Karl Ludwig Heimburg (January 29, 1910 to January 26, 1997) was an expert in guided missiles during World War II (“Heimburg, Karl Ludwig”). He received his education at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany; he graduated in 1935 and received a diploma in engineering (“Heimburg,” Lundquist).

“Opposed to Hitler, [Heimburg] travelled through the Soviet Union from 1936 to 1937 to Japan and began working there. [Heimburg] returned from Japan on leave in 1941, [but was] immediately drafted in Stuttgart and sent to Peenemünde,” where he would work from 1942 to 1945 (“Heimburg,” Lundquist).

Ludwig Roth, the head of the Peenemünde Future Projects Office, hired Heimburg, who subsequently began working on the A7 rocket until its cancellation ("Dahm, Werner Karl," “Heimburg,” “A7”). Heimburg then “was assigned to work on Test Stand VII." He then helped develop "test stands for the Wasserfall missile and [its'] 'Schwimmweste' floating launch platform” (“Heimburg”).

“In late 1944[,] [Heimburg] worked on the crash program to build and test the A4b, a winged version of the V-2 [rocket]. In November 1944[,] he was sent to Lehesten to coordinate work on testing of production V-2 engines. He left there in April 1945, seeking to join the rest of the Von Braun group in Oberammergau” (“Heimburg”).

Heimburg was moved to Witzenhausen, and he participated in the British Operation Backfire (Heimburg). Afterwards, “[Heimburg] agreed to go to the United States,” arriving at Fort Bliss on December 6, 1945 (“Heimburg,” Lundquist). “[He] worked his entire life with the rocket team at Fort Bliss, [then at] White Stands [sic], and then at Huntsville” (“Heimburg”).

Heimburg was listed as the Director of Test Division in the 1960 Marshall Space Flight Center “initial management structure,” and by February 1969 (“five months before the first moon landing”), Heimburg had become Director of the Test Laboratory at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (Lundquist).

After retiring from the Marshall Space Flight Center, Heimburg volunteered at the Johnson Environmental and Energy Center (Lundquist).

“[Heimburg] died in Huntsville, Alabama” (“Heimburg”).

Sources

"Dahm, Werner Karl." Peenemünde Interviews. National Air and Space Museum.

Lundquist, Charles. "Transplanted Rocket Pioneers," 2015.

Wade, Mark. "A7." Encyclopedia Astronautica, http://www.astronautix.com/a/a7.html.

Wade, Mark. "Heimburg, Karl Ludwig." Encyclopedia Astronautica, http://www.astronautix.com/h/heimburg.html.