posted 06-04-2018 05:09 PM               

Here is how von Tiesenhausen described himself in a 1988 Marshall Space Flight Center oral history:

I was at Peenemünde, then came over here. My main job to summarize all these things was innovation. They called me "the idea man." I had to come up with new missions. I designed the first lunar rover for instance, that was in 1959...

Von Tiesenhausen was also with von Braun at the German V-2 factories during World War II, and he was with von Braun when the Germans surrendered to American troops in 1945. Von Tiesenhausen was invited to America, but he took an engineering job in Germany after the war designing winches for cargo ships. "As an engineer, it doesn't make any difference what you do," he joked last week.

After a few years, it apparently did make a difference. Von Tiesenhausen decided to join von Braun in Huntsville where he "conceived and designed" the mobile launch facilities for the Saturn V and designed the original concept for the lunar rover before it went to Boeing for implementation. "It was fun," von Tiesenhausen said. His wife says he never "worked" a day in his life.

Dr. von T, as he is affectionately known to thousands of students from around the world, has spent more than 22 consecutive years volunteering as a guest lecturer at Space Camp. A gifted teacher, Dr. von T is able to discuss such subjects as the time-space continuum so that even the youngest student understands and appreciates the lesson. Space Camp has no greater friend than Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen.