About the Author
Dr. Wernher von Braun is best known as NASA's "rocket man." His team designed and developed, among other large rockets, the Redstone booster, which launched America's first satellite and astronauts, and the giant Saturn V, which launched the Apollo missions to the Moon.
Although he worked on military rocket development during the first half of his career, Wernher von Braun dreamed of a world in which rockets were used for space exploration, and this, he claimed, was his primary motivation. In a series of articles in Collier's Weekly magazine in 1952, von Braun presented a concept for an Earth-orbiting space station. He also worked as a technical director at Disney studios, preparing three television films about space exploration.
In 1949 von Braun penned a science fiction story, Project Mars: A Technical Tale, a story based on detailed and accurate science, yet presented as a very human undertaking.
Clearly intended as a way to infect others with his enthusiasm for human space exploration, this forgotten tale lingered in his personal files until being published in 2006, nearly 30 years after his death and 57 years after it was written.
Dr. von Braun pauses in front of the Saturn V vehicle being readied for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The Saturn V vehicle was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center under the direction of Dr. von Braun. Photo Credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center