Wernher von Braun

Wernher Von Braun was born in 1912, and was a German rocket scientist,
aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the
development of rocket technology. He became engaged with the
possibilities of space exploration by reading science fiction and the work of
a fellow scientist Hermann Oberth, which caused him master calculus and
trigonometry so he could understand the physics of rocketry.
The first rocket Wernher Von Braun attempted to launch was the Aggregate
1 (A1) which was powered by liquid oxygen and ended up failing. In 1934,
the first successful launch occurred the A2 which was redesigned by
Braun and reached an altitude of 2.5km.
In 1937, a new rocket launch base was
V
established, which employed more than
12000 people, one of these was Wernher.
The A4 or as later known as the Vengence 2
(V2) was not launched until 1942 but was
one of the major milestones of spacecraft
history. It was designed as a long distance
rocket and a weapon of mass destruction in
World War II and could travel distances of up
to 640km. On its first flight it recorded an
altitude of 85km and a 200km downrange. In
1944, it was its first destructive launch and
was the first airborne missile to come into combat. It was powered with 25
tonnes of thrust and was fuelled by liquid oxygen and had an alcohol
engine. Only Von Braun and his team knew the greatness of the rockets
guidance system, liquid fuel capacity, speed and design they had
engineered for the contribution to space travel and space exploration.
A liquid propellant missile exceeding 14 metres in length, the V-2 flew at
speeds over 5,633 kilometres per hour and delivered a 998 Kg warhead to a
target 805 Km away. The guidance system for these missiles was imperfect
and many did not reach their targets, but they struck without warning and
there was no defence against them.
When he and his fellow comrades surrendered to the Americans at the end
of WWII, the Americans realised that Braun and his team were an asset and
stationed them in, Texas and Alabama where they set up the Intermediate
Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM). The IRBM was the ancestor of the Saturn V
moon rocket which was a giant booster specifically built to land man on the
moon. Withought Von Brauns Saturn 5 booster the Americans would of
never reached the Moon.

In 1952, Wernher published his concept of

a space station that had a diameter of 75
m and an orbit of 1730 km. He said it
would be a perfect jumping off point of
SOURCE:
Space Station
lunar
expeditions.
He then began to
concept
achieve his dream, which was to develop
a winged rocket plane which would be
launched on a recoverable booster rocket
and he was able to achieve this. They
designed a satellite which they then called the Jupiter C. In 1957 it was
launched reaching an altitude of 960km which in 1958, led to the USs first
Satellite, Explorer 1 being launched with Jupiter C used as a booster rocket.
It signalled the birth of Americas space program.
In 1960, Wernher joined the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)
which
then
led
to
the
development of the Marshall Space Flight
Centre where Wernher was the first
director. The main aim for the Marshall
Space Flight Centre was to develop
Saturn boosters for the Apollo Lunar
Program, capable of sending man to the
moon. The program successfully landed
SOURCE:
Neil Armstrong on the moon along with
Apollo 11
11 other astronauts which would arrive
later. The program included 12 manned missions: 2 into earth orbit (Apollo
7 and 9), 2 into lunar orbit (Apollo 8 and 10), 3 lunar landing missions
(Apollo 11, 12, and 14), and 3 lunar exploration missions (Apollo 15, 16, and
17). Over the course of the Apollo program, six teams of astronauts
explored the surface of our moon.
After the Apollo space program, von Braun felt that his vision for future
spaceflight was different than NASAs, and he retired in June 1972. He died
in 1977. There were many attempts and failures though out the missions
set. Astronauts died and millions of dollars worth of technology, fuel,
equipment and time gone in less than a minute even before they exited the
Earth's atmosphere. Despite all the trial and error, Von Braun and his team
did not give up, they used it as a learning curve to achieve the
unimaginable. These were the contributions mad by Von Braun to space
exploration. Wernher Von Braun was one of the world's first and foremost
rocket engineers and a leading authority on space travel.