A-2 was approximately 1.4 meters long and 30cm in diameter. An addition of stabilisation gyroscopes was used on A-2.
It was concluded that the parachutes on the A-3 rocket caused too much drag, which resulted in the rocket landing relatively close to the original take off site in Peenemunde. The parachute was later on removed, allowing the rocket to travel further before it crashed.
The A-4 rocket was tested on October 2nd, 1942, and was the last rocket to be designed by Von Braun for the Nazis. It was the first projectile to reach space, with the range of approximately 175 kilometers. Hilter therefore utilised this weapon of war and attacked London.
After the launch of the V-2 rocket on London, Von Braun came to the realisation that “the rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet”, claiming that he never intended on harming anyone and they were using it for the wrong purpose. Therefore Von Braun had decided that his team of engineers and himself should surrender to another country, and came to the conclusion of America, which was the ideal nation. In 1945, the foreign nation then realised the importance of their knowledge in rocketry and hired them on their missile program. Prior to his decision, he was arrested in 1944 and was kept behind bars for 2 weeks, although Walter Dornberger and Albert Speer got him released after a long disagreement and misinterpretation.
Wernher Von Braun became an American citizen in 1955, and was later on promoted to the director of Marshall Space Flight Center. During his period in America, he had designed three rockets, which were all based on the V-2 design, also including the largest rocket in history. The Saturn 5 (largest rocket) was used to deliver the first men to the Moon.
Von Braun had a vision to explore the Moon and Mars with permanent colonies and orbiting space stations, which got the American society interested into space rocketry. His vision also allowed him to be recognised globally, which played a part in the “space race” between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The ‘space race’ between the US and USSR drove Von Braun to personally design and construct rockets to send men into space prior to the Saturn 5. He had constructed Redstone and Jupiter before Saturn 5.
Redstone was capable of flights from 92.5 km to 323 km into space, which was used for mid range missile in Mercury missions. Whereas Jupiter-C was a modified Redstone with a height of 21.2 m. It was used to put satellites into orbits.
In 1970, Wernher Von Braun was appointed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning, and retired on May 26, 1972. Von Braun was globally known as the scientist who drove his team and America into the success of sending the first satellite into orbit.
Bibliography
-
Warren, N 2008, HSC Physics, Excel
-
Bosi, S, O’Byrne, J, Fletcher, P, Khachan, J, Stanger, J & Woodward, S 2010, In2 Physics @ HSC, Pearson
-
Wernher von Braun n.d., Britannica Encyclopedia, accessed 14 November 2011, <>.
-
NASA 2006, Wernher von Braun, accessed 14 November 2011, <http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/braun.html>.
Reliability
