Wernher Von Braun
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Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American
aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
and space architect. He was a member of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of
rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
technology in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, and later a pioneer of rocket and
space technology Space technology is technology for use in outer space. Space technology includes space vehicles such as spacecraft, satellites, space stations and orbital spaceflight, orbital launch vehicles; :Spacecraft communication, deep-space communication; :S ...
in the United States. As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the
V-2 rocket The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...
at
Peenemünde Peenemünde (, ) is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the ''Amt (country subdivision), Amt'' (collective municipality) of Used ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. 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 The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War I ...
. He worked for the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
on an
intermediate-range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ball ...
program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite
Explorer 1 Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States in 1958 and was part of the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The mission followed the first two satellites, both launched by the Soviet Union duri ...
in 1958. He worked with
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the US and beyond from 1955 to 1957. In 1960, his group was assimilated into
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, where he served as director of the newly formed
Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...
and as the chief architect of the
Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...
super heavy-lift launch vehicle A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than by the United States and as more than by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass ...
that propelled the
Apollo spacecraft The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft ...
to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
, and in 1975, he received the
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
. Von Braun is a highly controversial figure widely seen as escaping justice for his awareness of Nazi war crimes due to the Americans' desire to beat the Soviets in the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. He is also sometimes described by others as the "father of space travel", the "father of rocket science", or the "father of the American lunar program". He advocated a
human mission to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the p ...
.


Early life

Wernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the
Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...
,
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
, then
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
and now Poland. 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 The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European
royalty Royalty may refer to: * the mystique/prestige bestowed upon monarchs ** one or more monarchs, such as kings, queens, emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, etc. *** royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen-regnant, and sometimes h ...
and was a descendant of
Philip III of France Philip III (1 May 1245 – 5 October 1285), called the Bold (), was King of France from 1270 until his death in 1285. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade. Philip, who was accompanying him, returned to France and wa ...
,
Valdemar I of Denmark Valdemar I Knudsen (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great (), was King of Denmark from 1154 until his death in 1182. The reign of King Valdemar I saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its medieval zenith under his s ...
,
Robert III of Scotland Robert III ( – 4 April 1406), born John Stewart, was King of Scots from 1390 to his death in 1406. He was also High Steward of Scotland from 1371 to 1390 and held the titles of Earl of Atholl (1367–1390) and Earl of Carrick (1368–1390 ...
, and
Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
. He 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 Magnus "Mac" Freiherr von Braun (10 May 1919 – 21 June 2003) was a German chemical engineer, Luftwaffe aviator, rocket scientist and business executive. In his 20s, he worked on Nazi Germany’s guided missile development and production at the ...
, who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with
Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
. The family moved to Berlin,
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
, in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After his
Confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...
, his mother gave him a
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
, and he developed a passion for
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
. 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 Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...
. The few pieces of von Braun's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style. He could play piano pieces of
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
and
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
from memory. Beginning in 1925, he attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
,
Free State of Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany's 16 states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Erfurt is the capital and la ...
, 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'') by rocket pioneer
Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and rocket pioneer of Transylvanian Saxons, Transylvanian Saxon descent. Oberth supported Nazi Germany's war effort and re ...
. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
n
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
island of Spiekeroog. Space travel had always fascinated him, and from then on he applied himself to
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering. In 1928 the ''Raketenrummel'' or "Rocket Rumble" fad initiated by Fritz von Opel and Max Valier was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast. He was so enthusiastic after seeing one of the public Opel-RAK rocket car demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade toy rocket car and caused a disruption in a crowded sidewalk by launching the toy wagon, to which he had attached the largest firework rockets he could purchase. He was later taken in for questioning by the local police, until released to his father for disciplinary action. The incident highlighted the young von Braun's determination to "dedicate his life to space travel". 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. In spring 1932, he graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering. 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. He also studied at
ETH Zürich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ra ...
for a term from June to October 1931.


German career

In 1930, von Braun attended a presentation given by
Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere and became the first person to ...
. 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. Von Braun was greatly influenced by Oberth, of whom he said: According to historian
Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...
, von Braun was able to pursue a career as a rocket scientist in Germany due to a "curious oversight" in the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
which did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany.


