[30], Von Braun took a very conservative approach to engineering, designing with ample safety factors and redundant structure. His lab was never able to get sufficient funds to go on with their programs. [50], In 1936, von Braun's rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft. President John F. Kennedy with German aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, [5] He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. Von Braun had a charismatic personality and was known as a ladies' man. In the first half of his life, von Braun was a nonpracticing, "perfunctory" Lutheran, whose affiliation was nominal and not taken seriously. [46] The A-4 rocket would become well known as the V-2.
[146], (left SS after graduation from the school; commissioned in 1940 with date of entry backdated to 1934). But, Prof. Wernher von Braun passed them so close that he was almost touching the corpses. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided not by the laws of materialism but by Christianity and humanity could such an assurance to the world be best secured. Through religion he seeks to know the Creator. Married 1 March 1947 (Saturday), Landshut, Allemagne, to. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the US and beyond between 1955 and 1957.[6]. Austrian Trade Association.
bombers.
The initial broadcast devoted to space exploration was Man in Space, which first went on air on 9 March 1955, drawing 40 million viewers. Film and television [127], During the local summer of 196667, von Braun participated in a field trip to Antarctica, organized for him and several other members of top NASA management. Piccard is said to have responded with encouraging words.[27]. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [139] The conservative approach paid off when a fifth engine was added to the Saturn C-4, producing the Saturn V. The C-4 design had a large crossbeam that could easily absorb the thrust of an additional engine. ", "What Kubrick did with the man from Nasa", "Gallery of Wernher von Braun Moonship Sketches", To Touch the Face of God: The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program, 19571975, "God Touches the Heart of a Scientist through Gideons' Bible Ministry", "Stages to Saturn The Saturn Building Blocks The ABMA Transfer", "Photos: Wernher von Braun, Space Pioneer Remembered", "MR-1: The Four-Inch Flight This New Ocean", "Concluding Remarks by Dr. Wernher von Braun about Mode Selection for the Lunar Landing Program", "The Apollo Program: How NASA sent astronauts to the moon", "Adjustment to Marshall Organization, Announcement No.
Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [67], Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943.
Deciding that Kammler's order was their best bet to defect to the Americans, von Braun fabricated documents and transported 500 of his affiliates to the area around Mittelwerk, where they resumed their work in Bleicherode and surrounding towns after the middle of February 1945. The technical work carried out there had, in the meantime, attracted more and more attention in higher levels. The few pieces of Wernher's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style. August 1892 in Krenzow, Vorpommern; 22. [17]:11 He could play piano pieces of Beethoven and Bach from memory. After moving to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1952, Braun became technical director (later chief) of the U.S. Army ballistic-weapon program. The von Braun family wife Maria, and children Iris, Margrit and Peter, are honorary chairs of the Rocket Citys Apollo 11 50th anniversary celebration, a great thrill, von Braun said. Von Braun played key roles in developing German rocket weapons during World War II, and US rockets in the 1950s and 1960s, especially those used to reach the Moon. [122] Three weeks later on 5 May, von Braun's team successfully launched Alan Shepard into space. Dr. Wernher von Braun (19121977) was one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration in the twentieth century. The Soviet Army was about 160km (100mi) from Peenemnde in early 1945 when von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. WebJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. [22] He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him. [134], In 1973, during a routine physical examination, von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time. [133], Von Braun also developed the idea of a Space Camp that would train children in fields of science and space technologies, as well as help their mental development much the same way sports camps aim at improving physical development. The V2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives, with the Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets. Von Braun has been featured in a number of films and television shows or series: Several fictional characters have been modeled on von Braun: Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. For fear of their documents being destroyed by the SS, von Braun ordered the blueprints to be hidden in an abandoned iron mine in the Harz mountain range near Goslar.
He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States. [50], In response to Goddard's claims, von Braun said "at no time in Germany did I or any of my associates ever see a Goddard patent".
After a night launch from a Pacific island, the first three stages would bring the spacecraft (with the two remaining upper stages attached) to terrestrial escape velocity, with each burn creating an acceleration of 89 times standard gravity. There is evidence, however, that British intelligence and scientists were the first to interview him in depth, eager to gain information that they knew U.S. officials would deny them. Oktober 1974 in Bremen ), ein Sohn Wernher von Quistorps.
