Haeussermann, Walter

German-American engineer. Worked on V-2 gyro platform at Peenemuende 1939-1942. Returned to von Braun's team in US in 1948, working on Hermes II and Redstone guidance systems, becoming Director, Guidance and Control Division, at Huntsville.

German rocket guidance engineer. Educated in electrical engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart and Darmstadt. Drafted as a civilian and sent to Peenemuende on 1 December 1939 before completing his doctorate. Thereafter he worked at Kreiselgeraete and Siemens in development of the V-2 gyroscopic platform. He returned to a position in the Institute of Applied Physics at Darmstadt in 1942. He was contacted by the Americans after the war and asked if he wanted to join the Von Braun team in Texas. He declined because his wife was ill. Later Hoelzer and Steinhoff contacted him by phone, and finally he went to Fort Bliss, Texas. He worked on the Hermes II project there, and later on the Redstone and Jupiter guidance systems. As of 1960, Director, Guidance and Control Division, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and led work on the Saturn launch vehicles. In 1973, he was appointed director of the Directorate for Science and Engineering.