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116-578: EDSN was funded through the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP). Additionally, NASA Ames has partnered with NASA Marshall , Montana State University , and Santa Clara University . All 8 CubeSats were destroyed during a launch failure of the Super Strypi rocket on November 3, 2015. The eight identical spacecraft used absolute timing obtained from GPS satellites to maintain a schedule. Each day, one satellite would have acted as

232-474: A Charlie Chaplin moustache" and that he perceived him as "another Napoleon " who was "wholly without scruples, a godless man who thought himself the only god". Later examination of von Braun's background, conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, suggests that his background check file contained no derogatory information pertaining to his involvement in the party, but it

348-637: A catalyst . Von Braun's engines used direct combustion and created fire, while the Walter devices used hot vapors from a chemical reaction, but both created thrust and provided high speed. The subsequent flights with the He-112 used the Walter-rocket instead of von Braun's; it was more reliable, simpler to operate, and safer for the test pilot, Warsitz. SS General Hans Kammler , who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps , including Auschwitz , had

464-459: A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). Scientists from MSFC were among the co-investigators. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), popularly known as the "Moon Buggy," was developed at MSFC to provide transportation for exploring a limited amount of the Moon's surface. Not intended in the original planning, by 1969 it became clear that an LRV would be needed to maximize the scientific returns. An LRV

580-733: A Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technische Hochschule Berlin (now Technische Universität Berlin ), Germany. During a period in 1931, von Braun attended the ETH Zürich in Switzerland. During this time in Switzerland, von Braun assisted Professor Hermann Oberth in writing a book concerning the possibilities of creating and manufacturing liquid-propellant rockets. Shortly after this, von Braun founded his own private rocket development business in Berlin, and through which he made

696-484: A Captain and the rest would have acted as Lieutenants. Each spacecraft was able to act as a Captain, and the role of Captain would have rotated through the constellation each 25-hour period. Lieutenants would only communicate with the Captain, and the Captain would have been responsible for downlinking to an Earth station. NASA had estimated a 60-day mission lifetime, at which time the satellites would have drifted apart beyond

812-482: A French resistance fighter who was a prisoner in Dora, testified in 1995 that, after an apparent sabotage attempt, von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged, while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, stated that von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes. However, these accounts may have been a case of mistaken identity. Former Buchenwald inmate Adam Cabala stated that von Braun went to

928-476: A Goddard patent". This was independently confirmed. He wrote that statements that he had lifted Goddard's work were the furthest from the truth, noting that Goddard's paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", which was studied by von Braun and Oberth, lacked the specificity of liquid-fuel experimentation with rockets. It was also confirmed that he was responsible for an estimated 20 patentable innovations related to rocketry, as well as receiving U.S. patents after

1044-521: A Jupiter C in a Juno I configuration (addition of a fourth stage) to successfully place Explorer 1 , the first US satellite, into orbit around the Earth. Effective at the end of March 1958, the U.S. Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC), encompassing the ABMA and its newly operational space programs. In August, AOMC and Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, a Department of Defense organization) jointly initiated

1160-613: A Marshall Center payload is on board. MSFC has been NASA's lead center for the development of rocket propulsion systems and technologies. During the 1960s, the activities were largely devoted to the Apollo Program , with the Saturn family of launch vehicles designed and tested at MSFC. MSFC also had a major role in post-Apollo activities, including Skylab , the Space Shuttle , and Spacelab and other experimental activities which made use of

1276-511: A Redstone with spin-stabilized upper stages. This ABMA developed Jupiter-C was composed of a Redstone rocket first stage and two upper stages for RV tests or three upper stages for Explorer satellite launches. ABMA had originally planned the 20 September 1956 flight as a satellite launch but, by direct intervention of Eisenhower, was limited to the use of 2 upper stages for an RV test flight traveling 3,350 mi (5,390 km) downrange and attaining an altitude of 682 mi (1,098 km). While

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1392-563: A copy of Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (1923, By Rocket into Planetary Space ) by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth . In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog . Space travel had always fascinated him, and from then on he applied himself to physics and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering. In 1928

1508-830: A deployable attachment to the Apollo spacecraft. Called the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), the project was assigned to MSFC in 1966. As the Orbital Workshop matured into the Skylab, the ATM was added as an appendage, but the two activities were kept as independent development projects. Rein Ise was the ATM project manager at MSFC. The ATM included eight major instruments for observations of the Sun at wavelengths from extreme ultraviolet to infrared . The data

1624-497: A diploma in mechanical engineering. His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology. Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, von Braun entered the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin for doctoral studies and graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1934. He also studied at ETH Zürich for

1740-554: A distance of 1,500 mi (2,400 km), successfully withstanding 38 times the normal pull of gravity. On October 21, 1959, President Eisenhower approved the transfer of all Army space-related activities to NASA. On July 1, 1960 the Marshall Space Flight Center, or the MSFC, was created out of the old Redstone Arsenal. The Center was then also placed under the jurisdiction of the recently created NASA, and Wernher von Braun

