Von Braun

[Dave Monroe]

Neufeld, Michael J.  Von Braun: Dreamer of Space,
   Engineer of War.  New York: Knopf, 2007.

The first authoritative biography of Wernher von Braun, chief rocket
engineer of the Third Reich—creator of the infamous V-2 rocket—who
became one of the fathers of the U.S. space program. In this
meticulously researched and vividly written life, Michael J. Neufeld
gives us a man of profound moral complexities, glorified as a
visionary and vilified as a war criminal, a man whose brilliance and
charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding
ambition.

As one of the leading developers of rocket technology for the German
army, von Braun yielded to pressure to join the Nazi Party in 1937 and
reluctantly became an SS officer in 1940. During the war, he
supervised work on the V-2s, which were assembled by starving slave
laborers in a secret underground plant and then fired against London
and Antwerp. Thousands of prisoners died—a fact he well knew and kept
silent about for as long as possible.

When the Allies overran Germany, von Braun and his team surrendered to
the Americans. The U.S. Army immediately recognized his skills and
brought him and his colleagues to America to work on the development
of guided missiles, in a covert operation that became known as Project
Paperclip. He helped launch the first American satellite in 1958 and
headed NASA's launch-vehicle development for the Apollo Moon landing.

Handsome and likable, von Braun dedicated himself to selling the
American public on interplanetary travel and became a household name
in the 1950s, appearing on Disney TV shows and writing for popular
magazines. But he never fully escaped his past, and in later years he
faced increasing questions as his wartime actions slowly came to
light....

http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307262929

Recall ...

Neufeld, Michael J.  The Rocket and the Reich:
   Peenemuende and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era.
   New York: The Free Press, 1995.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/pubs/pubDetail.cfm?pubID=48