Skip to Main Content Skip to Header Menu Skip to Main Menu Skip to Category Menu Skip to Footer

WERNHER VON BRAUN - AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 350447

The man who pioneered the concept of the space shuttle writes about space travel. Autograph Manuscript signed: "By Dr. Wernher von Braun" in title, 1p, 8¼ x 10½ ruled sheet.

Price: $7,000.00

Condition: Lightly creased, otherwise fine condition Add to watchlist:
Chat now or call 800-425-5379

WERNHER von BRAUN
The man who pioneered the concept of the space shuttle writes about space travel.
Autograph Manuscript signed: "By Dr. Wernher von Braun" in title, 1p, 8¼ x 10½ ruled sheet. Manuscript page, which is written in pencil, is part of a longer manuscript("1" written by von Braun at upper margin). Headed: "Space Travel/by Dr. Wernher von Braun/Chief, Guided Missile Development Division//Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala." In full: "There are few dreams of the future which have woven so fascinating a web around human fantasy as flight through space. Since the first, epoch-making experiments of the great American pioneer of rocketry, Robert H. Goddard; since the days when Hermann Oberth, the German, and the Russian Constantin E. Ziolkovsky published their startling writings on rocket propulsion, a veritable spate of literature has overwhelmed the public. This has covered the entire field ranging from serious, scientific dissertations to comic strips. Thus, the intelligent layman outsider who is at tempting to sift the actual promises of space flight from idle conjecture frequently finds himself more confused than before he began to [word crossed out] study space flight literature. [word crossed out] More often as not He gets the impression that arguments about the". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Some lines written over pencil erasures (all writing legible). Light paper clip rust stain at upper left margin. Overall, fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 37¾ x 22. Small indentations at lower left corner of the frame. Surfaces scratches at the middle of the frame on the left.

German-born space pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) became Technical Director of the U.S. ballistic weapon program at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in 1950. In the late 1950s, he was leading the U.S. into its most courageous stage of space exploration. His rocket development team successfully put into orbit the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I (January 1958), and they put Redstone Rockets into defense service by U.S. Army units in Germany in June of that year. They also developed the Jupiter-C, Juno and Pershing rockets and the Saturn 1, 1B and V rockets, which launched the Apollo flights. Apollo II was launched on its journey on a Saturn V as part of the program that peaked with the Moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Dr. von Braun lobbied tirelessly to promote his dream of travel into space in both oral and written discourse. He shared his knowledge through speaking engagements, press conferences and publications. Space Frontier (1967, revised 1971) is among the books he authored and, along with F. Ordway, he wrote The History of Rocketry and Space Travel (1966, revised 1969). Von Braun also contributed articles to scientific and technical journals. Von Braun, who served as Chief of the Guided Missile Development Division before the establishment of NASA, was named Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in 1960. Ten years later, he transferred to NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. While a teenager, von Braun had worked with Hermann Oberth, who produced the theory of the rocket motor. Following his graduation from the University of Berlin (1934), von Braun worked with the team of scientists that developed the V-2 rocket. He had followed the writings of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovskylong (Constantin Siolkovsky) of Russia and Robert H. Goddard, the American pioneer of rocket research. Von Braun admired Goddard for the experiments he was doing, and following WWII, von Braun and his German rocket development team surrendered to U.S. troops (1945) and made America their home.

This website image may contain our company watermark. The actual item does not contain this watermark
See more listings from these signers
Make an offer today and get a quick response
Check your account for the status.

Following offer submission users will be contacted at their account email address within 48 hours. Our response will be to accept your offer, decline your offer or send you a final counteroffer. All offers can be viewed from within the "Offer Review" area of your HistoryForSale account. Please review the Make Offer Terms prior to making an offer.

If you have not received an offer acceptance or counter-offer email within 24-hours please check your spam/junk email folder.

 

Fast World-Wide Shipping

Fast FedEx and USPS shipping

Authenticity Guarantee

COA with every purchase

All Questions Answered

Contact us day or night

Submit an Offer Today

Get a quick response