In 1938, a young German rocket enthusiast named Wernher von Braun had dreams of building a rocket that could fly him to the moon. In Ray, North Dakota, a young farm girl named Mary Sherman was attending high school. In an age when girls rarely dreamed of a career in science, Mary wanted to be a chemist. A decade later the dreams of these two disparate individuals would coalesce in ways neither could have imagined.
World War II and the Cold War space race with the Russians changed the fates of both von Braun and Mary Sherman Morgan. When von Braun and other top engineers could not find a solution to the repeated failures that plagued the nascent U.S. rocket program, North American Aviation, where Sherman Morgan then worked, was given the challenge. Recognizing her talent for chemistry, company management turned the assignment over to young Mary.
In the end, America succeeded in launching rockets into space, but only because of the joint efforts of the brilliant farm girl from North Dakota and the famous German scientist. While von Braun went on to become a high-profile figure in NASA's manned space flight, Mary Sherman Morgan and her contributions fell into obscurity—until now.
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“An intriguing biography…The personal story and family detective work are truly gripping, and Mary, in all her contradictions, emerges as a fascinating subject.”
— Booklist
A dramatic, suspenseful tale.
— Scientific American“A dramatic, suspenseful tale.”
— Scientific American“This portrait of a mother shrouded in mystery and largely forgotten by the field she pioneered is a compelling read.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
George D. Morgan is the playwright in residence at Caltech, and a member of both the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America. He has written more than a dozen stage plays and musicals, including Second to Die, Nevada Belle, Thunder in the Valley, Pasadena Babalon, and Capture the Sun.
Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.