History of wernher von braun

(1912-1977)

Who Was Wernher von Braun?

Wernher von Braun was one of the most important German weapons specialists to work on rocketry and jet propulsion in the United States after World War II.

He disapproved of military use of the rocket and surrendered willingly to American troops in 1945, eventually becoming technical director of the U.S. Army Ordnance Guided Missile Project in Alabama. He was also chiefly responsible for rocketry for the nation's space program.

Early Years

Wernher von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Germany (now Wyrzysk, Poland) on March 23, 1912, to a wealthy family.

After receiving a telescope from his mother at a young age, von Braun developed a passion for astronomy. In 1925, now living with his family in Berlin, von Braun began reading Hermann Oberth's Die Rakete zu den Planetenrumen ("The Rocket into Interplanetary Space"), which spurred his desire to better understand science and math, as the subjects related to space exp