Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun (Hardcover)

~ (Author), John Glenn (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This paean offers uncritical praise of every aspect of rocket scientist von Braun's life. While there's an enormous amount to celebrate about the man most responsible for the U.S. putting astronauts on the moon, von Braun (1912–1977) is a more complex figure than Ward represents. As a reporter for the Huntsville (Ala.) Times, Ward covered von Braun during many of his years as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville. In addition to his own interactions with von Braun, Ward draws too heavily on letters written by the scientist's friends and colleagues in honor of his 60th birthday. Additionally, Ward provides a relatively superficial examination of von Braun's controversial role in Nazi Germany, where he and his team of engineers created the V-2 rocket used against the Allies (this project is better presented by Michael Neufeld in The Rocket and the Reich). A clear picture of von Braun's enormous charisma, intellect and personality does come through, as does a sense of how critical a political (as well as technological) role von Braun played in defining America's space program. 40 b&w photos. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Foreword by John Glenn. Wernher von Braun, the father of modern rocketry, is a hero to some and villain to others, and the many books written about him are either bitterly critical or adoring. This biography is neither. After seven years of investigation, veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward has rejected the extremes and presents a revealing, even-handed portrait of the onetime Nazi Party member who brought the United States into the Space Age. As it chronicles von Braun’s life, the book explodes many myths and misconceptions about this controversial genius.

From the young German aristocrat’s leadership role in the development of the world’s first ballistic missile—the infamous V-2 rocket used against the Allies during the invasion of Europe—to his successes in the United States after the war, a picture of von Braun emerges as a brilliant scientist with limitless curiosity and a drive to achieve his goals at almost any price. Yet the author’s lengthy research reveals that the apolitical von Braun accepted nominal Party membership and an essentially honorary SS commission only under heavy pressure, and that his connections to the notorious V-2 slave labor factory were largely peripheral.

Ward sheds new light on von Braun’s extraordinary contributions to launching the first U.S. satellite, hurling the first American astronauts into space, and winning the "Moon race" with the Saturn V super-booster that powered Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, and their successors to the lunar surface. But the author does not shy away from revealing facts about the space leader’s humiliating final years with NASA in the nation’s capital and his long battle with cancer. Along the way, readers are introduced to the human side of this charismatic visionary who mesmerized audiences across the country. A gregarious, whisky-drinking night owl who could out cuss any of his friends, von Braun also played the piano and cello, mastered scuba diving, flew an array of aircraft, spoke several languages, became a serious amateur astronomer, and was an avid reader and conversationalist, as much at ease discussing Nietzsche as nuclear fission. Including insights and recollections from a number of von Braun’s celebrity friends—Walter Cronkite, Hugh Downs, and William Pickering among them—this is a book certain to appeal to von Braun’s admirers and detractors.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (May 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591149266
• ISBN-13: 978-1591149262
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #302,618 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Up, Up and Away, July 19, 2005

By	Big D (Auburn, AL. USA) - See all my reviews

Excellent read on the birth of the space program through the man who most "got it done..." von Braun..Just enough technical stuff to appreciate and understand the difficulty of it, but not too much to slow the read..well done..a great mix of humanity and science...

Concentrates on von Braun the man...excellent insight into his manners, values, hopes, dreams,trials and disappointments. We can learn from the man's disappointments and hard times as much as we can from his good times and successes. Bob presents a broad array of humanity which makes this book well worth reading from the humanity standpoint. Good mix..great mix--of science and humanity.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Accurate on a lot of Details usually Missed, May 26, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wernher von Braun was very bright, very dedicated, and very, very lucky. Looking at what he did, there is no question that he was a very bright fellow. He couldn't have done all that he did otherwise. He was also very dedicated. He lived and breathed rockets. He started working with rockets very early and kept at it all through his life.

But just think how lucky he was. Had he been born earlier (like Goddard) there were no rocket programs. Had he been born later, say he turned 16 or 17 in 1944, it is likely that he would have been cannon fodder on the eastern front. Had he been fascinated by any of a hundred other subjects: machine guns, aircraft engines, submarines or whatever, he would have been just another member of the Nazi party and the SS. Rather than a trip to the US as a "Special Employee" of the US Army, it is likely that he would have a trip to prison instead. If he had been in the Russian zone ....

This is the first book on von Braun that I've read that got the story of Operation Paperclip and the special trip to Mexico correct. That shows pretty good research.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile biography of a fascinating man, May 22, 2005

By	Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wernher von Braun was a baron from birth. He learned to play the piano from the composer Paul Hindemith, and he assembled a jet-powered vehicle (six skyrockets lashed to a coaster wagon) at the age of 12. As the youthful chief of Germany's rocket program, he got into trouble with his Nazi overlords because he talked of space travel when all they wanted from him was to drop explosives on the heads of their enemies.

Von Braun not only led Germany into space--by way of the V-2 ballistic missile that hammered London in the last year of World War II--but the United States as well. His portable allegiances caused the comedian Mort Sahl to quip, after seeing a von Braun biopic called I Aim at the Stars: "But sometimes I miss and hit London!"

Bob Ward is most interesting when he deals with the question of von Braun's war guilt-not only a Nazi, but an SS officer and head of a factory that employed slave labor. The story flags a bit (and so, in the end, did the seemingly indefatigable von Braun) amid the politics and bureaucracy of Fort Bliss, Redstone Arsenal, and NASA's Washington headquarters. Still, a worthwhile biography of a fascinating man. - Dan Ford