Dornberger, Walter Robert

Dornberger, Walter Robert

(born Sept. 6, 1895, Giessen, Ger.—died June 27, 1980, Baden-Württemberg) German-born U.S. engineer. From 1932, with Wernher von Braun, he began to perfect the rocket engine. During World War II he directed construction of the V-2 rocket, the forerunner of all postwar spacecraft. In the U.S. after the war, he worked as an adviser on guided missiles for the U.S. Air Force. In the 1950s he participated in the Air Force–NASA project Dyna-Soar, which eventually became the space shuttle program.