[92], Repeating the pattern he had established during his earlier career in Germany, von Braun while directing military rocket development in the real world continued to entertain his engineer-scientist's dream of a future in which rockets would be used for space exploration. [53] The facility was salvaged and most of the engineering team remained unharmed; however, the raids killed von Braun's engine designer Walter Thiel and Chief Engineer Walther, and the rocket program was delayed. "[26], Goddard confirmed his work was used by von Braun in 1944, shortly before the Nazis began firing V-2s at England. However, the manuscript was rejected by no fewer than 18publishers.
After the talk, the young student approached the famous pioneer of high-altitude balloon flight, and stated to him: "You know, I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time." This event signaled the birth of America's space program. Wernher von Braun, (born March 23, 1912, Wirsitz, Germany [now Wyrzysk, Poland]died June 16, 1977, Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.), German engineer who played a prominent role in all aspects of rocketry and space exploration, first in Germany and after World War II in the United States.
This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wernher-von-Braun, New Mexico Museum of Space History - Wernher von Braun, NASA - Marshall History - Wernher Von Braun, Encyclopedia of Alabama - Biography of Wernher von Braun, The History Learning Site - Biography of Wernher von Braun, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Wernher von Braun, Famous Scientists - Biography of Wernher Von Braun, Wernher von Braun - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Wernher von Braun after surrendering to U.S. forces, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This was the first time I really understood that religion was not a cathedral inherited from the past, or a quick prayer at the last minute. [31] In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that, at that time, he "fared relatively rather well under totalitarianism". [28], According to historian Norman Davies, von Braun was able to pursue a career as a rocket scientist in Germany due to a "curious oversight" in the Treaty of Versailles which did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany. There he acquired a copy of Die Rakete zu den Planetenrumen (1923, By Rocket into Planetary Space)[18] by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. [138]:208 Many at NASA headquarters jokingly referred to Marshall as the "Chicago Bridge and Iron Works", but acknowledged that the designs worked.
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Documented accounts also stated he provided solutions to a host of aerospace engineering problems in the 1950s and 1960s. At this time I was already Technical Director at the Army Rocket Center at Peenemnde (Baltic Sea). In 1952, the family had another child named Margrit Ccile.
As director of NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Braun led the development of the large space launch vehicles, Saturn I, IB, and V. The engineering success of each rocket in the Saturn class of space boosters, which contained millions of individual parts, remains unparalleled in rocket history. WebParents and siblings Peter Constantine von Braun is one of three kids of his parents Wernher von Braun and Maria Luise von Quistorp.
WebThe papers of Wernher Von Braun, engineer, rocket scientist, and space program administrator, were given to the Library of Congress by Von Braun between 1962 and 1971. But Could We Build It by 2025? [30]:9294, In January 1943, von Braun became engaged to Dorothee Brill, a physical education teacher in Berlin, and he sought permission to marry from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. [123], The Marshall Center's first major program was the development of Saturn rockets to carry heavy payloads into and beyond Earth orbit. Maria Luise Freifrau von Braun (n e von Quistorp; born 10 June 1928, Berlin) is the widow of rocketry pioneer Wernher von Braun. When the 1975 National Medal of Science was awarded to him in early 1977, he had been hospitalized, and was unable to attend the White House ceremony. He began as an Untersturmfhrer (Second lieutenant) and was promoted three times by Himmler, the last time in June 1943 to SS-Sturmbannfhrer (Major). [99] Von Braun later published small portions of this opus in magazines, to illustrate selected aspects of his Mars project popularizations. "[116] In addition, he met privately with evangelist Billy Graham and with the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.[117], Von Braun developed and published his space station concept during the time of the Cold War when the U.S. government put the containment of the Soviet Union above everything else. Sie war die Ehefrau Wernher von Brauns .
Shortly after this, Von Braun founded his own private rocket development business in Berlin, through which made the first rocket fired by gasoline and liquid oxygen. One day later, the 50th Redstone rocket was successfully launched from Johnston Atoll in the south Pacific as part of Operation Hardtack I. WebWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German engineer and scientist. WebMaria von Braun (born 1928), wife of German-US rocket scientist and engineer Wernher von Braun (1912-1977). [30]:61 However, this thesis was only the public part of von Braun's work. Braun was born into a prosperous aristocratic family. [111], Later in life, he joined an Episcopal congregation,[107] and became increasingly religious.