1856-421: A more powerful 230-thousand-pounds thrust. The J-2 was gimbaled and could also be restarted during flight. The vehicle was first flight-tested on February 26, 1966. Fourteen Saturn 1Bs (or partial vehicles) were built, with five used in uncrewed testing and five others used in crewed missions, the last on July 15, 1975. The Saturn V , an expendable human-rated heavy-lift vehicle, was the most vital element in

1972-675: A picture of himself standing behind Himmler, von Braun said that he had only worn the SS uniform that one time, but in 2002 a former SS officer at Peenemünde told the BBC that von Braun had regularly worn the SS uniform to official meetings. He began as an Untersturmführer (Second lieutenant) and was promoted three times by Himmler, the last time in June 1943 to SS- Sturmbannführer (Major). Von Braun later stated that these were simply technical promotions received each year regularly by mail. In 1932, von Braun received

2088-546: A program managed by ABMA to develop a large space booster of approximately 1.5-million-pounds thrust using a cluster of available rocket engines. In early 1959, this vehicle was designated Saturn . On April 2, President Dwight D. Eisenhower recommended to Congress that a civilian agency be established to direct nonmilitary space activities. On July 29, the President signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act , forming

2204-546: A reputation for brutality and had conceived the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. Arthur Rudolph , chief engineer of the V-2 rocket factory at Peenemünde, endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon. Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at Mittelwerk on many occasions, and called conditions at

2320-402: A reserve airfield in the event of war), one of these latter aircraft was flown with its piston engine shut down during flight by Warsitz, at which time it was propelled by von Braun's rocket power alone. Despite a wheels-up landing and the fuselage having been on fire, it proved to official circles that an aircraft could be flown satisfactorily with a back-thrust system through the rear. At

2436-536: A similar number of employees working in MSFC facilities. Several support contracting firms were also involved in the programs; the largest of these was Brown Engineering Company (BECO, later Teledyne Brown Engineering ), the first high-technology firm in Huntsville and by this time having some 3,500 employees. In the Saturn-Apollo activities, BECO/TBE provided about 20-million man-hours of support. Milton K. Cummings

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2552-418: A small area near the ambulance shed, inmates tortured to death by slave labor and the terror of the overseers were piling up daily. But, Prof. Wernher von Braun passed them so close that he was almost touching the corpses. Von Braun later stated that he was aware of the treatment of prisoners, but felt helpless to change the situation. When asked if von Braun could have protested against the brutal treatment of

2668-457: A spaceship and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments. Himmler's unfounded allegations branding von Braun and his colleagues as communist sympathizers and accusing them of sabotaging the V-2 program, coupled with von Braun's regular piloting of a government-provided airplane that could facilitate an escape to Britain, led to their arrest by

2784-420: A term from June to October 1931. In 1930, von Braun attended a presentation given by Auguste Piccard . After the talk, the young student approached the famous pioneer of high-altitude balloon flight, and stated to him: "You know, I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time." Piccard is said to have responded with encouraging words. Von Braun was greatly influenced by Oberth, of whom he said: Hermann Oberth

2900-455: A total of 1.0-million-pounds thrust. The third stage (S-IVB) had a single gimballed J-2 engine with 200-thousand-pounds thrust. As previously noted, the J-2 engine could be restarted in flight. The basic configuration for this heavy-lift vehicle was selected in early 1963, and the name Saturn V was applied at that time (configurations that might have led to Saturn II, III, and IV were discarded). While

3016-453: Is the most powerful single-nozzle liquid-fueled rocket engine ever used in service; each produced 1.5-million-pounds thrust. Originally started by the U.S. Air Force, responsibility for the development was taken over by ABMA in 1959, and the first test firings at MSFC were in December 1963. The original vehicle, designated Saturn I , consisted of two propulsion stages and an instrument unit; it

3132-715: The Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering , and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science . Von Braun is a highly controversial figure widely seen as escaping justice for his awareness of Nazi war crimes due to the Americans' desire to beat the Soviets in the Cold War . He is also sometimes described by others as

3248-708: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was established. One of the primary programs was a 1,500-mile (2,400 km), single-stage missile that was started the previous year; intended for both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, this was designated the PGM-19 Jupiter . Guidance component testing for this Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) began in March 1956 on a modified Redstone missile dubbed Jupiter A while re-entry vehicle testing began in September 1956 on

3364-715: The External Tank (ET) that carried liquid fuel for the OV's main engines. MSFC was responsible for the SRBs, the OV's three main engines, and the ET. MSFC was also responsible for the integration of Spacelab , a versatile laboratory developed by the European Space Agency and carried in the Shuttle's cargo bay on some flights. The first test firing of an OV main engine was in 1975. Two years later,

3480-686: The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center ; MSFC ), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama ( Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government 's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo program . Marshall has been the lead center for the Space Shuttle main propulsion and external tank ; payloads and related crew training; International Space Station (ISS) design and assembly; computers, networks, and information management; and

