Eberhard Rees

Eberhard Friedrich Michael Rees ( born April 28, 1908 in Trossingen, † April 2, 1998 in DeLand, Florida; American citizen since November 11, 1954 ) was missile specialist and from March 1970 to January 1973 Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Education and Career in Germany

Eberhard Rees studied after high school in 1927 at the Zeppelin Gymnasium in Stuttgart at Stuttgart and at the Technical University Dresden engineering, where in 1934 he received his diploma.

From 1935 to 1940 he worked at Meier & Weichelt iron and steel works in Leipzig in the development of production methods for steel making and in the planning of new facilities. As assistant to the Deputy Director, he was responsible for improvements in the investment field as well as in human resources, he was also responsible for the establishment of a branch.

Peenemünde

With the assistance of Prof. Dr. Enno Heidebroek Rees came in 1940 as deputy von Braun and Director of Operations for the Army Research Center Peenemünde, where he was responsible for management, deployment strategy, technical questions and manufacture of the test rocket, including the aggregate 4 (later V2), unit 5, waterfall and aggregate 9, 1943, he was production Director and was involved in Peenemunde after the raid by the Allies in the planning for the relocation of the production of missiles in caves in the Harz Mountains near Nordhausen.

Rees ' work in the United States

After the war, Rees was one of the group of specialists to von Braun, which came to the U.S. after internment by the Americans and questioning by the British as the first rocket specialists as part of Operation Overcast, later called Paperclip. As right-hand man of brown Rees was responsible for the technical and organizational implementation of major missile and space projects. From 1945 to 1950 he was at Fort Bliss (Texas ) involved in the task of the German team to advise the Americans in scientific and military V2 - offs as well as the planning of a new missile factory. The group led by Braun and his deputy Rees also worked at the U.S. missile project Hermes. 1950 was created shortly a modern rocket test complex, whose technical director of Brown and his deputy Rees was in Huntsville (Alabama ). 1956-1960 Rees was deputy director of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. He was also responsible for all phases of rocket development from research, through development, design, design, production and testing; with developed there Jupiter and Redstone rocket, the first U.S. satellite Explorer 1 and the first U.S. astronaut reached into space. In 1960, the displacement Rees ' to the newly inaugurated Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA in Huntsville, where he was in charge as Deputy Director of brown with the same responsibility. Rees was as Apollo Special Task Team Director significantly to the Apollo moon landing in 1969 and the development of the Saturn V rocket at. Rees main merit was to elucidate the reasons of the Apollo 1 accident in 1967 and the subsequent improvement of the Apollo capsule as well as all security systems. From Apollo 13 in 1970, Rees was solely responsible for the Saturn rockets for all other lunar missions.

Following the resignation of Brauns Rees was from 1970 until his retirement in 1973 director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. Despite the reduced of President Richard Nixon 's space program of NASA, Rees expanded the program of the MSFC. He initiated including the High Energy Astrophysical Observatories ( HEAO ) and the Space Telescope, later Hubble Space Telescope, the engines of today flying the Space Shuttle, the first space station the American Skylab, the moon car LRV and the conversion of the hitherto known rockets wrought Huntsville to science center After his retirement, took R. advisory tasks with the Friedrich. Krupp in Essen true and ERNO Space Technology in Bremen.

Awards

Rees has received numerous awards, he was appointed by Rollings College in Winter Park, Florida and University of Alabama in Huntsville Dr. hc appointed. He was, among others, since 1959 a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, he was the American Astronautical Society member since 1969; Member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States and since 1970 Honorary Member of the Hermann- Oberth -Gesellschaft, today German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics - Lilienthal- Oberth. In 1978 he received the Wernher -von-Braun - Award of the German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics. To mark the 100th birthday of Eberhard Rees built his hometown Trossingen before his longtime residence in the Hangstraße a memorial stone, reminiscent of Rees ' decisive role in the space program of the United States. On 26 June 2009, the birthplace of Eberhard Rees, a large-scale musical about Rees and the history of the moon landings was in Trossingen, welturaufgeführt. The musical, entitled " Apollo mission - with screws and bolts on the Moon" stems from the pen of the composer and author Frank Golischewski.