Willy Ley inspired young rocket scientists and would-be astronauts
around the world to imagine a future of interplanetary travel long
before space shuttles existed. This is the first biography of the
science writer and rocketeer who predicted and boosted the rise of
the Space Age. Born in Germany, Ley became involved in amateur
rocketry until the field was taken over by the Nazis. He fled to
America, where he forged a new life as a weapons expert and
journalist during World War II and as a rocket researcher after the
war. As America's foremost authority on rockets, missiles, and
space travel, he authored books and scientific articles, while also
regularly writing for science fiction pulp magazines and publishing
what he termed romantic zoology--a blend of zoology, cryptozoology,
history, and mythology. He even consulted for television's Tom
Corbett, Space Cadet and the Disney program Man in Space, thrilling
audiences with a romanticized view of what spaceflight would be
like. Yet as astronauts took center stage and scientific
intellectuals such as Wernher von Braun became influential during
the space race, Ley lost his celebrity status. With an
old-fashioned style of popular writing and eccentric perspectives
influenced by romanticism and science fiction, he was ignored by
younger historians. This book returns Willy Ley to his rightful
place as the energizer of an era--a time when scientists and
science popularizers mixed ranks and shared the spotlight so that
our far-fetched, fantastic dreams could turn into the reality of
tomorrow.
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