Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) was the chief engineer of the American space program. Born in Prussia, he developed early rocket engines in the 1930s through the Verein für Raumschiffahrt and directed the V-2 ballistic rocket program at Peenemünde during World War II. Brought to the United States in 1945 under Operation Paperclip, he joined the U.S. Army and established the Ballistic Missile Development Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He oversaw the launch of the first American satellite, Explorer 1 (1958), and developed the Jupiter and Saturn rocket families, ultimately directing the Saturn V program that carried astronauts to the Moon during Apollo. Naturalized as an American citizen in 1955 and Deputy Director of NASA from 1970 to 1972, he remains the central figure of twentieth-century American astronautics.