (7 March 2013). "Wernher von Braun, Rocket Pioneer: Biography & Quotes". Space.com. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  143. ^ West 2017, p. 48.
  144. ^ "Von Braun, Who Helped Put Men on Moon, Dies at 65: German-Born Scientist Succumbs to Pancreatic Cancer; Was Pioneer in Space Rocket Technology". Los Angeles Times. 17 June 1977. p. A2.
  145. ^ "Wernher von Braun, Rocket Pioneer, Dies; Wernher von Braun, Pioneer in Space Travel and Rocketry, Dies at 65". The New York Times. 18 June 1977. Wernher von Braun, the master rocket builder and pioneer of space travel, died of cancer Thursday morning. He was 65 years old.
  146. ^ "Psalm 19:1". Bible Gateway.
  147. ^ (video). Thames Television. 17 July 1969. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  148. ^ Winterstein, William E. Sr. (1 March 2005). Secrets Of The Space Age. Robert D. Reed Publishers. ISBN 978-1-931741-49-1.
  149. ^ Rother, Marcel (22 March 2012). "Gymnasium Friedberg: Ein Ort, der das Herz zittern lässt" [Friedberg Gymnasium: A place that can make the heart tremble]. Augsburger Allgemeine (in German). Augsburg: Presse-Druck- und Verlags-GmbH. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  150. ^ Mayr, Stefan (23 March 2012). "Streit um Wernher-von-Braun-Gymnasium "Tut alles, damit dieser Name verschwindet"" [Dispute over the Wernher von Braun Gymnasium "Do everything to make this name disappear"]. Süddeutschen Zeitung (in German). Munich: Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  151. ^ Morrow, Lance (3 August 1998). . Time. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  152. ^ "Prof Dr Wernher von Braun". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 9 (2). March 1950.
  153. ^ Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 – Report of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives (PDF), U.S. Government Printing Office, 12 June 1963, p. 217, retrieved 14 July 2014
  154. ^ Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006.
  155. ^ "Dr von Braun Honoured" (PDF). Flight International. Iliffe Transport Publications. 22 July 1967. p. 1030. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  156. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  157. ^ Armbrester, Margaret E. (1992). The Civitan Story. Birmingham, AL: Ebsco Media. pp. 95, 105.
  158. ^ "Hall of Famer". Beatrice Daily Sun. Beatrice, Nebraska. Associated Press. 26 July 1982. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  159. ^ "Disney-Land S1.E20 - Man in Space". IMDB.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  160. ^ "Disney-Land S2.E14 - Man and the Moon". IMDB.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  161. ^ "Disney-Land S4.E12 - Mars and Beyond". IMDB.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  162. ^ "I Aim at the Stars (1960)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  163. ^ "Die gefrorenen Blitze" (PDF). Staatkircheforschunsgamt. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  164. ^ "The Perfumed Nightmare". Kidlat Tahimik. 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  165. ^ "Space Race TV Series, 2005". imdb.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  166. ^ "DW-TV". Dw-world.de. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  167. ^ Ortmanns, Nadine. "Interview mit Schauspieler Ludwig Blochberger – kontinente". www.kontinente.org. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  168. ^ "Project Blue Book: Operation Paperclip". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  169. ^ Neufield, Von Braun, p. 406. Dr Strangelove was widely held to be a composite of Edward Teller, Herman Kahn, and von Braun; but only von Braun shared Strangelove's Nazi past.
  170. ^ "Indiana Jones 5 Will Pit Indy Against Nazis Again, In 1969 – Exclusive". Empire. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  171. ^ Wilford, John Noble (19 September 1982). "A Novel of Very High Adventure (SPACE By James A. Michener)". New York Times. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  172. ^ Preston, Alex (20 September 2020). "Review: V2 by Robert Harris review – fears of a rocket man". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  173. ^ . Skokie [Illinois] Theatre and MadKap Productions. 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  174. ^ "Florida Symphony Orchestra And Bach Festival Choir – Journey To Infinity". Discogs. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  175. ^ Tom Lehrer (1 December 2008). "Wernher von Braun". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  176. ^ a b "Stop clapping, this is serious". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 March 2003. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  177. ^ "Werner von Braun" lyrics
  178. ^ McKay, Ron (1 November 2020). "Spotlight: 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer resurfaces". The Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  179. ^ Lane, Rick (3 September 2017). "The making of System Shock 2's best level". Eurogamer. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  180. ^ Klee, Ernst; Merk, Otto (1963). The Birth of the Missile: The Secrets of Peenemünde. Hamburg: Gerhard Stalling Verlag (English translation 1965). pp. 89, 95.
  181. ^ a b c Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. pp. 308, 425, 509. ISBN 978-1-894959-00-1.
  182. ^ Von Braun, Wernher (2006). Project Mars, A Technical Tale. Apogee Books. ISBN 9780973820331. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  183. ^ Von Braun, Wernher (2007). The Voice of Dr. Wernher Von Braun An Anthology. Apogee Books. ISBN 9781894959643. Retrieved 10 February 2023.

Sources

Additional reading

  • Bilstein, Roger (2003). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-813-02691-6.
  • Dunar, Andrew J.; Waring, Stephen P (1999). . Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-058992-8. Archived from the original on 1 September 2000.
  • Freeman, Marsha (1993). How we got to the Moon: The Story of the German Space Pioneers (Paperback). 21st Century Science Associates (October 1993). ISBN 978-0-9628134-1-2.
  • Lasby, Clarence G (1971). Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War. New York: Atheneum. ASIN B0006CKBHY.
  • Neufeld, Michael J (1994). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-922895-1.
  • Petersen, Michael B. (2009). Missiles for the Fatherland: Peenemuende, National Socialism and the V-2 missile. Cambridge Centennial of Flight. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88270-5. OCLC 644940362.
  • Tompkins, Phillip K. (1993). Organizational Communication Imperatives: Lessons of the Space Program. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195329667.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wernher von Braun.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Wernher von Braun.
  • Audiopodcast on Astrotalkuk.org BBC journalist Reg Turnill talking in 2011 about his personal memories of and interviews with Dr Wernher von Braun.
  • – At the U.S. 44th Infantry Division website (archived)
  • – Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) History Office (archived)
  • Missile to Moon: PBS documentary about evolution of Huntsville to "Rocket City" and Werhner von Braun
  • – by Mike Wright, MSFC (archived)
  • Coat-of-arms of Dr. Wernher von Braun
  • Remembering Von Braun – by Anthony Young – The Space Review Monday, 10 July 2006
  • The Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial
  • V2rocket.com
  • , Houston Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (archived)
  • CIA documents on Dr. Wernher von Braun on the Internet Archive
  • FBI Records: The Vault – Wernher VonBraun files at vault.fbi.gov
  • Wernher von Braun at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  • Wernher von Braun at Library of Congress, with 35 library catalogue records
  • Wernher von Braun Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections
  • Dorette Schlidt Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections Files of Dorette Schlidt, Dr. Wernher von Braun's first secretary.

May 10, 2023
wernher, braun, werner, braun, redirects, here, israeli, photographer, werner, braun, photojournalist, german, musicologist, werner, braun, musicologist, this, german, name, surname, braun, braun, wernher, magnus, maximilian, freiherr, braun, ɜːr, nər, brown, . Werner Braun redirects here For the Israeli photographer see Werner Braun photojournalist For the German musicologist see Werner Braun musicologist In this German name the surname is Von Braun not Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun US ˌ v ɜːr n er v ɒ n ˈ b r aʊ n VUR ner von BROWN German ˌvɛʁnheːɐ fɔn ˈbʁaʊ n 23 March 1912 16 June 1977 was a German and American aerospace engineer 3 and space architect He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States 4 Wernher von BraunVon Braun in 1960BornWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun 1912 03 23 23 March 1912Wirsitz Posen Prussia German EmpireDied16 June 1977 1977 06 16 aged 65 Alexandria Virginia U S Burial placeIvy Hill Cemetery 1 NationalityGerman AmericanAlma materTechnical University of Berlin diploma Friedrich Wilhelms University of Berlin PhD Occupation s Rocket engineer and designer aerospace project managerKnown forNASA engineering program manager chief architect of the Apollo Saturn V rocket development of the V 2 rocket for Nazi GermanyPolitical partyNazi Party 1937 1945 SpouseMaria Luise von Quistorp m 1947 wbr Children3ParentMagnus von Braun father RelativesSigismund von Braun brother Magnus von Braun brother AwardsPresident s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service 1959 Elliott Cresson Medal 1962 Wilhelm Exner Medal 1969 2 National Medal of Science 1975 Military careerAllegianceNazi GermanyService wbr branchAllgemeine SSYears of service1937 1945RankSS Sturmbannfuhrer major AwardsKnights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords 1944 War Merit Cross First Class with Swords 1943 Scientific careerFieldsRocket propulsionInstitutionsWehrmachtArmy Ballistic Missile AgencyRedstone ArsenalNASAFairchild IndustriesThesisKonstruktive theoretische und experimentelle Beitrage zu dem Problem der Flussigkeitsrakete 1934 Doctoral advisorErich SchumannInfluencesRobert H GoddardHermann OberthHerman PotocnikSignatureAs a young man von Braun worked in Nazi Germany s rocket development program He helped design and co developed the V 2 rocket at Peenemunde during World War II The V 2 became the first artificial object to travel into space on 20 June 1944 Following the war he was secretly moved to the United States along with about 1 600 other German scientists engineers and technicians as part of Operation Paperclip 5 He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate range ballistic missile program and he developed the rockets that launched the United States first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958 He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films which popularized the idea of human space travel in the U S and beyond from 1955 to 1957 6 In 1960 his group was assimilated into NASA where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon 7 8 In 1967 von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering and in 1975 he received the National Medal of Science Von Braun is widely seen as the father of space travel 9 the father of rocket science 10 or the father of the American lunar program 11 He advocated a human mission to Mars Contents 1 Early life 2 Career in Germany 2 1 Involvement with the Nazi regime 2 1 1 Nazi Party membership 2 1 2 Membership in the Allgemeine SS 2 2 Work under Nazi regime 2 3 Experiments with rocket aircraft 2 4 Slave labor 2 5 Arrest and release by the Nazi regime 2 6 Surrender to the Americans 3 American career 3 1 U S Army career 3 2 Popular concepts for a human presence in space 3 3 Religious conversion 3 4 Concepts for orbital warfare 3 5 NASA career 3 6 Career after NASA 4 Engineering philosophy 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Recognition and critique 8 Summary of SS career 8 1 Dates of rank 9 Honors 10 In popular culture 11 Published works 12 See also 13 References 13 1 Sources 14 Additional reading 15 External linksEarly life EditWernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912 in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen Kingdom of Prussia then German Empire and now Poland 12 His father Magnus Freiherr von Braun 1878 1972 was a civil servant and conservative politician he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the Weimar Republic His mother Emmy von Quistorp 1886 1959 traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European royalty and was a descendant of Philip III of France Valdemar I of Denmark Robert III of Scotland and Edward III of England 13 14 Wernher had an older brother the West German diplomat Sigismund von Braun who served as Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in the 1970s and a younger brother Magnus von Braun who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with Chrysler 15 The family moved to Berlin Brandenburg in 1915 