HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The U.S. Space and Rocket Center has announced that Maria von Braun, the wife of Dr. Wernher von Braun, has passed away at 96.

Born Maria von Quistorp in Berlin in 1928, she married Wernher von Braun in 1947 in Landshut, Germany, under U.S. military guard amid concerns about Soviet efforts to recruit German rocket engineers.

Dr. Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) was one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration in the twentieth century. As a youth he became enamored with the ...

Wernher von Braun led NASA'S development of the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo 11 to the Moon. His Nazi record was not widely known until after his death. By Michael J. Neufeld Several months ...