The Rocket Team

Book excerpt: Travelling to the Moon and the planets beyond has moved from the world of dreamers and Buck Rogers to the factual terrain of the daily papers and television news shows. This book tells the story of the men who did so much to make the impossible a reality. From a small group of amateur rocketeers led by Wernher von Braun, his rocket team grew into one of the most influential technological forces in this or any other century. This book discloses much previously classified information, particularly involving the British intelligence effort to learn about Hitler's heralded V1 and V2 'vengeance weapons'; to delay their going into action and to minimise their effectiveness once they were developed. The US and British documents, as well as information from von Braun himself, his papers, and interviews with the other members of his team, provide new insights into the wartime growth of rocketry. This revised edition includes a DVD with hours of previously unreleased videos of the German Rocket Pioneers, including two lectures by Wernher von Braun.