Involvement with the Nazi regime


Nazi Party membership

Von Braun was an opportunist who joined the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
to continue his work on rockets for
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. He applied for membership in the Party on 12 November 1937, and was issued membership number 5,738,692. Michael J. Neufeld, an author of aerospace history and chief of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian's
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air 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: It has not been ascertained whether von Braun's error with regard to the year was deliberate. Neufeld wrote: 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. In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that, at that time, he "fared relatively rather well under
totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...
". Yet, he also wrote that "to us,
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
was still only a pompous fool with a
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
moustache" and that he perceived him as "another
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
" who was "wholly without scruples, a godless man who thought himself the only god". 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. 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.


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. In 1940, von Braun joined the SS and was given the rank of '' Untersturmführer'' in the '' Allgemeine-SS'' and issued membership number 185,068. In 1947, he gave the U.S. War Department this explanation: When shown a picture of himself standing behind Himmler, von Braun said that he had only worn the SS uniform that one time, 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 stated that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail.


Work under Nazi regime

In 1932, von Braun received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technische Hochschule Berlin (now
Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...
), Germany. During a period in 1931, von Braun attended the
ETH Zürich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ra ...
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, and through which he made the first rocket fired by gasoline and liquid oxygen. 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. 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 Peenemünde Army Research Center on the Baltic Sea. 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 Major-General Dr. Walter Robert Dornberger (6 September 1895 – 26 June 1980) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World War I and World War II. He was a leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket programme and other projects a ...
, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who then worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf. Von Braun received his doctorate in physics (
aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
) on 27 July 1934, from the University of Berlin for a thesis titled "About Combustion Tests." His doctoral supervisor was Erich Schumann. 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 16 April 1934), detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket. It remained classified by the German army until its publication in 1960. By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two liquid fuel A2 rockets that rose to heights of 2.2 and . 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. 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. The A-4 rocket became well known as the V-2. 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." 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
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...
s; 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. 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." In response to Goddard's statements, 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 statements that he had lifted 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. On 22 December 1942,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
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. 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 The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...
. Over the nights of 17–18 August 1943,
RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...
's Operation Hydra dispatched raids on the Peenemünde camp consisting of 596 aircraft, and dropped 1,800 tons of explosives. 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. The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the
Kármán line The Kármán line (or von Kármán line ) is a conventional definition of the Outer space#Boundary, edge of space; it is widely but not universally accepted. The international record-keeping body Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, FAI ( ...
with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944. 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. Doug Millard of the
Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...
states:


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. 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!" In June 1937, at Neuhardenberg (a large field about east of Berlin, listed as a reserve airfield in the event of war), one of these latter aircraft was flown with its
piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...
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. At the same time,
Hellmuth Walter Hellmuth Walter (26 August 1900 – 16 December 1980) was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines. His most noteworthy contributions were rocket motors for the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Bachem Ba 349 interce ...
's experiments into
hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscosity, viscous than Properties of water, water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usua ...
based rockets were leading toward 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 Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...
. 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. 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.


Slave labor

SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s, including
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
, had a reputation for brutality and had conceived 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. Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at Mittelwerk on many occasions, and called conditions at the plant "repulsive", but stated that he had never personally witnessed any deaths or beatings, although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred. He denied ever having visited the
Mittelbau-Dora Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...
concentration camp, where 20,000 died from illness, beatings, hangings, and intolerable working conditions. Some prisoners state that 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, while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, stated that von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes. However, these accounts may have been a case of mistaken identity. Former
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...
inmate Adam Cabala stated that von Braun went to the concentration camp to pick slave laborers: Von Braun later stated that he was aware of the treatment of prisoners, but felt helpless to change the situation. When asked if von Braun could have protested against the brutal treatment of the slave laborers, von Braun team member Konrad Dannenberg (a member of the Nazi party since 1932) told ''The Huntsville Times'': "If he had done it, in my opinion, he would have been shot on the spot."