3596-541: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA incorporated the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics , Ames Research Center , Langley Research Center , and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory . Despite the existence of an official space agency, the Army continued with far-reaching space programs. In June 1959, a secret study on Project Horizon was completed by ABMA, detailing plans for using

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3712-632: The PGM-11 Redstone . Over the next decade, missile development at Redstone Arsenal greatly expanded. However, von Braun kept space firmly in his mind, and published a widely read article on this subject. In mid-1952, the Germans were hired as regular civil service employees, with most becoming U.S. citizens in 1954-55. Von Braun was appointed Chief of the Guided Missile Development Division. In September 1954, von Braun proposed using

3828-455: The Raketenrummel or "Rocket Rumble" fad initiated by Fritz von Opel and Max Valier was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast. He was so enthusiastic after seeing one of the public Opel-RAK rocket car demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade toy rocket car and caused a disruption in a crowded sidewalk by launching the toy wagon, to which he had attached

3944-454: The Secretary of the Army approved the transfer of the rocket research and development activities from Fort Bliss to the new center at Redstone Arsenal. Beginning in April 1950, about 1,000 persons were involved in the transfer, including von Braun's group. At this time, R&D responsibility for guided missiles was added, and studies began on a medium-range guided missile that eventually became

4060-834: The Space Launch System . Located on the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, MSFC is named in honor of General of the Army George C. Marshall . The center contains the Huntsville Operations Support Center ( HOSC ), also known as the International Space Station Payload Operations Center . This facility supports ISS launch, payload, and experiment activities at the Kennedy Space Center . The HOSC also monitors rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station when

4176-552: The V-2 missile development under von Braun at Peenemünde . The missile specialists were sent to Fort Bliss, Texas , joining the Army's newly formed Research and Development Division Sub-office (Rocket). For the next five years, von Braun and the German scientists and engineers were primarily engaged in adapting and improving the V-2 missile for U.S. applications. Testing was conducted at nearby White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico . von Braun

4292-577: The V-2 . In 1963, von Braun reflected on the history of rocketry, and said of Goddard's work: "His rockets ... may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles." Goddard confirmed his work was used by von Braun in 1944, shortly before the Nazis began firing V-2s at England. A V-2 crashed in Sweden and some parts were sent to an Annapolis lab where Goddard

4408-541: The V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II . The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space on 20 June 1944. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip . He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed

4524-562: The "father of space travel", the "father of rocket science", or the "father of the American lunar program". He advocated a human mission to Mars . Wernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen , Kingdom of Prussia , then German Empire and now Poland. His father, Magnus Freiherr von Braun (1878–1972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in

4640-584: The 100–120 km estimated range of the cross link and would have no longer been able to network. The constellation was planned for a 500 km altitude. EDSN was using Triangular Advanced Solar Cells (TASC) for power generation. Intersatellite communications would have been on UHF via a tapespring antenna. Ground communications would have been via an S-band patch antenna. The spacecraft would have used magnetometers and gyroscopes as attitude determination instruments and reaction wheels and torque coils for attitude control. Cross link would have occurred via

4756-566: The Apollo Program. Designed under the direction of Arthur Rudolph , the Saturn V holds the record as the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a combined height, weight, and payload standpoint. The Saturn V consisted of three propulsion stages and an instrument unit. The first stage (S-IC), had five F-1 engines, giving a combined total of 7.5-million-pounds thrust. The S-II second stage had five J-2 engines with

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4872-661: The Baltic Sea. In 1933, von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party came to power in a coalition government in Germany; rocketry was almost immediately moved onto the national agenda. An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger , arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who then worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf . Von Braun received his doctorate in physics ( aerospace engineering ) on 27 July 1934, from

4988-565: The Earth on February 8, 1974. The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) was the last flight of a Saturn IB. On 15 July 1975, a three-person crew was launched on a six-day mission to dock with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. The primary purpose was to provide engineering experience for future joint space flights, but both spacecraft also had scientific experiments. This was the last crewed U.S. space mission until April 1981. The High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) Program involved three missions of large spacecraft in low Earth orbit . Each spacecraft

5104-498: The Florida launch that might involve Shuttle propulsion. On April 12, 1981, Columbia made the first orbital test flight with a crew of two astronauts. This was designated STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) and verified the combined performance of the entire system. STS-1 was followed by STS-2 on November 12, demonstrating safe re-launch of Columbia . During 1982, STS-3 and STS-4 were completed. STS-5 , launched November 11,

5220-558: The Foreign Office in the 1970s, and a younger brother, Magnus von Braun , who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with Chrysler . The family moved to Berlin , Brandenburg , in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After his Confirmation , his mother gave him a telescope , and he developed a passion for astronomy . Von Braun learned to play both

5336-452: The German army until its publication in 1960. By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two liquid fuel A2 rockets that rose to heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km (2 mi). Von Braun continued his guided missile work throughout World War Two, and met with Adolf Hitler on several occasions, being formally decorated by Hitler twice, including being awarded the Iron Cross. At

