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{{Redirect|Werner Braun|the Israeli photographer|Werner Braun (photojournalist)|the German musicologist|Werner Braun (musicologist)}}
{{short description|German, later American, aerospace engineer and space architect (1912–1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name         = Wernher Magnus Maximilian, [[Freiherr]] von Braun
| name               = 
| image              = Wernher von Braun 1960.jpg
| caption            = Von Braun in 1960
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1912|3|23}}
| birth_place        = Wirsitz, [[Posen Province]], [[German Empire]]<br />(now [[Wyrzysk]], [[Poland]])
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1977|6|16|1912|3|23}}
| death_place        = [[Alexandria, Virginia]], U.S.
| burial_place       = [[Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia)]]<ref>Ivy Hill Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia, Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 48952). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>
| nationality        = German
| citizenship        = United States
| occupation         = [[aerospace engineering|Rocket engineer]] and designer, aerospace project manager
| known_for          = NASA engineering program manager; chief architect of the [[Apollo program|Apollo]] [[Saturn V]] rocket; development of the [[V-2 rocket]]
| alma_mater         = {{ublist|[[Technical University of Berlin]] (diploma)|[[Friedrich Wilhelms University of Berlin]] (Ph.D.)}}
<!--| academic_advisors = [[Hermann Oberth]]<ref name="VonBraun">[http://www.oberth-museum.org/index_e.html Hermann Oberth Raumfahrt Museum]. Oberth-museum.org (1989-12-28). Retrieved on 2017-03-31.</ref> # Not a parameter for Infobox person-->| spouse             = {{marriage|Maria Luise von Quistorp|1947}}
| parents            = {{plainlist|
*[[Magnus von Braun (senior)|Magnus von Braun]] (1878–1972)
*Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959)}}
| children           = {{plainlist|
*Iris Careen (born 1948)
*Margrit Cécile (born 1952)
*Peter Constantine (born 1960)}}
| awards             = {{plainlist|
*[[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1962)
*[[Wilhelm Exner Medal]] (1969)<ref name="Editor 2015">Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.</ref>
*[[National Medal of Science]] (1975)}}
| module             = {{Infobox military person
 | embed        = yes
 | allegiance   = {{flag|Nazi Germany|image_size=23px}}
 | branch       = {{flagicon image|Flag Schutzstaffel.svg|23px}} [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]
 | serviceyears = 1937–1945
 | rank         = [[File:SS-Sturmbannführer Collar Rank.svg|25px]]&nbsp;SS-''[[Sturmbannführer]]'' (major)
 | awards       = {{plainlist|
*[[War Merit Cross|Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords]] (1944)
*[[War Merit Cross]], First Class with Swords (1943)}}
 | laterwork    =
 }}
| module2            = {{Infobox scientist|embed=yes
 | fields            = [[Rocket propulsion]]
 | workplaces        = {{ublist|''[[Wehrmacht]]''|[[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]]|[[Redstone Arsenal]]|[[NASA]]|[[Fairchild Industries]]}}
 | thesis_title      = Konstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete
 | thesis_url        =
 | thesis_year       = 1934
 | doctoral_advisor  = [[Erich Schumann]]
 | academic_advisors =
 | doctoral_students =
 | notable_students  =
 | influences        = {{ublist|[[Robert H. Goddard]]|[[Hermann Oberth]]|[[Herman Potočnik]]}}
 | influenced        =
 }}
}}
'''Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun''' (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German–born American [[aerospace engineering|aerospace engineer]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Neufeld|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael J. Neufeld|title=Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War|publisher=Vintage Books|edition=First|pages=xv|quote=Although Wernher von Braun got a doctorate in physics in 1934, he never worked a day in his life thereafter as a scientist. He was an engineer and a manager of engineers, and he used that vocabulary when he was talking to his professional peers.}}</ref> and [[space architecture|space architect]]. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in [[Nazi Germany]] and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the [[United States]].<ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/05/2013521386874374.html Wernher von Braun: History's Most Controversial Figure?], Al Jazeera</ref>

While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and develop 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]].<ref name="AmerExp">{{cite web |last1=Neufeld |first1=Michael J.|authorlink=Michael J. Neufeld|title=Wernher von Braun and the Nazis |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-wernher-von-braun-and-nazis/ |website=American Experience: Chasing the Moon |publisher=PBS |accessdate=24 July 2019 |date=20 May 2019}}</ref> 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 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)|Apollo spacecraft]] to the Moon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch9.htm |title=SP-4206 Stages to Saturn, Chapter 9 |publisher=history.nasa.gov |accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref><ref name="NASAMSFC">{{cite web |publisher=NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html |website=MSFC History Office |title=Biography of Wernher von Braun}}</ref> In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the [[National Academy of Engineering]], and in 1975, he received the [[National Medal of Science]]. He advocated for a [[human mission to Mars]].

==Early life and education==
Wernher von Braun was born on March 23, 1912, in the small town of [[Wyrzysk|Wirsitz]] in the [[Posen Province]], then the [[German Empire]]. He was the second of three sons of a [[nobility|noble]] [[Lutherans|Lutheran]] family. From birth he held the title of ''[[Freiherr]]'' (equivalent to [[Baron]]). The [[German nobility]]'s legal privileges were abolished in 1919, although noble titles could still be used as part of the family name.

His father, [[Magnus von Braun (senior)|Magnus Freiherr von Braun]] (1878–1972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the [[Weimar Republic]]. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European [[Royal family|royalty]] and was a descendant of [[Philip III of France]], [[Valdemar I of Denmark]], [[Robert III of Scotland]], and [[Edward III of England]].<ref>[http://www.erratik-institut.de/7.5.6_O33.14_vonbraun/_O33.14_vonbraun.html "Von Braun, Wernher"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719000053/http://www.erratik-institut.de/7.5.6_O33.14_vonbraun/_O33.14_vonbraun.html |date=July 19, 2011 }}, Erratik Institut. Retrieved 4 February 2011</ref><ref>[http://parsek.yf.ttu.ee/~mars/publikatsioonid/vonBraun.pdf "Dr. Wernher von Braun'i mälestuseks"], Füüsikainstituut. Retrieved 4 February 2011</ref> Wernher had an older brother, the West German diplomat [[Sigismund von Braun]], who served as Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in the 1970s, and a younger brother, also named [[Magnus von Braun]], who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with [[Chrysler]].<ref name="mag8"/>

The family moved to Berlin in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After Wernher's [[Confirmation (Lutheran Church)|Confirmation]], his mother gave him a [[telescope]], and he developed a passion for [[astronomy]].<ref>Magnus Freiherr von Braun, ''Von Ostpreußen bis Texas. Erlebnisse und zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen eines Ostdeutschen''. Stollhamm 1955</ref> Here in 1924, the 12-year-old Wernher, inspired by speed records established by [[Max Valier]] and [[Fritz von Opel]] in rocket-propelled cars,<ref name="recoll"/> caused a major disruption in a crowded street by detonating a toy wagon to which he had attached fireworks. He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him.

Wernher learned to play both the cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer. He took lessons from the composer [[Paul Hindemith]]. The few pieces of Wernher's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style.<ref name="Ward 2005">{{cite book | last=Ward | first=Bob | date=2005 | title=Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun | isbn=978-1-591-14926-2}}</ref>{{rp|11}} He could play piano pieces of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] from memory.

Beginning in 1925, Wernher attended a [[boarding school]] at [[Ettersburg]] Castle near [[Weimar]], where he did not do well in physics and mathematics. There he acquired a copy of ''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' (1923, ''By Rocket into Planetary Space'')<ref>''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' by [[Hermann Oberth]], R. Oldenbourg 1923 {{OCLC|6026491}}{{failed verification|date=May 2020|reason=Source say nothing about von Braun}}</ref> by rocket pioneer [[Hermann Oberth]]. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the [[East Frisia]]n [[North Sea]] island of [[Spiekeroog]]. 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 1930, von Braun attended the [[Technical University of Berlin|Technische Hochschule Berlin]], where he joined the ''Spaceflight Society'' (''[[Verein für Raumschiffahrt]]'' or "VfR") and assisted [[Willy Ley]] in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with [[Hermann Oberth]].<ref>Various sources such as [https://www.questia.com/read/9806294?title=The%20Nazi%20Rocketeers%3a%20Dreams%20of%20Space%20and%20Crimes%20of%20War The Nazi Rocketeers] ({{ISBN|0811733874}} pp 5–8) list the young Wernher von Braun as joining the VfR as an apprentice to Willy Ley, one of the three founders. Later when Ley fled Germany because he was a Jew, von Braun took over the leadership of the ''Verein'' and changed its activity to military development.</ref> In spring 1932, he graduated with a [[diploma]] in [[mechanical engineering]].<ref name="biography.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/wernher-von-braun-9224912 |title=Wernher von Braun biography |publisher=Biography.com |accessdate=March 1, 2014}}</ref> His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology. Wanting to learn more about [[physics]], [[chemistry]], and [[astronomy]], von Braun entered the [[University of Berlin|Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin]] for doctoral studies and graduated with a [[doctorate]] in physics in 1934.<ref name="recoll"/> He also studied at [[ETH Zürich]] for a term from June to October 1931.<ref name="recoll"/> Although he worked mainly on military rockets in his later years there, space travel remained his primary interest.

In 1930, von Braun attended a presentation given by [[Auguste Piccard]]. 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." Piccard is said to have responded with encouraging words.<ref>As related by Auguste's son [[Jacques Piccard]] to fellow deep-sea explorer Hans Fricke, cited in: Fricke H. ''Der Fisch, der aus der Urzeit kam'', pp. 23–24. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2010. {{ISBN|978-3-423-34616-0}} (in German)</ref>

Von Braun was greatly influenced by Oberth, of whom he said:

{{quote|Hermann Oberth was the first who, when thinking about the possibility of spaceships, grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs ... I, myself, owe to him not only the guiding-star of my life, but also my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry and space travel. A place of honor should be reserved in the history of science and technology for his ground-breaking contributions in the field of astronautics.<ref>{{cite web|author=Leo Nutz|author2=Elmar Wild |url=http://www.oberth-museum.org/index_e.html |title=Oberth-museum.org |publisher=Oberth-museum.org |date=December 28, 1989 |accessdate=August 15, 2013}}</ref>}}

==Career in Germany==
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.<ref name="Davies 2006">{{cite book |first= Norman |last= Davies |authorlink= Norman Davies |title= Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory |year= 2006 |location= London |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |isbn= 9780333692851 |oclc= 70401618 |page= 416|title-link= Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory }}</ref>

===Involvement with the Nazi regime===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-Anh.023-02, Peenemünde, Emil Leeb, Fritz Todt, Wernher von Braun.jpg|thumb|Von Braun with [[Fritz Todt]], who utilized [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labor]] for major works across occupied Europe. Von Braun is wearing the [[Nazi party#Party symbols|Nazi party badge]] on his suit lapel.]]

