A short life of the author
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German-born American aerospace engineer, rocket designer, and popular science writer who was the central figure in the development of rocket technology in the twentieth century. He designed the V-2 missile for Nazi Germany — the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, built using slave labour from concentration camps — and then, after surrendering to American forces in 1945, became the leading architect of the American space programme, culminating in the Saturn V rocket that carried the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. His published writings on space exploration were enormously influential in shaping American public enthusiasm for spaceflight.
Early Life and Rocketry
Von Braun was born to a Prussian aristocratic family in Wirsitz (now Wyrzysk, Poland). His mother gave him a telescope for his confirmation, and his fascination with astronomy fused with an early obsession with rocketry. As a teenager, he joined the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) and came under the mentorship of Hermann Oberth, one of the theoretical pioneers of spaceflight.
In 1932, the German Army’s ordnance department recruited von Braun to develop liquid-fueled rockets. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of Berlin in 1934 with a thesis on rocket combustion that was immediately classified. He became technical director of the army’s rocket programme at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast, where he led the development of the A-4 rocket — later designated the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2, or “Vengeance Weapon 2”).
The V-2 and the Moral Question
The V-2 was a technological marvel — a supersonic ballistic missile capable of delivering a one-ton warhead over 200 miles — and a moral catastrophe. More than 3,000 V-2s were fired at London, Antwerp, and other Allied cities, killing an estimated 9,000 civilians. But the real horror lay in its production: the rockets were assembled at the Mittelwerk underground factory by slave labourers from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. An estimated 20,000 prisoners died in the factory — more people were killed building the V-2 than were killed by it.
Von Braun’s knowledge of and complicity in these atrocities has been debated for decades. He was a member of the SS (commissioned as an officer in 1940) and visited the Mittelwerk factory. He claimed after the war that he was an apolitical engineer focused on the dream of space travel, that he joined the SS under pressure, and that he was briefly arrested by the Gestapo in 1944. Historians have largely rejected the apolitical-engineer narrative while acknowledging that von Braun’s primary motivation was always the pursuit of spaceflight rather than ideological commitment to Nazism.
Operation Paperclip and America
In 1945, von Braun and over a hundred of his engineers surrendered to American forces and were brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip, a programme that recruited German scientists while whitewashing their Nazi connections. He worked initially at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands, New Mexico, before moving to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Huntsville, Alabama, in 1950. Huntsville became “Rocket City,” and von Braun became its most famous citizen.
The Popular Science Writing
Von Braun’s most significant contribution as a writer came through a series of articles in Collier’s magazine (1952–1954) that presented a detailed, illustrated plan for the human exploration of space — including a space station, a Moon landing, and a crewed mission to Mars. Illustrated by Chesley Bonestell and other artists, these articles reached an audience of millions and transformed space exploration from a fringe enthusiasm into a mainstream aspiration.
The Mars Project (1952, originally Das Marsprojekt, 1952) is a technical monograph presenting a detailed engineering plan for a manned expedition to Mars using a fleet of ten spacecraft. It was the first serious technical study of interplanetary travel and remains fascinating as a document of mid-century aerospace ambition.
Conquest of the Moon (1953) and The Exploration of Mars (1956), both collaborations with other writers and artists, extended the Collier’s vision into book form. History of Rocketry and Space Travel (1966, with Frederick I. Ordway III) is a comprehensive history that became the standard reference.
Von Braun also collaborated with Walt Disney on three television specials about space exploration (1955–1957) that were among the most-watched programmes of the decade and directly influenced public support for the space programme.
Saturn V and Apollo
Von Braun’s greatest engineering achievement was the Saturn V rocket — the largest, most powerful rocket ever successfully flown, standing 363 feet tall and generating 7.5 million pounds of thrust at launch. It carried every Apollo mission to the Moon, including Apollo 11, which landed the first humans on the lunar surface on 20 July 1969. Von Braun watched the launch from the firing room at Kennedy Space Centre — the culmination of a dream he had pursued since boyhood.
Legacy
Von Braun died of pancreatic cancer in 1977. His legacy is permanently divided: he was indisputably the most important rocket engineer of the twentieth century and the man most responsible for the Apollo programme, but he achieved his early expertise in the service of a genocidal regime, using slave labour. Tom Lehrer’s satirical song captured the moral ambiguity: “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? / That’s not my department, says Wernher von Braun.”
Collecting von Braun
The Mars Project (1953, University of Illinois Press) in first edition brings $200–$500. Das Marsprojekt (1952, Umschau Verlag) is rarer. The Collier’s magazine issues featuring his space articles (1952–1954) are collectible in their own right. Signed copies are scarce and valuable. History of Rocketry and Space Travel (1966) is affordable and frequently encountered.