A Tribute to Konrad Dannenberg

A tribute honoring the late Konrad Dannenberg, one of the last surviving German-American rocket pioneers, is being held Nov 7th from 10a.m. to 4p.m in the Salmon Library. Open to the public.

Born in Weissenfels, Germany, Dannenberg received his mechanical engineering degree from the Technical University of Hanover. After serving in the German Army in 1940, he became employed with the German Arms Research and Development Center located in Peenemude as a rocket propulsion specialist. There he helped develop a rocket engine for the V-2, the world’s first ballistic missile, which was later used in WWII by the Nazis to bomb London. After WWII ended, Dannenberg left Germany for the United States. From the late 1945-1950 he went to Fort Bliss, TX where the Team was locatd until moving to Huntsville, Al in 1950. From 1950-1956 he worked with the Team at the Redstone Arsenal with the Ordance Missile Laboratory. The Army Ballistic Missile Agency was established in 1956 whom he worked for until transferring to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in July of 1960. From 1960to 1973, he worked under various programs including the Deputy Manager of the Saturn program. He went on to help develop the largest rocket ever built, the Saturn V, which took the first human beings to the moon. Dannenberg received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1973 for this success. An actual Saturn V rocket can be toured inside the Davidson Center off I-565.

Along with many other achievements, Dannenberg supported rocket education. His wife Jackie Dannenberg commented on his dedication to rocketry, “He wanted to pass on his dream of rocketry to the next generation.” Established by the Alabama Space and Rocket Center in 1992, “The Konrad Dannenberg Scholarship” grants a winning youngster a Space Academy session free of admission. Later into his 90s, Dannenberg was still dedicated to his dream. In 2006, he visited and lectured to students, engineers and employees at the Kennedy Space Center to further stress the importance of rocketry. He died at age 96 on Feb. 16 2009 in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Konrad Dannenberg Collection will feature speakers from various eras of his life such as Julius Braun, Klaus Dannenberg, Robert Schwinghammer, Sonny Morea, Ed Buckbee, and Jackie Dannenberg, who will show a slide presentation.

Admission is free for those who are not eating lunch. To make your reservations for the luncheon cost $20, contact konrad2009@nss.org or call 256-603-0055 or 256-628-2799.