Heinrich Struck facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Heinrich Struck
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| Born |
Heinrich Georg Struck
December 3, 1925 Thal-Bad Pyrmont, Germany
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| Died | March 11, 2020 (aged 94) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
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| Resting place | Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama) |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig. MS |
| Spouse(s) | Linda Sieglinde |
| Children | 2 |
Heinrich Georg "Heinz" Struck (born December 3, 1925 – died March 11, 2020) was a German-American rocket scientist. He was an important member of the "von Braun rocket team." Struck worked with how things move through air (aerodynamics) for both private companies and the government. He was especially known for his work at NASA on the Space Shuttle program.
About Heinrich Struck
Struck was born on December 3, 1925, in a place called Thal-Bad Pyrmont, Germany. When he was young, he became very interested in how things fly. He and his friends even built a working hang glider!
When he was 17, Struck joined the German army. He was captured in Belgium and became a prisoner of war (POW) in England. During this time, he finished his high school studies. After World War II ended, he went to the Technical University of Braunschweig. There, he studied how air and liquids move, and he earned his master's degree. He also studied for a short time at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Joining the Space Program
Unlike many other German rocket engineers, Struck didn't work at the Peenemünde Army Research Center. This meant he wasn't among the first scientists brought to the U.S. through Operation Paperclip. Instead, he started working at the Heinkel Aircraft Company in Stuttgart, Germany.
In Stuttgart, Struck met Sieglinde, who was later known as Linda. She worked as an assistant to a top boss at Daimler-Benz. A co-worker set them up on a blind date, and they got married in 1957. For a short time, Struck thought about taking a job in Bangalore, India. His wife had even reported from India for a company that made fabric.
Working at NASA
In 1958, Struck was asked to join the Von Braun Group to work with NASA in Huntsville, Alabama. He arrived in October of that year. He first worked at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Then, he moved to the Marshall Space Flight Center when it was created in 1960.
At the Marshall Space Flight Center, he worked in a division that studied how rockets move through air and space. Struck worked on many projects. These included the powerful Saturn rockets and the Space Shuttle missions. He mostly focused on the engines. One of his most important jobs was designing the parachutes to help the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster land safely after launch. Struck retired from NASA in May 1994, after working there for 36 years.
Life After NASA
Besides his work at NASA, Struck also taught evening classes at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. For about seven years in the 1960s, he taught about how things fly and move through air.
After he retired from NASA, he became a consultant for private space companies. He shared his knowledge on projects like the Rocketplane XP and the Orion and Ares spacecraft. His technical papers and reports are now kept at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. This allows other researchers and interested people to learn from his work.
After his wife passed away in September 2019, Struck moved to Seattle, Washington. He lived there until he died on March 11, 2020. He was buried in Huntsville's Maple Hill Cemetery.