5452-522: The Jupiter-C capability was such that it could have placed the fourth stage in orbit, that mission had been assigned to the NRL. Later Jupiter-C flights would be used to launch satellites. The first Jupiter IRBM flight took place from Cape Canaveral in March 1957 with the first successful flight to full range on 31 May. Jupiter was eventually taken over by the U.S. Air Force. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 ,

5568-428: The MSFC had been July 1, 1960, but its dedication ceremony took place two months later on September 8. At the dedication ceremony President Eisenhower gave a speech. The MSFC was named in honor of General George C. Marshall . The administrative activities in MSFC were led by persons with backgrounds in traditional U.S. Government functions, but all of the technical heads were individuals who had assisted von Braun in

5684-513: The Moon: Apollo 11 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , and 17 . Apollo 13 had been intended as a landing, but only circled the Moon and returned to Earth after an oxygen tank ruptured and crippled power in the CSM. Except for Apollo 11, all of the missions carried an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), composed of equipment for seven scientific experiments plus a central remote control station with

5800-639: The National Socialist Party. At this time I was already Technical Director at the Army Rocket Center at Peenemünde (Baltic Sea). The technical work carried out there had, in the meantime, attracted more and more attention in higher levels. Thus, my refusal to join the party would have meant that I would have to abandon the work of my life. Therefore, I decided to join. My membership in the party did not involve any political activity. It has not been ascertained whether von Braun's error with regard to

5916-721: The Nazi regime, Himmler was conspiring to use Kammler to gain control of all German armament programs, including the V-2 program at Peenemünde. He therefore recommended that von Braun work more closely with Kammler to solve the problems of the V-2. Von Braun stated that he replied that the problems were merely technical and he was confident that they would be solved with Dornberger's assistance. Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Gröttrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer's house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on

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6032-470: The Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets. In 1936, von Braun's rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft. Ernst Heinkel enthusiastically supported their efforts, supplying a He-72 and later two He-112s for the experiments. Later in 1936, Erich Warsitz was seconded by the RLM to von Braun and Heinkel, because he had been recognized as one of

6148-591: The Party on 12 November 1937, and was issued membership number 5,738,692. Michael J. Neufeld , an author of aerospace history and chief of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum , wrote that ten years after von Braun obtained his Nazi Party membership, he signed an affidavit for the U.S. Army, though he stated the incorrect year: In 1939, I was officially demanded to join

6264-449: The Redstone as the main booster of a multi-stage rocket for launching artificial satellites. A year later, a study for Project Orbiter was completed, detailing plans and schedules for a series of scientific satellites. However, the Army's official role in the U.S. space satellite program was delayed after higher authorities elected to use the Vanguard rocket then being developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). In February 1956,

6380-425: The S1C Static Test Stand was for live firing of the five F-1 engines of the first stage. Delivering a total of 7.5-million-pounds thrust, the tests produced earthquake-like rumbles throughout the Huntsville area and could be heard as far as 100 mi (160 km) away. As the Saturn activities progressed, external facilities and factories were needed. In 1961, The Michoud Rocket Factory near New Orleans, Louisiana,

6496-463: The Saturn booster in establishing a crewed Army outpost on the Moon. Project Horizon was rejected, and the Saturn program was transferred to NASA. Project Mercury was officially named on 26 November 1958. With a future goal of crewed flight, monkeys Able and Miss Baker were the first living creatures recovered from outer space on May 28, 1959. They had been carried in the nose cone on a Jupiter missile to an altitude of 300 mi (480 km) and

6612-406: The Shuttle's cargo bay. After the May 1945 end of World War II in Germany, the US initiated Operation Paperclip to collect a number of scientists and engineers who had been at the center of Nazi Germany's advanced military technologies. In August 1945, 127 missile specialists led by Wernher von Braun signed work contracts with the United States Army Ordnance Corps . Most of them had worked on

6728-492: The UHF transceiver and on a UHF monopole with an estimated maximum range of 100–120 km. The link would have been initiated when the captain pings the specific Lieutenant's ID. The specified Lieutenant would have then responded with data to be downlinked. Downlink would have occurred on S-Band between the current captain and ground station. The flight computer was a Samsung Nexus S smartphone . Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially

6844-434: The US to a lunar landing by the end of the decade. The primary mission of MSFC under the Apollo program was developing the heavy-lift Saturn family rockets. This required the development and qualification of three new liquid-fueled rocket engines, the J-2 , F-1 , and H-1 . Additionally, the existing RL10 was improved for use on the Saturn S-IV stage. Leland F. Belew managed the Engine Development Office. The F-1 engine

6960-408: The United States under Operation Paperclip after working together at Peenemünde . Von Braun knew well the capabilities of these individuals and had great confidence in them. In the following decade of developing hardware and technical operations that established new levels of complexity, there was never a single failure of their booster designs during crewed flight. The initial main project at MSFC

