Dieter E. Grau (Hawkins)

 Rocket Science

Born:

April 24, 1913, Germany

Notes:

•  Marshal Space Flight Center
Research and Development
Quality Inspection, Director
Quality Lab 4708 - Woodard

•  On the Petition for Naturalization, his name is listed as Georg Ernst Dieter Grau. His occupation is listed as Electrical Engineer. His place of birth is "Charlottenburg, Prus. Germany". He was married to Esther Barbara Grau and they were married on February 14, 1942 at Falkensee Germany. Esther was born at Muelheim Rhur Germany on October 18, 1915. He entered the United Sates at El Paso, Texas on January 11, 1950. At the time of the petition, he had two children (both born after coming to the US) 1.) Peter Wolfgang Dieter Grau, male 1/31/49 El Paso, Texas 2.) Evelyn Margaret Grau, female 12/26/52 Huntsville, Alabama. - Petition for Naturalization

•  There is additional information, not found on the Naturalization Petition on this Declaration of Intention. His wife's maiden names appears to be Schaffner. His birthplace and place of marriage have notes connecting them to Berlin. The last place of foreign residence was Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. - Declaration of Intention

•  "Grau came to Huntsville in 1950 as part of the German rocket team that accompanied Dr. Wernher von Braun, who later became Marshall's first center director. Grau was trained as an electrical engineer and first worked for the U.S. Army on missiles.
     When the Marshall Center was formed in 1960, he transferred to the new NASA field center and became the first head of Marshall's quality division. He was responsible for ensuring the reliability and quality of the entire launch vehicle from early development all the way to readiness to a launch. He was one of the key people to give the go ahead for the launches of the Saturn V that sent men to the moon." - McMahan

•  "Nobody wanted a repeat of the worrisome AS-502 mission, and so the Apollo 8 launch vehicle received an exceedingly thorough going over before launch day. Several months before the scheduled launch, even before the official decision to man AS-503, Dieter Grau, Chief of Marshall's Quality and Reliability Operations, sat through a two-day meeting when all the major contractors discussed the action items for Apollo 8/AS-503. The participants seemed to be approaching a consensus that the vehicle was ready to go. Having lived and worked closely with the vehicle and its various components for months, however, Grau did not have a good feeling in his bones that all was well. In the face of the growing consensus, Grau took a position of caution. As Grau recalled, von Braun sensed his reticence and asked what more should be done. Grau wanted the opportunity to do one more complete check and von Braun gave it to him. Personnel in Gray's laboratories went over the AS-503 vehicle again, rechecking subsystems, interfaces, and drawings to make sure everything was all right. Sure enough, numerous little mistakes and potential problems were uncovered. 'We went through the vehicle from top to bottom;' Grau said. 'I think that was kind of a life saver. We found so many things which needed to be corrected and improved.' After these extra weeks of checking and rechecking, Grau and his people in the Quality and Reliability Laboratory finally gave the green light for the launch of Apollo 8." - Bilstein


Related Links:

•  Bilstein - Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Appollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles by Roger E. Bilstein, 1996, page 365.

•  Declaration of Intention - As viewed through an Ancestry.com paid subscription.

•  Hawkins - Article titled "German Reunion Highlights Two Anniversaries" by Kari Hawkins, USAG Redstone.

•  Hunt - "Secret Agenda" by Linda Hunt with conspiracy theory about Grau's connection to abuses in Nazi Germany.

•  Hurley - Article titled "German rocket innovator celebrates 100th birthday" by Liz Hurley for Chanel 48 TV (WAFF).

•  McMahan - Article titled "City Honors Dieter Grau, Marshall's First Quality Assurance Director, on His 100th Birthday" by Tracy McMahan for NASA, May 1, 2013.

•  Petition for Naturalization - As viewed through an Ancestry.com paid subscription

•  Wikipedia - Biographical information

•  Woodard - Article titled "Pioneers, Schemers and Dreamers" submitted by Grady Woodard. List shows names after Ft. Bliss with their reference work location and building number, from Redstone-Army Missile Command Roster - June 1966, MSFC 1960-1967 Charts, Organization Roster - June 1967.