====Nazi Party membership====
Von Braun had an ambivalent and complex relationship with the Nazi [[Third Reich]].<ref name="AmerExp"/> He applied for membership of the [[Nazi Party]] on November 12, 1937, and was issued membership number 5,738,692.<ref name="Neufeld 2007">{{cite book|last=Neufeld|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael J. Neufeld|title=Von Braun Dreamer of Space Engineer of War|date=2007|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0-307-26292-9|url=https://archive.org/details/vonbraundreamero00neuf}}</ref>{{rp|96}}

[[Michael J. Neufeld]], an author of aerospace history and chief of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian's [[National Air and Space Museum]], wrote that ten years after von Braun obtained his Nazi Party membership, he signed an affidavit for the U.S. Army misrepresenting the year of his membership, saying incorrectly:<ref name="Neufeld 2007" />{{rp|96}}

<blockquote>In 1939, I was officially demanded to join the National Socialist Party. At this time I was already Technical Director at the Army Rocket Center at Peenemünde (Baltic Sea). The technical work carried out there had, in the meantime, attracted more and more attention in higher levels. Thus, my refusal to join the party would have meant that I would have to abandon the work of my life. Therefore, I decided to join. My membership in the party did not involve any political activity.</blockquote>

It has not been ascertained whether von Braun's error with regard to the year was deliberate or a simple mistake.<ref name="Neufeld 2007" />{{rp|96}} Neufeld further wrote:

<blockquote>Von Braun, like other Peenemünders, was assigned to the local group in Karlshagen; there is no evidence that he did more than send in his monthly dues. But he is seen in some photographs with the party's swastika pin in his lapel – it was politically useful to demonstrate his membership.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|96}}</blockquote>

Von Braun's later attitude toward the National Socialist regime of the late 1930s and early 1940s was complex. He said that he had been so influenced by the early Nazi promise of release from the [[Post–World War I recession|post–World War I economic effects]], that his patriotic feelings had increased.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that, at that time, he "fared relatively rather well under [[totalitarianism]]".<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|96–97}} Yet, he also wrote that "to us, Hitler was still only a pompous fool with a [[Charlie Chaplin]] moustache"<ref>Spangenburg & Moser. 2009. ''Wernher von Braun, Revised Edition''. Infobase Publishing. p. 33</ref> and that he perceived him as "another [[Napoleon]]" who was "wholly without scruples, a godless man who thought himself the only god".<ref>See Ward (2005), Chapter 5: "Encounters with Hitler."</ref>

====Membership in the Allgemeine SS====
Von Braun joined the SS horseback riding school on 1 November 1933 as an ''SS-[[Anwärter]]''. He left the following year.{{citation needed |date=July 2019}}{{rp|63}} In 1940, he joined the SS<ref name="Ward 2009">{{cite book | last=Ward | first=Bob | date=2009 | title=Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun | publisher=US Naval Institute Press | isbn=978-1591149279}}</ref>{{rp|47}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Wernher%20VonBraun/Wernher%20VonBraun%20Part%202%20of%207/at_download/file|title=Wernher von Braun FBI file|publisher=}}</ref> and was given the rank of [[Untersturmführer]] in the [[Allgemeine SS]] and issued membership number 185,068.{{citation needed |date=July 2019}}{{rp|121}} In 1947, he gave the U.S. War Department this explanation:

{{quote|In spring 1940, one SS-Standartenfuehrer (SS-colonel) Mueller from Greifswald, a bigger town in the vicinity of Peenemünde, looked me up in my office ... and told me that Reichsfuehrer SS [[Himmler]] had sent him with the order to urge me to join the SS. I told him I was so busy with my rocket work that I had no time to spare for any political activity. He then told me, that ... the SS would cost me no time at all. I would be awarded the rank of a[n] "Untersturmfuehrer" (lieutenant) and it were {{sic}} a very definite desire of Himmler that I attend his invitation to join.

I asked Mueller to give me some time for reflection. He agreed.

Realizing that the matter was of highly political significance for the relation between the SS and the Army, I called immediately on my military superior, Dr. Dornberger. He informed me that the SS had for a long time been trying to get their "finger in the pie" of the rocket work. I asked him what to do. He replied on the spot that if I wanted to continue our mutual work, I had no alternative but to join.}}

When shown a picture of himself standing behind Himmler, von Braun claimed to have worn the SS uniform only that one time,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8jIeqqCkDHQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dr+space+von+braun&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t6acT7fXLM3asgbRy_lh&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=uniform&f=false "Dr. Space" pp. 35] "It had been thought that he publicly wore his uniform with swastika armband just once, during one of two formal..."</ref> but in 2002 a former SS officer at Peenemünde told the BBC that von Braun had regularly worn the SS uniform to official meetings. He began as an Untersturmführer (Second lieutenant) and was promoted three times by Himmler, the last time in June 1943 to SS-[[Sturmbannführer]] (Major). Von Braun later claimed that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail.<ref name="Dr. Space">Dr. Space, p. 35. {{cite web |url=http://www.reformation.org/wernher-von-braun.html |title=Wernher von Braun in SS uniform |website=The Reformation Online}}</ref>

===Work under Nazi regime===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-Anh.024-03, Peenemünde, Dornberger, Olbricht, Brandt, v. Braun.jpg|thumb|First rank, from left to right, General Dr [[Walter Dornberger]] (partially hidden), General [[Friedrich Olbricht]] (with Knight's Cross), Major Heinz Brandt, and Wernher von Braun (in civilian dress) at [[Peenemünde]], in March 1941.]]

In 1933, von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the [[National Socialist German Workers Party]] (NSDAP, or Nazi Party) came to power in a coalition government in Germany; rocketry was almost immediately moved onto the national agenda. An artillery captain, [[Walter Dornberger]], arranged an [[Military logistics|Ordnance]] Department research grant for von Braun, who then worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at [[Kummersdorf]].

Von Braun was awarded a doctorate in physics<ref name="astronautix">{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/vonbraun.htm |title=von Braun |publisher=Astronautix.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817172206/http://astronautix.com/astros/vonbraun.htm |archivedate=August 17, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> ([[aerospace engineering]]) on July 27, 1934, from the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]] for a thesis entitled ''"About Combustion Tests"''; his doctoral supervisor was [[Erich Schumann]].<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|61}} However, this thesis was only the public part of von Braun's work. His actual full thesis, ''Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket'' (dated April 16, 1934) was kept classified by the German army, and was not published until 1960.<ref>Konstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete. ''Raketentechnik und Raumfahrtforschung'', Sonderheft 1 (1960), Stuttgart, Germany.</ref> By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two liquid fuel rockets that rose to heights of 2.2 and {{convert|3.5|km|0|abbr=on}}.

At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist [[Robert H. Goddard]]'s research. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the ''[[Aggregate series|Aggregat]]'' (A) series of [[rocket]]s. The A-4 rocket would become well known as the V-2.<ref>{{ScienceWorldBiography|title=Robert Goddard|urlname=Goddard}}</ref> In 1963, von Braun reflected on the history of rocketry, and said of Goddard's work: "His rockets&nbsp;... may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles."<ref name="recoll">{{cite web |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html |title=Recollections of Childhood: Early Experiences in Rocketry as Told by Werner von Braun 1963 |website=MSFC History Office |publisher=NASA Marshall Space Flight Center|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212140739/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html|archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref>

Goddard confirmed his work was used by von Braun in 1944, shortly before the Nazis began firing V-2s at England. A V-2 crashed in Sweden and some parts were sent to an Annapolis lab where Goddard was doing research for the Navy. If this was the so-called [[Sweden during World War II#The Bäckebo rocket|Bäckebo Bomb]], it had been procured by the British in exchange for [[Spitfire]]s; Annapolis would have received some parts from them. Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had invented, and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/04/28/the-man-who-opened-the-door-to-space/ |title=The Man Who Opened the Door to Space |website=Popular Science |date=May 1959}}</ref> 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."<ref>[[Michael J. Neufeld|Neufeld, Michael J.]] 2008. ''Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War''. Vintage. p. 351</ref>

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". This was independently confirmed.<ref name="D">[https://books.google.com/books?id=pQCEqGZ5KHwC&printsec=frontcover&dq "Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun"], Bob Ward. Naval Institute Press, Jul 10, 2013. Retrieved 6 mar 2017</ref> He wrote that claims about his lifting Goddard's work were the furthest from the truth, noting that Goddard's paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", which was studied by von Braun and Oberth, lacked the specificity of liquid-fuel experimentation with rockets.<ref name=D /> It was also confirmed that he was responsible for an estimated 20 patentable innovations related to rocketry, as well as receiving U.S. patents after the war concerning the advancement of rocketry.<ref name=D /> Documented accounts also stated he provided solutions to a host of aerospace engineering problems in the 1950s and 60s.<ref name=D />

There were no German rocket societies after the collapse of the [[Verein für Raumschiffahrt|VfR]], and civilian rocket tests were forbidden by the new [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]]. Only military development was allowed, and to this end, a larger facility was erected at the village of Peenemünde in northern Germany on the [[Baltic Sea]]. Dornberger became the military commander at Peenemünde, with von Braun as technical director. In collaboration with the [[Luftwaffe]], the Peenemünde group developed liquid-fuel rocket engines for aircraft and [[jet-assisted takeoff]]s. They also developed the long-range [[V-2 rocket|A-4]] [[ballistic missile]] and the [[supersonic]] [[Wasserfall missile|Wasserfall]] [[Surface-to-air missile|anti-aircraft missile]].

[[File:V-2 rocket diagram (with English labels).svg|thumb|Schematic of the A4/V2]]
On December 22, 1942, [[Adolf Hitler]] ordered the production of the A-4 as a "vengeance weapon", and the Peenemünde group developed it to target London. Following von Braun's July 7, 1943 presentation of a color movie showing an A-4 taking off, Hitler was so enthusiastic that he personally made von Braun a professor shortly thereafter.<ref>Speer, Albert (1969). ''Erinnerungen'', p. 377. Verlag Ullstein GmbH, Frankfurt a.M. and Berlin, {{ISBN|3-550-06074-2}}.</ref> In Germany at this time, this was an exceptional promotion for an engineer who was only 31 years old.

By that time, the British and [[Soviet intelligence]] agencies were aware of the rocket program and von Braun's team at Peenemünde, based on the intelligence provided by the Polish underground [[Home Army]]. Over the nights of August 17–18, 1943, [[RAF Bomber Command]]'s [[Operation Hydra (1943)|Operation Hydra]] dispatched raids on the Peenemünde camp consisting of 596 aircraft, and dropped 1,800 tons of explosives.<ref name="RAF">{{cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/peenemunde.html|title=Peenemünde, 17 and 18 August 1943|website=RAF History – Bomber Command|accessdate=November 15, 2006|publisher=Royal Air Force|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101001350/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/peenemunde.html|archive-date=November 1, 2006|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Middlebrook|first=Martin|title=The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943|date=1982|publisher=Bobs-Merrill|location=New York|page=222 |isbn=978-0-672-52759-3}}</ref><ref name="Dornberger">{{cite book |last=Dornberger|first=Walter|authorlink=Walter Dornberger|title=V2—Der Schuss ins Weltall|date=1952|publisher=Bechtle Verlag (US translation V-2 Viking Press:New York, 1954)|location=Esslingan|page=164}}</ref>
{{See also|Bombing of Peenemünde in World War II}}

The first combat A-4, renamed the [[V-2 rocket|V-2]] (''Vergeltungswaffe 2'' "Retaliation/Vengeance Weapon 2") for propaganda purposes, was launched toward England on September 7, 1944, only 21 months after the project had been officially commissioned. Von Braun's interest in rockets was specifically for the application of [[spacefaring|space travel]], not for killing people.<ref>[[Michael J. Neufeld|Neufeld, Michael J.]] 2008. ''Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War.'' Vintage. p. 184</ref> After hearing the news from London, he said that "the rocket worked perfectly, except for landing on the wrong planet." Satirist [[Mort Sahl]] has been credited with mocking von Braun by saying "I aim at the stars, but sometimes I hit London."<ref name="sahl">{{cite news |work=Time |title=The Moon and the Clones |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988837,00.html |first=Lance |last=Morrow |date=August 3, 1998 |accessdate=August 30, 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621115914/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988837,00.html|archive-date=21 June 2008}}</ref> That line appears in the film ''[[I Aim at the Stars]]'', a 1960 [[biopic]] of von Braun.

