Hundreds of thousands of people in many organizations worked in the American and Soviet space programs. There were dreamers, brilliant engineers, and talented managers on both sides, but the careers of two individuals with important technical and managerial roles illustrate some of the differences. The American was a well-known personality in the highly publicized U.S. civilian space program. The Russian was known officially as the anonymous Chief Designer and was not publicly identified in the secretive Soviet system until after his death.

WERNHER VON BRAUN (1912-1977)

Shortly after NASA was created, the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency research group led by Wernher von Braun was transferred to the civilian space agency, and in 1960 it became the core of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Until 1970 von Braun served as the first director of the Marshall Center, which was responsible for developing rocket engines and launch vehicles, including the American "Moon rocket," the giant Saturn V.

Von Braun was an avid proponent of space exploration. In the 1950s he collaborated on a series of popular magazine articles and television shows depicting future space travel.

Courtesy of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Von Braun Collection

AN ENGINEER'S TOOL

While a manager and public figure, Wernher von Braun stayed close to the work of engineering and design, using this slide rule for calculations.

SI#: 97-16256-3

Manufacturer: Albert Nestler A.G., Germany

Lent by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Von Braun Collection