[12], His father, Magnus Freiherr von Braun (18781972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the Weimar Republic. [86] Whereas von Braun had thousands of engineers who answered to him at Peenemnde, he was now subordinate to "pimply" 26-year-old Jim Hamill, an Army major who possessed only an undergraduate degree in engineering. WebThe Mars Project - Wernher Von Braun 1953 This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Frequently, von Braun worked with fellow German-born space advocate and science writer Willy Ley to publish his concepts, which, unsurprisingly, were heavy on the engineering side and anticipated many technical aspects of space flight that later became reality. WebWernher von Braun (1912-1977) was a German-born rocket engineer who headed up the U.S. space program in Huntsville, Madison County. Two years later Braun received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Berlin. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. However, he was no longer at risk of being fired. He also emphasized the innate impartiality of scientific research, which in itself, he said, has no moral dimensions until its products are put to use by the larger society. In 1976, he became a scientific consultant to Lutz Kayser, the CEO of OTRAG, and a member of the Daimler-Benz board of directors. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. [30]:147148, During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp, his maternal first cousin, in a letter to his father. GV. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Guy Morand, a French resistance fighter who was a prisoner in Dora, testified in 1995 that, after an apparent sabotage attempt, von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged,[62] while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, claimed von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes. After the break-up of the Opel-RAK program, Valier eventually was killed while experimenting with liquid-fueled rockets as means of propulsion in mid-1930, and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age. [86] His loyal Germans still addressed him as "Herr Professor," but Hamill addressed him as "Wernher" and never responded to von Braun's request for more materials. [87], In 1950, at the start of the Korean War, von Braun and his team were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, his home for the next 20 years. In a face-to-face meeting with Herb York at the Pentagon, von Braun made it clear he would go to NASA only if development of the Saturn were allowed to continue. Braun always recognized the value of the work of American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard. Under his leadership, the Redstone, Jupiter-C, Juno, and Pershing missiles were developed. WebDuring his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun mailed a marriage proposal to 18-year-old Maria Luise von Quistorp (born June 10, 1928), his cousin on his mother's side. WebWernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, then German Empire and now Poland. As a student in Berlin, he would often be seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once. He named his Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7. [15], The family moved to Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior.
Also, the firm of Hellmuth Walter at Kiel had been commissioned by the RLM to build a rocket engine for the He-112, so there were two different new rocket motor designs at Neuhardenberg: whereas von Braun's engines were powered by alcohol and liquid oxygen, Walter engines had hydrogen peroxide and calcium permanganate as a catalyst. [132], Nonetheless, on 1 March 1970, von Braun and his family relocated to Washington, DC, when he was assigned the post of NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning at NASA Headquarters.
He was primarily focused on his work in guided missiles for the purpose of furthering science and technology. As part of the Hermes project, they helped refurbish, assemble, and launch a number of V-2s that had been shipped from Allied-occupied Germany to the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.
[96] Upon arrival, astronauts would establish a permanent lunar base in the Sinus Roris region by using the emptied cargo holds of their craft as shelters, and would explore their surroundings for eight weeks. [124][125] During Apollo, he worked closely with former Peenemnde teammate, Kurt H. Debus, the first director of the Kennedy Space Center. Editor, GV. [135], Von Braun helped establish and promote the National Space Institute, a precursor of the present-day National Space Society, in 1975, and became its first president and chairman. Austria. One remarkable feature of this technical tale is that the engineer von Braun anticipated a medical phenomenon that would become apparent only years later: being a veteran astronaut with no history of serious adverse reactions to weightlessness offers no protection against becoming unexpectedly and violently spacesick. He led the team that developed the Jupiter C and then the Saturn V rockets that carried Americans into space and to the Moon. This is a portrait of Maria von Braun, wife of the famous Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) director Wernher von Braun. [30][74], While on an official trip in March, von Braun suffered a complicated fracture of his left arm and shoulder in a car accident after his driver fell asleep at the wheel.