===Experiments with rocket aircraft===
During 1936, von Braun's rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft. [[Ernst Heinkel]] enthusiastically supported their efforts, supplying a [[Heinkel He 72|He-72]] and later two [[Heinkel He 112|He-112s]] for the experiments. Later in 1936, [[Erich Warsitz]] was seconded by the [[Reich Air Ministry|RLM]] to von Braun and Heinkel, because he had been recognized as one of the most experienced test pilots of the time, and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge.<ref name="warsitz">{{cite book | last=Warsitz | first=Lutz | title = The First Jet Pilot: The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz | date = 2009 | publisher = Pen and Sword Books Ltd. | isbn=978-1-84415-818-8}}</ref>{{rp|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? Then, Warsitz, you will be a famous man. And later we will fly to the Moon – with you at the helm!"<ref name="warsitz"/>{{rp|35}}

[[File:He112FARR.jpg|thumb|A regular He 112]]
In June 1937, at [[Neuhardenberg]] (a large field about {{convert|70|km|0|abbr=on}} 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. 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.<ref name="warsitz"/>{{rp|51}}

At the same time, [[Hellmuth Walter]]'s experiments into [[hydrogen peroxide]] based rockets were leading towards light and simple rockets that appeared well-suited for aircraft installation. 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]]. Von Braun's engines used direct combustion and created fire, the Walter devices used hot vapors from a chemical reaction, but both created thrust and provided high speed.<ref name="warsitz"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="warsitz"/>{{rp|55}}

===Slave labor===
SS General [[Hans Kammler]], who as an engineer had constructed several [[concentration camp]]s, including [[Auschwitz]], had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using [[Forced labor in Germany during World War II|concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers]] in the rocket program. [[Arthur Rudolph]], chief engineer of the V-2 rocket factory at Peenemünde, endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon.<ref>{{cite web|author=Tracy Dungan |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mittel.html |title=Mittelbau Overview |publisher=V2rocket.com |accessdate=August 15, 2013}}</ref> Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at [[Mittelwerk]] on many occasions,<ref name="AmerExp"/> and called conditions at the plant "repulsive", but claimed never to have personally witnessed any deaths or beatings, although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred.<ref name="power2">{{cite web |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/excerpts.html |title=Excerpts from 'Power to Explore' |website=MSFC History Office |publisher=NASA Marshall Space Flight Center}}</ref> He denied ever having visited the [[Mittelbau-Dora]] concentration camp itself, where 20,000 died from illness, beatings, hangings, and intolerable working conditions.<ref name="TimeD">{{cite news |date=March 26, 2002 |url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,220201,00.html |work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |title=The Rocket Man's Dark Side |first=Leon |last=Jaroff |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120527011940/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,220201,00.html |archivedate=May 27, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Some prisoners claim von Braun engaged in brutal treatment or approved of it. 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,<ref name="bid">{{Cite book |last=Biddle |first=Wayne |title=Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=yjiPpJOwYXoC&q=flogged+#v=snippet&q=flogged&f=false|isbn=9780393072648 }}{{rp|124–125}}</ref> while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, claimed von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes.<ref name=bid/>{{rp|123–124}} However, these accounts may have been a case of mistaken identity.<ref>[[Michael J. Neufeld]] (February 2002) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1433245 "Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility"], ''[[German Studies Review]]'', Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 57–78</ref> Former [[Buchenwald]] inmate Adam Cabala claims that von Braun went to the concentration camp to pick slave laborers:

<blockquote>... also the German scientists led by Prof. Wernher von Braun were aware of everything daily. As they went along the corridors, they saw the exhaustion of the inmates, their arduous work and their pain. Not one single time did Prof. Wernher von Braun protest against this cruelty during his frequent stays at Dora. Even the aspect of corpses did not touch him: On a small area near the ambulance shed, inmates tortured to death by slave labor and the terror of the overseers were piling up daily. But, Prof. Wernher von Braun passed them so close that he was almost touching the corpses.<ref>Fiedermann, Heß, and Jaeger (1993) ''Das KZ Mittelbau Dora. Ein historischer Abriss'', p. 100, Westkreuz Verlag, Berlin {{ISBN|978-3-92213-194-6}}</ref></blockquote>

Von Braun later claimed that he was aware of the treatment of prisoners, but felt helpless to change the situation.<ref name="StuhlingerOrdway1994">{{cite book|author1=Ernst Stuhlinger|author2=Frederick Ira Ordway|title=Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7pZTAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=December 18, 2011|date=April 1994|publisher=Krieger Pub.|isbn=978-0-89464-842-7|page=42}}</ref>
<!--Highly dubious, self-serving claim. Is it endorsed by any historians? — When asked if von Braun could have protested against the brutal treatment of the slave laborers, von Braun team member [[Konrad Dannenberg]] (a member of the Nazi party since 1932) told ''The Huntsville Times'', "If he had done it, in my opinion, he would have been shot on the spot."<ref>{{cite news |work=The Huntsville Times |title=Aide says von Braun wasn't able to stop slave horrors; Objection would have gotten rocket pioneer shot, Dannenberg says |date=October 4, 2002 |first=Lee |last=Roop |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021026180521/http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?%2Fxml%2Fstory.ssf%2Fhtml_standard.xsl%3F%2Fbase%2Fnews%2F1033754724262943.xml |archivedate=October 26, 2002 |url=http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1033754724262943.xml |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> -->

===Arrest and release by the Nazi regime===
According to André Sellier, a French historian and survivor of the [[Mittelbau-Dora]] concentration camp, [[Heinrich Himmler]] had von Braun come to his Feldkommandostelle Hochwald HQ in [[East Prussia]] in February 1944.<ref name="sellier">{{cite book|last1=Sellier |first=André |date=2003 |title=A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets |place=Chicago, IL |publisher=Ivan R Dee |isbn=978-1-56663-511-0}}</ref> To increase his power-base within the Nazi regime, Himmler was conspiring to use Kammler to gain control of all German armament programs, including the V-2 program at Peenemünde.<ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|38–40}} He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V-2. Von Braun claimed to have replied that the problems were merely technical and he was confident that they would be solved with Dornberger's assistance.

Von Braun had been under [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]] surveillance since October 1943. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues [[Klaus Riedel]] and [[Helmut Gröttrup]] 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<ref name="AmerExp"/> and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments.<ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|38–40}} Combined with Himmler's false charges that von Braun and his colleagues were communist sympathizers and had attempted to sabotage the V-2 program, and considering that von Braun regularly piloted his government-provided airplane that might allow him to escape to England, this led to their arrest by the [[Gestapo]].<ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|38–40}}

The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on March 14 (or March 15),<ref name="grdev">{{cite web |title=Highlights in German Rocket Development from 1927–1945 |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/highlights.html |website=MSFC History Office |publisher=NASA Marshall Space Flight Center}}</ref> 1944, and was taken to a Gestapo cell in [[Szczecin|Stettin]] (now Szczecin, Poland),<ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|38–40}} where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him.

Through Major [[Hans Georg Klamroth]], in charge of the [[Abwehr]] for Peenemünde, Dornberger obtained von Braun's conditional release and [[Albert Speer]], Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue<ref name="AmerExp"/><ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|38–40}}<ref name=walter>{{cite book |last1=Dornberger |first1=Walter |title=V-2 |date=1954 |publisher=The Viking Press, Inc. |location=New York |pages=178–184}}</ref> or turn into a "V-4 program" (the [[Rheinbote]] as a short range ballistic rocket) which in their view would be impossible without von Braun's leadership.<ref>Ward, Bob. 2013. ''Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun''. Naval Institute Press. Ch. 5</ref> In his memoirs, Speer states Hitler had finally conceded that von Braun was to be "protected from all prosecution as long as he is indispensable, difficult though the general consequences arising from the situation."<ref name="Speer">{{cite book|last1=Speer|first1=Albert|title=Inside the Third Reich|date=1995|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|isbn=9781842127353|pages=501–502}}</ref>

===Surrender to the Americans===
[[File:Dornberger-Axter-von Braun.gif|thumb|upright|Von Braun, with his arm in a cast, [[Walter Dornberger]] (on the left) and [[Bernhard Tessmann]] (on the right) surrendered to the Americans just before this May 3, 1945 photo.]]

The [[Soviet Army]] was about {{convert|160|km|-1|abbr=on}} from [[Peenemünde]] in early 1945 when von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. Unwilling to go to the Soviets, von Braun and his staff decided to try to surrender to the Americans. Kammler had ordered relocation of his team to central Germany; however, a conflicting order from an army chief ordered them to join the army and fight. 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 mid of February 1945. 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]].<ref name="Cadbury">{{cite book|last=Cadbury|first=Deborah|authorlink=Deborah Cadbury|title=Space Race|date=2005|publisher=[[BBC Worldwide Limited]]|isbn=978-0-00-721299-6}}</ref> The US [[Counterintelligence Corps]] managed to unveil the location after lengthy interrogations of von Braun, Walter Dornberger, [[Bernhard Tessmann]] and Dieter Huzel and recovered 14 tons of V-2 documents by May 15, 1945, from the [[British Occupation Zone]].<ref name="Neufeld 2007" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=From Peenemünde To Canaveral|last=Huzel|first=Dieter K.|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1962|asin=B0021SD22M}}</ref>

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. His injuries were serious, but he insisted that his arm be set in a cast so he could leave the hospital. Due to this neglect of the injury he had to be hospitalized again a month later where his bones had to be rebroken and realigned.<ref name="Cadbury"/>

In early April, as the Allied forces advanced deeper into Germany, Kammler ordered the engineering team, around 450 specialists, to be moved by train into the town of [[Oberammergau]] in the [[Bavarian Alps]], where they were closely guarded by the SS with orders to execute the team if they were about to fall into enemy hands. However, von Braun managed to convince SS Major Kummer to order the dispersal of the group into nearby villages so that they would not be an easy target for U.S. bombers.<ref name="Cadbury"/> On April 29, 1945, Oberammergau was captured by the Allied forces who seized the majority of the engineering team.