where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior After Wernher s Confirmation his mother gave him a telescope and he developed a passion for astronomy 16 Von Braun learned to play both the cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer He took lessons from the composer Paul Hindemith The few pieces of Wernher s youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith s style 17 11 He could play piano pieces of Beethoven and Bach from memory Beginning in 1925 Wernher attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar Free State of Thuringia where he did not do well in physics and mathematics There he acquired a copy of Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen 1923 By Rocket into Planetary Space 18 by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth In 1928 his parents moved him to the Hermann Lietz Internat also a residential school on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog Space travel had always fascinated Wernher and from then on he applied himself to physics and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering 19 Opel RAK 1 World s first public crewed flight of a rocket plane on 30 September 1929 The world s first large scale experimental rocket program was Opel RAK under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier during the late 1920s leading to the first crewed rocket cars and rocket planes 20 21 which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and U S and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards The Opel RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds as well as caused global public excitement as the so called Rocket Rumble and had a large long lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers in particular on Wernher von Braun Sixteen year old Wernher was so enthusiastic about the public Opel RAK demonstrations that he constructed his own homemade rocket car nearly killing himself in the process and causing a major disruption in a crowded street by detonating the toy wagon to which he had attached fireworks 22 He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him The Great Depression put an end to the Opel RAK program and Fritz von Opel left Germany in 1930 emigrating first to the US later to France and Switzerland After the break up of the Opel RAK program Valier eventually was killed while experimenting with liquid fueled rockets as means of propulsion in mid 1930 and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age 23 In 1930 von Braun attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin where he joined the Spaceflight Society Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR co founded by Valier and worked with Willy Ley in his liquid fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with others such as Rolf Engel Rudolf Nebel Hermann Oberth or Paul Ehmayr 24 In spring 1932 he graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering 25 His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology Wanting to learn more about physics chemistry and astronomy von Braun entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin for doctoral studies and graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1934 26 He also studied at ETH Zurich for a term from June to October 1931 26 Career in Germany EditIn 1930 von Braun attended a presentation given by Auguste Piccard After the talk the young student approached the famous pioneer of high altitude balloon flight and stated to him You know I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time Piccard is said to have responded with encouraging words 27 Von Braun was greatly influenced by Oberth of whom he said Hermann Oberth was the first who when thinking about the possibility of spaceships grabbed a slide rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs I myself owe to him not only the guiding star of my life but also my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry and space travel A place of honor should be reserved in the history of science and technology for his ground breaking contributions in the field of astronautics 28 According to historian Norman Davies von Braun was able to pursue a career as a rocket scientist in Germany due to a curious oversight in the Treaty of Versailles which did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany 29 Involvement with the Nazi regime Edit Von Braun with Fritz Todt who utilized forced labor for major works across occupied Europe Von Braun is wearing the Nazi party badge on his suit lapel Nazi Party membership Edit Von Braun had an ambivalent and complex relationship with Nazi Germany 5 He applied for membership of the Nazi Party on 12 November 1937 and was issued membership number 5 738 692 30 96 Michael J Neufeld an author of aerospace history and chief of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian s National Air and Space Museum wrote that ten years after von Braun obtained his Nazi Party membership he signed an affidavit for the U S Army though he stated the incorrect year 30 96 In 1939 I was officially demanded to join the National Socialist Party At this time I was already Technical Director at the Army Rocket Center at Peenemunde Baltic Sea The technical work carried out there had in the meantime attracted more and more attention in higher levels Thus my refusal to join the party would have meant that I would have to abandon the work of my life Therefore I decided to join My membership in the party did not involve any political activity 30 96 It has not been ascertained whether von Braun s error with regard to the year was deliberate or a simple mistake 30 96 Neufeld wrote Von Braun like other Peenemunders was assigned to the local group in Karlshagen there is no evidence that he did more than send in his monthly dues But he is seen in some photographs with the party s swastika pin in his lapel it was politically useful to demonstrate his membership 30 96 Von Braun s later attitude toward the Nazi regime of the late 1930s and early 1940s was complex He said that he had been so influenced by the early Nazi promise of release from the post World War I economic effects that his patriotic feelings had increased 31 In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that at that time he fared relatively rather well under totalitarianism 30 96 97 Yet he also wrote that to us Hitler was still only a pompous fool with a Charlie Chaplin moustache 32 and that he perceived him as another Napoleon who was wholly without scruples a godless man who thought himself the only god 33 Later examination of von Braun s background conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation suggests that his background check file contained no derogatory information pertaining to his involvement in the party but it was found that he had numerous letters of commendation for outstanding performance of duties during his time working under the Nazi party 34 Overall FBI conclusions point to Von Braun s involvement in the Nazi Party to be purely for the advancement of his academic career or out of fear of imprisonment or execution 34 Membership in the Allgemeine SS Edit Von Braun joined the SS horseback riding school on 1 November 1933 as an SS Anwarter He left the following year 35 63 In 1940 von Braun joined the SS 36 47 37 and was given the rank of Untersturmfuhrer in the Allgemeine SS and issued membership number 185 068 121 In 1947 he gave the U S War Department this explanation In spring 1940 one SS Standartenfuhrer SS Colonel Muller from Greifswald a bigger town in the vicinity of Peenemunde looked me up in my office and told me that Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler had sent him with the order to urge me to join the SS I told him I was so busy with my rocket work that I had no time to spare for any political activity He then told me that the SS would cost me no time at all I would be awarded the rank of a n Untersturmfuehrer lieutenant and it were sic a very definite desire of Himmler that I attend his invitation to join I asked Muller to give me some time for reflection He agreed Realizing that the matter was of highly political significance for the relation between the SS and the Army I called immediately on my military superior Dr Dornberger He informed me that the SS had for a long time been trying to get their finger in the pie of the rocket work I asked him what to do He replied on the spot that if I wanted to continue our mutual work I had no alternative but to join 38 When shown a picture of himself standing behind Himmler von Braun claimed to have worn the SS uniform only that one time 39 but in 2002 a former SS officer at Peenemunde told the BBC that von Braun had regularly worn the SS uniform to official meetings He began as an Untersturmfuhrer Second lieutenant and was promoted three times by Himmler the last time in June 1943 to SS Sturmbannfuhrer Major Von Braun later claimed that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail 40 Work under Nazi regime Edit In 1932 Von Braun received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Technology in Berlin Germany During a period in 1931 Von Braun attended the Technical Institute in Switzerland During this time in Switzerland Von Braun assisted Professor Hermann Oberth in writing a book concerning the possibilities of creating and manufacturing liquid propellant rockets Shortly after this Von Braun founded his own private rocket development business in Berlin through which made the first rocket fired by gasoline and liquid oxygen 34 In 1932 having caught wind of von Braun s rocket business the German Army connected with Von Braun to pursue basic missile research and weather data experimentation 34 Von Braun said that the German Government financed the development of test stands and facilities for experimentation in Darmstadt Germany In 1939 Von Braun was appointed a technical advisor at Peenemunde Proving Ground on the Baltic Sea 34 First rank from left to right General Dr Walter Dornberger partially hidden General Friedrich Olbricht with Knight s Cross Major Heinz Brandt and Wernher von Braun in civilian dress at Peenemunde Province of Pomerania in March 1941 In 1933 von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party came to power in a coalition government in Germany rocketry was almost immediately moved onto the national agenda An artillery captain Walter Dornberger arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun who then worked next to Dornberger s existing solid fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf 41 Von Braun received his doctorate in physics aerospace engineering on July 27 1934 from the University of Berlin for a thesis titled About Combustion Tests His doctoral supervisor was Erich Schumann 30 61 However this thesis represented only the public aspect of von Braun s work His actual thesis entitled Construction Theoretical and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket dated April 16 1934 detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket It remained classified by the German army until its publication in 1960 42 43 By the end of 1934 his group had successfully launched two liquid fuel A2 rockets that rose to heights of 2 2 and 3 5 km 2 mi 44 Von Braun continued his guided missile work throughout World War Two and met with Adolf Hitler on several occasions being formally decorated by Hitler twice including being awarded the Iron Cross 45 At the time Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H Goddard s research Before 1939 German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions Von Braun used Goddard s plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat A series of rockets The first successful launch of an A 4 took place on 3 October 1942 46 The A 4 rocket became well known as the V 2 47 In 1963 von Braun reflected on the history of rocketry and said of Goddard s work His rockets may have been rather crude by present day standards but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles 26 Goddard confirmed his work was used by von Braun in 1944 shortly before the Nazis began firing V 2s at England A V 2 crashed in Sweden and some parts were sent to an Annapolis lab where Goddard was doing research for the Navy If this was the so called Backebo Bomb it had been procured by the British in exchange for Spitfires Annapolis would have received some parts from them Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had invented and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon 48 Later von Braun said I have very deep and sincere regret for the victims of the V 2 rockets but there were victims on both sides A war is a war and when my country is at war my duty is to help win that war 49 The engineer who designed the V2 Wernher von Braun came to be feted as a hero of the space age The Allies realised that the V2 was a machine unlike anything they had developed themselves V2 The Nazi rocket that launched the space age BBC September 2014 50 In response to Goddard s claims von Braun said at no time in Germany did I or any of my associates ever see a Goddard patent This was independently confirmed He wrote that claims about his lifting