Wernher von Braun at 100: Legacy of a genius

MSNBC ^ | 3/23/12 | Clara Moskowitz

[Borges]

One of the greatest rocket scientists of all time would have been 100 years old on Friday, and his legacy is being celebrated in his adopted home town of Huntsville, Ala.

Wernher von Braun was a German engineer who came to the United States at the end of World War II after working for the German war effort designing the V-2 combat rocket. Despite his past and affiliation with the Nazi party, von Braun went on to build the rockets that would carry U.S. astronauts to the moon and establish America as a leader in space for decades to come. He became a United States citizen in 1955.

"He was very unique," recalled American aerospace engineer David Christensen, who worked with von Braun when he arrived in the United States. "I don't know of another individual, frankly, that's had those capabilities, either then or now, that could do the things he did."

Christensen, who will turn 80 on April 7, will speak along with others who knew von Braun at a University of Alabama commemorative event on Friday in Huntsville.

[Okieshooter]

The book we were discussing was published in 1960 by a Capt Brindley, but there must have been at least 3 similar books. Here is another

http://www.rocketryplanet.com/images/stories/archives/2929/a-guide-to-amateur-rocketry.pdf

[Okieshooter]

Here is a picture of my rocket club at Fort Sill in early 1958