One of NASA’s “most brilliant and fearless” to receive first Ernst Stuhlinger Visionary Award

HUNTSVILLE, AL – Dr. George Edwin Mueller, the former Associate Administrator of NASA’s Office of Manned Space Flight during the historic Apollo era, has been named the recipient of the first Ernst Stuhlinger Visionary Award by officials at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.
Dr. Mueller directed NASA’s efforts to land astronauts on the moon before the end of the 1960’s. He is regarded as the driving force behind NASA’s all-up philosophy of testing the Saturn V lunar rocket vehicle, developed at Huntsville’s Marshall Space Flight Center, enabling the space agency to meet the deadline and earning him the reputation as one of NASA’s most brilliant and fearless leaders. He is also regarded as the “father” of the Skylab program, responsible for the world’s first orbiting space station, and one of the creators of the space shuttle program.
“His name may have escaped many of our history books, but you can rest assured the hundreds of thousands of men and women involved in the development of the Saturn V, and for that matter the entire Apollo space program, all knew exactly who he was,” according to Larry Capps, CEO of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Dr. Mueller will receive the award during the Space Center’s “Year of Apollo” celebration on February 7, 2009 in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration.
The Ernst Stuhlinger Visionary Award was created in 2008 to perpetuate the memory of von Braun rocket team member and longtime Huntsville resident Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, renowned for his many significant contributions in the advancement of science and space flight. The award will be presented in odd years only, beginning in 2009.

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NOTE: The contact for this release is Al Whitaker, Media Relations Manager, U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL. Phone: 256-721-7160. Email: media@spacecamp.com. Additional materials are available at www.spacecamp.com/media/yoa.)