Goddard s work were the furthest from the truth noting that Goddard s paper A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes which was studied by von Braun and Oberth lacked the specificity of liquid fuel experimentation with rockets It was also confirmed that he was responsible for an estimated 20 patentable innovations related to rocketry as well as receiving U S patents after the war concerning the advancement of rocketry Documented accounts also stated he provided solutions to a host of aerospace engineering problems in the 1950s and 1960s 51 Schematic of the A4 V2 On 22 December 1942 Adolf Hitler ordered the production of the A 4 as a vengeance weapon and the Peenemunde group developed it to target London Following von Braun s 7 July 1943 presentation of a color movie showing an A 4 taking off Hitler was so enthusiastic that he personally made von Braun a professor shortly thereafter 52 By that time the British and Soviet intelligence agencies were aware of the rocket program and von Braun s team at Peenemunde based on the intelligence provided by the Polish underground Home Army Over the nights of 17 18 August 1943 RAF Bomber Command s Operation Hydra dispatched raids on the Peenemunde camp consisting of 596 aircraft and dropped 1 800 tons of explosives 53 The facility was salvaged and most of the engineering team remained unharmed however the raids killed von Braun s engine designer Walter Thiel and Chief Engineer Walther and the rocket program was delayed 54 55 The V 2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Karman line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944 56 See also Bombing of Peenemunde in World War II The first combat A 4 renamed the V 2 Vergeltungswaffe 2 Retaliation Vengeance Weapon 2 for propaganda purposes was launched toward England on 7 September 1944 only 21 months after the project had been officially commissioned 57 Doug Millard of the Science Museum London states The V2 was a quantum leap of technological change We got to the Moon using V2 technology but this was technology that was developed with massive resources including some particularly grim ones The V2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives with the Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets 50 Experiments with rocket aircraft Edit In 1936 von Braun s rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid fuelled rockets in aircraft Ernst Heinkel enthusiastically supported their efforts supplying a He 72 and later two He 112s for the experiments Later in 1936 Erich Warsitz was seconded by the RLM to von Braun and Heinkel because he had been recognized as one of the most experienced test pilots of the time and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge 58 30 After he familiarized Warsitz with a test stand run showing him the corresponding apparatus in the aircraft he asked Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air Then Warsitz you will be a famous man And later we will fly to the Moon with you at the helm 58 35 A regular He 112 In June 1937 at Neuhardenberg a large field about 70 km 43 mi east of Berlin listed as a reserve airfield in the event of war one of these latter aircraft was flown with its piston engine shut down during flight by Warsitz at which time it was propelled by von Braun s rocket power alone Despite a wheels up landing and the fuselage having been on fire it proved to official circles that an aircraft could be flown satisfactorily with a back thrust system through the rear 58 51 At the same time Hellmuth Walter s experiments into hydrogen peroxide based rockets were leading towards light and simple rockets that appeared well suited for aircraft installation Also the firm of Hellmuth Walter at Kiel had been commissioned by the RLM to build a rocket engine for the He 112 so there were two different new rocket motor designs at Neuhardenberg whereas von Braun s engines were powered by alcohol and liquid oxygen Walter engines had hydrogen peroxide and calcium permanganate as a catalyst Von Braun s engines used direct combustion and created fire while the Walter devices used hot vapors from a chemical reaction but both created thrust and provided high speed 58 41 The subsequent flights with the He 112 used the Walter rocket instead of von Braun s it was more reliable simpler to operate and safer for the test pilot Warsitz 58 55 Slave labor Edit SS General Hans Kammler who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps including Auschwitz had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program Arthur Rudolph chief engineer of the V 2 rocket factory at Peenemunde endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed More people died building the V 2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon 59 Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at Mittelwerk on many occasions 5 and called conditions at the plant repulsive but claimed never to have personally witnessed any deaths or beatings although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred 60 He denied ever having visited the Mittelbau Dora concentration camp where 20 000 died from illness beatings hangings and intolerable working conditions 61 Some prisoners claim von Braun engaged in brutal treatment or approved of it Guy Morand a French resistance fighter who was a prisoner in Dora testified in 1995 that after an apparent sabotage attempt von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged 62 while Robert Cazabonne another French prisoner claimed von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes 62 123 124 However these accounts may have been a case of mistaken identity 63 Former Buchenwald inmate Adam Cabala claims that von Braun went to the concentration camp to pick slave laborers also the German scientists led by Prof Wernher von Braun were aware of everything daily As they went along the corridors they saw the exhaustion of the inmates their arduous work and their pain Not one single time did Prof Wernher von Braun protest against this cruelty during his frequent stays at Dora Even the aspect of corpses did not touch him On a small area near the ambulance shed inmates tortured to death by slave labor and the terror of the overseers were piling up daily But Prof Wernher von Braun passed them so close that he was almost touching the corpses 64 Von Braun later claimed that he was aware of the treatment of prisoners but felt helpless to change the situation 65 Arrest and release by the Nazi regime Edit According to Andre Sellier a French historian and survivor of the Mittelbau Dora concentration camp Heinrich Himmler had von Braun come to his Feldkommandostelle Hochwald HQ in East Prussia in February 1944 66 To increase his power base within the Nazi regime Himmler was conspiring to use Kammler to gain control of all German armament programs including the V 2 program at Peenemunde 17 38 40 He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V 2 Von Braun claimed to have replied that the problems were merely technical and he was confident that they would be solved with Dornberger s assistance 67 Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943 A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Grottrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer s house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on a spaceship 5 and that they felt the war was not going well this was considered a defeatist attitude A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments Combined with Himmler s false charges that von Braun and his colleagues were communist sympathizers and had attempted to sabotage the V 2 program and considering that von Braun regularly piloted his government provided airplane that might allow him to escape to Britain this led to their arrest by the Gestapo 17 38 40 The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on 14 March or 15 March 68 1944 and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Stettin now Szczecin Poland 17 38 40 where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him 69 Through Major Hans Georg Klamroth in charge of the Abwehr for Peenemunde Dornberger obtained von Braun s conditional release and Albert Speer Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V 2 program could continue 5 17 38 40 70 or turn into a V 4 program the Rheinbote as a short range ballistic rocket which in their view would be impossible without von Braun s leadership 33 In his memoirs Speer states Hitler had finally conceded that von Braun was to be protected from all prosecution as long as he is indispensable difficult though the general consequences arising from the situation 71 Upon investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation on 1 May 1961 advised that there was no record of an arrest in their respective files 72 suggesting that Von Braun s imprisonment was wiped from German prison records at a point after his conditional release or after the Nazi regime had fallen Surrender to the Americans Edit Von Braun with his arm in a cast Walter Dornberger on the left and Bernhard Tessmann on the right surrendered to the Americans just before this 3 May 1945 photo The Soviet Army was about 160 km 100 mi from Peenemunde in early 1945 when von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender Unwilling to go to the Soviets von Braun and his staff decided to try to surrender to the Americans Kammler had ordered the relocation of his team to central Germany however a conflicting order from an army chief ordered them to join the army and fight Deciding that Kammler s order was their best bet to defect to the Americans von Braun fabricated documents and transported 500 of his affiliates to the area around Mittelwerk where they resumed their work in Bleicherode and surrounding towns after the middle of February 1945 For fear of their documents being destroyed by the SS von Braun ordered the blueprints to be hidden in an abandoned iron mine in the Harz mountain range near Goslar 73 The U S Counterintelligence Corps managed to unveil the location after lengthy interrogations of von Braun Walter Dornberger Bernhard Tessmann and Dieter Huzel and recovered 14 tons of V 2 documents by 15 May 1945 from the British Occupation Zone 30 74 While on an official trip in March von Braun suffered a complicated fracture of his left arm and shoulder in a car accident after his driver fell asleep at the wheel His injuries were serious but he insisted that his arm be set in a cast so he could leave the hospital Due to this neglect of the injury he had to be hospitalized again a month later when his bones had to be rebroken and realigned 73 In early April as the Allied forces advanced deeper into Germany Kammler ordered the engineering team around 450 specialists to be moved by train into the town of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps where they were closely guarded by the SS with orders to execute the team if they were about to fall into enemy hands However von Braun managed to convince SS Major Kummer to order the dispersal of the group into nearby villages so that they would not be an easy target for U S bombers 73 On 29 April 1945 Oberammergau was captured by the Allied forces who seized the majority of the engineering team 75 Nearing the end of the war Hitler instructed SS troops to gas all technical men concerned with rocket development 72 Upon hearing this Von Braun commandeered a train and fled with other technical men to a location in the mountains of South Germany After some time Von Braun and many of the others who made it to the mountains left their location to flee to advancing American lines in Austria 34 Von Braun and several members of the engineering team including Dornberger made it to Austria 76 On 2 May 1945 upon finding an American private from the U S 44th Infantry Division von Braun s brother and fellow rocket engineer Magnus approached the soldier on a bicycle calling out in broken English My name is Magnus von Braun My brother invented the V 2 We want to surrender 15 77 After the surrender Wernher von Braun spoke to the press We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided not by the laws of materialism but by Christianity and humanity could such an assurance to the world be best secured 78 The American high command was well aware of how important their catch was von Braun had been at the top of the Black List the code name for the list of German scientists and engineers targeted for immediate interrogation by U S military experts On 9 June 1945 two days before the originally scheduled handover of the Nordhausen and Bleicherode area in Thuringia to the Soviets U S Army Major Robert B Staver Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U S Army Ordnance Corps in London and Lieutenant Colonel R L Williams took von Braun and his department chiefs by Jeep from Garmisch to Munich from where they were flown to Nordhausen In the following days a larger group of rocket engineers among them Helmut Grottrup was evacuated from Bleicherode 40 miles 64 km southwest to Witzenhausen a small town in the American Zone 79 Von Braun was briefly detained at the Dustbin interrogation center at Kransberg Castle where