1912-1977. German rocket engineer who
developed German military rockets (V1 and V2)
during World War II, and later worked for
NASA in the USA. During the 1940s his
research team at Peenemunde on the Baltic
coast produced the V1 (flying bomb) and
supersonic V2 rockets. In the 1950s von Braun
was part of the team that produced rockets
for US satellites (the first, Explorer I, was
launched early 1958) and early space flights
by astronauts.