Arrest and release by the Nazi regime

According to André Sellier, a French historian and survivor of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp,
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
had von Braun come to his Feldkommandostelle Hochwald HQ in
East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
in February 1944. 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. He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V-2. Von Braun stated that he replied that the problems were merely technical and he was confident that they would be solved with Dornberger's assistance. 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 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. Himmler's unfounded allegations branding von Braun and his colleagues as communist sympathizers and accusing them of sabotaging the V-2 program, coupled with von Braun's regular piloting of a government-provided airplane that could facilitate an escape to Britain, led to their arrest by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on 14 March (or 15 March), 1944, and was taken to a Gestapo cell in
Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...
(now Szczecin, Poland). where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him. Through Major Hans Georg Klamroth, in charge of the
Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...
for Peenemünde, Dornberger obtained von Braun's conditional release and
Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue 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.Ward, Bob. 2013. ''Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun''. Naval Institute Press. Ch. 5 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." 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" 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

The
Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...
was about from
Peenemünde Peenemünde (, ) is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the ''Amt (country subdivision), Amt'' (collective municipality) of Used ...
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 Bleicherode () is a town in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Wipper, 17 km southwest of Nordhausen. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Obergebra was incorporated by Bleicherode. The f ...
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 The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...
mountain range near
Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Goslar (district), district of Goslar and is located on the northwestern wikt:slope, slopes of the Harz ...
. The U.S. Army Counter Intelligence 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. 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 that 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. 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 Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...
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. On 29 April 1945, Oberammergau was captured by the Allied forces who seized the majority of the engineering team. Nearing the end of the war, Hitler instructed SS troops to gas all technical men concerned with rocket development. 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. Von Braun and several members of the engineering team, including Dornberger, made it to
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. 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." After the surrender, Wernher von Braun spoke to the press: 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 Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...
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 southwest to
Witzenhausen Witzenhausen () is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany. It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974 was a district seat. The University of Kassel maintains a satellite campus in Witzenhausen, which offer ...
, a small town in the
American Zone The American occupation zone in Germany (German language, German: ), also known as the US-Zone, and the Southwest zone, was one of the four Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones established by the Allies of World War II in Germany west of t ...
. According to Dornberger, there the Soviets tried to kidnap von Braun at night using English uniforms: Americans recognized this and did not let them in. 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. Initially, he was recruited to the U.S. under a program called Operation Overcast, subsequently known as
Operation Paperclip The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War I ...
. 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. The team included the young L.S. Snell, then the leading British rocket engineer, later chief designer of
Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...
and inventor of the
Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...
's engines. The specific information the British gleaned remained top secret, both from the Americans and from the other allies.


American career


U.S. Army career

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. This was announced to the public on 1 October 1945. In September 1945, von Braun and other members of the Peenemünde team signed a work contract with the
United States Army Ordnance Corps The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a Combat service support (United States), sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia ...
. On 20 September 1945, the first seven technicians arrived in the United States at New Castle Army Air Field, just south of Wilmington, Delaware. They were then flown to Boston, Massachusetts, and taken by boat to the Army Intelligence Service post at
Fort Strong Fort Strong is a former U.S. Army Coast Artillery fort that occupied the northern third of Long Island (Massachusetts), Long Island in Boston Harbor. The island had a training camp during the American Civil War, and a gun battery was built there ...
in Boston Harbor. Later, with the exception of von Braun, the men were transferred to
Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at APG. There are 11 major commands among the tenant units, ...
in Maryland to sort out the Peenemünde documents, enabling the scientists to continue their rocketry experiments. 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 Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1848, the fort was renamed in 1854 to honor William Wallace Smith Bliss, Bvt.Lieut.Colonel William W.S. Bliss (1815–1853 ...
, 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.Matthew Brzezinski (2007
''Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age''
pp. 84–92, Henry Holt, New York
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 Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and John Dingell. Requests to improve their living conditions such as laying linoleum over their cracked wood flooring were rejected. 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. Von Braun remarked "at Peenemünde we had been coddled, here you were counting pennies". 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. 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. 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 The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...
to the
White Sands Proving Ground White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity ( ...
in
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. 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". In 1950, at the start of the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, von Braun and his team were transferred to
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
, his home for the next 20 years. From 1952 to 1956, von Braun led the Army's rocket development team at
Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistica ...
, 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. Work on the Redstone led to the development of the first high-precision inertial guidance system on the Redstone rocket. By 1953 von Braun's title was, "Chief, Guided Missiles Development Division, Redstone Arsenal." As director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, von Braun, with his team, then developed the
Jupiter-C The Jupiter-C was an American research and development vehicle developed from the Jupiter-A. Jupiter-C was used for three Uncrewed vehicle, uncrewed sub-orbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957 to test Re-entry vehicle, re-entry nosecones that were ...
, a modified Redstone rocket. The Jupiter-C was the basis for the Juno I rocket that successfully launched the West's first satellite,
Explorer 1 Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States in 1958 and was part of the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The mission followed the first two satellites, both launched by the Soviet Union duri ...
, on 31 January 1958. This event signaled the birth of America's space program.


