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Wernher von Braun was born in 1912 in

Germany to a wealthy Prussian family. He died
in 1977. When Wernher was young, he decided
to explore rocketry. Once he got a telescope
from his mother, and read a book called
Hermann Obrethšs Rocket into Planetary Space,
Wernher decided to be a space scientist. At
the age of sixteen, he organized an observatory
construction team. In 1930, he enrolled in the
Berlin Institute of Technology, and he received
his Ph.D in physics in 1934.

As Wernher von Braun grew older, his interest in

rocketry increased. He was fascinated by
Godderdšs experiments with rockets. Von Braun
brought rocketry information to Becker, a German
army ballistics expert, who was very excited about
the idea. Dr. Braun came to help work on rockets
for a secret army. He worked with Captain
Walter, who made fuel. Von Braun helped design
some of the first rockets for World War II. In
1936 there was talk about a missile. During the
war people sent off rocket missiles to destroy their
targets. Braun made many new discoveries of
rocketry during World War II.

łWe needed money for our experiments, and since

the army was willing to give us help, we didnšt
worry much about the consequences in the distant
future.........We were interested in one thing-the
exploration of space.˛