Assignment 5- Wernher Von Braun

It's not like it's rocket science! But for Wernher Von Braun this statement would have been true. He lived in Germany from 1912-1977 and was one of the most important rocket developers around in the 1930s-1970s. In 1932 he went to work for the German army to develop ballistic missiles. In July of 1934 while still engaged in his work he earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Berlin and continued to help develop rockets for the German army through the 1930s. He worked in a secret laboratory on the V-2 Rocket which came right before similar ones used in the space exploration programs in the United States and the Soviet Union. By the beginning of 1945 it became apparent to Wernher that the Germans would not win the war against the Allies so he orchestrated the surrender of himself and 500 other top rocket scientists to the Americans. For fifteen years after the end of WW2 he would work with the United States Army to develop ballistic missiles. He then worked in Alabama with the Army Redstone Arsenal team on the Explorer project because the US realized that he was the leading rocket scientist in the world. This is all after Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union, consequently just 50 years ago this past October in 2007. Explorer was the first United States earth satellite sent out into space. In 1962, he was on of the people that started working on the Saturn 5 rocket which eventually took people to the moon. Interestingly enough, Wernher was a technical advisor on three space-related television films that Walt Disney produced in the 1950s. By working together these two men were able to portray the possibilities of this new technology. He worked on the Collier's series, the television show Man in Space and also helped design Tomorrowland in Disneyland in California which had posed quite a problem for original designers. He died in Alexandria, Virginia in 1977.
This really was rocket science!

For images:
http://www.moonhoax.com/images/von%20braun%20nasa.jpg
http://eobglossary.gsfc.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/vonBraun/Images/rocket_firsts.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/bocktherobber/wernher%20von%20braun/von_braun_15.jpg