Wernher von Braun: Revolutionary Rocket Engineer

Wernher von Braun: Revolutionary Rocket Engineer — page 3
2 Early Influences Wernher von Braun was born on March 23 1912 in Wirsitz Germany He was the second of three sons The von Brauns were wealthy and part of the Lutheran church When Wernher was confirmed in the church his mother bought him a telescope as a gift As Wernher observed the skies through his telescope he grew fascinated with space In 1924 12-year-old Wernher staged his first rocket experiment He tied store-bought fireworks to his family’s wagon and lit them The fireworks exploded propelling the wagon down the street with Wernher on it One year later Wernher was sent to boarding school in central Germany There The Rocket into Interplanetary Space caught his attention German scientist Hermann Oberth wrote this book It further inspired Wernher’s interest in space Oberth’s book influenced Wernher in another way too Wernher was frustrated that he did not understand the mathematics used by Oberth So Wernher worked hard at school to master math He had previously struggled with this subject But Wernher was soon the best in his class 6