Robert R. Gilruth

Robert Rowe Gilruth ( born October 8, 1913 in Nashwauk, Minnesota, USA; † August 17, 2000 in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA ) was an American aviation and space pioneer. He was 1961-1972, the first director of the Johnson Space Center of NASA.

Gilruth attended high school in Duluth (Minnesota) and studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota. In 1935, he earned a bachelor's degree and a year later a master.

Gilruth began his career with the exploration of supersonic flight and the development of rocket -powered aircraft. Later he joined the manned space program, where he played a central role in achieving the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

From 1937 to 1958 he worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ), and then for its successor, the U.S. space agency NASA.

With the establishment of the NASA Gilruth was head of the Space Task Group, whose task it was to put a man in front of the Soviet Union into space. When this failed, it was Gilruth, the U.S. president John F. Kennedy convinced them that the United States need a larger target, such as the landing on the moon.

When in 1961 in Texas, the Manned Spacecraft Center was ( since 1973 Johnson Space Center ) founded Gilruth took over the management. He paused the position until 1972 and had overall responsibility in this function more than 25 manned space flights of Mercury - Redstone 3 to Apollo 15, 1971 Gilruth was awarded the James Watt Medal.

Then Gilruth worked in an advisory capacity in the NASA headquarters in Washington until he retired in 1973.