Wernher Von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in Wirsitz, Germany. He was born to the Baron Magnus Von Braun and Emmy Von Quistorp. Wernher's early interest in space travel was due to his mothers influence since she was an amateur astronomer. Additionally, Wernher quotes, "For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift." The telescope gift his mother got him when he was young also enhanced his interest in space travel. Finally, Wernher's interest in space travel in his youth came from reading the science fiction from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. To truly understand the physics of the rocketry he read in the science fiction books, Wernher dedicated his time to mastering calculus and trigonometry, which enabled him to understand the works of Dr. Hermann Oberth. This allowed Wernher to understand how rockets worked and how they could be fueled with liquid. Wernher's early understanding of rockets helped him in his future careers to be such a powerful figure in the era of space exploration.
The picture above shows one of Wernher's many childhood experiments with rockets. This experiment was when Wernher was 12 and he strapped rockets to a wagon to see how far it could go.