Early Years

Engineer and rocket expert Wernher von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Germany on March 23, 1912, to a wealthy family. After receiving a telescope from his mother at a young age, von Braun developed a passion for astronomy and physics. In 1925, now living with his family in Berlin, von Braun began readingHermann Oberth's Die Rakete zu den Planetenrumen ("The Rocket into Interplanetary Space"), which spurred his desire to better understand science and math, as the subjects related to space exploration. With his new dedication to his studies, von Braun became a top student. Von Braun enrolled at the Berlin Institute of Technology in the late 1920s, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1932. He then enrolled at the University of Berlin to study physics. While completing his graduate studies, von Braun conducted in-depth research on rocketry, for which he received a grant from the Ordnance Department of Germany. The grant financed von Braun's research at a research station not far from Berlin, next to the solidfuel rocket facility of then-Captain Walter Dornberger, a department head for the Ordnance Department's armed forces. In 1934, he obtained a doctorate degree in physics from the University of Berlin. That same year, von Braun led a group that successfully launched two liquid-fueled rockets more than 1.5 miles.

Last Years in Germany

Moving to a new facility in the early 1940s in Peenemnde, a village in northeastern Germany, von Braun worked with Dornberger and the rest of his crew to again successfully launch rockets, as well as develop the supersonic anti-aircraft missile Wasserfall and the ballistic missile A-4. The A-4 became known as the "V-2," meaning "Vengeance Weapon 2." Adolf Hitler soon became interested in using the V-2 for military purposes (Germany had started World War II in 1939 by invading Poland), and when von Braun refused to cooperate with Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler's attempted takeover of the V-2 project, he was imprisoned on espionage charges. Not long after, however, Hitler personally released von Braun. Despite never receiving approval from von Braun, German forces deployed the V-2 flying bomb against Britain in 1944.

Working in the United States

In 1945, von Braunas well as his brother, Magnus, and von Braun's entire rocketry teamsurrendered willingly to American troops. Signing a one-year contract with the U.S. Army, von Braun was flown to America, where he eventually became technical director of the U.S. Army Ordnance Guided Missile Project in Alabama. There, he was chiefly responsible for manufacturing and launching the first American artificial earth satellite, Explorer I, in 1958. At that time, von Braun was living in Alabama (he moved there in 1952), and had become a legal U.S. citizen. As director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Marshall Space Flight Center, from 1960 to 1970, von Braun developed the Saturn IB andSaturn V space vehicles, as well as the Saturn I rocket for theApollo 8 moon orbit in 1969. Each launch was successful. Because he was good looking and outgoing, von Braun was occasionally the butt of both humorous and serious verbal attacks regarding the notion of former German scientists working for the U.S. space program. In 1972, von Braun became vice president at the aerospace company Fairchild Industries, Inc. He founded the National Space Institute, aimed at gaining public support for space activities, a few years later.

Death and Legacy

Von Braun died on June 16, 1977. Throughout his long career, von Braun received several U.S. honors, as well as awards from professional societies worldwide. He authored and co-authored various works on rocket science and physics. Today, von Braun is still considered one of the most important weapons specialists in the field of rocketry and jet propulsion in the United States.

Wernher von Braun, born in Wirsitz, Germany, (now Wyrzysk, Poland) on 23 March 1912, was the second of three sons. His father, Magnus Freiherr von Braun (18771972), served as a Minister of Agriculture in the Federal Cabinet during the Weimar Republic. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (18861959), was a descendant of medieval European royalty. The young von Braun showed an interest in space early and upon his Lutheran confirmation, his mother gave him a telescope, sealing his passion for astronomy and the realm of outer space. One apocryphal story of the youngster says that he created mayhem in the streets of Berlin by attaching several fireworks to a toy wagon and setting them off. He was nabbed by the local police and held until collected by his father. Wernher did not take to physics and mathematics at first at the boarding school he attended at Ettersburg castle near Weimar. It wasn't until he moved to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog that he found a copy of the book Die Rakete zu den Planetenrumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, rekindling his fascination with the thought of space travel. He was inspired to apply himself to the study of physics and mathematics in order to pursue his interest in rocketry. In 1930, he began to attend the Technical University of Berlin. While there he joined the Verein fr Raumschiffahrt (VfR, the "Spaceflight Society") and joined his hero, Hermann Oberth, in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests. He earned his bachelors degree at the age of 20 from the University of Berlin. As a means of furthering his desire to build large and capable rockets, in 1932 he went to work for the German army to develop ballistic missiles. While engaged in this work, von Braun received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Berlin on July 27, 1934. Between 1932 and 1937, he was employed by the German Ordnance Department. He became technical director of the Peenemuende Rocket Center in 1937, leader of what has been called the rocket team which developed the V2 ballistic missile for the Nazis during World War II. The V 2s were manufactured at a forced labor factory called Mittelwerk. Scholars are still reassessing his role in these controversial activities. The brainchild of von Braun's rocket team operating at a secret laboratory at Peenemnde on the Baltic coast, the V-2 rocket was the immediate antecedent of those used in space exploration programs in the United States and the Soviet Union. A liquid propellant missile extending some 46 feet in length and weighing 27,000 pounds, the V2 flew at speeds in excess of 3,500 miles per hour and delivered a 2,200 pound warhead to a target 500 miles away. First flown in October 1942, it was employed against targets in Europe beginning in September 1944. By the beginning of 1945, it was obvious to von Braun that Germany would not achieve victory against the Allies, and he began planning for the postwar era. Before the Allied capture of the V-2 rocket complex, von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, to the Americans. Von Braun came to the United States in September 1945 under contract with the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps as part of Operation Paperclip. He worked on high altitude firings of captured V-2 rockets at White Sands Proving Ground until he became project director of the Ordnance Research and Development Division Sub-Office (Rocket) at Fort Bliss, Texas. On 28 October 1949, the Secretary of the Army approved the transfer of the Fort Bliss group to Redstone Arsenal. After his arrival in Huntsville in April 1950, Von Braun was appointed Director of Development Operations. He continued in this position under the newly formed Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). Major ABMA development projects under Von Brauns technical direction included the Redstone Rocket, the Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), and the Pershing missile. He and his team of German scientists and engineers were also responsible for developing the Jupiter C Reentry Test Missile and launching the Free W orlds first scientific earth satellite,Explorer 1. Von Braun also became one of the most prominent spokesmen of space exploration in the United States during the 1950s. On 1 July 1960, Von Braun and his team were transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and became the nucleus of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal. In 1970, NASA leadership asked von Braun to move to Washington, DC, to head up the strategic planning effort for the agency. He left his home in Huntsville, AL to serve as Deputy Associate Administrator. On 1 July 1972, he decided to retire from NASA. Von Braun left NASA to become Vice President of Engineering and Development for Fairchild Industries in Germantown, MD. Wernher Von Braun was inducted into the Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame in 1973. He retired in January 1977 due to ill health and died on 16 June 1977.