Von Braun and several members of the engineering team, including Dornberger, made it to Austria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://efour4ever.com/44thdivision/vonbrauncapture.html |title=vonBraun |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428051040/http://efour4ever.com/44thdivision/vonbrauncapture.html |archivedate=April 28, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} Capture of Werner von Braun by the 324th Regiment Anti-tank Company</ref> On May 2, 1945, upon finding an American private from the U.S. [[44th Infantry Division (United States)|44th Infantry Division]], von Braun's brother and fellow rocket engineer, Magnus, approached the soldier on a bicycle, calling out in broken English: "My name is Magnus von Braun. My brother invented the V-2. We want to surrender."<ref name="mag8">{{cite news |work=The Huntsville Times |title=Von Braun's brother dies; aided surrender |date=June 27, 2003 |page=1A |first=Shelby G. |last=Spires |quote=Magnus von Braun, the brother of rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun who worked in Huntsville from 1950–1955, died Saturday in Phoenix, Ariz. He was 84. Though not as famous as his older brother, who died in 1977, Magnus von Braun made the first contact with U.S. Army troops to arrange the German rocket team's surrender at the end of World War II.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McDougall |first=Walter A. |title=...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |date=1985 |page=[https://archive.org/details/heavensearth00walt_0/page/44 44] |isbn=978-0-465-02887-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/heavensearth00walt_0/page/44 }}</ref> After the surrender, Wernher von Braun spoke to the press:

<blockquote>We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. 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.<ref>Arts & Entertainment, Biography (1959–1961 series). Mike Wallace, television biography of Wernher von Braun, video clip of the press statement.</ref>
</blockquote>

The American high command was well aware of how important their catch was: von Braun had been at the top of the ''Black List'', the code name for the list of German scientists and engineers targeted for immediate interrogation by U.S. military experts. On June 9, 1945, two days before the originally scheduled handover of the [[Nordhausen (district)|Nordhausen]] and Bleicherode area in [[Thuringia]] to the Soviets, U.S. Army Major Robert B. Staver, Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the [[Ordnance Corps (United States Army)|U.S. Army Ordnance Corps]] in London, and Lt Col R. L. Williams took von Braun and his department chiefs by Jeep from Garmisch to Munich, from where they were flown to Nordhausen. On the following days, a larger group of rocket engineers, among them Helmut Gröttrup, was evacuated from Bleicherode {{convert|40|mi}} southwest to [[Witzenhausen]], a small town in the [[American Zone]].<ref name="McGovern">{{cite book|last=McGovern|first=J|title=Crossbow and Overcast|date=1964|publisher=W. Morrow|location=New York|page=182}}</ref> The [[Red Army]] eventually took over Thuringia as part of the [[Soviet occupation zone]] after July 1, 1945, as agreed by the [[Yalta Conference]].

Von Braun was briefly detained at the "Dustbin" interrogation center at [[Kransberg Castle]], where the elite of the Third Reich's economic, scientific and technological sectors were debriefed by U.S. and British intelligence officials.<ref>{{cite book|last=Speer|first=Albert|editor=Schlie, Ulrich|date=2001|title=Alles, was ich weiß|publisher=F.A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung|isbn=978-3-7766-2092-4|page=12}}</ref> Initially, he was recruited to the U.S. under a program called [[Operation Overcast]], subsequently known as [[Operation Paperclip]]. 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. The team included the young L.S. Snell, then the leading British rocket engineer, later chief designer of [[Rolls-Royce Limited]] and inventor of the [[Concorde]]'s engines. The specific information the British gleaned remained top secret, both from the Americans and from the other allies.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

==American career==
===U.S. Army career===
[[File:NACA's Special Committee on Space Technology.jpg|thumb|Wernher von Braun at a meeting of [[NACA]]'s Special Committee on Space Technology, 1958]]
On June 20, 1945, the [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] approved the transfer of von Braun and his specialists to the United States; however, this was not announced to the public until October 1, 1945.<ref name="paper">{{cite web |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/paperclip.gif |title=Outstanding German Scientists Being Brought to U.S |website=War Department press release |date=October 1, 1945 |publisher=V2Rocket.com |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301144423/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/paperclip.gif |archivedate=March 1, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The first seven technicians arrived in the United States at [[New Castle Army Air Field]], just south of [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], Delaware, on September 20, 1945. They were then flown to Boston and taken by boat to the [[United States Army Military Intelligence|Army Intelligence]] Service post at [[Fort Strong]] in [[Boston Harbor]]. Later, with the exception of von Braun, the men were transferred to [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] in [[Maryland]] to sort out the Peenemünde documents, enabling the scientists to continue their rocketry experiments.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

Finally, von Braun and his remaining Peenemünde staff (see [[List of German rocket scientists in the United States]]) were transferred to their new home at [[Fort Bliss]], a large Army installation just north of [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]]. Von Braun would later write he found it hard to develop a "genuine emotional attachment" to his new surroundings.<ref name="RM">Matthew Brzezinski (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=sfzMcwF5DC4C ''Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age''], pp. 84–92, Henry Holt, New York {{ISBN|978-0-80508-147-3}}</ref> His chief design engineer Walther Reidel became the subject of a December 1946 article "German Scientist Says American Cooking Tasteless; Dislikes Rubberized Chicken", exposing the presence of von Braun's team in the country and drawing criticism from [[Albert Einstein]] and [[John D. Dingell, Sr.|John Dingell]].<ref name=RM/> Requests to improve their living conditions such as laying linoleum over their cracked wood flooring were rejected.<ref name=RM/> Von Braun remarked, "at Peenemünde we had been coddled, here you were counting pennies".<ref name=RM/> Whereas von Braun had thousands of engineers who answered to him at Peenemünde, he was now subordinate to "pimply" 26-year-old Jim Hamill, an Army major who possessed only an undergraduate degree in engineering.<ref name=RM/> 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. Every proposal for new rocket ideas was dismissed.<ref name=RM/>

[[File:Wernher von Braun - ABMA Badge.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Von Braun's badge at ABMA (1957)]]
While at Fort Bliss, they trained military, industrial, and university personnel in the intricacies of rockets and guided missiles. As part of the [[Hermes project]], they helped refurbish, assemble, and launch a number of V-2s that had been shipped from Germany to the [[White Sands Proving Ground]] in [[New Mexico]]. They also continued to study the future potential of rockets for military and research applications. Since they were not permitted to leave Fort Bliss without military escort, von Braun and his colleagues began to refer to themselves only half-jokingly as "PoPs" – "Prisoners of Peace".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Von Braun : dreamer of space, engineer of war |year=2008 |last=Neufeld|first= Michael J.|authorlink=Michael J. Neufeld|publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=9780525435914 |edition=First |location=New York | oclc=982248820 |page=218}}</ref>

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. Between 1952 and 1956,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2349|title=Wernher von Braun {{!}} Encyclopedia of Alabama|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama|access-date=2016-03-27}}</ref> von Braun led the Army's rocket development team at [[Redstone Arsenal]], resulting in the [[Redstone (rocket)|Redstone rocket]], which was used for the first live [[ballistic missile|nuclear ballistic missile]] tests conducted by the United States. He personally witnessed this historic launch and detonation.<ref>{{YouTube|OLbyY76zt9w|Redstone Rocket, Hardtack-Teak Test, August 1958}}</ref> Work on the Redstone led to development of the first high-precision inertial guidance system on the Redstone rocket.<ref name="NTRS">{{Cite journal|author=Bucher, G. C.|author2=Mc Call, J. C.|author3=Ordway, F. I. III|author4=Stuhlinger, E.|title=From Peenemuende to Outer Space. Commemorating the Fiftieth Birthday of Wernher von Braun|journal=NASA Technical Reports Server|hdl=2060/19630006100}}</ref>

As director of the Development Operations Division of the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]], von Braun, with his team, then developed the [[Jupiter-C]], a modified Redstone rocket.<ref name="time58">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862899-1,00.html |work=TIME Magazine |title=Reach for the Stars |date=February 17, 1958|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221064235/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862899-1,00.html|archive-date=21 December 2007}}</ref> The Jupiter-C successfully launched the West's first satellite, [[Explorer 1]], on January 31, 1958. This event signaled the birth of America's space program.

Despite the work on the Redstone rocket, the 12 years from 1945 to 1957 were probably some of the most frustrating for von Braun and his colleagues. In the [[Soviet Union]], [[Sergei Korolev]] and his team of scientists and engineers plowed ahead with several new rocket designs and the [[Sputnik]] program, while the American government was not very interested in von Braun's work or views and embarked only on a very modest rocket-building program. In the meantime, the press tended to dwell on von Braun's past as a member of the SS and the [[slave labor]] used to build his V-2 rockets.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

===Popular concepts for a human presence in space===
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2018}}
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]]. However, he was no longer at risk of being sacked – as American public opinion of Germans began to recover, von Braun found himself increasingly in a position to popularize his ideas. The May 14, 1950, headline of ''[[The Huntsville Times]]'' ("Dr. von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon") might have marked the beginning of these efforts. Von Braun's ideas rode a publicity wave that was created by science fiction movies and stories.

[[File:President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dr. von Braun and Others.jpg|thumb|Von Braun with President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], 1960]]
In 1952, von Braun first published his concept of a crewed [[space station]] in a ''[[Collier's Weekly]]'' magazine series of articles titled "[[Man Will Conquer Space Soon!]]". These articles were illustrated by the space artist [[Chesley Bonestell]] and were influential in spreading his ideas. 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.

The space station (to be constructed using rockets with recoverable and reusable ascent stages) would be a [[Stanford torus|toroid]] structure, with a diameter of {{convert|250|ft|m}}; this built on the concept of a [[rotating wheel space station|rotating wheel-shaped station]] introduced in 1929 by [[Herman Potočnik]] in his book ''The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor''. The space station would spin around a central docking nave to provide [[artificial gravity]], and would be assembled in a {{convert|1,075|mi|km|adj=on}} two-hour, high-inclination [[Earth orbit]] allowing observation of essentially every point on Earth on at least a daily basis. The ultimate purpose of the space station would be to provide an assembly platform for crewed [[Moon|lunar]] expeditions. More than a decade later, the movie version of [[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001: A Space Odyssey'']] would draw heavily on the design concept in its visualization of an orbital space station.

Von Braun envisioned these expeditions as very large-scale undertakings, with a total of 50&nbsp;astronauts traveling in three huge spacecraft (two for crew, one primarily for cargo), each {{convert|49|m|2|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|33|m|2|abbr=on}} in diameter and driven by a rectangular array of 30&nbsp;rocket propulsion engines.<ref name="seh1">{{cite web |url=http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/lunarlan.html |title=Gallery of Wernher von Braun Moonship Sketches |date=Nov 30, 2004 |website=The Space Educator's Handbook |publisher=NASA Johnson Space Center |first=Jerry |last=Woodfill |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530062400/http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/lunarlan.html |archivedate=May 30, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Upon arrival, astronauts would establish a [[Colonization of the Moon|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. This would include a {{convert|400|km|0|adj=on|abbr=on}} expedition in pressurized rovers to the crater [[Harpalus (crater)|Harpalus]] and the [[Mare Imbrium]] foothills.

