Arthur Rudolph

Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph (November 9, 1906 – January 1, 1996) was a German rocket engineer who was a leader of the effort to develop the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany.

After World War II, the United States government's Office of Strategic Services (OSS) brought him to the U.S. as part of the clandestine Operation Paperclip, where he became one of the main developers of the U.S. space program.

He worked within the U.S. Army and NASA, where he managed the development of several systems, including the Pershing missile and the Saturn V Moon rocket.

Rudolph was born in Stepfershausen, Meiningen, Germany, in 1906.

His family were farmers, with a long tradition in the area.

His father Gustav died in 1915 while serving in World War I.

Arthur and his younger brother Walter were raised by their mother, Ida. When Ida noticed young Arthur had a mechanical gift, she decided he should attend technical training.

Walter inherited the family farm.

From 1921 on, Rudolph attended the technical school in Schmalkalden for three years.

In 1924 he found employment at a silver goods factory in Bremen.

In August 1927 Rudolph accepted a job at Stock & Co. in Berlin.

After a few months, he became a toolmaker at Fritz Werner.

In 1928 he attended the Technical College of Berlin— now the Technical University of Berlin —graduating in 1930 with the equivalent of a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.

Rudolph already had some interest in rocketry, having read Wege zur Raumschiffahrt (Ways to Spaceflight) by Hermann Oberth and having seen the 1929 film Woman in the Moon.

On May 17, an experimental engine exploded and killed Valier.

Dr. Paulus Heylandt forbade further rocket research, but Rudolph continued secretly with Riedel and Alfons Pietsch.

Rudolph then developed an improved and safer version of Valier's engine while Pietsch designed a rocket car.

Dr. Heylandt conceded to back the project, and the "Heylandt Rocket Car" was born and was exhibited at Tempelhof Aerodrome.

While it was a technical success, the fuel costs were greater than the admissions received and performances were discontinued.

On May 1, 1930, Rudolph began working for the Heylandt Works in Berlin where he met rocketry pioneer Max Valier.

Valier had use of the factory grounds for his experiments in rocketry and Rudolph became interested, working with Valier in his spare time along with Walter Riedel.

Rudolph joined the Nazi Party in 1931, then later the SA.

Rudolph first met Wernher von Braun when he visited a meeting of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR, the "Spaceflight Society").

In May 1932 Rudolph was laid off and looking for work when he encountered Pietsch.

After forming a partnership Rudolph began design on a new engine, while Pietsch looked for a backer.

Pietsch met with Walter Dornberger, who had been tasked by the German Ordnance Department to develop a rocket weapons system and had become interested in the VfR.

After demonstrating the new engine to Dornberger, Rudolph moved to the proving grounds at Kummersdorf along with Riedel, and began working under von Braun.

Rudolph's engine was used in the Aggregat series of rockets.

In December 1934, the von Braun team successfully launched two A-2 rockets from the island of Borkum.

Static testing on the A-3 engines began in Kummersdorf in late 1936 and were observed by General Werner von Fritsch, the commander-in chief of the German Army High Command.

The Kummersdorf facilities were inadequate for continued operations, so the von Braun team was moved to Peenemünde in May 1937 where Rudolph was tasked with the building of the A-3 test stand.

The Rudolphs lived in nearby Zinnowitz, where their daughter, Marianne Erika, was born on November 26, 1937.

The A-3 series was plagued with guidance problems and never proved successful.

In early 1938, Dornberger put Rudolph in charge of the design for the new production plant to be built at Peenemünde for the A-4 series, later renamed the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe-Reprisal Weapon-2).

In August 1943, as Rudolph was ready to begin production of the V-2, the British bombed Peenemünde.

After Peenemünde was bombed, the V-2 production facility was moved to the Mittelwerk facility, which was near Nordhausen and underground.

Mittelwerk was originally a gypsum mine that was being used as a storage facility and was being excavated for production facilities.

The labor force consisted of prisoners who were eventually housed at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp.

Rudolph was in charge of moving the equipment from Peenemünde to Mittelwerk, working under Albin Sawatzki.

In 1984, the U.S. government investigated him for war crimes, and he agreed to renounce his United States citizenship and leave the U.S. in return for not being prosecuted.