History of the First Airplane

The Wright Brothers Pilot The First Airplane. Man attempted to achieve flight hundreds of years before he actually accomplished it.
Flight was realized initially with a hot air balloon in 1783, but while this type of travel was amusing, it wasnt great for getting places with the rider at the mercy of wind direction. Then, Sir George Cayel created the first glider that flew with a man on board, but gliders were difficult to control and werent able to travel long distances. The Wright brothers were employed at a bicycle shop in 1890, when they found an interest in flying. The shop taught them that bicycles were fast and near the ground and they used this knowledge in their experiments. The brothers researched airplanes from books and they began to tinker with gliders. Their first attempt had only half the lift that the brothers had calculated. After many improvements to the glider they invented a kite with two wings in 1899. Orville and Wilbur created a wind tunnel to measure drag and lift on their wing designs. The brothers were able to fix errors on earlier designs and developed several sophisticated mechanisms that accurately measured how their wings handled the environment. The brothers continued their work on gliders and finally invented one that could be piloted while it was in the air. This was accomplished when they found out that a rudder in the tail of the plane and flaps on the wings would allow the airplane to be controlled. A pilot would be able to direct where the airplane was going and at what height. The Wright brothers officially became the first team to fly an airplane with a pilot in December, 1903. The first flight lasted for 12 seconds and was a distance of 123 feet. This was one of three flights that were successful for the brothers that day. The longest one was piloted by Wilbur and he flew for 892 feet and remained in the air for 59 seconds. Orville and Wilbur were the first airplane designers that focused on the ability to control and power an aircraft at the same time. They created wing warping to solve the problem of control and added a yaw that included a steerable rudder located at the back of the aircraft. They were also responsible for attaching a lowpowered engine to their invention. The brothers were tenacious in their desire to achieve flight and were instrumental in the advancement of airplanes. They helped create a convenient way for everyone to travel.

Wilbur and Orville Wright spent many years building balloons and kites before they built the first airplane. Their invention was very special because it was the first flying machine.
First Flight by Wright Brothers

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first historic airplane flight, where Orville piloted the plane (called 'the Flyer') with Wilbur running at the wing tip.

The first flight, by Orville, of 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds, at a speed of only 6.8 miles per hour (10.9 km/h) over the ground, was recorded in a famous photograph. The next two flights covered approximately 175 feet (53 m) and 200 feet (61 m), by Wilbur and Orville respectively. Their altitude was about 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground. The following is Orville Wright's account of the final flight of the day:

"Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just about 12 o'clock. The first few hundred feet were up and down, as before, but by the time three hundred ft had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and, in one of its darts downward, struck the ground. The distance over the ground was measured to be 852 feet; the time of the flight was 59 seconds. The frame supporting the front rudder was badly broken, but the main part of the machine was not injured at all. We estimated that the machine could be put in condition for flight again in about a day or two."

Five people witnessed the first flight, including John Daniels who took the famous first flight photo.

Over the next few years, they continued to develop their aircraft. However, they were conscious of needing to gain successful patents to make their aircraft commercially viable. They became reluctant to reveal too much about their flights and disliked reporters taking photos of their designs. Their secret approach and competing claims by other aircraft designers meant that for many years their inventions and flights were met with either indifference or scepticism. However, in 1908, Wilbur began public demonstrations in Le Mans, France. His ability to effortlessly make turns and manoeuvre the aircraft caused a sea change in public opinion, and the display of technically challenging flights caused widespread public acclaim and enthusiasm.

In 1909, Wilbur made a public flight up the Hudson river in New York, circling the Statue of Liberty. The 33 minute flight, witnessed by 1 million New Yorkers, established their fame in America.