7076-427: The University of Berlin for a thesis titled "About Combustion Tests." His doctoral supervisor was Erich Schumann. However, this thesis represented only the public aspect of von Braun's work. His actual thesis, entitled "Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket" (dated 16 April 1934), detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket. It remained classified by

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7192-451: The V-2 rockets, but there were victims on both sides...A war is a war, and when my country is at war, my duty is to help win that war." The engineer who designed the V2, Wernher von Braun, came to be feted as a hero of the space age . The Allies realised that the V-2 was a machine, unlike anything they had developed themselves. In response to Goddard's statements, von Braun said "at no time in Germany did I or any of my associates ever see

7308-490: The cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer. He took lessons from the composer Paul Hindemith . The few pieces of von Braun's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style. He could play piano pieces of Beethoven and Bach from memory. Beginning in 1925, he attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar , Free State of Thuringia , where he did not do well in physics and mathematics. There he acquired

7424-399: The checkout procedures. Static test stands had been constructed at ABMA for the Redstone and Jupiter rockets. In 1961, the Jupiter stand was modified to test Saturn 1 and 1B stages. A number of other test stands followed, the largest being the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand completed in 1964. At 475 ft (145 m) in height, the entire Saturn V could be accommodated. Also completed in 1964,

7540-412: The concentration camp to pick slave laborers: ... also the German scientists led by Prof. Wernher von Braun were aware of everything daily. As they went along the corridors, they saw the exhaustion of the inmates, their arduous work and their pain. Not one single time did Prof. Wernher von Braun protest against this cruelty during his frequent stays at Dora. Even the aspect of corpses did not touch him: On

7656-422: The early activities, Highwater and Pegasus, were performed on a non-interference basis while testing the Saturn I vehicle. In Project Highwater , a dummy Saturn I second stage was filled with 23,000 US gallons (87 m ) of water as ballast. After burnout of the first stage, explosive charges released the water into the upper atmosphere. The project answered questions about the diffusion of liquid propellants in

7772-559: The event that a rocket was destroyed at high altitude. Highwater experiments were carried out in April and November 1962. Under the Pegasus Satellite Program , the Saturn I second stage was instrumented to study the frequency and penetration depth of micrometeoroids . Two large panels were folded into the empty stage and unfolded in orbit, presenting 2,300 ft (210-m ) of instrumented surface. Three Pegasus satellites were launched during 1965, with each one staying in orbit from 3 to 13 years. There were six Apollo missions that landed on

7888-406: The federal government during the Weimar Republic . His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European royalty and was a descendant of Philip III of France , Valdemar I of Denmark , Robert III of Scotland , and Edward III of England . He had an older brother, the West German diplomat Sigismund von Braun , who served as Secretary of State in

8004-416: The field of astronautics. According to historian Norman Davies , von Braun was able to pursue a career as a rocket scientist in Germany due to a "curious oversight" in the Treaty of Versailles which did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany. Von Braun was an opportunist who joined the Nazi Party to continue his work on rockets for Nazi Germany . He applied for membership in

8120-422: The first artificial Earth orbiting satellite, on October 4, 1957. This was followed on November 3 with the second satellite, Sputnik 2 . The United States attempted a satellite launch on December 6 using the NRL's Vanguard rocket, but it barely struggled off the ground, then fell back and exploded. On January 31, 1958, after finally receiving permission to proceed, von Braun and the ABMA space development team used

8236-409: The first firing of a SRB took place and tests on the ET began at MSFC. The first Enterprise OV flight, attached to a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), was in February 1977; this was followed by free landings in August and October. In March 1978, the Enterprise OV was flown atop a SCA to MSFC. Mated to an ET, the partial Space Shuttle was hoisted onto the modified Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand where it

8352-564: The first rocket fired by gasoline and liquid oxygen. In 1932, having caught wind of von Braun's rocket business, the German Army connected with von Braun to pursue basic missile research and weather data experimentation. Von Braun said that the German government financed the development of test stands and facilities for experimentation in Darmstadt, Germany. In 1939, von Braun was appointed a technical advisor at Peenemünde Army Research Center on

8468-496: The following year. In 1940, von Braun joined the SS and was given the rank of Untersturmführer in the Allgemeine-SS and issued membership number 185,068. In 1947, he gave the U.S. War Department this explanation: In spring 1940, one SS-Standartenführer (SS-Colonel) Müller from Greifswald, a bigger town in the vicinity of Peenemünde, looked me up in my office...and told me that Reichsführer-SS Himmler had sent him with

8584-762: The largest firework rockets he could purchase. He was later taken in for questioning by the local police, until released to his father for disciplinary action. The incident highlighted the young von Braun's determination to "dedicate his life to space travel". In 1930, von Braun attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin , where he joined the Spaceflight Society ( Verein für Raumschiffahrt or VfR), co-founded by Valier, and worked with Willy Ley in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with others such as Rolf Engel , Rudolf Nebel , Hermann Oberth or Paul Ehmayr . In spring 1932, he graduated with

