Konrad Dannenberg
Konrad Dannenberg (* August 5, 1912 in Weissenfels, Saxony province, German Reich, † February 16, 2009 in Huntsville (Alabama ), United States ) was a rocket pioneer. He was a member of Walter Thiel at the Army Research Center Peenemünde. In 1945, he came up with Wernher von Braun in the U.S. and later became deputy director at NASA 's development program of the Saturn V rocket.
Life
The interest for space was excited at Konrad Dannenberg in his youth by a lecture by Max Valier. After graduating from the Lutheran school he studied at the Technical University of Hannover engineering and employed there, among others, drive technology.
1931 Dannenberg member of the Society for rocket research - Hannover group ( GEFRA ) under Albert Püllenberg. He built from bicycle frame dieselgetriebende rocket engines.
In 1932 joined the NSDAP in Dannenberg. From 1939 to 1940 he was a soldier, only at a horse artillery unit in the Czech Republic. Before the start of the campaign in the west, he was transferred to the German -French border.
In early 1940, he was brought to the Army Research Center Peenemünde, thanks to the mediation of Püllenberg to the engine team of Walter Thiel. There he worked especially on the drive of the A4 rocket. On the photo you see of him with developed injection nozzle ( 18 pieces total ) of the " 25 -t - rocket stove " ( rocket engine with 25 tons of thrust).
According to Thiel's death by the air raid on the night of 17 to August 18, 1943 (Operation Hydra ) all further developments have been stopped. Dannenberg was Walter Riedel ( Riedel III) deputy.
As part of the operation Overcast he moved in 1945 with Wernher von Braun and 117 other employees in the U.S. on, first to Fort Bliss, Texas, later to Huntsville. In the U.S., the first task of the researchers was to develop the Redstone rocket for the U.S. Army. Dannenberg was responsible for the procurement of missile engines for the Redstone and Jupiter intermediate-range missiles.
In 1954 he received the U.S. citizenship. NASA was founded in 1958, and Dannenberg now worked for the Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA in Huntsville. 1960 he was appointed by Brown as deputy head of development of the Saturn rocket program. He was so involved in the construction of the "moon rocket" Saturn V for the Apollo program.
In 1973 he retired and received the " Outstanding Service Medal from NASA ." But even in retirement, he remained connected space and was Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Aerospace Institute of the University of Tennessee in Tullahoma.
Dannenberg was instrumental in the construction of the " Space Camp " in Huntsville. It is an educational institution for aerospace engineering, which is primarily intended for students and teachers.
His great dream, of the actual goal of the entire Peenemunde group Wernher von Braun was by his own admission, to experience a manned flight to Mars, no longer fulfilled.
Konrad Dannenberg was honored on the occasion of his death as follows:
"As mayor, and on behalf of the City of Huntsville, I'd like to express our sadness at the loss of a true pioneer. Konrad Dannenberg 's leadership and vision lifted our city, our state and our country to heights did had never before been Achieved. We will be forever Reminded of his accomplishments everytime we look to the sky and see the moon. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. "