Apollo 11 Legacies

"Topper" Birney recounts what it was like being a teenager at Fort Bliss when the German Rocket team came to America.

A firsthand account of the immigration experience for German families of the Wernher von Braun rocket team as they moved to Fort Bliss, Texas. Recorded as part of a panel discussion in Huntsville, Alabama February 2019.

Conversation with Heidi Collier, chair of Huntsville's German-American Heritage Committee and daughter of one of the original German scientists on the Apollo 11 team.

Discussion about the changing role of women at Marshall Space Flight Center. Six women panelists share experiences and stories about culture, NASA and the future. Recorded April 2019.

Veteran news correspondents Jerry Hayes, Steve Johnson and Greg Screws share stories about the "impossible mission" of the moon landing, meeting notables like Neil Armstrong, and what the space program means to Huntsville.

NASA veteran Homer Hickam, whose 1998 memoir Rocket Boys was the basis for the 1999 film "October Sky," shares his thoughts about conspiracy theorists and returning to the moon.

Operation Paperclip brought German scientists and their families to America in the chaos following WWII. Uwe Hueter provides firsthand experiences about life when his father Hans’ followed Wernher Von Braun to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

As German scientists and their families were moved to the US, there was both secrecy and risk. But for young boys, it was a great adventure. Klaus Rosinski reminisces with Uwe Heuete and shares humorous stories from their youth.

Volker Roth was only 4 years old when his family arrived in America. He shares memories of air raids, train rides, dust storms and learning to interact with Americans post-war.

German engineer Willie Mrazek surrendered to U.S. troops at the end of WWII and disappeared. His daughter Ursula describes the uncertainty growing up under Army camp conditions and a foreign culture in part 1 of this 4-part panel discussion with offspring of von Braun’s team.