Stuhlinger, Ernst & Ira Ordway, Frederick. Wernher von Braun, (born March 23, 1912, Wirsitz, Germany [now Wyrzysk, Poland]died June 16, 1977, Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.), German engineer who played a prominent role in all aspects of rocketry and space exploration, first in Germany and after World War II in the United States. Rocket researcher Wernher von Braun and his wife at the deplaining at airport Fuhlsbttel on 30th June 1969, for a private visit in Hamburg. WebWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (/vrnr vn bran/ VUR-nr von BROWN, German: [vnhe fn ban]; 23 March 1912 16 June 1977) was a German-American aerospace engineer and space architect.
In February 1970, Dr. Wernher von Braun, director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., was named NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning and transferred to the Agency's Headquarters in Washington D.C. Von Braun initially pushed for a flight engineering concept that called for an Earth orbit rendezvous technique (the approach he had argued for building his space station), but in 1962, he converted to the lunar orbit rendezvous concept that was subsequently realized. [75], Nearing the end of the war, Hitler instructed SS troops to gas all technical men concerned with rocket development. [126], During the late 1960s, von Braun was instrumental in the development of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Grttrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer's house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on a spaceship[5] and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. [17]:3840 He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V-2. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon. As noted above, his excessive caution likely led to the U.S. losing the race to put a man into space with the Soviets.
degree in mechanical engineering and entered the University of Berlin. This became a point of contention with other engineers, who struggled to keep vehicle weight down so that payload could be maximized. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. In his spare time he assisted Oberth in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests. These articles were illustrated by the space artist Chesley Bonestell and were influential in spreading his ideas. [34] Von Braun remarked, "at Peenemnde we had been coddled, here you were counting pennies".
(2015). WebThe German-born American space scientist Wernher von Braun, the "father of space travel," developed the first practical space rockets and launch vehicles. V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age, BBC, September 2014. "[58]:35, In June 1937, at Neuhardenberg (a large field about 70km (43mi) east of Berlin, listed as a reserve airfield in the event of war), one of these latter aircraft was flown with its piston engine shut down during flight by Warsitz, at which time it was propelled by von Braun's rocket power alone. [100], In the hope that its involvement would bring about greater public interest in the future of the space program, von Braun also began working with Walt Disney and the Disney studios as a technical director, initially for three television films about space exploration. Liquid-fueled rocket aircraft and jet-assisted takeoffs were successfully demonstrated, and the long-range ballistic missile A-4 and the supersonic antiaircraft missile Wasserfall were developed. The second test flight took place one day after the Mercury-Redstone BD mission. WebWernher Magnus Maximilian svobodn pn von Braun ( 23. bezna 1912 Wirsitz 16. ervna 1977 Alexandria) byl nmeck konstruktr raket. His injuries were serious, but he insisted that his arm be set in a cast so he could leave the hospital. [1] Prior to his departure, residents of Huntsville, Alabama, along with state local dignitaries, honored his years of service to the Army and NASA He worked as a rocket designer between the 1930s and 1970s. In the spring of 1930, while enrolled in the Berlin Institute of Technology, Braun joined the German Society for Space Travel. In each case, the expedition would use minimum-energy Hohmann transfer orbits for its trips to Mars and back to Earth. [94], The space station (to be constructed using rockets with recoverable and reusable ascent stages) would be a toroid structure, with a diameter of 250 feet (76m); this built on the concept of a rotating wheel-shaped station introduced in 1929 by Herman Potonik in his book The Problem of Space Travel The Rocket Motor. Oktober 1974 in Bremen ), ein Sohn Wernher von Quistorps. [34] Overall FBI conclusions point to Von Braun's involvement in the Nazi Party to be purely for the furthering of his academic career, or out of fear of imprisonment or execution.[34]. WebMaria von Braun (* 10. By December 1934 (when Germany was ruled by dictator Adolf Hitler), Brauns group, which then included one additional engineer and three mechanics, had successfully launched two rockets that rose vertically to more than 1.5 miles (2.4 km). A rising star in the German armys rocket program, Wernher von Braun led the development of the seminal V-2 missile and was a loyal follower of the Third Reich. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog. The complete manuscript, titled Project Mars: A Technical Tale, did not appear as a printed book until December 2006. [58]:30 After he familiarized Warsitz with a test-stand run, showing him the corresponding apparatus in the aircraft, he asked: "Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air? Despite a wheels-up landing and the fuselage having been on fire, it proved to official circles that an aircraft could be flown satisfactorily with a back-thrust system through the rear.