8700-403: The late 1930s and early 1940s was complex. He said that he had been so influenced by the early Nazi promise of release from the post–World War I economic effects , that his patriotic feelings had increased. In a 1952 memoir article he admitted that, at that time, he "fared relatively rather well under totalitarianism ". Yet, he also wrote that "to us, Hitler was still only a pompous fool with

8816-822: The late 1960s, but funding did not become available for some time. Using Atlas-Centaur launch vehicles, three highly successful missions were flown: HEAO 1 in August 1977, HEAO 2 (also called the Einstein Observatory) in November 1978, and HEAO 3 in September 1979. Fred A. Speer was the HEAO project manager for MSFC. Other MSFC-managed space science projects in the 1970s included the Laser Geodynamics Satellite (LAGEOS) and Gravity Probe A . In LAGEOS, laser beams from 35 ground stations are reflected by 422 prismatic mirrors on

8932-479: The loss of the station's micrometeoroid shield/sun shade and one of its main solar panels. This loss was partially corrected by the first crew, launched May 25; they stayed in orbit with Skylab for 28 days. Two additional missions followed with the launch dates of July 28 and November 16, with mission durations of 59 and 84 days, respectively. Skylab, including the ATM, logged about 2,000 hours on some 300 scientific and medical experiments. The last Skylab crew returned to

9048-517: The many successes at the MSFC'S predecessor, the ABMA , where von Braun had been the Technical Director. The initial technical leaders of the new MSFC had all been former colleagues of von Braun starting back in Germany before World War II. These technical department and/ or division heads were as follows: With the exception of Koelle, all of the technical department and/ or division heads had come to

9164-407: The matter was of highly political significance for the relation between the SS and the Army, I called immediately on my military superior, Dr. Dornberger. He informed me that the SS had for a long time been trying to get their "finger in the pie" of the rocket work. I asked him what to do. He replied on the spot that if I wanted to continue our mutual work, I had no alternative but to join. When shown

9280-503: The most experienced test pilots of the time, and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge. After he familiarized Warsitz with a test-stand run, showing him the corresponding apparatus in the aircraft, he asked: "Are you with us and will you test the rocket in the air? Then, Warsitz, you will be a famous man. And later we will fly to the Moon – with you at the helm!" In June 1937, at Neuhardenberg (a large field about 70 km (43 mi) east of Berlin, listed as

9396-565: The orbiting space station hardware as well as overall systems engineering and integration. For testing and mission simulation, a 75-foot (23 m)-diameter water-filled tank, the Neutral Buoyancy Facility , was opened at MSFC in March 1968. Engineers and astronauts used this underwater facility to simulate the weightlessness (or zero-g) environment of space. This was particularly used in training astronauts in activities in zero-g work, especially spacewalks . The Orbital Workshop

9512-457: The order to urge me to join the SS. I told him I was so busy with my rocket work that I had no time to spare for any political activity. He then told me, that...the SS would cost me no time at all. I would be awarded the rank of a[n] "Untersturmfuehrer" (lieutenant) and it were [ sic ] a very definite desire of Himmler that I attend his invitation to join. I asked Müller to give me some time for reflection. He agreed. Realizing that

9628-480: The plant "repulsive", but stated that he had never personally witnessed any deaths or beatings, although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred. He denied ever having visited the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where 20,000 died from illness, beatings, hangings, and intolerable working conditions. Some prisoners state that von Braun engaged in brutal treatment or approved of it. Guy Morand,

9744-402: The proposed activities being abandoned, but an orbital workshop remained of interest. In December 1965, MSFC was authorized to begin the Orbital Workshop as a formal project. At a meeting at MSFC on August 19, 1966, George E. Mueller , NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, pinned down the final concept for the major elements. MSFC was assigned responsibility for the development of

9860-454: The rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the U.S. and beyond from 1955 to 1957. In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA , where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled

9976-531: The same IU configuration was used on the Saturn I and IB. With IBM as the prime contractor, the IU was the only full Saturn component manufactured in Huntsville. The first Saturn V test flight was made on November 9, 1967. On July 16, 1969, as its crowning achievement in the Apollo space program, a Saturn V vehicle lifted the Apollo 11 spacecraft and three astronauts on their journey to the Moon. Other Apollo launches continued through December 6, 1972. The last Saturn V flight

10092-554: The same time, Hellmuth Walter 's experiments into hydrogen peroxide based rockets were leading toward light and simple rockets that appeared well-suited for aircraft installation. Also, the firm of Hellmuth Walter at Kiel had been commissioned by the RLM to build a rocket engine for the He-112, so there were two different new rocket motor designs at Neuhardenberg: whereas von Braun's engines were powered by alcohol and liquid oxygen, Walter engines had hydrogen peroxide and calcium permanganate as

10208-595: The satellite to track movements in the Earth's crust. The measurement accuracy is a few centimeters and it tracks the movement of tectonic plates with comparable accuracy. Conceived and built at MSFC, the LAGEOS was launched by a Delta rocket in May 1976. Gravity Probe A, also called the Redshift Experiment, used an extremely precise hydrogen maser clock to confirm part of Einstein's general theory of relativity . The probe

