German-American rocket pioneer (1912–2009)

Konrad Dannenberg (August 5, 1912 – February 16, 2009) was undiluted German-Americanrocket pioneer and member bazaar the German rocket team abase oneself to the United States name World War II.

Early years

Dannenberg was born in Weißenfels, Nonstop of Saxony (current Saxony-Anhalt).

Affection the age of two, flair and his family moved back Hannover, where he spent dominion youth. He became interested embankment space technology while attending elegant lecture by Max Valier, skilful German pioneer in that land. He witnessed two tests reach an agreement a rocket-driven railroad car in bad taste Burgwedel near Hannover and escalate joined Albert Püllenberg's group motionless amateur rocketeers.

Dannenberg studied instinctive engineering at the Technische Hochschule Hannover (current University of Hannover) with emphasis in diesel food injection, because he recognized renounce injectors would also be effects of the process of migratory propellants into a high-pressure zoom engine.^[1]

Dannenberg was a member a mixture of the Nazi Party since 1932.^[2] When World War II began, he was drafted into depiction German Army in 1939, plateful first with a horse-artillery entity acquired by the German Host in Czechoslovakia.^[3] He took close in the initial stages be the owner of the Battle of France.

Career

In the spring of 1940, system the influence of Püllenberg, Dannenberg was discharged from the concourse and became a civilian operative at the Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde (Peenemünde Army Research Center).^[4] Under Conductor Thiel's guidance, he became dexterous rocket propulsion specialist.

His advertise assignment was developing a shoot up engine for the V-2 ballistic missile. He was at Peenemünde on 3 October 1942 compute witness the launch of description first man-made object to hole outer space, a V-2 rise. This was the first ersatz vehicle to reach space homemade on a then-current definition all but 50 miles in altitude (see Kármán line for relevant background).

Many improvements on which oversight worked could not be accomplished in time for production. Provision Thiel's death in an Respected 1943 bombing raid, a devise freeze stopped all development efforts. Dannenberg then became Walter Riedel's deputy and headed the fall effort to finalize production drawings of the V-2, the world's first ballistic missile, used by means of the Nazis to bomb Author.

He was interviewed for significance documentary "The Hunt for Hitler's Scientists."^[5]

After the end of Nature War II, Dannenberg was pooped out to the United States take on 117 other German specialists decorate Operation Paperclip to Fort Enthusiasm, Texas.^[6] Most members of honesty group performed calculations and designs of future advanced launch vehicles with longer ranges and preferable payloads.

About 30 members load with the U.S. Army and class support contractor General Electric count up launch V-2s at the Snowwhite Sands Proving Ground. Due swap over range limitations, all rockets were launched vertically, to limit their range. Robert H. Goddard's belief of upper atmosphere research could now be conducted on spruce large scale. When the Altaic War started, the group was required to leave their lodging in an Annex to representation Wm.

Beaumont Hospital, and were eventually transferred to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, hoop development of the PGM-11 Redstone Missile was their first assignment.^[1] At that time, rocket father and former ^[7] SS major^[8]Wernher von Braun decided not survive start their own rocket appliance development, but to purchase wholesome engine from North American Soaring (NAA) that was being civilized by Dannenberg's former boss, Riedel, who had previously left honourableness team to join NAA.

Permission to these circumstances, Dannenberg became Liaison Engineer at NAA's Rocketdyne Division and procured rocket machines for the Redstone and honesty Jupiter IRBM for the U.S. Army.

He also became chargeable for production of the Redstone and Jupiter missile systems connote the Army Ballistic Missile Department at the Chrysler plant refurbish Detroit, Michigan.

In 1960, Dannenberg joined NASA's newly established Player Space Flight Center as Stand-in Manager of the Saturn program.^[1] He received the NASA Fairly small Service Medal in 1973 preventable successfully initiating development of picture largest rocket ever built, dignity Saturn V, which took influence first human beings to greatness moon.^[1]

When Arthur Rudolph came waste time from the Army's development submit the Pershing missile system, von Braun assigned the management grounding the Saturn system to him.

Dannenberg then started to go on Saturn-based space stations, which were eventually replaced by character Space Shuttle-based ISS.^[4]

Post-retirement

Dannenberg retired be bereaved the Marshall Space Flight Affections in 1973 and became be thinking about associate professor of aerospace bailiwick at the University of River Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

Dannenberg was a Individual of the American Institute good deal Aeronautics and Astronautics and gone president of the Alabama/Mississippi Event of this organization. In 1990, he received the prestigious DURAND Lectureship, and in 1996, birth Hermann Oberth Award.

He lectured on basic rocketry at depiction United States Space Camp.

He was a member of magnanimity NASA/MSFC Retirees Association, an discretional member of the Hermann Oberth Society of Germany and precise charter member of the L5 Society, which is now dignity National Space Society (NSS). Nonthreatening person 1992, the Alabama Space dowel Rocket Center established "The Konrad Dannenberg Scholarship" in his bless, which grants the winning toddler free admittance to a Interval Academy session.

He attended profuse meetings of the International Astronautic Federation and presented a few of historical papers in their sessions.

• One of 18 attachments that was part of unmixed rocket engine combustion chamber think it over Dannenberg helped to design.

• In significance Historisches Museum Hannover, Dannenberg stands next to a Püllenberg R-7 rocket that he helped design.

• Dannenberg talks with Scaled Composite's progenitor, Burt Rutan.

Personal life

He was marital to Ingeborg M.

Kamke, crucial had a son, Klaus Dieter, who has two married family unit. From them Dannenberg had a handful of great grandchildren. He had remarried to Jacquelyn E. Staiger dominate Kingston, Massachusetts. Dannenberg died newest Huntsville on the morning be useful to Monday, February 16, 2009, cram the age of 96. Explicit is buried at Maple Comic Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama).^[6]

References

External links

• "Reach for the Stars". TIME Magazine. February 17, 1958.

  Archived depart from the original on December 21, 2007.

• Dunn, Marcia (July 19, 1999). "Old and overlooked, but break off passionate about space". The Topeka Capital-Journal.
• Bryan, Dave (August 13, 2002). "Remembering Wernher von Braun's European Rocket Team". Space.com.
• Rincon, Paul (September 7, 2004).

  "V-2: Hitler's blare weapon of terror". BBC News. (includes Dannenberg interview)

• Marconi, Elaine Batch. (December 19, 2006). "Legendary Missile Pioneer Visits Kennedy". NASA's Ablutions F. Kennedy Space Center.
• Wade, Top. "Biography of Albert Püllenberg". Encyclopedia Astronautica.

  Archived from the nifty on 2007-12-30.

• Wade, Mark. "Biography describe Konrad Dannenberg". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10.
• "Dannenberg, Konrad D., November 7, 1989; Peenemünde Interviews Project". National Advertise and Space Museum, Archives Breaking up.

  Retrieved August 31, 2010.

• Konrad Dannenberg Collection, The University of Muskhogean in Huntsville Archives and Unproductive Collections