German born engineer, Oscar Holderer, who designed the Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon, has passed away at the age of 95 due to stroke. Holderer was the last known surviving member of the German engineering team that came to the US, as part of “Operation Paperclip,” which brought German rocket technology to America. He was survived with his wife, two sons and two stepchildren.

Mr Holderer became a US citizen in 1955. After retiring from NASA in 1974, he built training devices that are still in use at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

Tidbits

• The “Operation Paperclip” team was led by Wernher von Braun. They transferred technology used in Germany’s V2 and other rockets to the US.
• The Saturn V was launched 13 times from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with no loss of crew or payload.
• The Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status.

GK Questions

• The International Space Station is a co-operative programme between ______.? Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan.
• The Proton K Rocket belongs to which country? Russia
• Name the Russian spacecraft which was lost in space recently and falling back to the Earth from orbit?  Soyuz 2-1A rocket