Kurt Heinrich Debus

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Kurt H. Debus as Director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (1962 to 1974)

Kurt Heinrich Debus (born November 29, 1908 in Frankfurt am Main , † October 10, 1983 in Cocoa Beach , Florida ) was a German rocket pioneer . From 1944 to February 1945 he was operations manager of test stand VII in Peenemünde , and between July 1962 and November 1974 he was director of the Kennedy Space Center .

biography

Kurt Debus began studying electrical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 1929 , where he became a member of the Markomannia fraternity in 1930 - later Darmstadt's Rheno-Markomannia fraternity . From 1933 to 1936 he was a member of the SA , from the beginning of 1939 he was a member of the SS (membership number 426,559). In 1935 he obtained his diploma in electrical engineering and became Ernst Hueter's assistant . In 1939 he received his doctorate in electrical engineering at the TH Darmstadt and then continued to work as a research assistant at the TH. While he was still working at the TH Darmstadt in 1942, he reported a work colleague to the Gestapo for alleged “anti-state” statements. He was then sentenced to two years in prison under the treachery law of the time .

From 1939 onwards, Wernher von Braun had tried several times without success to win Debus over to work on the V2 in Peenemünde. Given the choice between becoming a soldier or going to Peenemünde, he decided on the latter and from August 1943 worked as a development engineer at the Peenemünde Army Research Institute on the V2 rocket . Most recently he was operations manager of test stand VII .

Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus in front of "their" moon rocket Saturn V (1966)

Debus came to the USA in 1945 together with a group of engineers and scientists led by Wernher von Braun as part of Operation Paperclip . The group worked in Fort Bliss, Texas for five years until 1950 and then moved to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama .

From 1952 to 1960 Kurt Debus was with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which was located on the premises of the Redstone Arsenal . For this facility, he supervised the launch of the first US ballistic missile , the military version of the Redstone, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . The Mercury Redstone program, a forerunner of the Apollo program, emerged from the military redstone program with his significant involvement .

Debus became director of the Launch Operation Center in 1962 and eventually director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center . During this time he was responsible for the start of the Apollo program including the six moon landings ( Apollo 11 to Apollo 17 ; Apollo 13 was canceled prematurely). The following missions were carried out under his leadership:

In 1974 he retired from the position of Director of the Space Center. From 1975 to 1980 he was chairman of the supervisory board of OTRAG .

Honors

In 1975 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering . The lunar crater Debus on the back of the moon was named after Kurt H. Debus .

source

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rainer Eisfeld : Moonstruck. Wernher von Braun and the birth of space travel from the spirit of barbarism. zu Klampen, Springe 2012, ISBN 978-3-86674-167-6 , p. 97.
  2. ^ Members Directory: Dr. Kurt H. Debus. National Academy of Engineering, accessed June 8, 2017 .

literature

  • Space , No. 4/2020, p. 49

Web links

Commons : Kurt Debus  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Debus, Kurt Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American director of the Kennedy Space Center
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1983
Place of death Cocoa Beach , Florida, USA