Project Mars A Technical Tale Dr Wernher Von Braun

In this never-before-printed science fiction novel, Wernher von Braun combines technical fact with a human story line in the way that only a true dreamer can realize.

In 1949 the famous German rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun wrote a science-fiction manuscript based on a trip to Mars. This was more than just a fictional story. It was an actual proposal to send an expedition to Mars. Dr. Wernher von Braun worked out in great detail all the technical requirements for this Mars proposal. He worked out the orbits the space craft would have to follow to reach Mars and how long it would take. He also worked out how many rockets and space ships and crew would be required for this operation. His proposal, because that is what it really was, provided a great amount of scientific and technical information not available anywhere else. For example, did you know that the moon rotates around the Earth at right angles to the way that the Earth rotates around the sun? Did you know the problems this causes for the tides in the ocean? These little known scientific facts and technical details are all in this book but there is much more. Mars rotates around the sun in almost the same plane that the Earth rotates around the sun, but there is a difference has to be accounted for. Then there is the question of radio communications between Mars, the space ship and Earth. Mars is furthest away from Earth at the point where they are on opposite sides of the sun. One would assume that they are too far away from each other to communicate. But we now know that this is not true. A radio transmission can even pass right through Jupiter and reach Pluto and then go on into deeper space. This book anticipates problems that have subsequently taken place. He describes a fictional disaster when a rocket blows up killing the people inside that is almost exactly identical to the real Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that took place on January 28, 1986, with seven would-be astronauts inside, showing that seven would-be astronauts who were killed had not studied this book to anticipate this problem.

This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Here the German-born scientist Wernher von Braun detailed what he believed were the problems and possibilities inherent in a projected expedition to Mars. Today von Braun is recognized as the person most responsible for laying the groundwork for public acceptance of America's space program. When President Bush directed NASA in 1989 to prepare plans for an orbiting space station, lunar research bases, and human exploration of Mars, he was largely echoing what von Braun proposed in The Mars Project.

Curator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.

Written by veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward, who spent years investigating his subject, this biography presents a revealing but even-handed portrait of the father of modern rocketry. As he chronicles Werner von Braun's life, Ward explodes many myths and misconceptions about the controversial genius who was a hero to some, a villain to others. The picture of von Braun that emerges is of a brilliant scientist with limitless curiosity and a drive to achieve his goals at almost any price—from developing the world’s first ballistic missile used against the Allies in World War II to helping launch the first U.S. satellite that hurled Americans into space and the Saturn V super-booster that powered them to the moon. Along the way readers are introduced to the human side of this charismatic visionary who brought the United States into the Space Age.

Finding Mars is an interwoven tale of science, travel, and adventure, as science writer Ned Rozell accompanies permafrost researcher—and inveterate wanderer—Kenji Yoshikawa on a 750-mile trek by snowmobile through the Alaska wilderness. Along the way, Rozell learns about Yoshikawa’s fascinating life, from his boyhood in Tokyo to the youthful wanderlust that led him to push a wheeled cart across the Sahara, ski to the South Pole, and take a sailboat into the frozen reaches of the Arctic Ocean, spending a winter frozen in the ice near Barrow. It’s an always on-the-move account of a man driven not just by the desire to fill in the blank spots on a map, but also to learn everything he can about them—and a ringing testament to the power of science, enthusiasm, and individual inspiration.

Here is Dr. Wernher von Braun's incredible story - from his early years in Germany, where he gave birth to modern rocketry, to his arrival in the United States and his launching of the first American satellite, the first man on the moon and other stunning space exploration feats."Every page of Wernher von Braun's life is a monument to the drama of adventure. Few people have been fighting so hard and, indeed, very few have been subject to so much criticism, so much jealousy, so much defeat--yet, very few have lived to be honored and to harvest the fruits of so many wonderful victories as has this man."Author Erik Bergaust has had the advantage of knowing von Braun as a friend, hunting and fishing companion, space business associate--and biographer--for more than twenty-five years. Thus, he has been able to present a dramatic portrait of an important personality and a 20th century hero.