[[File:Walt Disney and Dr. Wernher von Braun - GPN-2000-000060.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Walt Disney]] and von Braun, seen in 1954 holding a model of his passenger ship, collaborated on a series of three educational films.]]
At this time, von Braun also worked out preliminary concepts for a [[human mission to Mars]] that used the space station as a staging point. His initial plans, published in ''[[The Mars Project]]'' (1952), had envisaged a fleet of 10 spacecraft (each with a mass of 3,720 metric tonnes), three of them uncrewed and each carrying one 200-tonne winged lander<ref name="seh1"/> in addition to cargo, and nine crew vehicles transporting a total of 70&nbsp;astronauts. The engineering and astronautical parameters of this gigantic mission were thoroughly calculated. A later project was much more modest, using only one purely orbital cargo ship and one crewed craft. In each case, the expedition would use minimum-energy [[Hohmann transfer orbit]]s for its trips to Mars and back to Earth.

Before technically formalizing his thoughts on human [[spaceflight]] to Mars, von Braun had written a science fiction novel on the subject, set in the year 1980. However, the manuscript was rejected by no fewer than 18&nbsp;publishers.<ref name="bergaust">{{cite book | last1=Bergaust | first=Erik |date=1976 |title=Wernher von Braun: The authoritative and definitive biographical profile of the father of modern space flight (Hardcover) |publisher=National Space Institute|isbn=978-0-917680-01-4 }}</ref> Von Braun later published small portions of this opus in magazines, to illustrate selected aspects of his Mars project popularizations. The complete manuscript, titled ''Project MARS: A Technical Tale'', did not appear as a printed book until December 2006.<ref>Wernher von Braun (2006) ''Project Mars : a technical tale'', Apogee Books, Burlington, Ontario {{ISBN|978-0-97382-033-1}}</ref>

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 [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney studios]] as a technical director, initially for three television films about space exploration. The initial broadcast devoted to space exploration was ''[[Man in Space]]'', which first went on air on March 9, 1955, drawing 40 million viewers.<ref name=RM/><ref name="ley195510">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1955-10/Galaxy_1955_10#page/n61/mode/2up | title=For Your Information | work=Galaxy | date=October 1955 | accessdate=16 December 2013 | author=Ley, Willy | pages=60}}</ref><ref>Pat Williams, Jim Denney (2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=lSJIngvkCsAC ''How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life''], p. 237, Health Communications Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-75730-231-2}}</ref>

Later (in 1959) von Braun published a short booklet, condensed from episodes that had appeared in ''[[This Week Magazine]]'' before—describing his updated concept of the first crewed lunar landing.<ref>"Wernher von Braun (January 2000) "[[First Men to the Moon]]". Reprint by Henry Holt & Co., Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-03030-295-4}}</ref> The scenario included only a single and relatively small spacecraft—a winged lander with a crew of only two experienced pilots who had already circumnavigated the Moon on an earlier mission. The brute-force [[direct ascent]] flight schedule used a rocket design with five sequential stages, loosely based on the [[Nova (rocket)|Nova]] designs that were under discussion at this time. 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 8–9 times [[standard gravity]]. Residual propellant in the third stage would be used for the deceleration intended to commence only a few hundred kilometers above the landing site in a crater near the lunar north pole. The fourth stage provided acceleration to lunar escape velocity, while the fifth stage would be responsible for a deceleration during return to the Earth to a residual speed that allows [[aerocapture]] of the spacecraft ending in a runway landing, much in the way of the [[Space Shuttle]]. 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]].

===Religious conversion===
In the first half of his life, von Braun was a nonpracticing, "perfunctory" Lutheran, whose affiliation was nominal and not taken seriously.<ref>[[Michael J. Neufeld|Neufeld, Michael J.]] (2008) ''Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War'', Vintage. pp. 4; 230</ref> As described by [[Ernst Stuhlinger]] and [[Frederick I. Ordway III]]: "Throughout his younger years, von Braun did not show signs of religious devotion, or even an interest in things related to the church or to biblical teachings. In fact, he was known to his friends as a 'merry heathen' (''fröhlicher Heide'')."<ref>Stuhlinger, Ernst & Ira Ordway, Frederick. 1994. ''Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir''. Krieger Pub, p. 270</ref> Nevertheless, in 1945 he explained his decision to surrender to the Western Allies, rather than Russians, as being influenced by a desire to share rocket technology with people who followed the Bible. In 1946,<ref name=neu/>{{rp|469}} he attended church in [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]], Texas, and underwent a [[religious conversion]] to [[evangelical Christianity]].<ref name="Rocket Man">Mallon, Thomas (October 22, 2007) [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/10/22/rocket-man "Rocket Man"], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', Access date: January 8, 2015.</ref> In an unnamed religious magazine he stated:

{{quote|One day in [[Fort Bliss]], a neighbor called and asked if I would like to go to church with him. I accepted, because I wanted to see if the American church was just a country club as I'd been led to expect. Instead, I found a small, white frame building ... in the hot Texas sun on a browned-grass lot ... Together, these people make a live, vibrant community. 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. To be effective, a religion has to be backed up by discipline and effort.|von Braun<ref name=neu>[[Michael J. Neufeld|Neufeld, Michael J.]] (2007) ''Wernher von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War'', Knoff, New York {{ISBN|978-0-30726-292-9}}</ref>{{rp|229–230}}}}

On the motives behind this conversion, [[Michael J. Neufeld]] is of the opinion that he turned to religion "to pacify his own conscience",<ref>Walker, Mark (2008) [http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/a-20th-century-faust "A 20th-Century Faust"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160146/http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/a-20th-century-faust |date=April 2, 2015 }}, ''[[American Scientist]]'', Access: January 8, 2015</ref> whereas [[University of Southampton]] scholar Kendrick Oliver said that von Braun was presumably moved "by a desire to find a new direction for his life after the moral chaos of his service for the Third Reich".<ref>Oliver, Kendrick (2012) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tCPrLX8KOeAC&source=gbs_navlinks_s ''To Touch the Face of God: The Sacred, the Profane, and the American Space Program, 1957–1975''], p. 23, Johns Hopkins University Press {{ISBN|978-1-42140-788-3}}''</ref> Having "concluded one bad bargain with the Devil, perhaps now he felt a need to have God securely at his side".<ref>Oliver, 2012, p. 24</ref>

Later in life, he joined an Episcopal congregation,<ref name="Rocket Man"/> and became increasingly religious.<ref>Stuhlinger, Ernst & Ira Ordway, Frederick. 1994. ''Wernher von Braun, crusader for space: a biographical memoir''. Krieger Pub, p. 270: "Those who knew him through the 1960s and 1970s noticed during these years that a new element began to surface in his conversations, and also in his speeches and his writings: a growing interest in religious thought."</ref> He publicly spoke and wrote about the complementarity of [[science and religion]], the afterlife of the soul, and his belief in God.<ref>von Braun, Wernher (1963) "My Faith: A Space-Age Scientist Tells Why He Must Believe in God", (February 10, 1963) ''[[The American Weekly]]'', p. 2, New York: The Hearst Corporation.</ref><ref>See von Braun's speeches in ''The voice of Dr. Wernher Von Brain: An Anthology''. Apogee Books Publication; ed. by Irene E. Powell-Willhite: These touch "a variety of topics, including education, the cold war, religion, and the space program".</ref> He stated, "Through science man strives to learn more of the mysteries of creation. Through religion he seeks to know the Creator."<ref>See the same article by von Braun, Wernher, published as "Science and religion", in ''[[Rome Daily American]]'', September 13, 1966. Available in ''[http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Publications/naf/NAF-1966-10-00.pdf New Age Frontiersn]'' (Oct. 1966) ''United Family'', Vol- II, No. 10.</ref> He was interviewed by the [[Assemblies of God]] pastor C. M. Ward, as stating, "The farther we probe into space, the greater my faith."<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Farther_We_Probe_Into_Space_the_Grea.html?id=3pa5HwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y ''"The Farther We Probe into Space, the Greater my Faith": C.M.Ward’s account of His Interview with Dr. Warner von Braun'']'' (1966) Springfield, MO: Assemblies of God, 17 pp. Mini-pamphlet.''</ref> In addition, he met privately with evangelist [[Billy Graham]] and with the pacifist leader [[Martin Luther King Jr.]].<ref>Ward, Bob (2013) ''Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun'', Ch. 1: "The Accursed Blessing", Naval Institute Press {{oclc|857079205}}</ref>

[[File:Kennedy vonbraun 19may63 02.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Von Braun with [[John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] at Redstone Arsenal in 1963]]
[[File:S-IC engines and Von Braun.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Von Braun with the [[F-1 (rocket engine)|F-1]] engines of the Saturn V first stage at the [[U.S. Space and Rocket Center]]]]
[[File:19700202-wernher-von-braun-nasa.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Still with his [[rocket]] [[Scale model|models]], von Braun is pictured in his new office at NASA headquarters in 1970]]

===Concepts for orbital warfare===
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. The fact that his space station – if armed with missiles that could be easily adapted from those already available at this time – would give the United States space superiority in both orbital and [[Orbital bombardment|orbit-to-ground]] warfare did not escape him. In his popular writings, von Braun elaborated on them in several of his books and articles, but he took care to qualify such military applications as "particularly dreadful". This much-less-peaceful aspect of von Braun's "drive for space" has been reviewed by Michael J. Neufeld from the Space History Division of the [[National Air and Space Museum]] in Washington.<ref>[[Michael J. Neufeld|Neufeld MJ]]: "Space superiority: Wernher von Braun's campaign for a nuclear-armed space station, 1946–1956". ''Space Policy'' 2006; 22:52–62.</ref>

===NASA career===
[[File:Ap11-KSC-69P-632.jpg|thumb|upright|Von Braun during the [[Apollo 11]] launch, with binoculars to watch it]]
The [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] had been tasked with building a rocket to lift satellites into orbit, but the resulting [[Vanguard rocket]] launch system was unreliable. In 1957, with the launch of [[Sputnik 1]], a growing belief within the United States existed that it was lagging behind the Soviet Union in the emerging [[Space Race]]. American authorities then chose to use von Braun and his German team's experience with missiles to create an orbital launch vehicle. Von Braun had originally proposed such an idea in 1954, but it was denied at the time.<ref name=RM/>

NASA was established by law on July 29, 1958. One day later, the 50th Redstone rocket was successfully launched from [[Johnston Atoll]] in the south Pacific as part of [[Operation Hardtack I]]. Two years later, NASA opened the Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]] (ABMA) development team led by von Braun was transferred to NASA. 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.<ref name="abma1">{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch2.htm |title=Stages to Saturn – The Saturn Building Blocks – The ABMA Transfer |publisher=NASA}}</ref> Von Braun became the center's first director on 1 July 1960 and held the position until 27 January 1970.<ref>{{cite web | title=Photos: Wernher von Braun, Space Pioneer Remembered | website=Space.com | date=2012| url=https://www.space.com/15000-photos-wernher-von-braun-space-pioneer.html | access-date=2019-02-15}}</ref>

Von Braun's early years at NASA included a failed "[[Mercury-Redstone 1|four-inch flight]]" during which the first uncrewed [[Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle|Mercury-Redstone rocket]] only rose a few inches before settling back onto the launch pad. The launch failure was later determined to be the result of a "power plug with one prong shorter than the other because a worker filed it to make it fit". Because of the difference in the length of one prong, the launch system detected the difference in the power disconnection as a "cut-off signal to the engine". The system stopped the launch, and the incident created a "nadir of morale in Project Mercury".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch9-7.htm |title=MR-1: The Four-Inch Flight – This New Ocean |website=NASA |last1=Swenson Jr. |first1=Loyd S. |last2=Grimwood |first2=James M. |last3=Alexander |first3=Charles C. |archive-date=9 May 2001| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010509060939/http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch9-7.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

