Wernher von Braun is thought to be the most important rocket engineer in the world. He was born in 1912 in Germany.  Even as a child, he was interested in rocketry.  At the age of 13, he read a book called The Rocket Into Interplanetary Space.  Von Braun was always in trouble for playing with fireworks and small explosives.

At 18, he enrolled in the Berlin Institute of Technology and received his doctorate in physics at age 22.  Two years later he was running Germany’s military rocket program.  In the 1930's, von Braun tested many kinds of rockets.  During World War II, these rockets were converted for use as weapons.  For example, the V-2 rocket was a successful long-range rocket that was used to bomb England.  Near the end of the war, Hitler wanted von Braun and his colleagues killed to protect Germany's rocket technology.  Von Braun and other scientists escaped and surrendered to U.S. soldiers.

Von Braun continued his work on V-2 rockets at the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.  On April 16, 1946, the first American V-2 rocket was launched.  This was the beginning of the U.S. space program.  In 1950, missile activities were moved to Huntsville, Alabama.  Von Braun worked there for 20 years.   The Redstone and Saturn rockets were developed under his leadership.  Von Braun became a U.S. citizen in 1950.  In 1972, he left NASA.  He worked for an aerospace company until 1976.  He died in 1977.  His expertise and technical knowledge of rocketry is a key reason for the success of the U.S. space program.

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