Project Mars A Technical Tale Dr. Wernher von Braun - Softcover

Von Braun, Dr. Wernher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4871877248 ISBN 13: 9784871877244

Publisher: Ishi Press, 2017

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Wernher von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in Prussia in the former German Empire. Von Braun took an interest in rocketry in his early teens. He applied for membership in the Nazi party in 1937. Although this was important to advance his career, it was to cause him trouble for the rest of his life. On December 22, 1942, Adolf Aitler signed the order approving the production of the A-4 as a "vengeance weapon" and the group developed it to target London. von Braun was arrested on March 14 1944 on suspicions of being a Communist sympathizer and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Poland. He was released when Dornberger and Albert Speer, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue, which would have been impossible without von Braun's leadership. The first combat V-2, Vergeltungswaffe 2 "Retaliation/Vengeance Weapon 2", was launched toward England on September 7, 1944. In the spring of 1945, von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. Reaching the USA, they trained military, industrial, and university personnel in the intricacies of rockets and guided missiles. Since they were not permitted to leave Fort Bliss without military escort, von Braun and his colleagues began to refer to themselves only half-jokingly as "PoPs" – "Prisoners of Peace." It was under these conditions in 1949, that von Braun wrote this book about a space exploration of Mars. It was the success of the Russians in putting the first satellite into space, the Sputnik, and the failures of the American team without von Braun whose rockets kept exploding on the launch pad, that made President Eisenhower realize that without von Braun the Americans could not catch up with the Russians. Eisenhower feared that with only the Russians having satellites flying over the US in space, the Russians could dominate and control us, so von Braun was brought back. Apollo Program director Sam Phillips has been quoted as saying that he did not think that the United States would have reached the Moon as quickly as it did without von Braun's help. Later, after discussing it with colleagues, he amended this to say that he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all. On June 16, 1977, Wernher von Braun died of pancreatic cancer in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 65.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Edition details

• Publisher: Ishi Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 4871877248
• ISBN 13: 9784871877244
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 460