After the flight of [[Mercury-Redstone 2]] in January 1961 experienced a string of problems, von Braun insisted on one more test before the Redstone could be deemed man-rated. His overly cautious nature brought about clashes with other people involved in the program, who argued that MR-2's technical issues were simple and had been resolved shortly after the flight. He overruled them, so a test mission involving a Redstone on a boilerplate capsule was flown successfully in March. Von Braun's stubbornness was blamed for the inability of the U.S. to launch a crewed space mission before the Soviet Union, which ended up putting the first man in space the following month.<ref>{{cite book |title=Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974 |publisher=NASA |first=Asif A |last=Siddiqi |year=2000 |isbn=9781780393018 |location=Washington, DC |id=SP-2000-4408 |lccn=00038684 |oclc=48909645 |page=283 }}</ref>

[[File:Apollo 11 mission officials relax after Apollo 11 liftoff - GPN-2002-000026.jpg|thumb|left|Charles W. Mathews, von Braun, [[George Mueller (NASA)|George Mueller]], and Lt. Gen. [[Samuel C. Phillips]] in the [[Launch Control Center]] following the successful [[Apollo 11]] liftoff on July 16, 1969]]
The Marshall Center's first major program was the development of [[Saturn rocket]]s to carry heavy [[Payload (air and space craft)|payloads]] into and beyond [[Earth orbit]]. From this, the [[Apollo program]] for crewed Moon flights was developed. 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.<ref name="apmon">{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/apollo6.pdf |title=Concluding Remarks by Dr. Wernher von Braun about Mode Selection for the Lunar Landing Program |website=Lunar Orbit Rendezvous File |publisher=NASA Historical Reference Collection |date=June 7, 1962}}</ref> During Apollo, he worked closely with former Peenemünde teammate, [[Kurt H. Debus]], the first director of the Kennedy Space Center. His dream to help mankind set foot on the [[Moon]] became a reality on July 16, 1969, when a Marshall-developed [[Saturn V]] rocket launched the crew of [[Apollo 11]] on its historic eight-day mission. Over the course of the program, Saturn V rockets enabled six teams of astronauts to reach the surface of the Moon.

During the late 1960s, von Braun was instrumental in the development of the [[U.S. Space and Rocket Center]] in Huntsville. The desk from which he guided America's entry in the space race remains on display there. He also was instrumental in the launching of the experimental [[Applications Technology Satellite]]. He traveled to [[India]] and hoped that the program would be helpful for bringing a massive [[educational television]] project to help the poorest people in that country.<ref>Spangenburg & Moser. 2009. ''Wernher von Braun, Revised Edition.'' Infobase Publishing. p. 129-130</ref><ref>See:'' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZaLvVLiP4U Dr. Wernher von Braun talks about ATSF satellite project]''</ref>

During the local summer of 1966–67, von Braun participated in a field trip to [[Antarctica]], organized for him and several other members of top NASA management.<ref>"Space Man's Look at Antarctica". ''Popular Science'', Vol. 190, No. 5, May 1967, pp. 114–116.</ref> The goal of the field trip was to determine whether the experience gained by U.S. scientific and technological community during the exploration of Antarctic wastelands would be useful for the crewed exploration of space. Von Braun was mainly interested in management of the scientific effort on Antarctic research stations, logistics, habitation, and life support, and in using the barren Antarctic terrain like the glacial dry valleys to test the equipment that one day would be used to look for signs of life on Mars and other worlds.

In an internal memo dated January 16, 1969,<ref name="intan">{{cite web |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/announcement_4.pdf |title=Adjustment to Marshall Organization, Announcement No. 4 |website=MSFC History Office |publisher=NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |date=January 16, 1969 |first=Wernher |last=von Braun |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621130244/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/announcement_4.pdf |archivedate=June 21, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> von Braun had confirmed to his staff that he would stay on as a center director at Huntsville to head the [[Apollo Applications Program]]. He referred to this time as a moment in his life when he felt the strong need to pray, stating "I certainly prayed a lot before and during the crucial Apollo flights".<ref>Bergaust, Erik. 1976. ''Wernher von Braun: The Authoritative and Definitive Biographical Profile of the Father of Modern Space Flight''. National Space Institute. p. 117</ref> A few months later, on occasion of the first Moon landing, he publicly expressed his optimism that the Saturn V carrier system would continue to be developed, advocating human missions to Mars in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Next, Mars and Beyond |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901107,00.html |quote=Even as man prepared to take his first tentative extraterrestrial steps, other celestial adventures beckoned him. The shape and scope of the post-Apollo crewed space program remained hazy, and a great deal depends on the safe and successful outcome of [[Apollo 11]]. Well before the lunar flight was launched, though, [[NASA]] was casting eyes on targets far beyond the Moon. The most inviting: the earth's close, and probably most hospitable, planetary neighbor. Given the same energy and dedication that took them to the Moon, says Wernher von Braun, Americans could land on Mars as early as 1982. |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=July 25, 1969 |accessdate=June 21, 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320200436/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901107,00.html|archive-date=20 March 2007}}</ref>

Nonetheless, on March 1, 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. After a series of conflicts associated with the truncation of the Apollo program, and facing severe budget constraints, von Braun retired from NASA on May 26, 1972. Not only had it become evident by this time that NASA and his visions for future U.S. space flight projects were incompatible, but also it was perhaps even more frustrating for him to see popular support for a continued presence of man in space wane dramatically once the goal to reach the Moon had been accomplished.

[[File:VonBraunLucas.jpg|thumb|left|Von Braun and [[William R. Lucas]], the first and third Marshall Space Flight Center directors, viewing a [[Spacelab]] model in 1974]]
Von Braun also developed the idea of a [[United States Space Camp|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.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|354–355}}

===Career after NASA===
After leaving NASA, von Braun became Vice President for Engineering and Development at the aerospace company [[Fairchild (aircraft manufacturer)|Fairchild Industries]] in [[Germantown, Maryland|Germantown]], Maryland, on July 1, 1972.

In 1973, during a routine physical examination, von Braun was diagnosed with [[Renal cell carcinoma|kidney cancer]], which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time.<ref>German sources mostly specify the cancer as renal, while American biographies unanimously just mention cancer. The time when von Braun learned about the disease is generally given as between 1973 and 1976. The characteristics of renal cell carcinoma, which has a bad prognosis even today, do not rule out either time limit.</ref> Von Braun continued his work to the extent possible, which included accepting invitations to speak at colleges and universities, as he was eager to cultivate interest in human spaceflight and rocketry, particularly his desire to encourage the next generation of aerospace engineers.

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. In 1976, he became scientific consultant to [[Lutz Kayser]], the CEO of [[OTRAG]], and a member of the [[Daimler-Benz]] board of directors. However, his deteriorating health forced him to retire from Fairchild on December 31, 1976. When the 1975 [[National Medal of Science]] was awarded to him in early 1977, he was hospitalized, and unable to attend the White House ceremony.

==Engineering philosophy==
Von Braun's insistence on further tests after [[Mercury-Redstone 2]] flew higher than planned has been identified as contributing to the Soviet Union's success in launching the first human in space.<ref>{{cite book|last=Launius|first=Roger|title=To Reach the Higher Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles|date=2002|publisher=University of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-2245-8}}</ref> The [[Mercury-Redstone BD]] flight was successful, but took up the launch slot that could have put [[Alan Shepard]] into space three weeks ahead of [[Yuri Gagarin]]. His Soviet counterpart [[Sergei Korolev]] insisted on two successful flights with dogs before risking Gagarin's life on a crewed attempt. The second test flight took place one day after the Mercury-Redstone BD mission.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>

Von Braun took a very conservative approach to engineering, designing with ample [[Factor of safety|safety factors]] and [[Redundancy (engineering)|redundant structure]]. This became a point of contention with other engineers, who struggled to keep vehicle weight down so that payload could be maximized. As noted above, his excessive caution likely led to the U.S. losing the race to put a man into space with the Soviets. [[Krafft Arnold Ehricke|Krafft Ehricke]] likened von Braun's approach to building the [[Brooklyn Bridge]].<ref name="NASA SP-4404">{{cite book | last = Sloop | first = John L. | title= Liquid hydrogen as a propulsion fuel, 1945–1959 | series = The NASA history series | volume = SP-4404 | date = 1978 | url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19790008823.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|208}} Many at NASA headquarters jokingly referred to [[Marshall Space Flight Center|Marshall]] as the "[[Chicago Bridge & Iron Company|Chicago Bridge and Iron Works]]", but acknowledged that the designs worked.<ref name="NOVA 1999">{{cite episode | title = To the Moon | series = NOVA | date = July 13, 1999 | url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2610tothemoon.html}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|371}}

==Personal life==
[[File:Maria von Braun 6330121 edited.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Maria von Braun, wife of Wernher von Braun]]

Von Braun had a charismatic personality and was known as a ladies' man. As a student in Berlin, he would often be seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|63}} He later had a succession of affairs within the secretarial and [[human computer|computer]] pool at Peenemünde.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|92–94}}

In January 1943, von Braun became engaged to Dorothee Brill, a physical education teacher in Berlin, and he sought permission to marry from the [[RuSHA|SS Race and Settlement Office]]. However, the engagement was broken due to his mother's opposition.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|146–147}} He had an affair in Paris with a French woman later in 1943, while preparing V-2 launch sites in northeastern France. She was imprisoned for collaboration after the war and became destitute.<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|147–148}}

During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp (born {{birth date|1928|06|10}}), his maternal first cousin, in a letter to his father. He married her in a Lutheran church in [[Landshut]], Germany on March 1, 1947, having received permission to go back to Germany and return with his bride. Shortly after, he became an evangelical Christian. He returned to New York on March 26, 1947, with his wife, father, and mother. On December 9, 1948, the von Brauns' first daughter Iris Careen was born at Fort Bliss Army Hospital.<ref name="time58"/> The couple had two more children: Margrit Cécile in 1952, and Peter Constantine in 1960.

