Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen, last of German rocket team, dies in Alabama

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Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen, the last of the German rocket scientists who was part of Dr. Wernher von Braun's moon rocket team, died at his Huntsville residence Sunday night, people close to the rocket team confirm. He was 104.

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Von Tiesenhausen was not among the original Germans who came to Huntsville with von Braun in 1950 in the first wave of what was called Operation Paperclip.

But he had been with von Braun during World War II and was with von Braun's team when it launched the first U.S. satellite and the first U.S. astronauts.

After a few years working in Germany after the war, von Tiesenhausen joined von Braun in Huntsville where he conceived and designed the mobile launch facilities for the Saturn V. He also came up with the idea and designed the original concept for the lunar rover at Marshall.

"He convinced von Braun we ought to design a moon buggy to go to the moon with the astronauts," remembers Ed Buckbee, a NASA public affairs officer under von Braun and the first director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. "It took a lot of sales effort on the part of von Braun, von Tiesenhausen and others to convince headquarters that, 'Look we need to give those guys some legs on the moon. Give them the ability to extend their reach.' And sure enough, we did. It really needs to be recognized. He put wheels on our American astronauts on the moon's surface."