When Thuringia fell under Soviet control in the course of the Potsdam Agreement, the flight continued by horse and carriage, further westwards to Öhringen in southwestern Württemberg.
After the Abitur at the Robert-Mayer-High School in Heilbronn and first work experiences in the private economy at the energy corporation AEG in Stuttgart, Oertel commenced his studies of physics at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel in 1953.
[2] Goetz followed his supervisor of his doctoral thesis to the US in 1957 with a Fulbright stipend, and got a position as physics research associate at the University of Maryland.
In 1967, the NASA HQ offered Goetz Oertel a senior position in Washington, D.C. and thus enabled a continuation of his theoretical work.
In 1975, he was appointed Head of the Astronomy Program at the Ministry of Science[clarification needed], and in 1976 Chief of Staff of the Assistant Administrator for nuclear energy.
New positions at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in Albuquerque brought responsibilities for 32,000 employees and an overall budget of USD 3 billion.
Dealing with the consequences of the Challenger space shuttle accident and the Chernobyl disaster, the appointment to President and Chief Executive of AURA came at a suitable moment.