[1] He survived World War II, RAF bombing of rocket development facility at Peenemünde, Germany, August 17–18, 1943, known as Operation Crossbow.

Roth became a charter member of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he went to work in 1960.

From 1974 to 1981 he worked in MSFC's Spacelab Program Office, which led to him becoming payload operations director for the Spacelab-2 Mission.

In 2001 he assumed the position of associate director of NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.

[5] He died, November 12, 2008, at the age of 72, in Huntsville, Alabama, at his home after a long battle with cancer.