Werner von Braun

Introduction

Werner von Braun was one of the world's leading rocket engineers. He helped in the war effort with the Germans and also worked with the Americans on their military. Later he worked with NASA.

Werner von Braun's work in Germany

Werner von Braun was responsible for many things in the field of rocketry in Germany. In 1932 von Braun become an advisor in Germany's rocket program. There he experimented with different types of rockets. Von Braun also was one of the major developers in the building of the first ballistic missile, the V2 (Vengeance Weapon 2) rocket, which bombed many enemy cities, during the Second World War. The V2 rocket had destroyed many buildings and killed many people.

In 1944 the chief of the Nazi secret police, Heinrich Himmler, attempted to take over Germany's rocket program and jailed von Braun and the other scientist who worked on the German rocket program. Adolph Hitler later ordered the execution of over 100 rocket experts, including von Braun, in fear of a rocket expert being captured by the allies. On May 2nd, 1944 von Braun was freed and fled to America.

Werner von Braun's Work in the United States

Werner von Braun soon began work once he arrived in the United States. Werner von Braun and his team of rocket engineers went to Las Cruces, New Mexico were they assembled almost 100 V2 rockets. On April 16th, 1946 at White Sands the first V2 rockets were launched in the U.S.

Von Braun and his team later moved to a town called Huntsville. Here they built Redstone rockets for the U.S. Army. In 1956 a new version of the Redstone rocket was built and was called the Jupiter C rocket, which was an intermediate range ballistic missile. On January 31st, 1958 the Jupiter C was used to launch America's first satellite.

In 1958 NASA was formed. Two years later von Braun and his team began working for NASA. They had worked on the Apollo project and other space exploration. Von Braun was the creator of the Saturn V launch vehicle. The Saturn V launch vehicle was used with the Apollo space crafts.

Conclusion

Werner von Braun was considered to be a great man to some and an enemy to others. He has accomplished many things, like the V2 rockets, which was a major help to the German's in the Second World War. He also was a part of NASA in the Apollo programs. Von Braun was a brilliant man who paved the way for modern rocketry.

Works Cited

1.) "A brief history of rockets.". Online. Http://www.kcs.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt Accessed October 2nd, 2000

2.) "von Braun, Wernher.". Online Http://kids.infoplease.lycos/ce6/people/A0851149.html Accessed September 25th, 2000

3.) "Von Braun, Wernher.". Online Http://encarta.msn.com/index/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761554119 Accessed October 1st,2000