Wernher von Braun

It’s the birthday of Wernher von Braun, who was born in 1912 in Wyrzysk, Poland. Braun studied rocketry and mechanical engineering at the Berlin Institute of Technology. He went on to earn a PhD in physics from the University of Berlin in 1934. His thesis, on liquid-propellent rocket engines, was classified by the Nazi regime. Braun joined Germany’s rocket R&D program. By the end of World War II, thousands of the V-2 rockets that he had designed and which were built by slave labor had been fired at London and Antwerp. Braun and members of his team surrendered to the US Army at the end of the war; they were taken to the US, where they formed the nucleus of America’s rocket and space program. Braun’s career culminated in design, development and construction of NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which remains the only launch vehicle to have carried astronauts to the Moon.

Date in History: 23 March 1912