the elite of Nazi Germany s economic scientific and technological sectors were debriefed by U S and British intelligence officials 80 Initially he was recruited to the U S under a program called Operation Overcast subsequently known as Operation Paperclip There is evidence however that British intelligence and scientists were the first to interview him in depth eager to gain information that they knew U S officials would deny them 81 82 The team included the young L S Snell then the leading British rocket engineer later chief designer of Rolls Royce Limited and inventor of the Concorde s engines The specific information the British gleaned remained top secret both from the Americans and from the other allies 83 American career EditU S Army career Edit Wernher von Braun at a meeting of NACA s Special Committee on Space Technology 1958 On 20 June 1945 U S Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr approved the transfer of von Braun and his specialists to the United States as one of his last acts in office however this was not announced to the public until 1 October 1945 84 The first seven technicians arrived in the United States at New Castle Army Air Field just south of Wilmington Delaware on 20 September 1945 They were then flown to Boston Massachusetts and taken by boat to the Army Intelligence Service post at Fort Strong in Boston Harbor Later with the exception of von Braun the men were transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to sort out the Peenemunde documents enabling the scientists to continue their rocketry experiments 85 Finally von Braun and his remaining Peenemunde staff see List of German rocket scientists in the United States were transferred to their new home at Fort Bliss a large Army installation just north of El Paso Texas Von Braun later wrote that he found it hard to develop a genuine emotional attachment to his new surroundings 86 His chief design engineer Walther Reidel became the subject of a December 1946 article German Scientist Says American Cooking Tasteless Dislikes Rubberized Chicken exposing the presence of von Braun s team in the country and drawing criticism from Albert Einstein and John Dingell 86 Requests to improve their living conditions such as laying linoleum over their cracked wood flooring were rejected 86 Von Braun was hypercritical of the slowness of the United States development of guided missiles His lab was never able to get sufficient funds to go on with their programs 34 Von Braun remarked at Peenemunde we had been coddled here you were counting pennies 86 Whereas von Braun had thousands of engineers who answered to him at Peenemunde he was now subordinate to pimply 26 year old Jim Hamill an Army major who possessed only an undergraduate degree in engineering 86 His loyal Germans still addressed him as Herr Professor but Hamill addressed him as Wernher and never responded to von Braun s request for more materials Every proposal for new rocket ideas was dismissed 86 Von Braun s badge at ABMA 1957 While at Fort Bliss they trained military industrial and university personnel in the intricacies of rockets and guided missiles As part of the Hermes project they helped refurbish assemble and launch a number of V 2s that had been shipped from Allied occupied Germany to the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico They also continued to study the future potential of rockets for military and research applications Since they were not permitted to leave Fort Bliss without military escort von Braun and his colleagues began to refer to themselves only half jokingly as PoPs Prisoners of Peace 87 In 1950 at the start of the Korean War von Braun and his team were transferred to Huntsville Alabama his home for the next 20 years From 1952 to 1956 88 von Braun led the Army s rocket development team at Redstone Arsenal resulting in the Redstone rocket which was used for the first live nuclear ballistic missile tests conducted by the United States He personally witnessed this historic launch and detonation 89 Work on the Redstone led to the development of the first high precision inertial guidance system on the Redstone rocket 90 As director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency von Braun with his team then developed the Jupiter C a modified Redstone rocket 91 The Jupiter C was the basis for the Juno I rocket that successfully launched the West s first satellite Explorer 1 on 31 January 1958 This event signaled the birth of America s space program 92 Popular concepts for a human presence in space Edit Repeating the pattern he had established during his earlier career in Germany von Braun while directing military rocket development in the real world continued to entertain his engineer scientist s dream of a future in which rockets would be used for space exploration However he was no longer at risk of being fired As American public opinion of Germans began to recover von Braun found himself increasingly in a position to popularize his ideas The 14 May 1950 headline of The Huntsville Times Dr von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon might have marked the beginning of these efforts Von Braun s ideas rode a publicity wave that was created by science fiction movies and stories 93 Von Braun with President Dwight D Eisenhower 1960 after the loss of the U S space race in 1957 the American leadership agreed to von Braun s main role in the design of space rockets In 1952 von Braun first published his concept of a crewed space station in a Collier s Weekly magazine series of articles titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon These articles were illustrated by the space artist Chesley Bonestell and were influential in spreading his ideas Frequently von Braun worked with fellow German born space advocate and science writer Willy Ley to publish his concepts which unsurprisingly were heavy on the engineering side and anticipated many technical aspects of space flight that later became reality 94 The space station to be constructed using rockets with recoverable and reusable ascent stages was a toroid structure with a diameter of 250 feet 76 m this built on the concept of a rotating wheel shaped station introduced in 1929 by Herman Potocnik in his book The Problem of Space Travel The Rocket Motor The space station spun around a central docking nave to provide artificial gravity and was assembled in a 1 075 mile 1 730 km two hour high inclination Earth orbit allowing observation of essentially every point on Earth on at least a daily basis The ultimate purpose of the space station was to provide an assembly platform for crewed lunar expeditions More than a decade later the movie version of 2001 A Space Odyssey drew heavily on the design concept in its visualization of an orbital space station 95 Von Braun envisioned these expeditions as very large scale undertakings with a total of 50 astronauts traveling in three huge spacecraft two for crew one primarily for cargo each 49 m 160 76 ft long and 33 m 108 27 ft in diameter and driven by a rectangular array of 30 rocket propulsion engines 96 Upon arrival astronauts would establish a permanent lunar base in the Sinus Roris region by using the emptied cargo holds of their craft as shelters and would explore their surroundings for eight weeks This would include a 400 km 249 mi expedition in pressurized rovers to the crater Harpalus and the Mare Imbrium foothills 97 Walt Disney and von Braun seen in 1954 holding a model of his passenger ship collaborated on a series of three educational films among other things this suggests that von Braun had enough free time to popularize astronautics due to the fact that priority in the design of a space rocket was given to other people 93 At this time von Braun also worked out preliminary concepts for a human mission to Mars that used the space station as a staging point His initial plans published in The Mars Project 1952 had envisaged a fleet of 10 spacecraft each with a mass of 3 720 metric tonnes three of them uncrewed and each carrying one 200 tonne winged lander 96 in addition to cargo and nine crew vehicles transporting a total of 70 astronauts The engineering and astronautical parameters of this gigantic mission were thoroughly calculated A later project was much more modest using only one purely orbital cargo ship and one crewed craft In each case the expedition used minimum energy Hohmann transfer orbits for its trips to Mars and back to Earth 98 Before technically formalizing his thoughts on human spaceflight to Mars von Braun had written a science fiction novel on the subject set in the year 1980 However the manuscript was rejected by no fewer than 18 publishers 99 Von Braun later published small portions of this opus in magazines to illustrate selected aspects of his Mars project popularizations The complete manuscript titled Project Mars A Technical Tale did not appear as a printed book until December 2006 100 In the hope that its involvement would bring about greater public interest in the future of the space program von Braun also began working with Walt Disney and the Disney studios as a technical director initially for three television films about space exploration The initial broadcast devoted to space exploration was Man in Space which first went on air on 9 March 1955 drawing 40 million viewers 86 101 102 Later in 1959 von Braun published a short booklet condensed from episodes that had appeared in This Week Magazine before describing his updated concept of the first crewed lunar landing 103 The scenario included only a single and relatively small spacecraft a winged lander with a crew of only two experienced pilots who had already circumnavigated the Moon on an earlier mission The brute force direct ascent flight schedule used a rocket design with five sequential stages loosely based on the Nova designs that were under discussion at this time After a night launch from a Pacific island the first three stages brought the spacecraft with the two remaining upper stages attached to terrestrial escape velocity with each burn creating an acceleration of 8 9 times standard gravity The residual propellant in the third stage was used for the deceleration intended to commence only a few hundred kilometers above the landing site in a crater near the lunar north pole The fourth stage provided acceleration to lunar escape velocity and the fifth stage was responsible for a deceleration during return to the Earth to a residual speed that allows aerocapture of the spacecraft ending in a runway landing much in the way of the Space Shuttle One remarkable feature of this technical tale is that the engineer von Braun anticipated a medical phenomenon that became apparent only years later being a veteran astronaut with no history of serious adverse reactions to weightlessness offers no protection against becoming unexpectedly and violently spacesick check quotation syntax citation needed Religious conversion Edit In the first half of his life von Braun was a nonpracticing perfunctory Lutheran whose affiliation was nominal and not taken seriously 104 As described by Ernst Stuhlinger and Frederick I Ordway III Throughout his younger years von Braun did not show signs of religious devotion or even an interest in things related to the church or to biblical teachings In fact he was known to his friends as a merry heathen frohlicher Heide 105 Nevertheless in 1945 he explained his decision to surrender to the Western Allies rather than Russians as being influenced by a desire to share rocket technology with people who followed the Bible In 1946 106 469 he attended church in El Paso El Paso County Texas and underwent a religious conversion to Evangelical Christianity 107 In an unnamed religious magazine he stated One day in Fort Bliss a neighbor called and asked if I would like to go to church with him I accepted because I wanted to see if the American church was just a country club as I d been led to expect Instead I found a small white frame building in the hot Texas sun on a browned grass lot Together these people make a live vibrant community This was the first time I really understood that religion was not a cathedral inherited from the past or a quick prayer at the last minute To be effective a religion has to be backed up by discipline and effort von Braun 106 229 230 On the motives behind this conversion Michael J Neufeld is of the opinion that he turned to religion to pacify his own conscience 108 and University of Southampton scholar Kendrick Oliver said that von Braun was presumably moved by a desire to find a new direction for his life after the moral chaos of his service for the Third Reich 109 Having concluded one bad bargain with the Devil perhaps now he felt a need to have God securely at his side 110 At a Gideons conference in 2004 W Albert Wilson a former pilot and NASA employee claimed that he had talked with von Braun about the Christian faith while von Braun was working for NASA and believed that conversation had been instrumental in von Braun s conversion 111 Later in life he joined an Episcopal congregation 107 and became increasingly religious 112 He publicly spoke and wrote about the complementarity of