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Ivy Hill Cemetery
The thousands of headstones at Alexandria’s
Ivy Hill Cemetery are a portal to the city’s rich past. Here lie descendants of Thomas Jefferson,
Union and Confederate soldiers, members of some of the city's oldest families,
and the rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
Dr. Wernher von Braun is best known as the father of
the American space program. His NASA team developed the Redstone booster,
which launched America's first satellite, and the giant Saturn V, which
launched America’s missions to the Moon.
Although he worked on Nazi military rocket development
during the first half of his career, Wernher von Braun claimed his work on military rockets was ultimately motivated by his dream of utilizing the technology for peaceful space exploration.
In 1949 von Braun wrote a science fiction story, Project Mars: A Technical Tale, based on detailed science. He wanted to inspire people to embrace the
challenge of human space exploration.
This story was only published some thirty years after his death and
fifty seven years after it was written.
Some readers have noted an odd coincidence in this
early work of science fiction which relates to today’s foremost proponent of
Mars exploration, Elon Musk. Von Braun
writes on page 177, “The Martian government was directed by ten men,
the leader of whom was elected by universal suffrage for five years and
entitled “Elon.” Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered
by the Elon and his cabinet. The Upper House was called the Council of the
Elders and was limited to a membership of 60 persons, each being appointed for
life by the Elon as vacancies occurred by death.”
This never-before-printed science
fiction novel by the original "rocket man," Wernher von Braun,
combines technical fact with a human story line in the way that only a true
dreamer can realize. Encompassing the entire story of the journey, this
novel moves from the original decision for a Mars mission, through the
mission planning, the building of the mighty space ships, the journey, the
amazing discoveries made on Mars, and the return home. The author's
attention to the actions and feelings of the characters—both those who went and
those who stayed behind—makes this an adventure of human proportions, rather
than merely another fanciful tale. This exclusive von Braun treasure comes
complete with an appendix of his original technical drawings, made in the
late 1940s, on which the story's plot is based.
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