Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War

摘要

In Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, Michael Neufeld undertook the self-imposed yet daunting task of coming to terms with the personal history of one of space history's most complex characters. As one of the leading engineers responsible for the design and production of Germany's V-2 rocket during World War II and then the lead rocket engineer of NASA's space program and the Apollo program, Wernher von Braun is recognized by historians and the general American public alike as the face of NASA-aside from the astronauts-during the space race. In this biography, Neufeld portrays von Braun not just as an '"indisputable genius' for his management of huge military-industrial projects," but also as "a twentieth-century Faust" (pp. 476-77).