Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen, the last of the German rocket scientists who was part of Dr. Wernher von Braun's moon rocket team, died at his Huntsville residence Sunday night, people close to the rocket team confirm. He was 104.
Von Tiesenhausen - Von T as he was known to the Germans - was a legend in rocketry. When the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville gave von Tiesenhausen a lifetime achievement award in 2011, Neil Armstrong made a rare public appearance to present it. Von Tiesenhausen taught Space Campers for years after retiring from NASA.
"He will be missed," Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said on learning of von Tiesenhausen's death. "He's the last of a generation that was always reaching for the stars."
Von Tiesenhausen was not among the original Germans who came to Huntsville with von Braun in 1950 in the first wave of what was called Operation Paperclip.
But he had been with von Braun during World War II and was with von Braun's team when it launched the first U.S. satellite and the first U.S. astronauts.
After a few years working in Germany after the war, von Tiesenhausen joined von Braun in Huntsville where he conceived and designed the mobile launch facilities for the Saturn V. He also came up with the idea and designed the original concept for the lunar rover at Marshall.
"He convinced von Braun we ought to design a moon buggy to go to the moon with the astronauts," remembers Ed Buckbee, a NASA public affairs officer under von Braun and the first director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. "It took a lot of sales effort on the part of von Braun, von Tiesenhausen and others to convince headquarters that, 'Look we need to give those guys some legs on the moon. Give them the ability to extend their reach.' And sure enough, we did. It really needs to be recognized. He put wheels on our American astronauts on the moon's surface."
The astronauts came to see the value of the rover, too. Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, put the rover among the mission highlights of Apollo 17. "Apollo 17 built upon all of the other missions scientifically," Cernan said in 2008. "We had a lunar rover, we were able to cover more ground than most of the other missions. We stayed there a little bit longer. We went to a more challenging unique area in the mountains, to learn something about the history and the origin of the moon itself."
There was no immediate word Monday on funeral services. Family members who live outside Huntsville were reportedly returning to the city where they had just gathered to celebrate von Tiesenhausen's 104th birthday on May 18.
(Updated at 6:04 p.m. with a statement from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and at 8:30 for comments from Ed Buckbee)