science and religion the afterlife of the soul and his belief in God 113 114 He stated Through science man strives to learn more of the mysteries of creation Through religion he seeks to know the Creator 115 He was interviewed by the Assemblies of God pastor C M Ward and stated that The farther we probe into space the greater my faith 116 In addition he met privately with evangelist Billy Graham and with the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr 117 Von Braun with President Kennedy at Redstone Arsenal in 1963 President Kennedy was the initiator of the American lunar program in 1961 and von Braun was appointed its technical director Von Braun with the F 1 engines of the Saturn V first stage at the U S Space and Rocket Center Still with his rocket models von Braun is pictured in his new office at NASA headquarters in 1970 Concepts for orbital warfare Edit Von Braun developed and published his space station concept during the time of the Cold War when the U S government put the containment of the Soviet Union above everything else The fact that his space station if armed with missiles that could be easily adapted from those already available at this time would give the United States space superiority in both orbital and orbit to ground warfare did not escape him In his popular writings von Braun elaborated on them in several of his books and articles but he took care to qualify such military applications as particularly dreadful This much less peaceful aspect of von Braun s drive for space has been reviewed by Michael J Neufeld from the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington 118 NASA career Edit Von Braun during the Apollo 11 launch with binoculars to watch it The U S Navy had been tasked with building a rocket to lift satellites into orbit but the resulting Vanguard rocket launch system was unreliable In 1957 with the launch of Sputnik 1 a belief grew within the United States that it lagged behind the Soviet Union in the emerging Space Race American authorities then chose to use von Braun and his German team s experience with missiles to create an orbital launch vehicle Von Braun had originally proposed such an idea in 1954 but it was denied at the time 86 NASA was established by law on 29 July 1958 One day later the 50th Redstone rocket was successfully launched from Johnston Atoll in the south Pacific as part of Operation Hardtack I Two years later NASA opened the Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency ABMA development team led by von Braun was transferred to NASA In a face to face meeting with Herb York at the Pentagon von Braun made it clear he would go to NASA only if development of the Saturn were allowed to continue 119 Von Braun became the center s first director on 1 July 1960 and held the position until 27 January 1970 120 Von Braun s early years at NASA included a failed four inch flight during which the first uncrewed Mercury Redstone rocket only rose a few inches before settling back onto the launch pad The launch failure was later determined to be the result of a power plug with one prong shorter than the other because a worker filed it to make it fit Because of the difference in the length of one prong the launch system detected the difference in the power disconnection as a cut off signal to the engine The system stopped the launch and the incident created a nadir of morale in Project Mercury 121 After the flight of Mercury Redstone 2 in January 1961 experienced a string of problems von Braun insisted on one more test before the Redstone could be deemed man rated His overly cautious nature brought about clashes with other people involved in the program who argued that MR 2 s technical issues were simple and had been resolved shortly after the flight He overruled them so a test mission involving a Redstone on a boilerplate capsule was flown successfully in March Von Braun s stubbornness was blamed for the inability of the U S to launch a crewed space mission before the Soviet Union which ended up putting the first man in space the following month 122 Three weeks later on 5 May von Braun s team successfully launched Alan Shepard into space He named his Mercury Redstone 3 Freedom 7 123 Charles W Mathews von Braun George Mueller and Lt Gen Samuel C Phillips in the Launch Control Center following the successful Apollo 11 liftoff on 16 July 1969 The Marshall Center s first major program was the development of Saturn rockets to carry heavy payloads into and beyond Earth orbit From this the Apollo program for crewed Moon flights was developed Von Braun initially pushed for a flight engineering concept that called for an Earth orbit rendezvous technique the approach he had argued for building his space station but in 1962 he converted to the lunar orbit rendezvous concept that was subsequently realized 124 125 During Apollo he worked closely with former Peenemunde teammate Kurt H Debus the first director of the Kennedy Space Center His dream to help mankind set foot on the Moon became a reality on 16 July 1969 when a Marshall developed Saturn V rocket launched the crew of Apollo 11 on its historic eight day mission Over the course of the program Saturn V rockets enabled six teams of astronauts to reach the surface of the Moon 126 During the late 1960s von Braun was instrumental in the development of the U S Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville The desk from which he guided America s entry into the space race remains on display there He also was instrumental in the launching of the experimental Applications Technology Satellite He traveled to India and hoped that the program would be helpful in bringing a massive educational television project to help the poorest people in that country 127 During the local summer of 1966 67 von Braun participated in a field trip to Antarctica organized for him and several other members of top NASA management 128 The goal of the field trip was to determine whether the experience gained by the U S scientific and technological community during the exploration of Antarctic wastelands would be useful for the crewed exploration of space Von Braun was mainly interested in the management of the scientific effort on Antarctic research stations logistics habitation and life support and in using the barren Antarctic terrain like the glacial dry valleys to test the equipment that one day was used to look for signs of life on Mars and other worlds 129 In an internal memo dated 16 January 1969 130 von Braun had confirmed to his staff that he would stay on as a center director at Huntsville to head the Apollo Applications Program He referred to this time as a moment in his life when he felt the strong need to pray stating I certainly prayed a lot before and during the crucial Apollo flights 131 A few months later on the occasion of the first Moon landing he publicly expressed his optimism that the Saturn V carrier system would continue to be developed advocating human missions to Mars in the 1980s 132 Nonetheless on 1 March 1970 von Braun and his family relocated to Washington DC when he was assigned the post of NASA s Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning at NASA Headquarters After a series of conflicts associated with the truncation of the Apollo program and facing severe budget constraints von Braun retired from NASA on 26 May 1972 Not only had it become evident by this time that NASA and his visions for future U S space flight projects were incompatible but also it was perhaps even more frustrating for him to see popular support for a continued presence of man in space wane dramatically once the goal to reach the Moon had been accomplished 133 Von Braun and William R Lucas the first and third Marshall Space Flight Center directors viewing a Spacelab model in 1974 von Braun s proposals for the development of astronautics were not accepted and priority was given to the space shuttle program instead Von Braun also developed the idea of a Space Camp that would train children in fields of science and space technologies as well as help their mental development much the same way sports camps aim at improving physical development 30 354 355 134 Career after NASA Edit After leaving NASA von Braun moved to the Washington D C area and became vice president for Engineering and Development at the aerospace company Fairchild Industries in Germantown Maryland on 1 July 1972 134 In 1973 during a routine physical examination von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time 135 Von Braun helped establish and promote the National Space Institute a precursor of the present day National Space Society in 1975 and became its first president and chairman In 1976 he became a scientific consultant to Lutz Kayser the CEO of OTRAG and a member of the Daimler Benz board of directors However his deteriorating health forced him to retire from Fairchild on 31 December 1976 When the 1975 National Medal of Science was awarded to him in early 1977 he had been hospitalized and was unable to attend the White House ceremony 136 Engineering philosophy EditVon Braun s insistence on more tests after Mercury Redstone 2 flew higher than planned has been identified as contributing to the Soviet Union s success in launching the first human in space 137 The Mercury Redstone BD flight was successful but took up the launch slot that might have put Alan Shepard into space three weeks ahead of Yuri Gagarin His Soviet counterpart Sergei Korolev insisted on two successful flights with dogs before risking Gagarin s life on a crewed attempt The second test flight took place one day after the Mercury Redstone BD mission 30 Von Braun took a very conservative approach to engineering designing with ample safety factors and redundant structure This became a point of contention with other engineers who struggled to keep vehicle weight down so that payload could be maximized As noted above his excessive caution likely led to the U S losing the race to put a man into space with the Soviets Krafft Ehricke likened von Braun s approach to building the Brooklyn Bridge 138 208 Many at NASA headquarters jokingly referred to Marshall as the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works but acknowledged that the designs worked 139 The conservative approach paid off when a fifth engine was added to the Saturn C 4 producing the Saturn V The C 4 design had a large crossbeam that could easily absorb the thrust of an additional engine 30 371 Von Braun did not indicate interest in politics or political philosophy during his onboarding working for the U S army He was primarily focused on his work in guided missiles for the purpose of advancing science and technology According to FBI background checks any political activity he may have engaged in was a means to an end to provide him with the necessary freedom to conduct his experiments 34 This included time spent in the Nazi party during World War 2 Personal life Edit Maria von Braun Von Braun had a charismatic personality and was known as a ladies man As a student in Berlin he often was seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once 30 63 He later had a succession of affairs within the secretarial and computer pool at Peenemunde 30 92 94 In January 1943 von Braun became engaged to Dorothee Brill a physical education teacher in Berlin and he sought permission to marry from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office However the engagement was broken due to his mother s opposition 30 146 147 Later in 1943 he had an affair with a French woman while in Paris preparing V 2 launch sites in northeastern France She was imprisoned for collaboration after the war and became destitute 30 147 148 During his stay at Fort Bliss von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp his maternal first cousin in a letter to his father He married her in a Lutheran church in Landshut Bavaria on 1 March 1947 having received permission to go back to Germany and return with his bride He was age 35 and his new bride was age 18 140 Shortly after he converted to Evangelicalism He returned to Manhattan on 26 March 1947 with his wife father and mother On 8 December 1948 the von Brauns first daughter together Iris Careen was born at Fort Bliss Army Hospital 46 The couple had two more children Margrit Cecile born in 1952 141 and Peter Constantine born in 1960 141 On 15 April 1955 von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States 142 Death Edit Grave of Wernher von Braun in Ivy Hill Cemetery Alexandria Virginia 2008 In 1973 von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer during a routine medical examination However he continued to work unrestrained for a number of years In January 1977 then very ill he resigned from Fairchild Industries Later in 1977 President Gerald R Ford awarded him the country s highest science honor the National Medal of Science in Engineering He was however too ill to attend the White House ceremony 143 Von Braun died on 16 June 1977 of pancreatic cancer in Alexandria Virginia at age 65 144 145 He is buried on Valley Road at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria His gravestone cites Psalm 19 1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork