Georg Heinrich Patrick Baron von Tiesenhausen (May 18, 1914 – June 4, 2018) was a Baltic-German-born American

rocket scientist Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. After being brought to the United States in 1953 as part of

Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World Wa ...

, he was part of

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

's team at the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, and later,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. He is credited with the first complete design of the

Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the t ...

which was driven on the Moon on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions, and made a variety of other contributions to the space program.

Early years

Tiesenhausen was born in

Riga, Latvia Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava (river), Daugava river where ...

, in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

Georg H. P. Baron von Tiesenhausen
al.com; accessed June 19, 2018. to a Baltic German noble family

Tiesenhausen Tiesenhausen is the name of a Baltic German nobility family. The origins of the family are in Lower Saxony. During the Baltic crusades they settled in Livonia in the first half of the 12th century. Bishops Albert of Riga and Herman of Tartu had a ...

from his father's side, while his mother was of Scottish ancestry. He studied engineering in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, but was conscripted to the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

in 1939 and sent to the Eastern Front. He was allowed to continue his studies and in 1943 and graduated from

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. After his graduation he was sent to the

Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (german: Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and ...

.Oral history interview with Georg von Tiesenhausen
December 16, 1988.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

Career

Tiesenhausen worked with

developing V-2 rockets in Germany during World War II. He came to America in 1953 as part of

, where he again worked with von Braun on guided missiles such as the Redstone, this time for the United States Army at Redstone Arsenal in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

. He was later transferred to NASA, where he worked on various spaceflight programs, including the Apollo program, which landed men on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

.MSFC History Project Georg Von Tiesenhausen conducted by A. Dunar and S. Waring
nasa.gov, November 29, 1988. He continued to work for NASA well into the Shuttle era.Georg von Tiesenhausen, rocket scientist – obituary
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', June 5, 2018.George von Tiesenhausen
Youtube.com interview by Dr. Donald Tarter on January 1, 1987. Later he worked on

space tether missions A number of space tethers have been deployed in space missions. Tether satellites can be used for various purposes including research into tether propulsion, tidal stabilisation and orbital plasma dynamics. The missions have met with varying ...

After NASA

Between 1987 and 2010, von Tiesenhausen frequently volunteered at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in

, lecturing to students in Space Camp programs about the future of space exploration and other topics.

Awards

In 2007, he became one of the original inductees into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.Space Camp, Hall of Fame
paragraph: Georg von Tiesenhausen On February 3, 2011, he was presented with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Lifetime Achievement Award for Education by

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

.William T. Martin
"Von Braun team member Dr. von Tiesenhausen honored by U.S. Space and Rocket Center"
huntsvillenewswire.com, February 3, 2011. "Dr. von T is one of those rare individuals who has a natural ability to inform and inspire, to educate and motivate, and, most remarkably, to endure," Armstrong said.
blog.al.com, February 2011.

References

Sources

Birthday surprise leaves von Tiesenhausen giddy.
''

The Huntsville Times ''The Huntsville Times'' is a thrice-weekly newspaper published in Huntsville, Alabama, and printed in Birmingham, Alabama. It also serves the surrounding areas of north Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The ''Times'' formerly operated as an af ...

'' May 14, 2009
Neil Armstrong landing at U.S. Space and Rocket Center to present award.
January 27, 2011
Who's who in frontiers of science and technology: Volume 2Remembering Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiesenhausen, Georg von 1914 births 2018 deaths

Early spaceflight scientists German aerospace engineers German centenarians German emigrants to the United States Men centenarians 20th-century American inventors German people of World War II German people of Scottish descent German rocket scientists German spaceflight pioneers German untitled nobility Operation Paperclip V-weapons people Baltic-German people