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 Space exploration is the process of utilizing astronomy and space technology to investigate outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted bo ...
. 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. In 1952, von Braun first published his concept of a crewed
space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...
in a ''
Collier's Weekly } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...
'' 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. The space station (to be constructed using rockets with recoverable and reusable ascent stages) was a
toroid In mathematics, a toroid is a surface of revolution with a hole in the middle. The axis of revolution passes through the hole and so does not intersect the surface. For example, when a rectangle is rotated around an axis parallel to one of its ...
structure, with a diameter of ; this built on the concept of a rotating wheel-shaped station introduced in 1929 by
Herman Potočnik Herman Potočnik (pseudonym Hermann Noordung; 22 December 1892 – 27 August 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian Army officer, electrical engineer and astronautics theorist. He is regarded as an early theorist of modern space flight and is remembered m ...
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 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. 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 long and in diameter and driven by a rectangular array of 30 rocket propulsion engines. 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 expedition in pressurized rovers to the crater
Harpalus Harpalus (Greek: Ἅρπαλος), son of Machatas, was a Macedonian aristocrat and childhood friend of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Harpalus was repeatedly entrusted with official duties by Alexander and absconded with large su ...
and the
Mare Imbrium Mare Imbrium (Latin ''imbrium'', the "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains") is a vast lunar mare, lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision ...
foothills. At this time, von Braun also worked out preliminary concepts for a
human mission to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the p ...
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 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 orbit In astronautics, the Hohmann transfer orbit () is an orbital maneuver used to transfer a spacecraft between two orbits of different altitudes around a central body. For example, a Hohmann transfer could be used to raise a satellite's orbit fro ...
s for its trips to Mars and back to Earth. Before technically formalizing his thoughts on human
spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...
to Mars, von Braun had written a science fiction novel on the subject, set in the year 1980. However, 18 publishers rejected the manuscript. 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. 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 Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
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. Later (in 1959) von Braun published a short booklet, condensed from episodes that had appeared in '' This Week Magazine'' beforedescribing his updated concept of the first crewed lunar landing. The scenario included only a single and relatively small spacecrafta 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 Direct ascent is a method of landing a spacecraft on the Moon or another planetary surface directly, without first assembling the vehicle in Earth orbit, or carrying a separate landing vehicle into orbit around the target body. It was proposed ...
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 In celestial mechanics, escape velocity or escape speed is the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from contact with or orbit of a primary body, assuming: * Ballistic trajectory – no other forces are acting on the object, such as ...
, with each burn creating an acceleration of 8–9 times
standard gravity The standard acceleration of gravity or standard acceleration of free fall, often called simply standard gravity and denoted by or , is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is a constant ...
. 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 Aerocapture is an Orbital maneuver, orbital transfer maneuver in which a spacecraft uses aerodynamic drag force from a single pass through a planetary atmosphere to decelerate and achieve orbit insertion. Aerocapture uses a planet's or moon's at ...
of the spacecraft ending in a runway landing, much in the way of the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
. 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 Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...
offers no protection against becoming unexpectedly and violently spacesick.


Religious conversion

In the first half of his life, von Braun was a nonpracticing, perfunctory
Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
. 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'')." 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 whom he felt followed the Bible. In 1946, he attended church in
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, El Paso County, Texas, and underwent a religious conversion to Evangelical Christianity.Mallon, Thomas (22 October 2007
"Rocket Man"
''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', Access date: 8 January 2015.
In an unnamed religious magazine he stated: On the motives behind this conversion, Michael J. Neufeld is of the opinion that he turned to religion "to pacify his own conscience", 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". Having "concluded one bad bargain with the Devil, perhaps now he felt a need to have God securely at his side". At a Gideons conference in 2004, W. Albert Wilson, a former pilot and NASA employee, stated 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. Later in life, he joined an Episcopal congregation, and became increasingly religious. He publicly spoke and wrote about the complementarity of science and religion, the afterlife of the soul, and his belief in God. He stated, "Through science man strives to learn more of the mysteries of creation. Through religion he seeks to know the Creator." He was interviewed by the
Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...
pastor C. M. Ward and stated that "The farther we probe into space, the greater my faith." In addition, he met privately with evangelist
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...
and with the civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...