KJV 146 Recognition and critique Edit In 1970 Huntsville Alabama honored von Braun s years of service with a series of events including the unveiling of a plaque in his honor Pictured l r his daughter Iris wife Maria U S Sen John Sparkman Alabama Gov Albert Brewer von Braun son Peter and daughter Margrit Apollo program director Sam Phillips was quoted as saying that he did not think that the United States would have reached the Moon as quickly as it did without von Braun s help Later after discussing it with colleagues he amended this to say that he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all 17 167 In a TV interview on the occasion of the U S Moon landing in July 1969 Helmut Grottrup a staff member in Peenemunde and later head of the German collective in the Soviet rocketry program set up the thesis that automatic space probes can get the same amount of scientific data with an effort of only 10 or 20 percent of the costs and that the money should be better spent on other purposes Von Braun justified the expenses for crewed operations with the following argument I think somehow space flights for the first time give mankind a chance to become immortal Once this earth will no longer be able to support life we can emigrate to other places which are better suited for our life 147 Scrutiny of von Braun s use of forced labor at Mittelwerk intensified again in 1984 when Arthur Rudolph one of his top affiliates from the A 4 V2 through the Apollo projects left the United States and was forced to renounce his citizenship in place of the alternative of being tried for war crimes 5 148 A science and engineering oriented gymnasium in Friedberg Bavaria was named after von Braun in 1979 In response to rising criticism a school committee decided in 1995 after lengthy deliberations to keep the name but to address von Braun s ambiguity in the advanced history classes In 2012 Nazi concentration camp survivor David Salz gave a speech in Friedberg calling out to the public to Do everything to make this name disappear from this school 149 150 Satirist Mort Sahl has been credited with mocking von Braun by saying I aim at the stars but sometimes I hit London 151 Summary of SS career EditSS number 185 068 Nazi Party number 5 738 692 30 96 Dates of rank Edit SS Anwarter 1 November 1933 Candidate received rank upon joining SS Riding School SS Mann July 1934 Private left SS after graduation from the school commissioned in 1940 with date of entry backdated to 1934 SS Untersturmfuhrer 1 May 1940 Second Lieutenant SS Obersturmfuhrer 9 November 1941 First Lieutenant SS Hauptsturmfuhrer 9 November 1942 Captain SS Sturmbannfuhrer 28 June 1943 Major 42 Honors EditElected Honorary Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society in 1949 152 Elliott Cresson Medal in 1962 153 Inducted into the International Air amp Space Hall of Fame in 1965 154 Langley Gold Medal in 1967 155 Wilhelm Exner Medal in 1969 2 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1975 156 Civitan International World Citizenship Award in 1970 157 National Aviation Hall of Fame 1982 158 In popular culture EditThis article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Wernher von Braun news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Film and television Von Braun has been featured in a number of films and television shows or series Man in Space Man and the Moon and Mars and Beyond episodes of Disneyland which originally aired on 9 March 1955 28 December 1955 and 4 December 1957 respectively 159 160 161 I Aim at the Stars 1960 also titled Wernher von Braun and Ich greife nach den Sternen I Reach for the Stars von Braun played by Curd Jurgens his wife Maria played by Victoria Shaw 162 Although it was said that satirist Mort Sahl suggested the subtitle But Sometimes I Hit London the line appears in the film spoken by actor James Daly who plays the cynical American press officer Frozen Flashes 1967 based on Julius Mader s documentary report The Secret of Huntsville von Braun only referred to as the rocket baron played by Dietrich Korner 163 Perfumed Nightmare 1977 the main character a Filipino who dreams of spaceflight established a Wernher von Braun fan club in Laguna Philippines 164 From the Earth to the Moon TV 1998 von Braun played by Norbert Weisser October Sky a 1999 biographical film on the life of Homer Hickam and his fascination with rockets who is inspired by von Braun played by Joe Digaetran Planetes a 2003 made 26 episode anime series his name was used as a spacecraft name which has a tandem mirror fusion engine and aims to reach Jupiter with crew Space Race TV BBC co production with NDR Germany Channel One TV Russia and National Geographic TV USA 2005 von Braun played by Richard Dillane 165 The Lost Von Braun a documentary by Aron Ranen Interviews with Ernst Stuhlinger Konrad Dannenberg Karl Sendler Alex Baum Eli Rosenbaum DOJ and von Braun s NASA secretary Bonnie Holmes Wernher von Braun Rocket Man for War and Peace A three part part1 part 2 part 3 documentary in English from the German International channel DW TV 166 Original German version Wernher von Braun Der Mann fur die Wunderwaffen by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Played by Ludwig Blochberger 167 American Genius television series 2015 Space Race Season 1 episode 5 von Braun played by Corey Maher Timeless television series 2016 Party at Castle Varlar Season 1 episode 4 von Braun played by Christian Oliver Project Blue Book television series 2019 Operation Paperclip Season 1 episode 4 von Braun played by Thomas Kretschmann 168 For All Mankind television series 2019 Red Moon Season 1 episode 1 He Built the Saturn V Season 1 episode 2 Home Again Season 1 episode 6 von Braun played by Colm Feore Hunters fictional web television series on Amazon Prime Video 2020 The Jewish Question Season 1 episode 8 von Braun played by Victor Slezak Several fictional characters have been modeled on von Braun Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964 Dr Strangelove is usually held to be based at least partly on von Braun 169 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2023 Dr Jurgen Voller the film s main antagonist is inspired partly on von Braun according to his performer Mads Mikkelsen 170 In print media In Warren Ellis s graphic novel Ministry of Space von Braun is a supporting character settling in Britain after World War II and being essential for the realization of the British space program In Jonathan Hickman s comic book series The Manhattan Projects von Braun is a major character In literature The Good German by Joseph Kanon Von Braun and other scientists are said to have been implicated in the use of slave labor at Peenemunde their transfer to the U S forms part of the narrative Space by James Michener Von Braun and other German scientists are brought to the U S and form a vital part of the U S efforts to reach space 171 Gravity s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon The novel involves British intelligence attempting to avert and predict V 2 rocket attacks The work even includes a gyroscopic equation for the V2 The first portion of the novel Beyond The Zero begins with a quotation from von Braun Nature does not know extinction all it knows is transformation Everything science has taught me and continues to teach me strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death V S Day by Allen Steele is a 2014 alternate history novel in which the space race occurs during World War II between teams led by Robert H Goddard and von Braun Moonglow by Michael Chabon 2016 includes a fictionalized description of the search for and capture of Von Braun by the U S Army and his role in the Nazi V 2 program and subsequently in the U S space program V2 by Robert Harris 2019 covers 5 days of Von Braun s group in Peenemunde in November 1944 172 In theatre Rocket City Alabam a stage play by Mark Saltzman weaves von Braun s real life with a fictional plot in which a young Jewish woman in Huntsville Alabama becomes aware of his Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage Von Braun is a character in the play 173 In music Infinite Journey 1962 Johann Sebastian Bach and Apollo program rocket sounds album by various artists including Henry Mazer which features von Braun as a narrator 174 Wernher von Braun 1965 175 A song written and performed by Tom Lehrer for an episode of NBC s American version of the BBC TV show That Was The Week That Was the song was later included in Lehrer s albums That Was The Year That Was and The Remains of Tom Lehrer It was a satire on what some saw as von Braun s cavalier attitude toward the consequences of his work in Nazi Germany 176 For example one line in the song states A man whose allegiance Is ruled by expedience Call him a Nazi he won t even frown Nazi Schmazi says Wernher von Braun 177 There was a widespread rumour that von Braun had sued Lehrer for the song but this is untrue 176 178 The Last Days of Pompeii 1991 A rock opera by Grant Hart s post Husker Du alternative rock group Nova Mob in which von Braun features as a character The album includes a song called Wernher von Braun In video games A starship in System Shock 2 was named the Von Braun 179 One of the characters in the tutorial of Kerbal Space Program is named Wernher von Kerman Published works EditProposal for a Workable Fighter with Rocket Drive 6 July 1939 The proposed vertical take off interceptor 180 for climbing to 35 000 ft in 60 seconds was rejected by the Luftwaffe in the autumn of 1941 55 258 for the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet 30 151 and never produced The differing Bachem Ba 349 was produced during the 1944 Emergency Fighter Program Survey of Previous Liquid Rocket Development in Germany and Future Prospects May 1945 181 A Minimum Satellite Vehicle Based on Components Available from Developments of the Army Ordnance Corps 15 September 1954 It would be a blow to U S prestige if we did not launch a satellite first 181 The Mars Project Urbana University of Illinois Press 1953 With Henry J White translator Arthur C Clarke ed 1967 German Rocketry The Coming of the Space Age New York Meredith Press First Men to the Moon Holt Rinehart and Winston New York 1960 Portions of work first appeared in This Week Magazine Daily Journals of Wernher von Braun May 1958 March 1970 March 1970 181 History of Rocketry amp Space Travel New York Crowell 1975 With Frederick I Ordway III Estate of Wernher von Braun Ordway III Frederick I amp Dooling David Jr 1985 1975 Space Travel A History 2nd ed New York Harper amp Row ISBN 978 0 06 181898 1 The Rocket s Red Glare Garden City New York Anchor Press 1976 With Frederick I Ordway III New Worlds Discoveries From Our Solar System Garden City New York Anchor Press Doubleday 1979 With Frederick I Ordway III Von Braun s final work completed posthumously Project Mars A Technical Tale Apogee Books Toronto 2006 A previously unpublished science fiction story by von Braun Accompanied by paintings from Chesley Bonestell and von Braun s own technical papers on the proposed project 182 Willhite Irene E 2007 The Voice of Dr Wernher von Braun An Anthology Apogee Books Space Series Collector s Guide Publishing ISBN 978 1894959643 A collection of speeches delivered by von Braun over the course of his career 183 See also Edit Biography portal Physics portal Spaceflight portal World War II portalRobert Esnault Pelterie List of German inventors and discoverers List of coupled cousins List of Nazis Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Von Braun InterceptorReferences Edit Ivy Hill Cemetery Alexandria Virginia Wilson Scott Resting Places The Burial Sites of More Than 14 000 Famous Persons 3d ed 2 Kindle Location 48952 McFarland amp Company Inc Publishers Kindle Edition a b Editor OGV 2015 Wilhelm Exner Medal Austrian Trade Association OGV Austria Neufeld Michael Von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War First ed Vintage Books pp xv Although Wernher von Braun got a doctorate in physics in 1934 he never worked a day in his life thereafter as a scientist He was an engineer and a manager of engineers and he used that vocabulary when he was talking to his professional peers Wernher von Braun History s Most Controversial Figure Al Jazeera a b c d e f Neufeld Michael J 20 May 2019 Wernher von Braun and the Nazis American Experience Chasing the Moon PBS Retrieved 24 July 2019 Article on von Braun and Walt Disney 18 February 2016 SP 4206 Stages to Saturn Chapter 9 history nasa gov Retrieved 8 March 2015 Biography of Wernher von Braun MSFC History Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Archived from the original on 11 June 2002 von Braun Wernher National Aviation Hall of Fame Nationalaviation org Archived from the original on 26 October 2020 Retrieved 16 February 2022 A Guide to Wernher von Braun s Life Apollo11Space Apollo11space com December 2019 Retrieved 16 February 2022 How Historians Are Reckoning with the Former Nazi Who Launched America s Space Program 18 July 2019 Magill Frank N 2013 The 20th Century A GI Dictionary of World Biography Vol 7 New York Routledge p 440 ISBN 9781136593345 Von Braun