On April 15, 1955, von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

==Death==
[[File:Von Braun Wernher grave.jpg|thumb|Grave of Wernher von Braun in [[Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia)|Ivy Hill Cemetery]] (Alexandria, Virginia), 2008.]]
Von Braun died on June 16, 1977 of pancreatic cancer in [[Alexandria, Virginia]] at age 65.<ref>{{cite news |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Von Braun, Who Helped Put Men on Moon, Dies at 65: German-Born Scientist Succumbs to Pancreatic Cancer; Was Pioneer in Space Rocket Technology |date=June 17, 1977 |page=A2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Wernher von Braun, Rocket Pioneer, Dies; Wernher von Braun, Pioneer in Space Travel and Rocketry, Dies at 65 |quote=Wernher von Braun, the master rocket builder and pioneer of space travel, died of cancer Thursday morning. He was 65 years old. |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 1977 }}</ref> He is buried at the [[Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia)|Ivy Hill Cemetery]]. His gravestone cites Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork" (KJV).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19%3A1&version=KJV|title=Psalm 19:1|website=Bible Gateway}}</ref>

==Recognition and critique==
[[File:VonBraunFamily.jpg|thumb|In 1970, [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]], Alabama honored von Braun's years of service with a series of events including the unveiling of a plaque in his honor. Pictured (l–r), his daughter Iris, wife [[Maria Luise von Quistorp|Maria]], U.S. Sen. [[John Sparkman]], Alabama Gov. [[Albert Brewer]], von Braun, son Peter, and daughter Margrit.]]
*[[Apollo program]] director [[Samuel C. Phillips|Sam Phillips]] was quoted as saying that he did not think that the United States would have reached the Moon as quickly as it did without von Braun's help. Later, after discussing it with colleagues, he amended this to say that he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all.<ref name="Ward 2005"/>{{rp|167}}<!-- interview January 19, 2006 Alan Lawrie on ''The Space Show'', author of ''Saturn'', presumably in his book as well --->
*In a TV interview on the occasion of the US Moon landing in July 1969, [[Helmut Gröttrup]], staff member in Peenemünde and later head of the German collective in the [[Soviet rocketry]] program, set up the thesis that automatic space probes can get the same amount of scientific data with an effort of only 10 or 20 percent of the costs, and that the money should be better spent on other purposes. Von Braun justified the expenses for manned operations with the following argument: "I think somehow space flights for the first time give mankind a chance to become immortal. Once this earth will no longer be able to support life we can emigrate to other places which are better suited for our life."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXLPlIzyGlY|title=Ex-German Rocket Scientists. US rocket programme 1969|date=1969-07-17|access-date=2020-02-01|publisher=[[Thames Television]]|type=video}}</ref>
*The [[von Braun (crater)|von Braun crater]] on the Moon is named after him.
*Von Braun received a total of 12 honorary doctorates; among them, on January 8, 1963, one from the [[Technical University of Berlin]], from which he had graduated.
*Von Braun was elected to the [[National Academy of Engineering]] in 1967.
*In [[Huntsville]], [[Alabama]]:
**Von Braun was responsible for the creation of the Research Institute at the [[University of Alabama in Huntsville]]. As a result of his vision, the university is one of the leading universities in the nation for NASA-sponsored research. The building housing the university's Research Institute was named in his honor, Von Braun Research Hall, in 2000.
**The [[Von Braun Center]] (built in 1975) in Huntsville is named in von Braun's honor.
**The [[Von Braun Astronomical Society]] in Huntsville was founded as the Rocket City Astronomical Association by von Braun and was later renamed after him.
*Several German cities ([[Bonn]], [[Neu-Isenburg]], [[Mannheim]], [[Mainz]]), and dozens of smaller towns have streets named after von Braun.
*Scrutiny of von Braun's use of forced labor at [[Mittelwerk]] intensified again in 1984 when [[Arthur Rudolph]], one of his top affiliates from the A-4/V2 through the Apollo projects, left the United States and was forced to renounce his citizenship in place of the alternative of being tried for war crimes.<ref name="AmerExp"/><ref>{{cite book| first=William E., Sr.| last=Winterstein| title=Secrets Of The Space Age| publisher=Robert D. Reed Publishers| date=March 1, 2005| isbn=978-1-931741-49-1}}</ref>
*A science- and engineering-oriented [[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]] in [[Friedberg, Bavaria]] was named after von Braun in 1979. In response to rising criticism, a school committee decided in 1995, after lengthy deliberations, to keep the name but "to address von Braun's ambiguity in the advanced history classes". In 2012, [[Nazi concentration camp]] survivor David Salz gave a speech in Friedberg, calling out to the public to "Do everything to make this name disappear from this school!".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/friedberg/Ein-Ort-der-das-Herz-zittern-laesst-id19317211.html| title=Gymnasium Friedberg: Ein Ort, der das Herz zittern lässt| trans-title=Friedberg Gymnasium: A place that can make the heart tremble| language=de| last=Rother| first=Marcel| newspaper=Augsburger Allgemeine|date= March 22, 2012| publisher=Presse-Druck- und Verlags-GmbH| location=Augsburg| access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/-geburtstag-von-wernher-von-braun-tut-alles-damit-dieser-name-verschwindet-1.1315946| title=Streit um Wernher-von-Braun-Gymnasium "Tut alles, damit dieser Name verschwindet"| trans-title=Dispute over the Wernher von Braun Gymnasium "Do everything to make this name disappear"| language=de| last=Mayr| first=Stefan| newspaper=Süddeutschen Zeitung| date=March 23, 2012| publisher=Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH| location=Munich| access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref> In February 2014, the school was finally renamed "Staatliches Gymnasium Friedberg" and distanced itself from the name von Braun, citing he was "no role-model for our pupils".
*An avenue in the Annadale section of [[Staten Island]], New York, was named after him in 1977.
*Von Braun was voted into the [[U.S. Space and Rocket Center]] Hall of Fame in 2007.

==Summary of SS career==
*SS number: 185,068
*Nazi Party number: 5,738,692<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|96}}

===Dates of rank===
*SS-[[Anwärter]]: November 1, 1933 (''Candidate; received rank upon joining SS Riding School'')
*SS-[[Mann (military rank)|Mann]]: July 1934 (Private)

(''left SS after graduation from the school; commissioned in 1940 with date of entry backdated to 1934'')
*SS-[[Untersturmführer]]: May 1, 1940 (Second Lieutenant)
*SS-[[Obersturmführer]]: November 9, 1941 (First Lieutenant)
*SS-[[Hauptsturmführer]]: November 9, 1942 (Captain)
*SS-[[Sturmbannführer]]: June 28, 1943 (Major)<ref name="astronautix"/>

==Honors==
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
*[[War Merit Cross]], First Class with Swords in 1943
*[[War Merit Cross|Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross]] in 1944
*Elected Honorary Fellow of the [[British Interplanetary Society]] in 1949<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of the British Interplanetary Society |number=2 |volume=9| title=Prof Dr Wernher von Braun| date=March 1950}}</ref>
*Commander's Cross of the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] in 1959
*[[Elliott Cresson Medal]] in 1962<ref>{{Citation
 | title= Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 – Report of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives
 | pages= 217 | date= June 12, 1963 | publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office
 | url=https://history.nasa.gov/AAchronologies/1962.pdf | accessdate= July 14, 2014}}</ref>
*Inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame in 1965<ref>Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006.</ref>
*[[Langley Gold Medal]] in 1967<ref>{{cite news | title=Dr von Braun Honoured | date=July 22, 1967 | publisher=Iliffe Transport Publications | url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%201054.html | work=Flight International | page=1030 | accessdate=April 16, 2009 |format=PDF }}</ref>
{{col-break|gap=4em}}
*[[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] in 1969
*Inducted into the [[International Space Hall of Fame]] in 1969
*[[Wilhelm Exner Medal]] in 1969.<ref name="Editor 2015"/>
*[[National Medal of Science]] in 1975
*[[Werner von Siemens Ring]] in 1975
*Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] in 1975<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
*[[Civitan International]] World Citizenship Award in 1970<ref>{{cite book |last= Armbrester |first= Margaret E. |title= The Civitan Story |date= 1992 |publisher= Ebsco Media |location= Birmingham, AL |pages= 95, 105 }}</ref>
*[[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] (1982)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35552939/beatrice_daily_sun/|title=Hall of Famer|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Beatrice Daily Sun|location=Beatrice, Nebraska|date=July 26, 1982|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
{{col-end}}

==In popular culture==
{{more citations needed|date=April 2017}}
'''Film and television'''
Von Braun has been featured in a number of films and television shows or series:
*"[[Man in Space]]", "[[Man and the Moon]]" and "[[Mars and Beyond]]" - episodes of ''Disneyland'' which originally aired on March 9, 1955, December 28, 1955 and December 4, 1957 respectively.
*''[[I Aim at the Stars]]'' (1960) - also titled ''Wernher von Braun'' and ''Ich greife nach den Sternen'' ("I Reach for the Stars"); von Braun played by [[Curd Jürgens]], his wife Maria played by [[Victoria Shaw (actress)|Victoria Shaw]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |title=I Aim at the Stars (1960) |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=27789 |accessdate=August 10, 2010}}</ref> Although it was said that satirist [[Mort Sahl]] suggested the subtitle "But Sometimes I Hit London", the line appears in the film itself, spoken by actor [[James Daly (actor)|James Daly]] who plays the cynical American press officer.
*''[[Frozen Flashes]]'' (1967) - based on [[Julius Mader]]'s documentary report "The Secret of Huntsville"; von Braun (only referred to as the "rocket baron") played by {{ill|Dietrich Körner|de}}.
*''[[Perfumed Nightmare]]'' (1977) - the main character, a Filipino who dreams of spaceflight, established a Wernher von Braun fan club in [[Laguna (province)|Laguna]], [[Philippines]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Perfumed Nightmare|url=http://kidlattahimik.de/en/the-films/the-perfumed-nightmare/|website=Kidlat Tahimik|accessdate=16 May 2020|date=2016}}</ref>
*''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' (1979) - the first city established on the moon by Earth Federation is named after him.
*''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'' (TV, 1998) - von Braun played by [[Norbert Weisser]].
*''[[October Sky]]'' - a 1999 biographical film on the life of Homer Hickam and his fascination with rockets. von Braun (played by Joe Digaetran) is seen as an inspiration to a young Homer.
*''[[Space Race (TV series)|Space Race]]'' (TV, [[BBC]] co-production with [[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]] (Germany), Channel One TV (Russia) and [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] TV (USA), 2005) - von Braun played by [[Richard Dillane]].
*''The Lost Von Braun'' - a documentary by Aron Ranen. Interviews with Ernst Stuhlinger, Konrad Dannenberg, Karl Sendler, Alex Baum, Eli Rosenbaum (DOJ) and von Braun's NASA secretary Bonnie Holmes.
*''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080628074648/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/episode/0,2144,2617731,00.html Wernher von Braun – Rocket Man for War and Peace]'' - A three part ([https://web.archive.org/web/20080628074648/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/episode/0,2144,2617731,00.html part1], [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628100312/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/episode/0,2144,2617732,00.html part 2], [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628170558/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/episode/0,2144,2617733,00.html part 3]) documentary – in English – from the German International channel [[DW-TV]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,266,00.html |title=DW-TV |publisher=Dw-world.de |date=June 25, 2011 |accessdate=August 15, 2013}}</ref> Original German version [http://www.mdr.de/doku/archiv/geschichte/109389.html Wernher von Braun – Der Mann für die Wunderwaffen] by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Played by [[Ludwig Blochberger]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ortmanns |first1=Nadine |title=Interview mit Schauspieler Ludwig Blochberger – kontinente |url=https://www.kontinente.org/de/interview_mit_schauspieler_ludwig_blochberger.html |accessdate=21 February 2019 |work=www.kontinente.org}}</ref>
*''[[American Genius]]'' television series (2015): ''Space Race'' (Season 1, episode 5) - von Braun played by [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6166737/ Corey Maher].
*''[[Timeless (TV series)|Timeless]]'' television series (2016): ''Party at Castle Varlar'' (Season 1, episode 4) - von Braun played by [[Christian Oliver]].
*''[[Project Blue Book (TV series)|Project Blue Book]]'' television series (2019): "Operation Paperclip" (Season 1, episode 4) - von Braun played by [[Thomas Kretschmann]].
*''[[For All Mankind (TV series)|For All Mankind]]'' web television series (2019): "Red Moon" (Season 1, episode 1), "He Built the Saturn V" (Season 1, episode 2), "Home Again" (Season 1, episode 6) - von Braun played by [[Colm Feore]].
*[[Hunters (2020 TV series)|Hunters]] (fictional web television series on [[Amazon Prime Video]], 2020): "The Jewish Question" (Season 1, episode 8) - von Braun played by [[Victor Slezak]].

