A Tribute to Glen Mayby Konrad K. DannenbergKonrad is 95 years old. He is part of the von Braun Rocket Team that developed the V2. He came to America in 1945 and worked the Apollo program. I met him in 1998 at Huntsville AL. His letter was written for the Glen May services here in Tenn. Burt In Memoriam of Glen May. Burt has been an admirer of Wernher von Braun, and he extended his admiration also on the members of the von Braun Team. I am one of the lucky ones who had the privilege to be a member of the Team in Peenemuende, and came with Wernher under Operation Paperclip to this country right after World War II and could continue our space exploration work, including our trip to the Moon. This status gave me the chance to be invited by Burt to the very first launch of his SpaceShipOne. With the help of friends Raymond Cronise and Laurent Sibille I could make the trip. Burt wanted to have someone present who also saw the first launch of a human built article into space. I was present at the first successful flight of an A4/V2. After the very first flight of SpaceShipOne upon launch with the White Knight, Glen showed us three visitors from Huntsville the Scaled Composites facilities. He gave us a detailed description of all shop facilities, as well as their need for the program, their performance, and the results of all the test programs. Glen displayed an outstanding knowledge of all requirements and a magnificent understanding of test results and their impact on the project. All three of us were greatly impressed by his understanding of the program, as well as its potential problems. I met Glen again a few months later when he visited Huntsville. We went into the Space and Rocket Center and had a terrific discussion on rocket history, its problem areas, its accomplishments, and its impact on mankind's future. Glen was convinced that we were on the right path, and that we should find means to get the “man-in-the-street” much more involved in space flight and to provide opportunities for all mankind to travel into space and to enjoy its beauty and opportunity. From all my contacts with Glen I deduct that he died doing what he liked best. He was convinced that the Rutan approach is the right one. He definitely wants all of us to continue and to finish what Burt, he and the rest of the Team have started. We should definitely not terminate our efforts to open space for all mankind. Glen's death brings to my mind some other victims in previous years.
I became interested in rocketry when an early pioneer Max Valier gave
a talk about a trip to Mars, for which we would need a new propulsion
system, the rocket. Max became a little later the first victim, of a liquid
propellant rocket motor explosion in May 1931. A little later the German
Army effort to develop rockets at the Kummersdorf Proving Ground killed
three people in an early rocket engine test. That is when then Captain
Walter Dornberger hired Wernher von Braun to replace the head of these
three people. This introduction into his new job made Wernher all his
life extremely safety conscious, thus avoiding any loss of life during
the years in Peenemuende, But it takes pioneers like these, and like Glen
to open the road into new unexplored territory. AD ASTRA ! Konrad K. Dannenberg. |