Wernher Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Erratik Institut Retrieved 4 February 2011 Dr Wernher von Braun i malestuseks Fuusikainstituut Retrieved 4 February 2011 a b Spires Shelby G 27 June 2003 Von Braun s brother dies aided surrender The Huntsville Times p 1A Magnus von Braun the brother of rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun who worked in Huntsville from 1950 1955 died Saturday in Phoenix Ariz He was 84 Though not as famous as his older brother who died in 1977 Magnus von Braun made the first contact with U S Army troops to arrange the German rocket team s surrender at the end of World War II Magnus Freiherr von Braun Von Ostpreussen bis Texas Erlebnisse und zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen eines Ostdeutschen Stollhamm 1955 a b c d e f Ward Bob 2005 Dr Space The Life of Wernher von Braun ISBN 978 1 591 14926 2 Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen by Hermann Oberth R Oldenbourg 1923 OCLC 6026491 failed verification Biddle Wayne 2009 Dark Side of the Moon Wernher Von Braun the Third Reich and the Space Race W W Norton ISBN 978 0 393 05910 6 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Boyne Walter J 1 September 2004 The Rocket Men Air Force Magazine Retrieved 24 September 2021 Rohwedder Leif May 2018 Opel Sounds in the Era of Rockets Opel Post web magazine Retrieved 24 September 2021 Winter Frank H 30 April 2021 A Century Before Elon Musk There Was Fritz von Opel Air amp Space Smithsonian Retrieved 24 September 2021 Hensel Andre T 2019 Die Grundlegung der Raumfahrt in der ersten Halfte des 20 Jahrhunderts Geschichte der Raumfahrt Bis 1970 Vom Wettlauf Ins All Bis zur Mondlandung in German Springer 1 44 doi 10 1007 978 3 662 58839 0 1 ISBN 978 3 662 58838 3 S2CID 188476724 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Various sources such as The Nazi Rocketeers ISBN 0811733874 pp 5 8 list the young Wernher von Braun as joining the VfR as an apprentice to Willy Ley one of the three founders Later when Ley fled Germany because he was a Jew von Braun took over the leadership of the Verein and changed its activity to military development Wernher von Braun biography Biography com Retrieved 1 March 2014 a b c Recollections of Childhood Early Experiences in Rocketry as Told by Werner von Braun 1963 MSFC History Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Archived from the original on 12 February 2009 As related by Auguste s son Jacques Piccard to fellow deep sea explorer Hans Fricke cited in Fricke H Der Fisch der aus der Urzeit kam pp 23 24 Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2010 ISBN 978 3 423 34616 0 in German Leo Nutz Elmar Wild 28 December 1989 Oberth museum org Oberth museum org Retrieved 15 August 2013 Davies Norman 2006 Europe at War 1939 1945 No Simple Victory London Macmillan p 416 ISBN 9780333692851 OCLC 70401618 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Neufeld Michael 2007 Von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 978 0 307 26292 9 Neufeld Michael J 20 May 2019 Wernher von Braun and the Nazis PBS Von Braun was a right wing nationalist by upbringing but seems to have taken little interest in Nazi ideology or anti Semitism As money began flowing into rearmament and eventually into the rocket program he became more enthusiastic about the regime In 1933 34 he was a member of an SS riding group in Berlin but National Socialist organizations were then pressing non member students to participate in paramilitary activities In 1937 now the technical director at age 25 of the new Army rocket center at Peenemunde on the Baltic he received a letter asking him to join the Party Since it required little commitment and it might damage his career to say no he went along Spangenburg amp Moser 2009 Wernher von Braun Revised Edition Infobase Publishing p 33 a b Ward Bob 2013 Dr Space The Life of Wernher von Braun Naval Institute Press Ch 5 a b c d e f g h Wernher VonBraun Part 2 of 7 FBI Records The Vault Federal Bureau of Investigation 17 April 1961 Retrieved 26 November 2022 Neufeld Michael J 2002 Wernher von Braun the SS and Concentration Camp Labor Questions of Moral Political and Criminal Responsibility German Studies Review 25 1 57 78 doi 10 2307 1433245 ISSN 0149 7952 JSTOR 1433245 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Ward Bob 2009 Dr Space The Life of Wernher von Braun US Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1591149279 Wernher von Braun FBI file Neufeld Michael J 10 September 2013 The Rocket and the Reich Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era Smithsonian Institution pp 178 179 ISBN 978 1 58834 467 0 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Dr Space pp 35 It had been thought that he publicly wore his uniform with swastika armband just once during one of two formal Dr Space p 35 Wernher von Braun in SS uniform The Reformation Online Sloop John L 1978 Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel 1945 1959 Scientific and Technical Information Office National Aeronautics and Space Administration Retrieved 10 January 2022 a b von Braun Astronautix com Archived from the original on 17 August 2013 Konstruktive theoretische und experimentelle Beitrage zu dem Problem der Flussigkeitsrakete Raketentechnik und Raumfahrtforschung Sonderheft 1 1960 Stuttgart Germany Bergaust Erik 1976 Wernher Von Braun The Authoritative and Definitive Biographical Profile of the Father of Modern Space Flight National Space Institute pp 43 49 ISBN 978 0 917680 01 4 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Wernher VonBraun Part 3 of 7 FBI Records The Vault Federal Bureau of Investigation pp 13 Sept 1969 Retrieved 26 November 2022 a b West 2017 p 50 Weisstein Eric Wolfgang ed Robert Goddard ScienceWorld The Man Who Opened the Door to Space Popular Science May 1959 Archived from the original on 5 October 2012 Retrieved 8 November 2008 Neufeld Michael J 2008 Wernher von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War Vintage p 351 a b Hollingham Richard 8 September 2014 V2 The Nazi rocket that launched the space age BBC Retrieved 25 February 2023 Dr Space The Life of Wernher von Braun Bob Ward Naval Institute Press 10 July 2013 Retrieved 6 March 2017 Speer Albert 1969 Erinnerungen p 377 Verlag Ullstein GmbH Frankfurt a M and Berlin ISBN 3 550 06074 2 Peenemunde 17 and 18 August 1943 RAF History Bomber Command Royal Air Force Archived from the original on 1 November 2006 Retrieved 15 November 2006 Middlebrook Martin 1982 The Peenemunde Raid The Night of 17 18 August 1943 New York Bobbs Merrill p 222 ISBN 978 0 672 52759 3 a b Dornberger Walter 1952 V2 Der Schuss ins Weltall Esslingan Bechtle Verlag US translation V 2 Viking Press New York 1954 p 164 Neufeld Michael J 1995 The Rocket and the Reich Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era New York The Free Press pp 158 160 162 190 ISBN 9780029228951 Archived from the original on 28 October 2019 Retrieved 15 November 2019 Neufeld Michael J 2008 Wernher von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War Vintage p 184 a b c d e Warsitz Lutz 2009 The First Jet Pilot The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz Pen and Sword Books Ltd ISBN 978 1 84415 818 8 Tracy Dungan Mittelbau Overview V2rocket com Retrieved 15 August 2013 Excerpts from Power to Explore MSFC History Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Archived from the original on 26 May 2002 Jaroff Leon 26 March 2002 The Rocket Man s Dark Side Time Archived from the original on 27 May 2012 a b Biddle Wayne 2009 Dark Side of the Moon Wernher von Braun the Third Reich and the Space Race W W Norton amp Company ISBN 9780393072648 124 125 Michael J Neufeld February 2002 Wernher von Braun the SS and Concentration Camp Labor Questions of Moral Political and Criminal Responsibility German Studies Review Vol 25 No 1 pp 57 78 Fiedermann Hess and Jaeger 1993 Das KZ Mittelbau Dora Ein historischer Abriss p 100 Westkreuz Verlag Berlin ISBN 978 3 92213 194 6 Ernst Stuhlinger Frederick Ira Ordway April 1994 Wernher von Braun crusader for space a biographical memoir Krieger Pub p 42 ISBN 978 0 89464 842 7 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Sellier Andre 2003 A History of the Dora Camp The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V 2 Rockets Chicago IL Ivan R Dee ISBN 978 1 56663 511 0 The Army Air Forces in World War II Europe argument to V E Day January 1944 to May 1945 Office of Air Force History 1948 ISBN 978 0 912799 03 2 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Highlights in German Rocket Development from 1927 1945 MSFC History Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Archived from the original on 28 October 2005 Bilstein Roger E August 1999 Stages to Saturn A Technological History of the Apollo Saturn Launch Vehicle DIANE Publishing p 12 ISBN 978 0 7881 8186 3 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Dornberger Walter 1954 V 2 New York The Viking Press Inc pp 178 184 Speer Albert 1995 Inside the Third Reich London Weidenfeld amp Nicolson pp 501 502 ISBN 9781842127353 a b Wernher VonBraun Part 1 of 7 FBI Records The Vault Federal Bureau of Investigation pp 18 April 1961 Retrieved 26 November 2022 a b c Cadbury Deborah 2005 Space Race BBC Worldwide ISBN 978 0 00 721299 6 Huzel Dieter K 1962 From Peenemunde To Canaveral Prentice Hall ASIN B0021SD22M Dunar Andrew J Administration U S National Aeronautics and Space 1999 Power to Explore A History of Marshall Space Flight Center 1960 1990 National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA History Office Office of Policy and Plans p 8 ISBN 978 0 16 058992 8 Retrieved 10 January 2022 vonBraun Archived from the original on 28 April 2015 Capture of Wernher von Braun by the 324th Regiment Anti tank Company McDougall Walter A 1985 The Heavens and the Earth A Political History of the Space Age New York Basic Books p 44 ISBN 978 0 465 02887 0 Arts amp Entertainment Biography 1959 1961 series Mike Wallace television biography of Wernher von Braun video clip of the press statement McGovern J 1964 Crossbow and Overcast New York W Morrow p 182 Speer Albert 2001 Schlie Ulrich ed Alles was ich weiss F A Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung p 12 ISBN 978 3 7766 2092 4 Fauzia Miriam Fact check Nazi scientists were brought to work for U S through Operation Paperclip USA TODAY Retrieved 10 January 2022 Neufeld Michael J 2004 Overcast Paperclip Osoaviakhim Looting and the Transfer of German Military Technology The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War 1945 1990 A Handbook Volume 1 1945 1968 Cambridge University Press 1 197 203 The Pretty German Seaside Resort with a Dark Past Start Travel Start Travel Retrieved 10 January 2022 Outstanding German Scientists Being Brought to U S War Department press release V2Rocket com 1 October 1945 Archived from the original on 1 March 2010 Dunar Andrew J Waring Stephen P 1999 Power to Explore U S Government Printing Office p 12 ISBN 0 16 058992 4 a b c d e f g h Matthew Brzezinski 2007 Red Moon Rising Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age pages 84 92 Henry Holt New York ISBN 978 0 80508 147 3 Neufeld Michael J 2008 Von Braun dreamer of space engineer of war First ed New York Vintage Books p 218 ISBN 9780525435914 OCLC 982248820 Wernher von Braun Encyclopedia of Alabama Encyclopedia of Alabama Retrieved 27 March 2016 Redstone Rocket Hardtack Teak Test August 1958 on YouTube Bucher G C Mc Call J C Ordway F I III Stuhlinger E 23 March 1962 From Peenemuende to Outer Space Commemorating the Fiftieth Birthday of Wernher von Braun NASA Technical Reports Server hdl 2060 19630006100 Reach for the Stars TIME Magazine 17 February 1958 Archived from the original on 21 December 2007 Ritchie Eleanor H 1986 Astronautics and Aeronautics 1977 A Chronology Scientific and Technical Information Branch National Aeronautics and Space Administration Retrieved 10 January 2022 a b Harbaugh Jennifer 18 February 2016 Article on Von Braun and Walt Disney NASA Retrieved 10 January 2022 Gohd Chelsea 6 November 2019 Yes the Von Braun Space Hotel Idea Is Wild But Could We Build It by 2025 Space com Retrieved 10 January 2022 What Kubrick did with the man from Nasa The Telegraph 7 December 2015 Retrieved 10 January 2022 a b Woodfill Jerry 30 November 2004 Gallery of Wernher von Braun Moonship Sketches The Space Educator s Handbook NASA Johnson Space Center Archived from the original on 30 May 2010 Braun Wernher Von Whipple Fred Lawrence Ley Willy 1953 Conquest of the Moon New York Viking Press pp 107 109 110 ISBN 978 0 598 82516 2 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Braun Wernher von 1969 Manned Mars landing presentation to the Space Task Group Bergaust Erik 1976 Wernher von Braun The authoritative and definitive biographical profile of the father of modern space flight Hardcover National Space Institute ISBN 978 0 917680 01 4 Wernher von Braun 2006 Project Mars a technical tale Apogee Books Burlington Ontario ISBN 978 0 97382 033 1 Ley Willy October 1955 For Your Information Galaxy p 60 Retrieved 16 December 2013 Pat Williams Jim Denney 2004 How to Be Like Walt Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life page 237 