Konrad Dannenberg

KONRAD K. DANNENBERG retired in 1973 from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) near Huntsville, Alabama from his position as Deputy Director of Program Development's Mission and Payload Planning Office. He was working on early Space Station concepts at the time of his retirement. During the following five years he was an Associate Professor of Aviation Systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. He lectures at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and consulted MSFC on the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). He is also involved in several “X-Prize” projects. Dannenberg was born in Weissenfels, Germany. He gained his Master Of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Hannover. He worked with Wernher von Braun in Peenemünde, Germany and came after World War II under "Project Paperclip" to the United States, where he joined the U.S. Army Ordinance Team in Fort Bliss, Texas, where he worked on future projects. He observed a few of the 66 V-2 launches at the White Sands Proving Ground, but did not participate in the launch preparations. Subsequently he helped to develop and to produce the Redstone and Jupiter missile systems for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama. A modified Redstone launched as Jupiter-C the United States' first satellite. In 1960, Dannenberg joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as Deputy Manager of the Saturn Program. In this capacity, he participated in the conceptual development of the Saturn family of space boosters and received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He was working on early Space Station concepts when we landed on the Moon. Dannenberg is a Fellow of the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and past president of the Alabama/Mississippi Chapter of this organization. In 1990 he received the prestigious DURAND Lectureship and in 1995 the Hermann Oberth Award. He is a member of the NASA/MSFC Retirees Association, an honorary member of the Hermann Oberth Society of Germany and a charter member of the L-5 Society which is now the National Space Society (NSS). In 1992, the Alabama Space and Rocket Center established in his honor "The Konrad Dannenberg Scholarship" which grants to the winning youngster free admittance to a Space Academy session. He has attended many meetings of the IAF (International Astronautical Federation) and presented a number of historical papers in their sessions. From his deceased wife Ingeborg M. Kamke he has a son Klaus Dieter who has 2 married children who have three of Konrad's great grandchildren. He is now married to the former Jacquelyn E. Staiger of Boston, Massachusetts.