1. Walter Haeussermann was a German-American aerospace engineer and member of the "von Braun rocket group", both at Peenemunde and later at Marshall Space Flight Center, where he was the director of the guidance and control laboratory.
10 Facts About Walter Haeussermann
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Walter Haeussermann was awarded the Department of the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service in 1959 for his contributions to the US rocket program.
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Walter Haeussermann was drafted into the German army for World War II and taken to the rocket development center at Peenemunde on December 1,1939.
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Walter Haeussermann stayed at Peenemunde 3 years, then returned to Darmstadt where he worked for Kreiselgeraete and Siemens to develop a gyroscopic guidance platform.
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Walter Haeussermann came to the United States in 1947 to rejoin von Braun's team, working on ballistic missile guidance and control engineering at Fort Bliss.
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NASA was formed in 1958, and Walter Haeussermann was on the initial roster.
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Walter Haeussermann remained an enthusiastic supporter of the space program and attended reunions and public events regularly until his death.
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Walter Haeussermann conducted research more broadly, for instance in 3-axis attitude control and the use of Hall devices in aerospace control devices.
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Walter Haeussermann was a colleague of Arthur Rudolph, who in the 1980s was investigated by the OSI and Eli Rosenbaum for alleged Nazi war crimes.
10.
Walter Haeussermann was at one time part of Rudolph's defense team tasked with proving his innocence.