Joseph Leonard Zygielbaum

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Adele Zygielbaum

Joseph L. Zygielbaum emigrated to the United States of America from Poland following World War II, having served with distinction in the Polish Underground and having endured capture by the USSR and forced conscription into the Red Army.

With a mechanical engineering certificate, Mr. Zygielbaum joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology in 1956, as a machinist. He participated in constructing Explorer I, the USA's first successful Earth satellite. Upon the USSR's launch of Sputnik I in 1957, Mr. Zygielbaum was reassigned to JPL's technical library to perform translation and analysis of Soviet space and military publications and documents, eventually becoming head of the technical translation department.

Fluent in several European languages, Mr. Zygielbaum participated in negotiations for the placement of the US space tracking station in Spain. By the early 1960s, Mr. Zygielbaum was a recognized expert in Soviet space and military activities and provided briefings to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy and various military establishments. One of his key contributions was the assessment of Soviet information on the properties of the lunar surface, which enabled US designers to develop the footpad designs used on the Surveyor and Apollo lunar landers. Through the 1960s, Mr. Zygielbaum continued to provide technical and military assessments for US Government agencies through positions in the private sector.

Mr. Zygielbaum passed away in 1995.