Loophole in Versailles allowed Germany to rearm via rocket development

A young von Braun hired by army and master’s work in rockets 1932

Project Hermes in White Sands, NM, to get V-2 rockets flying: von Braun in the army air force

Blossom, a modified V-2, followed Hermes, used rhesus monkeys

Moved from White Sands to Huntsville, AL, for more room

Korea spurred Ike and Army to action and development

Yeager and Crossfield battling for fastest title

Bids for contracts, rocket-powered aircraft

Along with aircraft improvements came innovations in pressure suits

Project Manhigh, Simons and test pilot Kittinger

Balloons couldn’t exit the atmosphere and rockets couldn’t launch payloads fast enough into orbit, so satellites

International Geophysical Year: “coordinated research effort into various aspects of atmospheric science affected by the sun’s activities”

In 1952 Von Braun published a series for Collier’s about space exploration, which caught the attention of Disney, who was building Disneyland and Tomorrowland. Von Braun featured in episode about rocketry, spaceflight, and missions to the moon and Mars — advocated political power of putting first satellite into orbit

Navy’s Vanguard plan vs. von Braun’s Project Orbiter: Orbiter sidelined and Sputnik won in 1957, spurring Vanguard’s rushed into disaster

Explorer I first American satellite in space