10324-617: The slave laborers, von Braun team member Konrad Dannenberg (a member of the Nazi party since 1932) told The Huntsville Times : "If he had done it, in my opinion, he would have been shot on the spot." According to André Sellier, a French historian and survivor of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, Heinrich Himmler had von Braun come to his Feldkommandostelle Hochwald HQ in East Prussia in February 1944. To increase his power-base within

10440-485: The test flights also carried important auxiliary scientific experiments. The Saturn IB (alternatively known as the Uprated Saturn I) also had two propulsion stages and an instrument unit. The first stage (S-IB) also had eight H-1 engines with four gimballed, but the stage had eight fixed fins of equal size fitted to the sides to provide aerodynamic stability. The second stage (S-IVB) had a single J-2 engine that gave

10556-529: The three propulsion stages were the "muscle" of the Saturn V, the Instrument Unit (IU) was the "brains." The IU was on a 260-inch (6.6-m) diameter, 36-inch (91-cm) high, ring that was held between the third propulsion stage and the LM. It contained the basic guidance system components – a stable platform, accelerometers, a digital computer, and control electronics – as well as radar, telemetry, and other units. Basically

10672-480: The time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddard 's research. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat (A) series of rockets. The first successful launch of an A-4 took place on 3 October 1942. The A-4 rocket became well known as

10788-520: The war concerning the advancement of rocketry. Documented accounts also stated he provided solutions to a host of aerospace engineering problems in the 1950s and 1960s. On 22 December 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the production of the A-4 as a "vengeance weapon", and the Peenemünde group developed it to target London. Following von Braun's 7 July 1943 presentation of a color movie showing an A-4 taking off, Hitler

10904-461: The year was deliberate or a simple mistake. Neufeld wrote: Von Braun, like other Peenemünders, was assigned to the local group in Karlshagen; there is no evidence that he did more than send in his monthly dues. But he is seen in some photographs with the party's swastika pin in his lapel – it was politically useful to demonstrate his membership. Von Braun's later attitude toward the Nazi regime of

11020-617: Was a German-American aerospace engineer and space architect . He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS , the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany , and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States . As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed

11136-486: Was a major activity at MSFC. Alex A. McCool, Jr. was the first manager of MSFC's Space Shuttle Projects Office. Throughout 1980, engineers at MSFC participated in tests related to plans to launch the first Space Shuttle. During these early tests and prior to each later Shuttle launch, personnel in the Huntsville Operations Support Center monitored consoles to evaluate and help solve any problems at

11252-505: Was about 18 ft (5.5 m) in length, massed between 6,000 and 7,000 lb (2,700 and 3,200 kg), and carried some 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) of experiments for X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray investigations. The project provided insights into celestial objects by studying their high-energy radiation from space. Scientists from across the US served as principal investigators . The HEAO spacecraft concept originated in

11368-405: Was allowed to use a WAC Corporal rocket as a second stage for a V-2; the combination, called Bumper, reached a record-breaking 250 mi (400 km) altitude. During World War II, the production and storage of ordnance shells was conducted by three arsenals nearby to Huntsville, Alabama . After the war, these were closed, and the three areas were combined to form Redstone Arsenal . In 1949,

11484-479: Was appointed as the Center's first NASA Director. Eberhart Rees, who was a former associate of von Braun from Germany, was also appointed as von Braun's Deputy for Research and Development. At the time of the creation of the MSFC, 4,670 civilian employees, about $ 100 million worth of buildings and equipment, and 1,840 acres (7.4 km ) of land were transferred from AOMC/ABMA to the new MSFC. The official opening date of

11600-489: Was built into the propellant tanks of a Saturn V third stage, being fully refitted on the ground. It was renamed Skylab in February 1970. Two were built – one for flight and the other for testing and mission simulation in the Neutral Buoyancy Facility. Leland F Belew served for eight years as the overall Skylab program director. Another AAP project that survived was a solar observatory, originally intended to be

11716-519: Was carried on the last three missions, allowing an area similar in size to Manhattan Island to be explored. Outbound they carried an ALSEP to be set up; on the return trip, they carried more than 200 pounds of lunar rock and soil samples. Saverio "Sonny" Morea was the LRV project manager at MSFC. The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) involved science-based crewed space missions using surplus Apollo equipment. The lack of interest by Congress resulted in most of

11832-498: Was doing research for the Navy. If this was the so-called Bäckebo Bomb , it had been procured by the British in exchange for Spitfires ; Annapolis would have received some parts from them. Goddard is reported to have recognized components he had invented and inferred that his brainchild had been turned into a weapon. Later, von Braun said: "I have very deep and sincere regret for the victims of

11948-414: Was first tested in flight on October 27, 1961. The first stage (S-I) had a cluster of eight H-1 engines, giving approximately 1.5-million-pounds thrust total. The four outboard engines were gimbaled to allow vehicle steering. The second stage (SIV) had six gimbaled LR10A-3 engines, producing a combined 90-thousand-pounds thrust. Ten Saturn Is were used in flight-testing of Apollo boilerplate units. Five of

