816
Vicar Lane

After retiring from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Wernher von Braun Person Wernher von Braun b. 1912 · d. 1977 German-American rocket engineer; technical lead of Nazi Germany's V-2 program and later director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he led development of the Saturn V … and his wife Maria moved to Northern Virginia in spring 1970. They reportedly visited fifty properties before settling on the house at 816 Vicar Lane — a cul-de-sac off Quaker Lane, directly across from 3737 Seminary Road Place 3737 Seminary Road Episcopal theological seminary founded in Alexandria in 1823 and relocated to its present hilltop campus in 1827. Occupied by Union forces during the Civil War and used as a … ^[1] Source 1 Mount Vernon Gazette, 'Space-Struck Resident,' 2012 Article . The Episcopal proximity was not coincidental: von Braun had become a confessing Christian in his Huntsville years and his late-life spiritual writing drew on Anglican liturgy.

He worked from the house and from a nearby Fairchild Industries office during his final years, lecturing on space exploration and writing the manuscript that became Space Travel: A History (1975, with Frederick I. Ordway III). His pancreatic cancer was diagnosed in 1973 and progressed through 1976-1977. He died at Alexandria Hospital on June 16, 1977 at age 65 and is buried at 2823 King Street Place 2823 King Street Garden cemetery established 1856 on the western edge of Alexandria; among its interments are several mayors and Confederate veterans. NRHP-listed 2025. .

The house remains a private residence in 2026.