The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo program. Marshall has been the lead center for the Space Shuttle main propulsion and external tank; payloads and related crew training; International Space Station (ISS) design and assembly; computers, networks, and information management; and the Space Launch System. Located on the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, MSFC is named in honor of General of the Army George C. Marshall.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama is a museum operated by the government of Alabama, showcasing rockets, achievements, and artifacts of the U.S. space program. Sometimes billed as "Earth's largest space museum", astronaut Owen Garriott described the place as, "a great way to learn about space in a town that has embraced the space program from the very beginning."
Miguel Rodríguez is the Chief of the Integration Office of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Management Office.
Alexander A. McCool Jr. was manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During his career, McCool contributed to several space developments including the Apollo Program, Skylab and the Space Shuttle program.
Ernst Stuhlinger was a German-American atomic, electrical, and rocket scientist. After being brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, he developed guidance systems with Wernher von Braun's team for the US Army, and later was a scientist with NASA. He was also instrumental in the development of the ion engine for long-endurance space flight, and a wide variety of scientific experiments.
Eberhard Friedrich Michael Rees was a German-American rocketry pioneer and the second director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
James Robert Thompson Jr., known as J.R. Thompson, was the fifth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as director from September 29, 1986, to July 6, 1989. Thompson also served as NASA's deputy director from July 6, 1989, to November 8, 1991.
Thomas Jack Lee was the sixth Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from July 6, 1989 to January 6, 1994.
Arthur G. Stephenson was the ninth Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as director from September 11, 1998, to May 2003.
David Arnold King is an American engineer who was the tenth Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Redstone Test Stand or Interim Test Stand was used to develop and test fire the Redstone missile, Jupiter-C sounding rocket, Juno I launch vehicle and Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. It was declared an Alabama Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1979 and a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It is located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama on the Redstone Arsenal, designated Building 4665. The Redstone missile was the first missile to detonate a nuclear weapon. Jupiter-C launched to test components for the Jupiter missile. Juno I put the first American satellite Explorer 1 into orbit. Mercury Redstone carried the first American astronaut Alan Shepard into space. The Redstone earned the name "Old Reliable" because of this facility and the improvements it made possible.
The Saturn V dynamic test vehicle, designated SA-500D, is a prototype Saturn V rocket used by NASA to test the performance of the rocket when vibrated to simulate the shaking which subsequent rockets would experience during launch. It was the first full-scale Saturn V completed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Though SA-500D never flew, it was instrumental in the development of the Saturn V rocket which propelled the first men to the Moon as part of the Apollo program. Built under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun, it served as the test vehicle for all of the Saturn support facilities at MSFC.
Axel Roth was born in Darmstadt, Germany, on October 25, 1936. He was the son of Ludwig Roth, an original member, of the German Rocket Team. He survived World War II, RAF bombing of rocket development facility at Peenemünde, Germany, August 17–18, 1943, known as Operation Crossbow. He arrived in the US in New York City, NY in 1946, a year after his father arrived there as part of Operation Paperclip, aboard a converted troop transport. He moved first to Ft. Bliss, Texas, and then to Huntsville, Alabama in 1950 when the German Rocket Team was relocated to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. is former Acting Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), serving from January 20, 2017 until April 23, 2018. Succeeding Charles Bolden, Lightfoot became the space agency's acting Associate Administrator on March 5, 2012. That job became permanent on September 25, 2012. He had previously served as the eleventh Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from March 2009 until his promotion in March 2012. On March 12, 2018 he announced his retirement from NASA effective April 30, 2018.
There are NASA facilities across the United States and around the world. NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC provides overall guidance and political leadership to the agency. There are 10 NASA field centers, which provide leadership for and execution of NASA's work. All other facilities fall under the leadership of at least one of these field centers. Some facilities serve more than one application for historic or administrative reasons. NASA has used or supported various observatories and telescopes, and an example of this is the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. In 2013 a NASA Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) Report recommended a Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) style organization to consolidate NASA's little used facilities. The OIG determined at least 33 of NASA's 155 facilities were underutilized.
Dynetics is an American applied science and information technology company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. Its primary customers are the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States Intelligence Community, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Arthur Eugene "Gene" Goldman is the executive director for Aerojet's Southeast Space Operations division. Before retiring from NASA in August 2012, he last served as acting director of the Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. He was appointed as acting director effective March 5, 2012, following the promotion of the previous director, Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr., to Acting Associate Administrator of NASA.
Robin Neely Henderson is the Associate Director, Management, of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. She was named to become the center's Acting Director effective August 3, 2012, following the retirement of the previous director, Arthur E. Goldman, to take a private sector position. On September 25, 2012, NASA named Patrick Scheuermann as the center's new permanent director.
Charles A. Lundquist was an early NASA scientist and program director. He managed research on satellites and rockets at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. After retirement, Lundquist devoted his time to collecting and documenting early space program history, particularly that surrounding German rocket scientists in Huntsville, Alabama.