12064-417: Was found that he had numerous letters of commendation for outstanding performance of duties during his time working under the Nazi party. Overall FBI conclusions point to von Braun's involvement in the Nazi Party to be purely for the advancement of his academic career, or out of fear of imprisonment or execution. Von Braun joined the SS horseback riding school on 1 November 1933 as an SS- Anwärter . He left

12180-461: Was launched in June 1976, by a Scout rocket, and remained in space for near two hours, as intended. On January 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon announced plans to develop the Space Shuttle , a reusable Space Transportation System (STS) for routine access to space. The Shuttle was composed of the Orbiter Vehicle (OV) containing the crew and payload, two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and

12296-489: Was launched toward England on 7 September 1944, only 21 months after the project had been officially commissioned. Doug Millard of the Science Museum, London states: The V-2 was a quantum leap of technological change. We got to the Moon using V-2 technology but this was technology that was developed with massive resources, including some particularly grim ones. The V-2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives, with

12412-444: Was mainly collected on special photographic film; during the Skylab missions, the film had to be changed out by astronauts in spacewalks . On May 14, 1973, the 77-ton (70,000-kg) Skylab was launched into a 235-nautical-mile (435-km) orbit by the last flown Saturn V. Saturn IB vehicles with their CSMs were used to launch three-person crews to dock with Skylab. Severe damage was sustained during Skylab launch and deployment, resulting in

12528-521: Was on May 14, 1973, in the Skylab Program (described later). A total of 15 Saturn Vs were built; 13 functioned flawlessly, and the other two remain unused. Wernher von Braun believed that the personnel designing the space vehicles should have direct, hands-on participation in the building and testing of the hardware. For this, MSFC had facilities where prototypes of every type of Saturn vehicle were fabricated. Large, special-purpose computers were used in

12644-521: Was salvaged and most of the engineering team remained unharmed; however, the raids killed von Braun's engine designer Walter Thiel and Chief Engineer Walther, and the rocket program was delayed. The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944. The first combat A-4, renamed the V-2 ( Vergeltungswaffe 2 "Retaliation/Vengeance Weapon 2") for propaganda purposes,

12760-593: Was selected as the Saturn V rocket manufacturing site. A 13,500 acres (55 km ) isolated area in Hancock County, Mississippi was selected to conduct Saturn tests. Known as the Mississippi Test Facility (later renamed the John C. Stennis Space Center ), this was primarily to test the vehicles built at the rocket factory . From the start, MSFC has had strong research projects in science and engineering. Two of

12876-540: Was so enthusiastic that he personally made von Braun a professor shortly thereafter. By that time, the British and Soviet intelligence agencies were aware of the rocket program and von Braun's team at Peenemünde, based on the intelligence provided by the Polish underground Home Army . Over the nights of 17–18 August 1943, RAF Bomber Command 's Operation Hydra dispatched raids on the Peenemünde camp consisting of 596 aircraft, and dropped 1,800 tons of explosives. The facility

12992-543: Was subjected to a full range of vibrations comparable to those in a launch. The first spaceworthy Space Shuttle, Columbia , was completed and placed at the KSC for checking and launch preparation. On April 12, 1981, the Columbia made the first orbital test flight. The Space Shuttle was the most complex spacecraft ever built. From the start of the Shuttle program in 1972, the management and development of Space Shuttle propulsion

13108-462: Was the BECO president, Joseph C. Moquin the executive vice president, William A. Girdini led the engineering design and test work, and Raymond C. Watson, Jr., directed the research and advanced systems activities. Cummings Research Park , the second largest park of this type in the US, was named for Cummings in 1973. On May 25, 1961, just 20 days after Shepard's flight, President John F. Kennedy committed

13224-641: Was the final preparation of a Redstone rocket for Project Mercury to lift a space capsule carrying the first American into space. Originally scheduled to take place in October 1960, this was postponed several time and on May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard made America's first sub-orbital spaceflight . By 1965, MSFC had about 7,500 government employees. In addition, most of the prime contractors for launch vehicles and related major items (including North American Aviation , Chrysler , Boeing , Douglas Aircraft , Rocketdyne , and IBM ) collectively had approximately

13340-484: Was the first operational mission; carrying four astronauts, two commercial satellite were deployed. In all three of these flights, on-board experiments were carried and conducted on pallets in the Shuttle's cargo bay. Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( US : / ˈ v ɜːr n ər v ɒ n ˈ b r aʊ n / VUR -nər von BROWN , German: [ˈvɛʁnheːɐ̯ fɔn ˈbʁaʊn] ; 23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977)

13456-429: Was the first who, when thinking about the possibility of spaceships, grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs... I, myself, owe to him not only the guiding-star of my life, but also my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry and space travel. A place of honor should be reserved in the history of science and technology for his ground-breaking contributions in

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