REACHING FOR THE STARS

....is a journalistic, unofficial biography of Wernher von Braun in which is documented many of the significant events that have occurred in the development of missile and space technology. Von Braun is seen through the eyes of an unabashed admirer who traces his hero's life (mainly through secondary sources--though he knows him as a friend) from his early years in Berlin where he attached sky rockets to his coaster wagon, through his work on the V-2s at Peenemunde, his giving up of himself and his missile men to American troops, to his successes as leader of the Army missile team at ""Rocket City, U.S.A."" (Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala.), where he was instrumental in orbiting Explorer I, the first American earth satellite. There is much interesting recent missile history here, including details of the inter-service rivalries that no doubt had much to do with preventing the U.S. from beating the Russians into orbit. We are told of Von Braun's philosophy of an astronaut, and of his plans and hopes for future exploration of space. A necessary book for all space-flight sections in libraries and bookstores because of information contained, but not really good as biography.