the "Chicago Bridge and Iron Works", but acknowledged that the designs worked. The conservative approach paid off when a fifth engine was added to the Saturn C-4, producing the Saturn V. The C-4 design had a large crossbeam that could easily absorb the thrust of an additional engine. Von Braun did not indicate interest in politics or political philosophy during his onboarding working for the US army. He was primarily focused on his work in guided missiles for the purpose of furthering science and technology. According to FBI background checks, “any political activity he may have engaged in was a means to an end to provide him with the necessary freedom to conduct his experiments.” This included time spent in the Nazi party during World War 2. Personal life Von Braun had a charismatic personality and was known as a ladies' man. As a student in Berlin, he would often be seen in the evenings in the company of two girlfriends at once. He later had a succession of affairs within the secretarial and computer pool at Peenemünde. In January 1943, von Braun became engaged to Dorothee Brill, a physical education teacher in Berlin, and he sought permission to marry from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. However, the engagement was broken due to his mother's opposition. Later in 1943, he had an affair with a French woman while in Paris preparing V-2 launch sites in northeastern France. She was imprisoned for collaboration after the war and became destitute. During his stay at Fort Bliss, von Braun proposed marriage to Maria Luise von Quistorp, his maternal first cousin, in a letter to his father. He married her in a Lutheran church in Landshut, Bavaria, on 1 March 1947, having received permission to go back to Germany and return with his bride. He was 35 and his new bride was 18. Shortly after, he converted to Evangelicalism. He returned to Manhattan on 26 March 1947, with his wife, father, and mother. On 8 December 1948, the von Brauns' first daughter together, Iris Careen, was born at Fort Bliss Army Hospital. The couple had two more children: Margrit Cécile, born in 1952, and Peter Constantine, born in 1960. On 15 April 1955, von Braun became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Death In 1973, von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer during a routine medical examination. However, he continued to