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Rocket girl : the story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's first female rocket scientist / George D. Morgan.

by Morgan, George D.

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Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2013.

Morgan, Mary Sherman, 1921-2004.

Rocketry -- United States -- Biography.

Women scientists -- United States -- Biography.

Rocketry -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

9781616147396 (paperback) :

1616147393 (paperback)

325 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

In 1938, a young German rocket enthusiast named Wernher von Braun had dreams of building a rocket that could fly him to the moon. On the opposite side of the world, a young farm girl named Mary Sherman was attending high school in Ray, North Dakota. 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. The author relates how World War II and the Cold War space race with the Russians changed the fates of both von Braun and his mother. 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 Mary Sherman Morgan then worked, was given the challenge. Recognizing her talent for chemistry, company management turned the assignment over to young Mary. Her work resulted in a new propellant, Hydyne. 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.

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