Wernher Magnus Maximilian von Braun was born in Wirsitiz (which is now in Poland, but was in Germany at the time of his birth). An astronautics engineer, during World War II he directed a group of scientists who designed and built the V1 and V2 combat rockets that were used by the Germans against the Allies. In 1945, he and his scientific team surrendered to the Americans and were transferred to the United States where he turned his engineering talents toward aerospace engineering, becoming the first director of NASA, from 1958 through 1972. In his writings and lectures he was an ardent supporter of a futurist vision of mankind, which he saw as being achieved through ever wider spatial horizons.