page_title: Marshall Space Flight Center
section_title: 1960s and 1970s – the initial decades
hierarchical_section_title: Marshall Space Flight Center / History / 1960s and 1970s – the initial decades
caption_attribution_description: English: Per our photographer, the clouds were dramatic over Huntsville this day, so he did some images in HDR -- with gorgeous results. This view shows "Rocket Park" at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. From left to right: Hermes A-1 , V-2 rocket, PGM-19 Jupiter, PGM-11 Redstone, and Jupiter-C; the Saturn I Dynamic Test Vehicle stands behind the row of smaller rockets.
context_page_description: The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, 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 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 Marshall.
  The center contains the Huntsville Operations Support Center, also known as the International Space Station Payload Operations Center. This facility supports ISS launch, payload, and experiment activities at the Kennedy Space Center. The HOSC also monitors rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station when a Marshall Center payload is on board.
context_section_description: Initially, engineers from Huntsville traveled to Florida to conduct launch activities at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The first NASA launch facility there (Launch Complex 39) was designed and operated by MSFC, then on July 1, 1962, the overall site achieving equal status with other NASA centers and was named the Launch Operations Center, later renamed the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
  When the Marshall Space Flight Center began official operations in July 1960, Wernher von Braun was the Director and Eberhard Rees was his Deputy for Research and Development. The administrative activities in MSFC were led by persons with backgrounds in traditional U.S. Government functions, but all of the technical heads were individuals who had assisted von Braun in his success at ABMA. The initial technical activities and leaders at MSFC were as follows:
  Director – Wernher von Braun
  Deputy Director for R&D – Eberhard F. M. Rees
  Reliability Office – H. August Schulze
  Future Projects Office – Heinz-Hermann Koelle
  Light & Medium Vehicles Office – Hans Hueter
  Saturn Systems Office – O. Hermann Lange
  Technical Program Coordination Office – George N. Constan
  Weapons Systems Office – Werner G. Tiller
  Launch Operations Directorate – Kurt H. Debus
  Aeroballistics Division – Ernst G. Geissler. Included the Future Project Branch until that was dissolved in the mid 1960s.
  Computation Division – Helmut Hölzer
  Fabrication & Assembly Engineering Division – Hans H. Maus
  Guidance & Control Division – Walter Häussermann
  Quality Division – Dieter E. Grau
  Research Projects Division – Ernst Stuhlinger
  Structures & Mechanics Division – William A. Mrazek
  Test Division – Karl L. Heimburg
  With the exception of Koelle, all of the technical leaders had come to the United States under Operation Paperclip after working together at Peenemünde. Von Braun knew well the capabilities of these individuals and had great confidence in them. In the following decade of developing hardware and technical operations that established new levels of complexity, there was never a single failure of their booster designs during crewed flight.
  The initial main project at MSFC was the final preparation of a Redstone rocket for Project Mercury to lift a space capsule carrying the first American into space. Originally scheduled to take place in October 1960, this was postponed several time and on May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard made America's first sub-orbital spaceflight.
  By 1965, MSFC had about 7,500 government employees. In addition, most of the prime contractors for launch vehicles and related major items (including North American Aviation, Chrysler, Boeing, Douglas Aircraft, Rocketdyne, and IBM) collectively had approximately a similar number of employees working in MSFC facilities.
  Several support contracting firms were also involved in the programs; the largest of these was Brown Engineering Company (BECO, later Teledyne Brown Engineering), the first high-technology firm in Huntsville and by this time having some 3,500 employees. In the Saturn-Apollo activities, BECO/TBE provided about 20-million man-hours of support. Milton K. Cummings was the BECO president, Joseph C. Moquin the executive vice president, William A. Girdini led the engineering design and test work, and Raymond C. Watson, Jr., directed the research and advanced systems activities. Cummings Research Park, the second largest park of this type in the US, was named for Cummings in 1973.
caption: Rockets developed at MSFC and ABMA before it are on display at MSFC.
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