Several fictional characters have been modeled on von Braun:
*''[[Dr. Strangelove|Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]'' (1964): Dr Strangelove is usually held to be based at least partly on von Braun.<ref>Neufield, ''Von Braun'', p. 406. Dr Strangelove was widely held to be a composite of [[Edward Teller]], [[Herman Kahn]], and von Braun; but only von Braun shared Strangelove's Nazi past.</ref>
*''[[Alphaville (film)|Alphaville]]'' (1965): the missing scientist played by [[Howard Vernon]] is called Professor von Braun.

In print media:
*In [[Warren Ellis]]'s graphic novel ''[[Ministry of Space]]'', von Braun is a supporting character, settling in Britain after World War II, and being essential for the realization of the British space program.
*In [[Jonathan Hickman]]'s comic book series ''[[The Manhattan Projects]]'', von Braun is a major character.

In literature:
*''[[The Good German]]'' by Joseph Kanon. Von Braun and other scientists are said to have been implicated in the use of slave labor at Peenemünde; their transfer to the U.S. forms part of the narrative.
*''[[Space (novel)|Space]]'' by [[James Michener]]. Von Braun and other German scientists are brought to the U.S. and form a vital part of the U.S. efforts to reach space.
*''[[Gravity's Rainbow]]'' by Thomas Pynchon. The novel involves British intelligence attempting to avert and predict V-2 rocket attacks. The work even includes a gyroscopic equation for the V2. The first portion of the novel, "Beyond The Zero", begins with a quotation from von Braun: "Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death."
*''V-S Day'' by [[Allen Steele]] is a 2014 [[alternate history]] novel in which the [[space race]] occurs during World War II between teams led by [[Robert H. Goddard]] and von Braun.
*''[[Moonglow: A Novel|Moonglow]]'' by [[Michael Chabon]] (2016) includes a fictionalized description of the search for and capture of Von Braun by the US Army, and his role in the Nazi V-2 program and subsequently in the US space program.

In theatre:
*''Rocket City, Alabam','' a stage play by [[Mark Saltzman#Theater|Mark Saltzman]], weaves von Braun's real life with a fictional plot in which a young [[Jewish]] woman in [[Huntsville, Alabama]] becomes aware of his Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage. Von Braun is a character in the play.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.skokietheater.org/rocket-city-alabam.html
 |title=MadKap Productions presents Rocket City, Alabam'
 |publisher=[[Skokie, Illinois|Skokie]] [Illinois] Theatre and MadKap Productions
 |year=2017
 |accessdate=November 29, 2017
}}</ref>

In music:
*[[Infinite Journey (LP album)|''Infinite Journey'']] (1962), [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] and Apollo program rocket sounds album by various artists including [[Henry Mazer]], which features von Braun as a narrator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Florida-Symphony-Orchestra-And-Bach-Festival-Choir-Journey-To-Infinity-/release/3812613|title=Florida Symphony Orchestra And Bach Festival Choir – Journey To Infinity|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2017-05-21}}</ref>
*"Wernher von Braun" (1965):<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKn1aSOyOs |title=Wernher von Braun|author=Tom Lehrer |publisher=Youtube.com |date=December 1, 2008 |accessdate=August 15, 2013}}</ref> A song written and performed by [[Tom Lehrer]] for an episode of [[NBC]]'s American version of the BBC TV show ''[[That Was The Week That Was]]''; the song was later included in Lehrer's albums ''[[That Was The Year That Was]]'' and ''[[The Remains of Tom Lehrer]]''. It was a satire on what some saw as von Braun's cavalier attitude toward the consequences of his work in Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/28/1046407753895.html |title=Stop clapping, this is serious |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=March 1, 2003 |accessdate=October 7, 2013}}</ref>
*''The Last Days of Pompeii'' (1991): A rock opera by [[Grant Hart]]'s post-[[Hüsker Dü]] alternative rock group [[Nova Mob]], in which von Braun features as a character. The album includes a song called "Wernher von Braun".

==Published works==
*{{cite book |date=July 6, 1939 |title=Proposal for a Workable Fighter with Rocket Drive}}
**The proposed vertical take-off interceptor<ref name="Klee">{{cite book |last=Klee|first=Ernst|author2=Merk, Otto|title=The Birth of the Missile:The Secrets of Peenemünde|date=1963|publisher=Gerhard Stalling Verlag (English translation 1965)|location=Hamburg|pages=89, 95}}</ref> for climbing to 35,000&nbsp;ft in 60 seconds was rejected by the Luftwaffe in the autumn of 1941<ref name=Dornberger/>{{Rp|258}} for the [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet]]<ref name="Neufeld 2007"/>{{rp|151}} and never produced. (The differing [[Bachem Ba 349]] was produced during the 1944 [[Emergency Fighter Program]].)
*{{cite book |date=May 1945 |title='Survey' of Previous Liquid Rocket Development in Germany and Future Prospects}}<ref name="Ordway">{{cite book |last=Ordway |first=Frederick I, III|authorlink=Frederick I. Ordway III |author2=Sharpe, Mitchell R |date=1979 |title=The Rocket Team|series= Apogee Books Space Series 36 |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell|location=New York|isbn=978-1-894959-00-1 |pages=308, 425, 509}}</ref>
*{{cite book |date=September 15, 1954 |title=A Minimum Satellite Vehicle Based on Components Available from Developments of the Army Ordnance Corps |quote=It would be a blow to U.S. prestige if we did not [launch a satellite] first.}}<ref name=Ordway/>
*''[[The Mars Project]]'', Urbana, University of Illinois Press, (1953). With Henry J. White, translator.
*{{cite book |editor=Arthur C. Clarke |editor-link=Arthur C. Clarke |date=1967 |title=German Rocketry, The Coming of the Space Age |location=New York |publisher=Meredith Press|ref=none}}
*''[[First Men to the Moon]]'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1958). Portions of work first appeared in ''[[This Week (magazine)|This Week]]'' Magazine.
*{{cite book |date=March 1970 |title=Daily Journals of Wernher von Braun, May 1958 – March 1970}}<ref name=Ordway/>
*''History of Rocketry & Space Travel'', New York, Crowell (1975). With Frederick I. Ordway III.
**{{cite book |edition=2nd |author=Estate of Wernher von Braun |authorlink=Wernher von Braun|author2=Ordway III, Frederick I|author2-link=Frederick I. Ordway III|author3=Dooling, David Jr.|last-author-amp=yes |title=Space Travel: A History|origyear=1975 |date=1985|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-181898-1|ref=none}}
*''The Rocket's Red Glare'', Garden City, New York: Anchor Press, (1976). With Frederick I. Ordway III.
*''Project Mars: A Technical Tale'', Apogee Books, Toronto (2006). A previously unpublished science fiction story by von Braun. Accompanied by paintings from [[Chesley Bonestell]] and von Braun's own technical papers on the proposed project.
*{{cite book|last=Willhite|first=Irene E.|title=The Voice of Dr. Wernher von Braun: An Anthology|series=Apogee Books Space Series|publisher=Collector's Guide Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1894959643|ref=none}} A collection of speeches delivered by von Braun over the course of his career.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Physics|Spaceflight|World War II}}
*[[Robert Esnault-Pelterie]]
*[[List of German inventors and discoverers]]
*[[List of coupled cousins]]
*[[Pedro Paulet]]
*[[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book
 |last=Bilstein
 |first=Roger
 |title=Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles
 |publisher=University Press of Florida
 |date=2003
 |isbn=978-0-813-02691-6
 |url-access=registration
 |url=https://archive.org/details/stagestosaturnte0000bils|ref=none
 }}
*{{Cite book|last1= Dunar |first1=Andrew J |surname2= Waring |given2=Stephen P |date=1999 |title=Power to Explore: a History of Marshall Space Flight Center, 1960–1990 |place= Washington, DC | publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |isbn=978-0-16-058992-8 |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/book/toc.html|ref=none}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Freeman |first=Marsha |date=1993 |title=How we got to the Moon: The Story of the German Space Pioneers (Paperback) |publisher=21st Century Science Associates (October 1993) |isbn=978-0-9628134-1-2|ref=none}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Lasby |first=Clarence G |date=1971 |title=Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War |place=New York|publisher=Atheneum |asin=B0006CKBHY|ref=none}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Neufeld |first=Michael J|authorlink=Michael J. Neufeld|date=1994 |title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era |place=New York |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-02-922895-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951|ref=none}}
*{{cite book|last=Petersen |first=Michael B.
 |title=Missiles for the Fatherland: Peenemuende, National Socialism and the V-2 missile
 |series=Cambridge Centennial of Flight
 |publisher=Cambridge University Press
 |location=New York
 |date=2009
 |isbn=978-0-521-88270-5
 |oclc=644940362|ref=none
}}
*{{cite book|last=Tompkins |first=Phillip K.
 |title=Organizational Communication Imperatives: Lessons of the Space Program
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |date=1993
 |isbn=978-0195329667|ref=none
}}

==External links==
{{commons|Wernher von Braun}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://astrotalkuk.org/2013/02/15/episode-61-reg-turnill-on-wernher-von-braun/ Audiopodcast on Astrotalkuk.org] BBC journalist Reg Turnill talking in 2011 about his personal memories of and interviews with Dr Wernher von Braun.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150428051040/http://efour4ever.com/44thdivision/vonbrauncapture.html The capture of von Braun and his men] – At the U.S. 44th Infantry Division website (archived)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060904183514/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/ Wernher von Braun page] – Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) History Office (archived)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060903012832/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/disney_article.html "The Disney – von Braun Collaboration and its Influence on Space Exploration"] – by Mike Wright, MSFC (archived)
*[http://www.numericana.com/arms/vonbraun.htm Coat-of-arms of Dr. Wernher von Braun]
*[http://www.thespacereview.com/article/656/1 Remembering Von Braun] – by Anthony Young – The Space Review Monday, July 10, 2006
*[http://www.dora.de/index_cten.html The Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial]
*[http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/vonbraun.html V2rocket.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075213/http://www.aiaahouston.org/newsletter/ 60th anniversary digital reprinting of Colliers Space Series], ''Houston Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics'' (archived)
*[[iarchive:BraunWernherVon|CIA documents on Dr. Wernher von Braun]] on the [[Internet Archive]]
*[https://vault.fbi.gov/Wernher%20VonBraun FBI Records: The Vault – Wernher VonBraun files] at vault.fbi.gov
*{{isfdb name|37768}}
*{{LCAuth|n79114065|Wernher von Braun|35|ue}}

{{NASAMSFC}}
{{Systems Engineering}}
{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|engineering}}
{{NASA space program}}

{{Authority control}}

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