List of German aerospace engineers in the United States

The following lists contain names of engineers, scientists and technicians specializing in rocketry who originally came from Germany but spent most of their careers working for the NASA space program in Huntsville, Alabama.

Particularly after World War II, many engineers left Germany to pursue further rocket projects in the U.S. The majority had been involved with the V-2 in Peenemünde, and 127 of them eventually entered the U.S. through Operation Paperclip. They were also known as the Von Braun Group.^[1]

Before and after Operation Paperclip, other German experts arrived in the US by individual immigration without government links and would only later join various space projects, primarily at NASA.^[2][3]

Operation Paperclip scientists

Wernher von Braun and his team in the fall of 1959. At the time, von Braun and his associates worked for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama. Those in the photograph have been identified as Ernst Stuhlinger, Frederick von Saurma, Fritz Mueller, Hermann Weidner, Erich W. Neubert (partially hidden), W.A. Mrazek, Karl Heimburg, Arthur Rudolph, Otto Hoberg, von Braun, Oswald Lange, General Bruce Medaris, Helmut Hoelzer, Hans Maus, E.D. Geissler, Hans Hueter, and George Constan.

Wernher von Braun in 1961 with members of his management team. Pictured from left to right are, Werner Kuers, Director of the Manufacturing Engineering Division; Dr. Walter Häussermann, Director of the Astrionics Division; Dr. William Mrazek, Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering Division; Dr. von Braun; Dieter Grau, Director of the Quality Assurance Division; Dr. Oswald Lange, Director of the Saturn Systems Office; and Erich W. Neubert, Associate Deputy Director for Research and Development.

• Andreas Alexandrakis
• Rudi Beichel ^[4]
• Wernher von Braun, Director, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama from July 1, 1960 to January 27, 1970
• Werner Dahm ^[5]
• Konrad Dannenberg
• Kurt H. Debus
• Ernst R. G. Eckert
• Krafft Arnold Ehricke
• Ernst Geissler
• Dieter Grau
• Walter Häussermann
• Karl Heimburg
• Otto Hirschler^[6]
• Helmut Hoelzer
• Hans Hueter
• Wilhelm Jungert
• Georg ("George") Emil Knausenberger
• Heinz-Hermann Koelle
• Hubert E. Kroh
• Hermann H. Kurzweg ^[7]
• Hans Maus
• Fritz Mueller ^[8]
• Willy Mrazek
• Erich W. Neubert
• Hans R. Palaoro
• Theodor A. Poppel
• Eberhard Rees
• Gerhard Reisig ^[9]
• Georg Rickhey^[10]
• Werner Rosinski ^[11]
• Ludwig Roth
• Arthur Rudolph
• Harry Ruppe
• Friedrich von Saurma
• August Schulze
• Walter Schwidetzky*^[12]
• Ernst Stuhlinger
• Bernhard Tessmann
• Adolf Thiel
• Albert Zeiler
• Theodor Karl Otto Vowe
• Georg von Tiesenhausen
• Albin Wittmann
• Helmut Zoike
• Hans Hosenthien, Director of Flight Dynamics, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama

After Operation Paperclip

• Fridtjof Speer
• Walter Dornberger
• Hermann Oberth
• Jesco von Puttkamer
• Guenter Wendt

See also

• Operation Paperclip
• Immigration
• Human capital
• Brain drain

References

1. Pearce, Jeremy (February 23, 2009). "Konrad Dannenberg, 96, Top Rocket Scientist, Dies". The New York Times.
2. John Gimbel "U.S. Policy and German Scientists: The Early Cold War", Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 101, No. 3 (1986), pp. 433–51
3. Clarence G., Lasby Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War Scribner (February 1975) ISBN 0-689-70524-7
4. "Beichel". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
5. "Dahm". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
6. "Hirschler". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
7. "Biographies of Aerospace Officials and Policymakers, K-N". History.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
8. "Mueller, Fritz". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
9. "Reisig". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
10. "Rickhey". Astronautix.com. 1947-01-02. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
11. "Rosinski". Astronautix.com. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
12. "Rocket Pioneers, Schemers and Dreamers!". lunarpedia.org. Retrieved 2014-07-07.