Concepts for orbital warfare

Von Braun developed and published his space station concept during the time of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
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 The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...
in Washington.


NASA career

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 Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...
, a belief grew within the United States that it lagged behind the Soviet Union in the emerging
Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
. 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. NASA was established by law on 29 July 1958. One day later, the 50th Redstone rocket was successfully launched from
Johnston Atoll Johnston Atoll is an Unincorporated territories of the United States, unincorporated territory of the United States, under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF). The island is closed to public entry, and limited access for mana ...
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. Von Braun became the center's first director on 1 July 1960 and held the position until 27 January 1970. Von Braun's early years at NASA included a failed " 4 inch mission." On 21 November 1960 during which the first uncrewed Mercury-Redstone rocket, the rocket only rose up a mere 4 inches before settling back down onto the launch pad. The unfortunate and untimely failure of the rocket launch created a "nadir of morale in Project Mercury." The launch failure was later determined to be the result of a "power plug with one prong shorter than the other because a worker failed 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 safety system in fact stopped the launch. After the success of the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission in January 1961, a mere 2 months after the failed "4 inch mission," NASA morale was improved. Still, a new string of problems emerged. 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. Three weeks later on 5 May, von Braun's team successfully launched
Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...
into space. He named his
Mercury-Redstone 3 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...
Freedom 7. 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 The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
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 Lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) is a process for landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth. It was utilized for the Apollo program missions in the 1960s and 1970s. In a LOR mission, a main spacecraft and a lunar lander travel to lunar or ...
concept that was subsequently realized. During Apollo, he worked closely with former Peenemünde teammate, Kurt H. Debus, the first director of the
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
. His dream to help mankind set foot on the Moon became a reality on 16 July 1969, when a Marshall-developed
Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...
rocket launched the crew of
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...
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. 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 The Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) were a series of experimental satellites launched by NASA, under the supervision of, among others, Wernher von Braun. The program was launched in 1966 to test the feasibility of placing a satellite int ...
. 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. 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. 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. In an internal memo dated 16 January 1969, 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". 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. Nonetheless, on 1 March 1970, von Braun and his family relocated to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, 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. 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.


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. In 1973, during a routine physical examination, von Braun was diagnosed with
kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...
, which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time. 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 Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...
board of directors. However, his deteriorating health forced him to retire from Fairchild on 31 December 1976. When the 1975
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
was awarded to him in early 1977, he had been hospitalized, and was unable to attend the White House ceremony.


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. The successful Mercury-Redstone BD flight took the launch slot that might have put Alan Shepard into space, three weeks ahead of
Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...
. His Soviet counterpart
Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...
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. Von Braun took a 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 caution likely led to the U.S. losing the race to put a man into space before the Soviets. Krafft Ehricke likened von Braun's approach to building the
Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...
. Many at NASA headquarters jokingly referred to
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
as the " Chicago Bridge and Iron Works", but acknowledged that the designs worked. 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. 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." This included time spent in the Nazi party during World War 2. During his time in NASA, he opposed racial segregation which brought him into conflict with
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...
, who advocated racial discrimination in
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
and wanted to continue segregation. Von Braun accused segregationist policies as obstructing the development of Alabama. His statements were considered "unusual for a space scientist, particularly in the south, but well within agency and national policy.


Personal life

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. He later had a succession of affairs within the secretarial and computer pool at Peenemünde. 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. 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. During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp (10 June 192820 January 2025), his maternal
first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...
, in a letter to his father. He married her in a Lutheran church in
Landshut Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrou ...
, Bavaria, on 1 March 1947, having received permission to go back to Germany and return with his wife. He was 35, and his new bride was 18. 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. The couple had two more children: Margrit Cécile, born in 1952, and Peter Constantine, born in 1960. On 15 April 1955, von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States.