Later in 1977, President Gerald R. Ford awarded him the country's highest science honor, the National Medal of Science in Engineering. He overruled them, so a test mission involving a Redstone on a boilerplate capsule was flown successfully in March. To be effective, a religion has to be backed up by discipline and effort. Jahrhunderts", "Recollections of Childhood: Early Experiences in Rocketry as Told by Werner von Braun 1963", "Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility", "V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age", "Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun", "Highlights in German Rocket Development from 19271945", "Fact check: Nazi scientists were brought to work for U.S. through Operation Paperclip", "Overcast, Paperclip, Osoaviakhim - Looting and the Transfer of German Military Technology", "The Pretty German Seaside Resort with a Dark Past - Start Travel", "Outstanding German Scientists Being Brought to U.S", "Wernher von Braun | Encyclopedia of Alabama", "Yes, the 'Von Braun' Space Hotel Idea Is Wild. However, he continued to work unrestrained for a number of years. During his later career Braun received numerous high awards from U.S. government agencies and from professional societies in the United States and other countries. He traveled to India and hoped that the program would be helpful in bringing a massive educational television project to help the poorest people in that country. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. And later we will fly to the Moon with you at the helm! [48] Later, von Braun would comment: "I have very deep and sincere regret for the victims of the V-2 rockets, but there were victims on both sides A war is a war, and when my country is at war, my duty is to help win that war."[49].
Some people say he was the most important rocket engineer of the 20th century. Von Braun later claimed that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail. Space travel had always fascinated Wernher, and from then on he applied himself to physics and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering. In 1975 he founded the National Space Institute, a private organization whose objective was to gain public support and understanding of space activities. WebMaria von Braun (* 10. Ihr Vater war der Vorstandsvorsitzende der Landwirtschaftsbank Alexander August Gustav Henric Achim Albrecht von Quistorp (* 13.
[58]:41 The subsequent flights with the He-112 used the Walter-rocket instead of von Braun's; it was more reliable, simpler to operate, and safer for the test pilot, Warsitz. In March 1970 Braun was transferred to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., as deputy associate administrator for planning. WebWernher von Braun, born 23 March 1912 (Saturday) - Wyrzysk / Wirsitz, Pologne, deceased 16 June 1977 (Thursday) - Alexandria, Virginia, USA aged 65 years old, Pionnier de l'astronautique.
WebThe Mars Project - Wernher Von Braun 1953 This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Frequently, von Braun worked with fellow German-born space advocate and science writer Willy Ley to publish his concepts, which, unsurprisingly, were heavy on the engineering side and anticipated many technical aspects of space flight that later became reality. WebWernher von Braun (1912-1977) was a German-born rocket engineer who headed up the U.S. space program in Huntsville, Madison County. Two years later Braun received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Berlin. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. However, he was no longer at risk of being fired. He also emphasized the innate impartiality of scientific research, which in itself, he said, has no moral dimensions until its products are put to use by the larger society. In 1976, he became a scientific consultant to Lutz Kayser, the CEO of OTRAG, and a member of the Daimler-Benz board of directors. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. [30]:147148, During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp, his maternal first cousin, in a letter to his father. GV. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Guy Morand, a French resistance fighter who was a prisoner in Dora, testified in 1995 that, after an apparent sabotage attempt, von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged,[62] while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, claimed von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes. After the break-up of the Opel-RAK program, Valier eventually was killed while experimenting with liquid-fueled rockets as means of propulsion in mid-1930, and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age. [86] His loyal Germans still addressed him as "Herr Professor," but Hamill addressed him as "Wernher" and never responded to von Braun's request for more materials. [87], In 1950, at the start of the Korean War, von Braun and his team were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, his home for the next 20 years. In a face-to-face meeting with Herb York at the Pentagon, von Braun made it clear he would go to NASA only if development of the Saturn were allowed to continue. Braun always recognized the value of the work of American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard. Under his leadership, the Redstone, Jupiter-C, Juno, and Pershing missiles were developed. WebDuring his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun mailed a marriage proposal to 18-year-old Maria Luise von Quistorp (born June 10, 1928), his cousin on his mother's side. WebWernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, then German Empire and now Poland. As a student in Berlin, he would often be seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once. He named his Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7. [15], The family moved to Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior.