Heinz-Hermann Koelle

Closely associated with Wernher von Braun's team at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), he was a member of the launch crew on Explorer 1 and later directed the Marshall Space Flight Center's involvement in Project Apollo.

[2] In 1948 he re-formed the pre-war German Society for Space Travel, which brought him into contact with von Braun and many others of the former Peenemünde team.

[2][3] Koelle arrived in the U.S. in April 1955, three months before President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that country's intent to launch a satellite during the International Geophysical Year in 1957.

[2] When ABMA became part of NASA in 1960, the Redstone Arsenal became the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Preliminary Design Section became the Future Projects Office.

[2] As Koelle watched the conduct of the Vietnam War force reduction in NASA budgets, he concluded that the rapid progress he had participated in was no longer possible, and decided to look for other work.