Kurt Debus | |
|---|---|
 Official NASA portrait, 1970 | |
| Born | Kurt Heinrich Debus (1908-11-29)November 29, 1908 |
| Died | October 10, 1983(1983-10-10) (aged 74) Rockledge, Florida, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Technische Hochschule Darmstadt |
| Known for | First director ofKennedy Space Center |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineering[1] |
| Institutions | Voight & Haeffner, AG (Frankfurt)[2] 1939–1943:[2]Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (assistant professor) |
Kurt Heinrich Debus[1] (November 29, 1908 – October 10, 1983) was a German-American rocket engineer and NASA director. Born in Germany, he was a member of theSchutzstaffel (SS) during World War II, where he served as aV-weapons flight test director. Following the war, he was brought to the United States viaOperation Paperclip, and directed the design, development, construction and operation of NASA'sSaturn launch facilities. He became the first director ofNASA's Launch Operations Center (later renamed as theKennedy Space Center), and, under him, NASA conducted 150 launches of military missiles and space vehicles, including 13 launches of theSaturn V rocket as part of theApollo Moon landing program.
Born to Melly F. (née Grauchlich) and Heinrich P. J. Debus[2] inFrankfurt,German Empire, in 1908,[1] Debus received all his academic education and credentials in Germany during theinterwar period. He attendedTechnische Hochschule Darmstadt where he earned his initial and advanced degrees in electrical engineering. He served as a graduate assistant on the faculty for electrical engineering and high-voltage engineering while studying for his master's degree.[citation needed]
In 1939, he obtained his engineering doctorate with a thesis on surge voltages, and was appointed assistant professor at the university. DuringWorld War II, Debus was a member of theNazi Party, and joined theSA in 1933 and theSS in 1940 [No 426.559].[5][6]
Debus was appointed byHitler as the V-weapons flight test director and was actively engaged in the rocket research program atPeenemünde and the development of theV-2 rocket, Debus led the Test Stand Group[7] personnel atPeenemünde[8] and was the engineer in charge atTest Stand VII.[9]
At the end of the war, Debus and a small group of the V-2 engineers led byWernher von Braun's brother sought out the advancingAmerican 44th Infantry Division nearSchattwald on May 2, 1945. Debus was detained by theU.S. Army with the rest of the Peenemünde scientists atGarmisch-Partenkirchen.[2] Debus served as both a technical and diplomatic liaison between German rocket engineers and the British duringOperation Backfire, a series of V-2 test launches from an abandoned German naval gun range nearCuxhaven, Germany, in October 1945.[2]
In late 1945, Debus was transferred toFort Bliss,Texas, under contract as a "special employee" of the U.S. Army, as were the other German rocket specialists. He was brought to the United States as part ofOperation Paperclip, a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were brought from formerNazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment afterthe end of World War II in Europe.[10][11]
He was deputy director at the Guidance and Control Branch through December 1948, when he was promoted to assistant technical director to von Braun at theRedstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The arsenal became the focal point of the Army's rocket and space projects; larger rockets were launched first fromWhite Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and later fromCape Canaveral. The Army assigned von Braun as chairman of a Development Board, and Debus supervised the development program of the Guided Missile Branch until November 1951. The Army Ordnance Department reorganized the team and called it the Ordnance Guided Missile Center. By November 1951, the pace had picked up and a new missile program, theRedstone, was taking shape. Von Braun named Debus to lead a new Experimental Missiles Firing Branch.[2] Debus' organization also launched the first U.S. missiles carrying atomic warheads in the Pacific Ocean area during a series of tests.[12]
Starting in 1952, Debus supervised the development and construction of rocket launch facilities at Cape Canaveral for the Redstone,Jupiter,Jupiter-C, Juno and Pershing military configurations continuing through 1960. The organization he directed was transferred from the Army to NASA.[citation needed]
Beginning in 1961, Debus directed the design, development and construction of NASA'sSaturn launch facilities at the north end of Cape Canaveral and adjacent Merritt Island.[12]
On July 1, 1962, the Florida launch facility at Cape Canaveral was officially designated as NASA'sLaunch Operations Center (renamed to honor President John Kennedy after his assassination in 1963) and Debus was officially named its first director. In October 1965, he became responsible for NASA uncrewed launch operations at theEastern andWestern Ranges, assuming the additional title of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) director of launch operations untilRocco Petrone took the post in 1966.[citation needed]
Under Debus' leadership, NASA and its team of contractors built what was hailed as theFree World's Moonport — KSC'sLaunch Complex 39 — as well as tested and launched the Saturn family of rockets for the Apollo andSkylab programs. Debus retired as KSC director in November 1974.[2]
Debus married Irmgard Brueckmann on June 30, 1937; they had two daughters while still in Germany: Siegrid and Ute (1940–2011[13]).[2]
A smalllunar crater on thefar side of the Moon to the east-southeast of the craterGanskiy, past the eastern limb, is named for Debus; as is The Kurt Debus Conference Center at theKennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Debus was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969. He was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Law andDoctor of Engineering Science degrees byRollins College in 1967 andFlorida Technological University in 1969, respectively.[14]
Since 1990, the National Space Club of Florida has presented its annual Debus Award to recognize significant aerospace achievements in Florida, including individuals associated with launch vehicles, spacecraft operations, ground support services, range activities, space education and spaceport research and development. The award was conceived as an adjunct to the Goddard Award given each year by theNational Space Club in Washington, D.C. to an individual in the aerospace field on a national level.[15]
1965: Pioneer of Wind Rose Award, order of the Diamond (International Committee of Aerospace Activities)
1967: Space Flight Award (AAS)
1968:Outstanding Achievement Award (U.S. Treasury)
1969:National Space Hall of Fame[12]
1969:NASA Distinguished Service Medal (twice:Apollo 8,11)
1969:Patriotic Service Award (U.S. Treasury)
1969:Outstanding Leadership Award (NASA)
1969:Exceptional Civilian Medal (U.S. Army)
1969: Career Service Award (National Civil Service Reform League)
1969: Americanism Medal (DAR)
1971:AIAA fellow
1971: Commander's Cross of the order of merit (FRG)1971: Hermann-Oberth Gesellschaft Honor Ring
1971: Scott Gold Medal[16]
1974: Louis W. Hill Space Transportation Award (AIAA)
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