Portal:Space exploration/Biography/Week 45 2006
Dr. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr[1] von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. The German scientist who led Germany's rocket development program before and during World War II, entered the United States at the end of the war through the then-secret Operation Paperclip. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and worked on the American ICBM program before joining NASA, where he served as director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the United States to the Moon.[1] He is generally regarded as the father of the United States space program while also remembered as head of the team that designed the German V-2 rockets that killed more than 7,000 people in Britain in 1944 and 1945.