About
Wernher von Braun was a German-American aerospace engineer and a leading figure in 20th-century rocketry. Born in Germany, he earned a doctorate in physics in 1934 and led the rocket program at Peenemünde, where he developed the V-2 missile. After World War II, he was brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip. There, he designed the Jupiter-C rocket that launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958, and later became the first director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. As chief architect of the Saturn V rocket, he enabled the Apollo Moon landings. He also helped popularize space exploration through television programs with Walt Disney.
* 1912-03-23 — † 1977-06-16
Major works
- The Mars Project (1952)non-fiction
- First Men to the Moon (1960)novel
Key milestones
- 1944The V-2 becomes the first artificial object to cross the Kármán line.
- 1958The Jupiter-C rocket launches Explorer 1, America's first satellite.
- 1969The Saturn V rocket, of which he was chief architect, propels Apollo 11 to the Moon.
Themes
Space explorationAerospace engineeringRocketsApollo programHuman spaceflight
Sources: solarsystem.nasa.gov · appel.nasa.gov · nationalmedals.org
