Moon rocket launch. Artwork published in Germany in the 1950s, showing the launch of a rocket on a journey to the Moon, a feat that would be achieved in 1969. The rocket is emerging from a silo, and observers and cars are at lower right. The period following World War II saw programmes developed by the USA and USSR for the development of rocket technology. Both countries recruited German rocketry experts, with the USA's programme benefiting from the designs of German rocket pioneers Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) and Wernher von Braun (1912-1977).