Death

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 1975, President Gerald R. Ford awarded him the country's highest science honor, the National Medal of Science in Engineering. He was too ill to attend the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
ceremony. In January 1977, then very ill, he resigned from Fairchild Industries. Von Braun died on 16 June 1977 of pancreatic cancer in Alexandria, Virginia, at age 65. 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 The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
).


Recognition and critique

*
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
director
Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...
was quoted as saying 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 he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all. * 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." * 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, agreed to renounce his U.S. citizenship and emigrate in exchange for not being tried for war crimes. * 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 From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
survivor David Salz gave a speech in Friedberg, calling out to the public to "Do everything to make this name disappear from this school!". The gymnasium was renamed " Staatliches Gymnasium Friedberg" in February 2014. * An arena and entertainment complex in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
, is named the Von Braun Center in his honor. The complex opened in 1975.


Summary of SS career

* SS number: 185,068 * Nazi Party number: 5,738,692


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'') * SS-'' Untersturmführer'': 1 May 1940 (Second Lieutenant) * SS-''
Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary ranks, Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, National Socialist Motor Corps, NSKK and the ...
'': 9 November 1941 (First Lieutenant) * SS-'' Hauptsturmführer'': 9 November 1942 (Captain) * SS-'' Sturmbannführer'': 28 June 1943 (Major)


Honors

* Elected Honorary Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society in 1949 *
Elliott Cresson Medal The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848. Th ...
in 1962 * Inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1965 * Langley Gold Medal in 1967 *
Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921. The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialize ...
in 1969 * Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
in 1975 * National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
in 1975 * Civitan International World Citizenship Award in 1970 *
National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with ...
(1982)


In popular culture

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 Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
'' which originally aired on 9 March 1955, 28 December 1955 and 4 December 1957 respectively. * '' 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. Although it was said that satirist
Mort Sahl Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social Satire, satirist, considered the first modern comedian. He pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current e ...
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. * "The Search for Truth" (1962) – a film produced by Brigham Young University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes a clip of von Braun discussing the relationship between science and a divine creator. * '' 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. * '' Perfumed Nightmare'' (1977) – the main character, a Filipino who dreams of spaceflight, established a Wernher von Braun fan club in Laguna, Philippines. * ''
From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...
'' (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 Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
with crew. * ''
Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
'' (TV, BBC co-production with NDR (Germany), Channel One TV (Russia) and
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
TV (USA), 2005) – von Braun played by Richard Dillane. * ''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

documentary – in English – from the German International channel
DW-TV DW-TV () is a German multilingual TV news network of Deutsche Welle. Focussing on news and informational programming, it first started broadcasting 1 April 1992. DW broadcasts on satellite and is uplinked from Berlin. DW's English broadcast ...
. Original German versio
''Wernher von Braun – Der Mann für die Wunderwaffen''
by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Played by Ludwig Blochberger. * '' 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 Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Fo ...
'' television series (2019): "Operation Paperclip" (Season 1, episode 4) – von Braun played by Thomas Kretschmann. * '' 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 Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of ...
. * ''Hunters'' (fictional web television series on Amazon Prime Video, 2020): "The Jewish Question" (Season 1, episode 8) – von Braun played by
Victor Slezak Victor Slezak (born July 30, 1957) is an American stage, television and screen actor who has appeared in numerous films, including ''The Bridges of Madison County (film), The Bridges of Madison County'' (1995), ''Beyond Rangoon'' (1995), ''The D ...
. 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. * ''
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 American action-adventure film directed by James Mangold and written by Mangold, David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. It is the fifth and final installment in Indiana_ ...
'' (2023): Dr. Jürgen Voller, the film's main antagonist, is inspired partly on von Braun according to his performer
Mads Mikkelsen Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen (; born 22 November 1965) is a Danish actor. He rose to fame in Denmark as an actor for his roles such as Tonny in the first two films of the Pusher (film series), ''Pusher'' film trilogy (1996, 2004), Detective Sergea ...
. In print media: * In
Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...
'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 Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for his creator-owned series '' The Nightly News'', '' The Manhattan Projects'' and '' East of West'', as well as his lengthy stints as a writer on Marvel's '' Fantastic Fo ...
's comic book series '' The Manhattan Projects'', von Braun is a major character. * Satirist
Mort Sahl Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social Satire, satirist, considered the first modern comedian. He pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current e ...
has been credited with mocking von Braun by suggesting Braun's book "I aim at the stars", needed a subtitle: "But sometimes I hit London." 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 Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
'' 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. * '' Gravity's Rainbow'' by Thomas Pynchon. The novel involves British intelligence attempting to predict and avert 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 Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...
novel in which the
Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
occurs during World War II between teams led by Robert H. Goddard and von Braun. * '' Moonglow'' by
Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...
(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. 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 Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
becomes aware of his Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage. Von Braun is a character in the play. In music: * ''Infinite Journey'' (1962),
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
and Apollo program rocket sounds album by various artists including Henry Mazer, which features von Braun as a narrator. * "Wernher von Braun" (1965): A song written and performed by
Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous, often Music and politics, political songs that ...
for an episode of NBC's American version of the BBC TV show ''
That Was The Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...
''; 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 Lehrer saw as von Braun's cavalier attitude toward the consequences of his work in Nazi Germany. 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." There was a widespread rumour that von Braun had sued Lehrer for the song, but this is untrue. * ''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: * A starship in ''
System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produ ...
'' was named the Von Braun * One of the characters in the tutorial of ''
Kerbal Space Program ''Kerbal Space Program'' is a 2015 Space flight simulation game, space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican studio Squad for Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In the game, players dir ...
'' is named "Wernher von Kerman".