Health Communications Inc ISBN 978 0 75730 231 2 Wernher von Braun January 2000 First Men to the Moon Reprint by Henry Holt amp Co Inc ISBN 978 0 03030 295 4 Neufeld Michael J 2008 Wernher von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War Vintage pp 4 230 Stuhlinger Ernst amp Ira Ordway Frederick 1994 Wernher von Braun crusader for space a biographical memoir Krieger Pub p 270 a b Neufeld Michael J 2007 Wernher von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War Knoff New York ISBN 978 0 30726 292 9 a b Mallon Thomas 22 October 2007 Rocket Man The New Yorker Access date 8 January 2015 Walker Mark 2008 A 20th Century Faust Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine American Scientist Access 8 January 2015 Oliver Kendrick 2012 To Touch the Face of God The Sacred the Profane and the American Space Program 1957 1975 page 23 Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 1 42140 788 3 Oliver 2012 page 24 God Touches the Heart of a Scientist through Gideons Bible Ministry www christiantoday com Retrieved 13 October 2021 Stuhlinger Ernst amp Ira Ordway Frederick 1994 Wernher von Braun crusader for space a biographical memoir Krieger Pub page 270 Those who knew him through the 1960s and 1970s noticed during these years that a new element began to surface in his conversations and also in his speeches and his writings a growing interest in religious thought von Braun Wernher 1963 My Faith A Space Age Scientist Tells Why He Must Believe in God 10 February 1963 The American Weekly page 2 New York The Hearst Corporation See von Braun s speeches in The voice of Dr Wernher Von Brain An Anthology Apogee Books Publication ed by Irene E Powell Willhite These touch a variety of topics including education the cold war religion and the space program See the same article by von Braun Wernher published as Science and religion in Rome Daily American 13 September 1966 Available in New Age Frontiersn Oct 1966 United Family Volume II Number 10 See The Farther We Probe into Space the Greater my Faith C M Ward s account of His Interview with Dr Warner von Braun 1966 Springfield MO Assemblies of God 17 pages Mini pamphlet Ward Bob 2013 Dr Space The Life of Wernher von Braun Ch 1 The Accursed Blessing Naval Institute Press OCLC 857079205 Neufeld MJ Space superiority Wernher von Braun s campaign for a nuclear armed space station 1946 1956 Space Policy 2006 22 52 62 Stages to Saturn The Saturn Building Blocks The ABMA Transfer NASA Photos Wernher von Braun Space Pioneer Remembered Space com 2012 Retrieved 15 February 2019 Swenson Loyd S Jr Grimwood James M Alexander Charles C MR 1 The Four Inch Flight This New Ocean NASA Archived from the original on 9 May 2001 Siddiqi Asif A 2000 Challenge to Apollo The Soviet Union and the Space Race 1945 1974 Washington DC NASA p 283 ISBN 9781780393018 LCCN 00038684 OCLC 48909645 SP 2000 4408 West 2017 p 36 West 2017 p 39 Concluding Remarks by Dr Wernher von Braun about Mode Selection for the Lunar Landing Program PDF Lunar Orbit Rendezvous File NASA Historical Reference Collection 7 June 1962 Mann Adam 25 June 2020 The Apollo Program How NASA sent astronauts to the moon space com Retrieved 11 February 2023 Spangenburg amp Moser 2009 Wernher von Braun Revised Edition Infobase Publishing pages 129 130 Space Man s Look at Antarctica Popular Science Vol 190 No 5 May 1967 pp 114 116 West 2017 p 40 von Braun Wernher 16 January 1969 Adjustment to Marshall Organization Announcement No 4 PDF MSFC History Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Archived from the original PDF on 21 June 2007 Bergaust Erik 1976 Wernher von Braun The Authoritative and Definitive Biographical Profile of the Father of Modern Space Flight National Space Institute page 117 Next Mars and Beyond Time 25 July 1969 Archived from the original on 20 March 2007 Retrieved 21 June 2007 Even as man prepared to take his first tentative extraterrestrial steps other celestial adventures beckoned him The shape and scope of the post Apollo crewed space program remained hazy and a great deal depends on the safe and successful outcome of Apollo 11 Well before the lunar flight was launched though NASA was casting eyes on targets far beyond the Moon The most inviting the earth s close and probably most hospitable planetary neighbor Given the same energy and dedication that took them to the Moon says Wernher von Braun Americans could land on Mars as early as 1982 Times Harold M Schmeck Jr Special to The New York 28 January 1970 Von Braun to Go to Washington To Direct Space Mission Plans The New York Times Retrieved 10 January 2022 a b West 2017 p 43 German sources mostly specify the cancer as renal while American biographies unanimously just mention cancer The time when von Braun learned about the disease is generally given as from 1973 to1976 The characteristics of renal cell carcinoma which has a bad prognosis even today do not rule out either time limit The President s National Medal of Science Recipient Details NSF National Science Foundation Launius Roger 2002 To Reach the Higher Frontier A History of U S Launch Vehicles University of Kentucky ISBN 978 0 8131 2245 8 Sloop John L 1978 Liquid hydrogen as a propulsion fuel 1945 1959 PDF The NASA history series Vol SP 4404 To the Moon NOVA 13 July 1999 West 2017 p 46 a b West 2017 p 51 Redd Nola Taylor 7 March 2013 Wernher von Braun Rocket Pioneer Biography amp Quotes Space com Retrieved 12 October 2021 West 2017 p 48 Von Braun Who Helped Put Men on Moon Dies at 65 German Born Scientist Succumbs to Pancreatic Cancer Was Pioneer in Space Rocket Technology Los Angeles Times 17 June 1977 p A2 Wernher von Braun Rocket Pioneer Dies Wernher von Braun Pioneer in Space Travel and Rocketry Dies at 65 The New York Times 18 June 1977 Wernher von Braun the master rocket builder and pioneer of space travel died of cancer Thursday morning He was 65 years old Psalm 19 1 Bible Gateway Ex German Rocket Scientists U S rocket programme 1969 video Thames Television 17 July 1969 Archived from the original on 8 December 2019 Retrieved 1 February 2020 Winterstein William E Sr 1 March 2005 Secrets Of The Space Age Robert D Reed Publishers ISBN 978 1 931741 49 1 Rother Marcel 22 March 2012 Gymnasium Friedberg Ein Ort der das Herz zittern lasst Friedberg Gymnasium A place that can make the heart tremble Augsburger Allgemeine in German Augsburg Presse Druck und Verlags GmbH Retrieved 1 December 2015 Mayr Stefan 23 March 2012 Streit um Wernher von Braun Gymnasium Tut alles damit dieser Name verschwindet Dispute over the Wernher von Braun Gymnasium Do everything to make this name disappear Suddeutschen Zeitung in German Munich Suddeutsche Zeitung GmbH Retrieved 1 December 2015 Morrow Lance 3 August 1998 The Moon and the Clones Time Archived from the original on 21 June 2008 Retrieved 30 August 2009 Prof Dr Wernher von Braun Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 9 2 March 1950 Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 Report of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Committee on Science and Astronautics U S House of Representatives PDF U S Government Printing Office 12 June 1963 p 217 retrieved 14 July 2014 Sprekelmeyer Linda editor These We Honor The International Aerospace Hall of Fame Donning Co Publishers 2006 Dr von Braun Honoured PDF Flight International Iliffe Transport Publications 22 July 1967 p 1030 Retrieved 16 April 2009 Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement www achievement org American Academy of Achievement Armbrester Margaret E 1992 The Civitan Story Birmingham AL Ebsco Media pp 95 105 Hall of Famer Beatrice Daily Sun Beatrice Nebraska Associated Press 26 July 1982 p 3 via Newspapers com Disney Land S1 E20 Man in Space IMDB com Retrieved 30 August 2022 Disney Land S2 E14 Man and the Moon IMDB com Retrieved 30 August 2022 Disney Land S4 E12 Mars and Beyond IMDB com Retrieved 30 August 2022 I Aim at the Stars 1960 Turner Classic Movies Retrieved 10 August 2010 Die gefrorenen Blitze PDF Staatkircheforschunsgamt Retrieved 10 February 2023 The Perfumed Nightmare Kidlat Tahimik 2016 Retrieved 16 May 2020 Space Race TV Series 2005 imdb com Retrieved 11 February 2023 DW TV Dw world de 25 June 2011 Retrieved 15 August 2013 Ortmanns Nadine Interview mit Schauspieler Ludwig Blochberger kontinente www kontinente org Retrieved 21 February 2019 Project Blue Book Operation Paperclip imdb com Retrieved 12 February 2023 Neufield Von Braun p 406 Dr Strangelove was widely held to be a composite of Edward Teller Herman Kahn and von Braun but only von Braun shared Strangelove s Nazi past Indiana Jones 5 Will Pit Indy Against Nazis Again In 1969 Exclusive Empire Retrieved 19 November 2022 Wilford John Noble 19 September 1982 A Novel of Very High Adventure SPACE By James A Michener New York Times Retrieved 12 February 2023 Preston Alex 20 September 2020 Review V2 by Robert Harris review fears of a rocket man The Guardian Retrieved 12 February 2023 MadKap Productions presents Rocket City Alabam Skokie Illinois Theatre and MadKap Productions 2017 Archived from the original on 1 December 2017 Retrieved 29 November 2017 Florida Symphony Orchestra And Bach Festival Choir Journey To Infinity Discogs Retrieved 21 May 2017 Tom Lehrer 1 December 2008 Wernher von Braun Youtube com Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 Retrieved 15 August 2013 a b Stop clapping this is serious The Sydney Morning Herald 1 March 2003 Retrieved 7 October 2013 Werner von Braun lyrics McKay Ron 1 November 2020 Spotlight 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer resurfaces The Herald Retrieved 3 May 2023 Lane Rick 3 September 2017 The making of System Shock 2 s best level Eurogamer Retrieved 10 February 2023 Klee Ernst Merk Otto 1963 The Birth of the Missile The Secrets of Peenemunde Hamburg Gerhard Stalling Verlag English translation 1965 pp 89 95 a b c Ordway Frederick I III Sharpe Mitchell R 1979 The Rocket Team Apogee Books Space Series 36 New York Thomas Y Crowell pp 308 425 509 ISBN 978 1 894959 00 1 Von Braun Wernher 2006 Project Mars A Technical Tale Apogee Books ISBN 9780973820331 Retrieved 11 February 2023 Von Braun Wernher 2007 The Voice of Dr Wernher Von Braun An Anthology Apogee Books ISBN 9781894959643 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Sources Edit West Doug 2017 Dr Wernher von Braun A Short Biography US ISBN 978 1 9779279 1 0 Additional reading EditBilstein Roger 2003 Stages to Saturn A Technological History of the Apollo Saturn Launch Vehicles University Press of Florida ISBN 978 0 813 02691 6 Dunar Andrew J Waring Stephen P 1999 Power to Explore A History of Marshall Space Flight Center 1960 1990 Washington DC United States Government Printing Office ISBN 978 0 16 058992 8 Archived from the original on 1 September 2000 Freeman Marsha 1993 How we got to the Moon The Story of the German Space Pioneers Paperback 21st Century Science Associates October 1993 ISBN 978 0 9628134 1 2 Lasby Clarence G 1971 Project Paperclip German Scientists and the Cold War New York Atheneum ASIN B0006CKBHY Neufeld Michael J 1994 The Rocket and the Reich Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era New York Free Press ISBN 978 0 02 922895 1 Petersen Michael B 2009 Missiles for the Fatherland Peenemuende National Socialism and the V 2 missile Cambridge Centennial of Flight New York Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 88270 5 OCLC 644940362 Tompkins Phillip K 1993 Organizational Communication Imperatives Lessons of the Space Program Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0195329667 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wernher von Braun Wikiquote has quotations related to Wernher von Braun Audiopodcast on Astrotalkuk org BBC journalist Reg Turnill talking in 2011 about his personal memories of and interviews with Dr Wernher von Braun The capture of von Braun and his men At the U S 44th Infantry Division website archived Wernher von Braun page Marshall Space Flight Center MSFC History Office archived Missile to Moon PBS documentary about evolution of Huntsville to Rocket City and Werhner von Braun The Disney von Braun Collaboration and its Influence on Space Exploration by Mike Wright MSFC archived Coat of arms of Dr Wernher von Braun Remembering Von Braun by Anthony Young The Space Review Monday 10 July 2006 The Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp Memorial V2rocket com 60th anniversary digital reprinting of Colliers Space Series Houston Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics archived CIA documents on Dr Wernher von Braun on the Internet Archive FBI Records The Vault Wernher VonBraun files at vault fbi gov Wernher von Braun at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Wernher von Braun at Library of Congress with 35 library catalogue records Wernher von Braun Collection The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections Dorette Schlidt Collection The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections Files of Dorette Schlidt Dr Wernher von Braun s first secretary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wernher von Braun amp oldid 1153216604, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.