German-born US rocket scientist Konrad Dannenberg died 16 February 2009 in Huntsville, Alabama. Born 5 August 1912 in Weissenfels, Germany, he earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Hanover. During World War II, he worked at the German rocket labs at Peenemünde.
After the war, he was one of the 100 or so scientists brought to the United States with Wernher von Braun in Operation Paperclip, which formed the nucleus of the US rocketry program. In the States—first in Texas and then in Alabama—he was part of the team that designed and built the first Redstone rockets, and later the giant Saturns that led to the manned Moon landings. In 1960, Dannenberg joined NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center as Deputy Manager of the Saturn program, and in 1973, he received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal.
Dannenberg retired from NASA in 1973 and became an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. In his later years, he was a proponent of commercial manned space flight.
Dannenberg is survived by his second wife, Jacquelyn (his first wife predeceased him), a son, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.