Published works

* ''Constructive, theoretical and experimental contributions to the problem of liquid rockets'', July 27, 1934. PhD Thesis at the Univserity of Berlin. Title in German is ''Konstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete'' * ** The proposed vertical take-off interceptor for climbing to 35,000 ft in 60 seconds was rejected by the Luftwaffe in the autumn of 1941 for the
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...
and never produced. (The differing
Bachem Ba 349 The Bachem Ba 349 Natter () is a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor aircraft, interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. After a vertical take-off, which eliminated the n ...
was produced during the 1944 Emergency Fighter Program.) * * Wernher von Braun, Willey Ley, Fred Whipple, Joseph Kaplan, Heinz Haber, Oscar Schachter. Edited by Cornelius Ryan
''Across the Space Frontier''
Viking Press, 1952.Jackson, A. A.
The Mars Project 1948 to 1956.
Fifty-Third Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 21–25, 2019, Washington, DC, United States. Paper IAC-19-E4.2.03.
* * '' The Mars Project'', Urbana, University of Illinois Press, (1953). With Henry J. White, translator. * * ''Saturn Rockets for Space Exploration'', New Mexico 1963 * * '' First Men to the Moon'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1960). Portions of work first appeared in '' This Week'' Magazine. * * ''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. * A collection of speeches delivered by von Braun over the course of his career.


See also

*
Robert Esnault-Pelterie Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian K ...
* List of German inventors and discoverers * List of coupled cousins * List of Nazis *
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...
* Von Braun Interceptor


References


Sources

*


Additional reading

* * * * * * *


External links


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)
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
*


Remembering Von Braun
– by Anthony Young – The Space Review, Monday 10 July 2006




60th anniversary digital reprinting of Colliers Space Series
Houston Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (archived) * CIA documents on Wernher von Braun at the Internet Archive
FBI Records: The Vault – Wernher VonBraun files
at vault.fbi.gov *
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, Wernher von Braun's first secretary. {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Wernher von 1912 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American architects 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American writers 20th-century German architects 20th-century German inventors 20th-century German physicists American aerospace engineers American technology writers Apollo program Architects in the Nazi Party German barons Hugo Award–winning writers Burials at Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia) Center Directors of NASA Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Virginia Directors of the Marshall Space Flight Center Early spaceflight scientists ETH Zurich alumni Französisches Gymnasium Berlin alumni German aerospace engineers German rocket scientists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the American Rocket Society National Medal of Science laureates Operation Paperclip Peenemünde Army Research Center and Airfield People from Huntsville, Alabama People from Piła County People from the Province of Posen Naturalized citizens of the United States American people imprisoned in Germany Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Research and development in Nazi Germany Space advocates SS-Sturmbannführer Technische Universität Berlin alumni V-weapons people Werner von Siemens Ring laureates