Krafft Ehricke Lecture Tapes

Krafft Ehricke (1917-1984) was a visionary space scientist and a pioneer of aerospace technology. Ehricke was educated at the Technical University of Berlin and at the University of Berlin. He worked at the Peenemunde V-2 Factory, and after the war moved to the United States where he worked at the U.S. Army missile program with Werner von Braun. At Fort Bliss, Texas, and later at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, Ehricke worked primarily on ramjet engines for missiles. In 1952, Ehricke left to join Walter Dornberger at Bell Aircraft Company. In 1954 Ehricke moved to Convair in San Diego where he worked most notably on the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile project and the Centaur Program, which featured the first liquid-hydrogen rocket stage that was the basis for the Saturn V rocket. In 1965, Ehricke moved to North American Aviation (later Rockwell International) where he eventually became chief scientist in the Space Systems Division. In 1979, he founded his own consulting firm, Space Global, to pursue full time his advocacy of colonizing and industrializing the solar system. Ehricke was awarded the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics prestigious Goddard Astronautics Award in 1984 for his contributions.