The Dawning Space Age.

MEHRENS, H.E. [Wernher von Braun].

Item Number: 128204

Ellington Air Force Base, Texas: Civil Air Patrol, n.d..

First edition of this Civil Air Patrol educational booklet containing a concise history of space flight. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers, illustrated. Forewords by Wernher von Braun and Kraft A. Ehricke. Signed by the author on the title page and Wernher von Braun at his Foreword. German-born American aerospace engineer and space architect Wernher von Braun was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II and, following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip. In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. From the library of Lt. Col. Marie C. Lepore with her ownership signature to the verso of the front panel. Marie Camille Lepore was an early Massachusetts aviator and one of the first female pilots to serve with the Civil Air Patrol. In the 1940s she was a commanding officer of the CAP Worcester Squadron and in 1957 she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to the Massachusetts Wing Headquarters at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford as deputy for education and training. She was a member of the International Organization of Woman Pilots – the Ninety-Nines, founded by Amelia Earhart, which named her Woman Pilot of the Year in 1960 and 1975 (Massachusetts Air and Space Museum). Exceptionally rare signed by Wernher von Braun and with fine provenance. Design, layout and art by W.E. Rowland and C.J. Wood.

The seventh book of a series prepared primarily for use by cadets in the Civil Air Patrol, The Dawning Space Age contains a general background of the rocket, its components, and its applications. Among the major areas discussed are propulsion and guidance systems, military missiles and research vehicles, and the obstacles encountered by those attempting to solve the problems of spaceflight.