Wernher Von Braun

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Wernher von Braun And His Contributions
To America’s Space Program

Wernher von Braun was a visionary and idealist. Without von Braun’s initial contributions to the U.S. space program, America would never have made the progress it did and remained competitive with the Soviets during the “Space Race”. Von Braun’s rockets and ingenuity almost single handedly launched the U.S. into space.
Born on March 23, 1912 in Wirsitz, Germany, von Braun was inspired by the works of Hermann Oberth and a telescope from his mother (Semler). His repertoire consisted of a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Berlin Institute Of Technology and a PhD in Physics from the University of Berlin (Sandmen). After becoming a member of the VfR (a German Rocket club) von Braun and a select few were hired to develop rockets by the German Army. While working for the military von Braun led a team that developed the V2. The V2 was the first successful ballistic rocket and is the ancestor of modern rockets (Lampton, 55, 59).
After defecting to the U.S. during Operation Paperclip, von Braun and his team were transferred to several places before being stationed at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico ( Bergaust 126, 129). Von Braun’s initial task was to train the U.S. military on how to use the V2. America’s first launch of the V2 occurred on April 16 1946, this was where America’s interest in rocketry began (Lampton 98). After this success von Braun was moved onto more important ventures. The first was to construct a new rocket that was a notch above the V2.
The Redstone Rocket, designed by von Braun and his team, was named after its arsenal (Bergaust, 191, 193). It was approximately 70 feet tall and twice as large as the V2. With a maximum thrust of 78,000 pounds and a weight of 60,000 lbs. the Redstone could carry 8000 lbs. of payload and travel a 200 mile horizontal distance using alcohol as fuel (Lampton, 107). The Redstone...