When Neil Amstrong made his small step for humans on July 16, 1969, but a big one for humanity, the young space race took another turn. The Saturn V expedition wrote one of the most important pages in history.
But behind the stars there were a number of people without whom the mission could never have been accomplished. This is the case of Werhner von Braun, a German mechanical and aeronautical engineer, one of the designers of Saturn V, whose story is, to say the least, curious.
Von Braun was fascinated by the science fiction world created by Jules Verne and his novels such as "Journey to the Moon". In 1932 he completed his mechanical engineering studies at the Polytechnic Institute in Berlin and received his doctorate two years later in physics and physics in aerospace engineering at the University of Berlin.
In 1940 he joined the SS, was part of the army of investigators who served the Reich, and designed the "A2", "A3" and "A4" rockets equipped with explosives, which were used to attack enemy lines. After the success, Hitler asked him to design a new missile, the "V2", which was fired in large numbers during the bombing of Antwerp and London.
In late 1945, when the German army was on the verge of defeat, von Braun offered his capitulation to the Allied army and joined the famous "Operation Paperclip", which was created to take advantage of the services of the most respected scientists the Nazis had worked.
In his early years in the USA, in the 1950s, Wernher von Braun developed various designs for space rockets from his "V2". War crimes were tolerated, he received American citizenship, and started a family.
After his work had been installed and recognized, he was transferred from the Redston base, where he was involved in the development of the "Jupiter" missile and the Mercury space technology development program, to NASA headquarters, where he worked with the Design was commissioned and the construction of the "Saturn" space rockets, the model "V" of which led to Armstrong, Aldridge and Collins.
