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This is the biography of the German man who created the V-2 rocket and came to the United States to develop missiles.
This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Here the German-born scientist Wernher von Braun detailed what he believed were the problems and possibilities inherent in a projected expedition to Mars. Today von Braun is recognized as the person most responsible for laying the groundwork for public acceptance of America's space program. When President Bush directed NASA in 1989 to prepare plans for an orbiting space station, lunar research bases, and human exploration of Mars, he was largely echoing what von Braun proposed in The Mars Project.
Sheds light on Wernher von Braun's contributions to launching the first US satellite and winning the 'Moon race' with the Saturn V super-booster that powered Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, and their successors to the lunar surface. A gregarious night owl, von Braun also played the piano and cello, and was an avid reader and conversationalist.
A stunning investigation of the roots of the first moon landing forty years ago. This illuminating story of the dawn of the space age reaches back to the reactionary modernism of the Third Reich, using the life of “rocket scientist” Wernher von Braun as its narrative path through the crumbling of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi regime. Von Braun, a blinkered opportunist who could apply only tunnel vision to his meteoric career, stands as an archetype of myriad twentieth century technologists who thrived under regimes of military secrecy and unlimited money. His seamless transformation from developer of the deadly V-2 ballistic missile for Hitler to an American celebrity as the supposed genius behind the golden years of the U.S. space program in the 1950s and 1960s raises haunting questions about the culture of the Cold War, the shared values of technology in totalitarian and democratic societies, and the imperatives of material progress.
Curator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.
This book, a companion volume to the biographical memoir, is a unique collection of photographs compiled from von Braun's life, spanning his childhood through Peenemunde, White Sands, Redstone and NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center to his final years in Washington, D.C.
This collection of speeches by Dr. Wernher von Braun -- a passionate crusader for worthy causes -- touches on a variety of topics, including education, the cold war, religion, and the space program. Mining through more than 500 of von Braun's speeches, given from 1947 to 1976, this important historical document presents an intimate look into the life of one of the most vital contributors to the development of NASA and the American space race.
Written by veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward, who spent years investigating his subject, this biography presents a revealing but even-handed portrait of the father of modern rocketry. As he chronicles Werner von Braun's life, Ward explodes many myths and misconceptions about the controversial genius who was a hero to some, a villain to others. The picture of von Braun that emerges is of a brilliant scientist with limitless curiosity and a drive to achieve his goals at almost any price—from developing the world’s first ballistic missile used against the Allies in World War II to helping launch the first U.S. satellite that hurled Americans into space and the Saturn V super-booster that powered them to the moon. Along the way readers are introduced to the human side of this charismatic visionary who brought the United States into the Space Age.
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Here is Dr. Wernher von Braun’s incredible story – from his early years in Germany, where he gave birth to modern rocketry, to his arrival in the United States and his launching of the first American satellite, the first man on the moon and other stunning space exploration feats. “Every page of Wernher von Braun’s life is a monument to the drama of adventure. Few people have been fighting so hard and, indeed, very few have been subject to so much criticism, so much jealousy, so much defeat—yet, very few have lived to be honored and to harvest the fruits of so many wonderful victories as has this man.” Author Erik Bergaust has had the advantage of knowing von Braun as a friend, hunting and fishing companion, space business associate—and biographer—for more than twenty-five years. Thus, he has been able to present a dramatic portrait of an important personality and a 20th century hero.