Amy Shira Teitel

The incredible story of spaceflight before the establishment of NASA.

In the 1930s, rockets were all the rage in Germany. One of the key figures in this period was Wernher von Braun, an engineer who designed the rockets that became the devastating V-2. As the war came to its chaotic conclusion, von Braun escaped from Nazi Germany, and was taken to America where he began developing missiles for the US Army.

Meanwhile, the US Air Force was looking ahead to a time when men would fly in space and test pilots like Neil Armstrong were flying cutting-edge, rocket-powered aircraft in the thin upper atmosphere.

Breaking the Chains of Gravity tells the story of America's nascent space program, its scientific advances, its personalities and the rivalries it caused between the various arms of the US military.