Wernher Von Braun: American Boots On The Moon

Reece Hanchett Ms. Manning English I, Period II 30 January 2024.

Wernher von Braun

During the space race that lasted from the mid 50’s to the mid 70’s, the Soviet Union consistently beat the United States. They sent the first satellite into orbit, the first mammal into orbit, the first human into orbit and more. In response, the US, led by President John F. Kennedy, pledged to achieve an incredible feat: American boots on the moon within the decade. Wernher Von Braun, a German rocket scientist, renowned as the pioneer of modern rocketry, played a pivotal role despite his previous involvement in developing Nazi weaponry during World War II. “He authored and co-authored various works on rocket science and physics. Today, von Braun is still

Kennedy challenged America to send a man to the Moon by the end of the decade. With the July 20, 1969 moon landing, the Apollo 11 mission fulfilled both Kennedy’s mission.” (NASA.gov) The successful landings on the moon had a major impact on the world in the way that they changed how we design our rockets. The Saturn V was an incredible feat of engineering and is the only rocket to have ever carried humans to a celestial body outside of Earth. The landings also won the US the space race and proved that they could beat Russia, even if a cosmonaut was the first human in space. During the Cold War, the United States and the USSR were entangled in the space race, which the Soviets were clearly leading in, slightly beating out the US to send something up to space almost every time. The US knew that they would have to do something big to “win” the space race, so they decided to go to the moon. Wernher Von Braun was the man who led the development of the rocket that put the first boots on the moon. Wernher von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Germany, on March 23, 1912. Ironically, he struggled with math and science in school, but once he read a book about space exploration as well as receiving a telescope, he

The A-4 became known as the "V-2," meaning "Vengeance Weapon 2." Adolf Hitler soon became interested in using the V-2 for military purposes (Germany had started World War II in 1939 by invading Poland), and when von Braun refused to cooperate with Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler's attempted takeover of the V-2 project, he was imprisoned on espionage charges.” (Biography.com) He died on June 16, 1977, from cancer at the relatively young age of 65 in Alexandria, Virginia. While he did have three children, only one of them actively works in science, but not in the same field as her father. Despite the Cold War having ended years ago, many missions have been sent to the moon in past years, including India’s Chandrayaan-1, Russia’s (failed) Luna-25, and Japan’s “Sniper” probe. NASA also plans to send another whole set of missions to the moon in the coming decade, with intentions of setting up a permanent presence on the moon, as well as setting up a station dubbed the “Lunar Gateway” which will be used as a resupply station for future missions to Mars and beyond. Wernher von Braun is commonly regarded as the father of modern rocketry, his research into liquid fuel rockets paved the way for future missions and