Wernher von Braun's love affair with space, which was at odds with his upbringing, began when his mother Emmy gave him a telescope for his thirteenth birthday.
Looking up at the Moon and the stars, he began to dream to travel in space. His desire to launch rockets and land spacecraft, men, and even himself on the Moon became his life's goal.
Wernher von Braun's lineage goes back to the Junkers, a social class of nobles that dominated the Prussian military officer corps, the landowning elite, and offices of civil service in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Von Braun's father Magnus was a civil servant, a career that ensured the family had a certain quality of life.
Raised in this privileged environment von Braun at an early age became a proud and at times arrogant young man.
In 1934, at the age of 22, Von Braun finished his dissertation titled "Design, Theoretical and Experimental Contributions to the Problem of the Liquid Fuel Rocket" at the University of Berlin. The content of his work was deemed so important to the future of Germany's military that it was hidden under a new title, "Regarding Combustion Experiments", and transferred to the Army Ordnance's custody.
He began working for the Army on a variety of rocket programmes like the ballistic missile the Nazi Propaganda Ministry would eventually call Vergeltungswaffe-Zwei, Vengeance Weapon 2 or V-2.
