Wernher von Braun

Wernher von Braun (23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German aerospace engineer and space architect, which achieved American citizenship after his transferral in the United States. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the USA.
As a young man, von Braun helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip.
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. He also worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel and beyond, between 1955 and 1957.
In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as Director of the newly formed "Marshall Space Flight Center" and as the chief architect of the "Saturn V" super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the "National Medal of Science".
Von Braun is widely seen as either the "father of space travel","father of rocket science" or "father of the American lunar program". He also advocated a human mission to Mars and was a prolific writer regarding his reserch and studies.

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